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down.
    “He’s something,” she murmured to herself.
    Then realized he’d stopped and was staring at her.
    She lowered the camera, tilted her head slightly, and asked, “Is there a problem?”
    He stared at her as if she’d asked a seriously stupid question, then shook his head and silently went back to work.
    She was left wondering what she’d done, or what he’d thought she’d done.
    *
    Really? She thought he was something. That was intriguing. Tinkerbelle just might be interested. Except he wasn’t sure she even knew what she was doing. She certainly hadn’t appeared to recognize that she’d spoken her thought out loud. Most women he knew would never be so honest.
    And he suspected she hadn’t meant to be.
    Sure, she was comfortable around a camera, but he had to wonder if she’d ever been around a man – not a boy but a full-grown, adult male – because she certainly wasn’t acting like it. For someone her age, she appeared damn innocent.
    At first, he’d managed to block her out as he got into the swing of it. He loved setting a rhythm and working his body through the paces. It felt good. It felt natural. It felt right.
    And he managed to get through most of his warm-up until she fixated on his face. What the hell was she doing? She’d been quiet, taking the odd picture before she had suddenly gone click-happy, her fingers moving at a speed he could only guess at. Then she’d moved closer, and he understood she’d locked onto his face. And she appeared to be studying his forehead. It completely disconcerted him when he realized a drop of sweat had fallen from his brow to the padded floor and she dove after it to take a picture.
    What was that about?
    Why would she even think to focus on such a thing? He always worked up a sweat. Had she been taking pictures of his shirt as it slowly soaked up, too? He wanted to make a sarcastic remark then figured he better not bring attention to it – just in case she hadn’t seen it yet.
    He couldn’t imagine what interest any of this would have for her, but she appeared enthralled. He closed his eyes and pushed his body through several more reps. The whirling click quickly became background noise. Then he stopped and rested. His body thrummed with energy, and fatigue had hit the muscles – that was a good thing. He stretched his arms up over his head and sighed gently.
    “Feel good?” Her voice held an odd note. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she was sending out mixed signals. He also couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she had no idea what she was projecting. Or what she thought she was projecting.
    She was like Tinkerbelle in the innocence department, too. He had to wonder if she could be, but her age and university status made it hard to believe. She wasn’t model beautiful, but those huge, haunted eyes were enough to bring any man to his knees. It certainly brought out his protective instincts.
    Another guy could easily use her as a punching bag. He’d assumed from her original trepidation around him that that had been her problem, but the camera had completely changed her.
    It fascinated him.
    He also assumed it was a surface change only, and that if he made a move on her, she’d bolt like lightning in the opposite direction.
    There was a part of him really wanting to push the issue, too. Make her fess up to being as terrified as she really was. He knew it would be a shitty thing to do. He really wasn’t that kind of guy, unless he was fucking pissed.
    Then everyone was that kind of guy.

Chapter 6

    S he understood she’d done something off, but for the first time in a long time, she was able to brush it away. She was doing something she loved with a subject that was fascinating. Even better, this activity was encouraged, necessary even.
    A part of her wanted to squeal with joy. She’d wanted to take pictures of people for a long time, but there were rules and regulations and laws and…of course who she’d been interested in