Read Entangled (A Tryst Novel) for Free Online Page B

I’m the one who looks like the idiot.
    Does this make him Blake’s boss, be it for an afternoon? I should probably be polite, but there’s nothing I can do to stop my involuntary eyebrow scrunch.
    “Nice to meet you,  
Gio
, but this still doesn’t explain what’s happening.” I let out a sigh, remembering I’ve been neglecting my textbooks for far too long, and want nothing to do with playing dress-up. I ache for home and normality.
    “Your skin is flawless and lightly toned. It’s nearly perfect. Has anyone ever told you that?”
    I rub at the goose bumps forming on my arms.
    He takes a confident step forward, and extends his free hand in order to touch my bare stomach. I take a deliberate step back. What is it with this guy? Hasn’t he ever heard of personal space?
    As if reading my mind, because heaven forbid my face should reveal my emotions, he lets out a small laugh as I lift my hand to signal him to stop.
    “Yeah, my   boyfriend
 
has said that to me before.” I try for indifference with a ringing tone of  
don’t mess with me
, and I’m sure to enunciate the word  
boyfriend.
    He rubs at his jaw, amused. “
Scusi
. I am to assume you are not used to this business. I don’t mean to put my hands on you so freely. Please do not take it the wrong way. I just . . . you’re very beautiful . . . and different from what I normally encounter.” He pauses, as if choosing to change tack. “Blake, he is your . . . boyfriend?”
    I nod, still wishing I were wearing a shirt. “Yes.” It’s the only word I can manage.
    He hums, looking me over more quickly. “You’re not a model, are you?”
    Could this be anymore awkward? I hug myself tighter, feeling inadequate all of a sudden. This isn’t my world. “Is it that obvious?”
    Catching me off guard, because his movement is so quick, he closes the distance between us to cup my jaw even more delicately than before, and with a featherlike touch, he brushes his thumb over my flushed cheek.
    “The pink to your cheeks—are you embarrassed,
bella
? That won’t do. I didn’t mean it that way.” I want to step away, but I find his tone oddly reassuring in a world I have no idea how to handle. “I meant it in such way as to ask if you’d like to be a model this afternoon?”
    I shake my head, freeing my face from his grasp, knowing very well that the light pink has turned scarlet. “No. No way.”
    “Are you a college student?”
    His tone has shifted, and I find its change intriguing. I tilt my head, figuring him out in a nanosecond. “Yes.”
    “Marielle, the model that I had scheduled tonight, has no-showed. Would you like to stand in for her?”
    I give him a stern look. “What does me being a college student have to do with this?”
    He gives me a tight smile, as if to say
You think you’ve figured me out; well, I think I have you figured out too.
  “First things first, Skyler. I need to know if you’d be willing to help out.”
    I wrinkle my nose, getting impatient. “You’re toying with me.”
    His deep laugh feels mocking this time, but he shakes his head as if to dismiss my embarrassment. “How about this: I want you to work this photo shoot for lots of reasons. Your eyes, they say so much. Your hair is full and exotic. And your skin is enchanting; its color, with its porcelain smoothness . . .” He grins, and gets dangerously close again, raising his hand to my hipbone, right above the hem of my jeans at a peeking bruise. “Except here. But we can cover that up.”
    I’m annoyed instantly, turning my body away from his pointing. “I play soccer for my school.”
    “Ah,
fútbol
! My favorite, but we can get to know each other at a different time, which I’d like.” He raises a brow, as if testing my attitude. “I just need to know, Skyler, if you want to help out now.”
    What is the appropriate response?   My expression must say it all as he finally adds, “I can pay you a good amount of money that could