Through The Lens (Creative Hearts Book 1)

by Jackson, K. M.

  She was surprised to find Ale already at his desk, staring at his computer screen when she walked into the loft. She knew he’d heard her come in, but in his usual I’m-in-a-sulk arrogance, he didn’t look up.

  Fine. If he wanted to play the child, she’d let him. It wouldn’t stop her from doing what she needed to do.

  “Good morning. Seeing anything good there?” she said as cheerfully as she could.

  “Morning,” he replied in a cool voice, not answering her question.

  She shook her head, put her travel coffee mug on her desk and shrugged out of her jacket. She then headed to the kitchen to do her usual, make a fresh pot of coffee for them both. She tried hard to squelch her fears about spending the day with him, but she could see he wasn’t in a mood to make things easy. When she got to the kitchen, she was surprised to see that Ale had already made the coffee. She glanced back at him, but he seemed deep into something at his computer. Better to not rock the boat, she figured and headed to her desk to fire up her computer. Hopefully, the new assistant candidates would start applying early.

  On checking, it looked like the word she’d sent on Friday from the airport had gotten out to the trades. Turned out she had a nice batch of candidates that had sent over their résumés. This was a good sign. Not even nine a.m. and already people were chomping at the bit. She couldn’t blame them. This was fashion, and you had to be on your toes to grab the hot jobs.

  “What’s got you so happy? A fun weekend with a new lover?” Ale ground out.

  Her smile froze. It was a line Ale had used in the past plenty of times on a Monday morning. Sexual harassment was not an issue between them, but this time it stung and he knew it. Well, she would not be baited. “Ha, very funny. No, but it looks like my sending out the assistant ad over the weekend helped. Seems you’ll have my replacement in no time.”

  He grunted at that and Mika gave him a good look this time, taking in his disheveled appearance. It was almost easy to overlook since he was so casually handsome, but there was more than two days’ worth of sexy scruff on his cheeks, which was not the norm for him and if she wasn’t mistaken, that could still be Friday’s tee shirt. Though he had plenty of the same white ones. She knew because she ordered them. Either way, it clearly looked slept in. What was with him? This was not the Ale she knew and for a brief moment, she wondered if he was ill.

  “Are you all right?”

  He stopped clicking at his computer and turned toward her, leveling her with a cutting stare. “Of course I’m all right. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “You, um, don’t look like your usual self.”

  “Don’t worry. At this point, you don’t have to add grooming to your job description. You can leave that for the next assistant.”

  She opened her mouth to give a retort, then decided better of it. There was no use adding more tension to the day.

  Mika started to look though her candidates and her hopeful mood quickly faltered. Unfortunately, most of the prospects immediately went into the “no” pile. They either had too little or too much experience. Either way, she knew they wouldn’t last a week with Ale. Some even had names that would make them a no for him.

  Mika smiled to herself at the memory: they’d been up late talking one night, giddy with tiredness, having a fun conversation about the celebrity baby-naming trend. They both made a pact to knock sense into the other if they ever suggested a name for an offspring that had a hint of fruit, numbers, cars, obscure symbols or compass directions.

  “What are you so happy about over there?” Ale asked gruffly, breaking her from her trip down memory lane.

  “Nothing really. I was just remembering a joke.”

  He looked at her with cold eyes. “How about you stop remembering so much, and we can get on with the day?”

  She blinked and took a deep breath, only to lower her eyes with a quiet resolve. “You’re right. We actually have a busy week.” She pulled up her calendar. “You’ve got lots of meetings and that Flair shoot to prepare for. At eleven, you need to get to Next. And at one tomorrow you have a lunch with executives at the Pearson group. And I have to call the models for the go-see for that and still get the equipment organized from last week.”

  His face stayed impassive. “There isn’t all that much to do with the equipment. I’ve already unloaded and set those things to right.”

  Now it was Mika’s turn to look confused. Ale never did his own packing or unpacking. But she rebounded. “That’s great. It will leave me more time to return some of these phone calls and set up the interviews.”

  He held up a hand. “I’d appreciate it if you did that later. I may have done your job organizing over the weekend, but don’t think it’ll be happening again.”

  Mika seethed. “But I need to set up these appointments.”

  “I’m sure they can wait a few hours,” he snapped. “I have this list of things for you to do first.” He reached for the pad by his side and ripped off a piece of paper with a list of about thirty menial tasks. None of them as urgent as setting up the interviews.

  Mika fought not to hit him as he glowered at her, and the air crackled between them. Besides what would hitting him do? It’s not like it would give her the satisfaction she really craved anyway.

  “I take it this won’t be a problem?”

  “Don’t worry, it won’t,” she ground out.

  For the next hour, she made a point of working hard to ignore Ale’s hot looks from the corners of his eyes or when reached across her—oh so close—for a file, or came the long way by her desk when he needed to get a cup of coffee. She refused to let him get to her. It was the only way she’d make it through these next two weeks unscathed.

  She looked up from her work when Ale, with irritation dripping from his voice, said, “I’m sending you an image. Look it over and see what you can do with it. I’m going out for a bit.”

  It was the most he’d said to her in over an hour, and she didn’t know how to react. “Um, sure.”

  With a frustrated swipe through his hair, he got up, grabbed his jacket off the peg by the door and headed out.

  Her shoulders slumped. Finally, some peace. She’d look over what he wanted and then she could make a few calls.

  The image Ale sent was perfect. She could find no flaw with it and didn’t know what was bothering him. It was from the island, the three-shot of the models in the water. The color, backlight, everything was as it should be. The only thing wrong with this shot was that a moment after it was taken she remembered him calling them beauties and how much it had stung. She bit her lip and minimized the image on her screen, now ready to make those calls.

  But even the easiest calls were difficult. She found herself stuttering, tripping over her words. This was not her. The quicker she was gone, the better.

  Her first inquiries proved to be busts, but after a while, things turned around, and she ended up with quite a few interviews lined up. With a silent thanks, she hung up on the last candidate as Ale came back in, and Mika steeled her will. “I set up a few preliminary interviews for this afternoon. I can start the process while you go to your meeting at the magazine.”

  His brows immediately drew together. Then he shrugged before walking away toward his private apartment in the back of the studio, slamming the door with a loud bang.

  Mika let out a long breath. Well, at least they weren’t arguing. She knew that could only end one of two ways and she didn’t know which was more of a disaster.

  She went to the equipment closet to check on how he’d put things away. This would be one of the last times she did this, and a melancholy feeling came over her as she carefully cataloged each expensive piece into her meticulous system. They had some in-studio shoots set up this week but none as elaborate as the island shoot. She let out a long breath.

  “Feeling nostalgic?”

  She turned, throwing her shoulders back, trying hard to cover her embarrassment at being caught musing. “Not really.”

  He quir
ked his head to the side, then reached over her for a small camera she’d just put away. His nearness caused her heart to flip and perspiration to form instantly between her breasts, despite the early fall chill emanating from the open windows of the studio. Mika stood her ground, knowing the game he was playing, and vowing that it wouldn’t work. He could try to entice all he wanted. In the end she was going. In her mind, she was already gone.

  She looked up from his hard chest, now covered by an old long-sleeved thermal tee. His deep, labored breathing was not lost on her. She noticed the throbbing of his pulse in his neck. Good. Maybe he was just as rattled as he tried to make her. She gave him a long stare. Ale blinked. But instead of saying a word, he raised his camera and clicked the shutter down.

  “Don’t,” she whispered.

  “I was just checking on this camera.”

  “You were doing no such thing.”

  Ale huffed a hard-edged laugh that scratched at her heart. “Really? Stop flattering yourself. You’re the one spouting on about professionalism. How about showing some? I’m still waiting for that image to be sent back to me.” Then he turned and went back to his desk.

  *

  Ale sat at his desk and stewed, toying with his camera. Damn, he had to try another tactic. Clearly she was not giving in to his—admittedly schoolboyish—attempts at seduction, though he knew he affected her. The problem was, she affected him more.

  Maybe he should just move on. Forget her and try to get back to normal. Spend an evening or three with a long-legged woman that offered up no challenge, have his fill until all thoughts of Mika were gone from his mind.

  But he shook his head as the image of some leggy model faded and the more pleasing memory of Mika came into view. Then the thought of Mika finding another lover flashed in his mind. He growled to himself as jealousy crept up his spine like a vine and threatened to choke him. His computer pinged as the image came back to him with a note from her:

  I’ve checked and it’s perfect. No further fiddling needed.

  M.

  He snorted at the screen. No further fiddling needed. As always, she knew the right thing to say. He peeked over at her. She’d finished in the closet and turned on some soft music, as she often did in the studio, and was now humming to herself. Had she already done it? Already cut herself off and let him go? She seemed to be as calm as they came and didn’t have a care about him or his feelings. As if their time on the island had never happened. Maybe all that happened with them on the island was just her way of letting go.

  Suddenly he felt stifled in the open white space. He imagined the loft without her, and a feeling of need, of reliance, gripped him—and he hated it. He never wanted to rely on any woman, commit to a life with anyone, but that was exactly what he was craving with her.

  The phone’s shrill ring made him inwardly jump and it grated on him to hear Mika answer it in such a light tone. She really was an ice queen. But then she looked over at him wearily. “It’s your brother.”

  As always, timing with his family was less than stellar. The last person he wanted to talk to right now was his sibling, but he picked up his extension anyway. “Yeah, David.”

  “Hey, bro. How are you?”

  “I’m fine. Listen, I’m busy. Can we talk later?”

  “That’s you, never one to mince words. I’m fine too, thanks for asking.”

  Instantly, Ale felt guilty. There was no reason to take his bad mood out on his brother. But he knew that if he talked to him for any length of time, David would sense his mood and start asking questions he didn’t want to answer. “Sorry about that. I’ve got a lot on my mind. How are you and Carla and the kids?”

  Yep, his brother was the opposite of him. In the family business and in the family way. With a loving wife and two sons. Mr. Perfect All-American. Where he got that gene Ale would never know.

  There was a moment’s hesitation, and then David spoke up. “Uh, things aren’t so good. You have a minute? I’m downstairs.”

  Suddenly, Ale noticed the weary tone in his usually carefree brother’s voice. “Sure. Come up.”

  “Are you alone? Or is that place overflowing with models today?”

  “Sorry, you’re out of luck. It’s just Mika and me.”

  David gave a hollow laugh. “I guess I am out of luck. Oh well, buzz me up.”

  Ale frowned. Something definitely wasn’t right. This day was turning out to be a bust anyway. Though the magazine wanted its shots as quickly as possible, this crazy thing with Mika was taking him off track and he couldn’t concentrate. He might as well see what was going on with David. They’d just have to wait.

  He looked up now and saw her staring at him with a frown.

  “Is David okay?” she asked. “He didn’t sound quite right.”

  That was her, always one step ahead. He let out a sigh and decided to fill her in. “I’m not sure, but he’s on his way up. Listen, can you go over these proofs for the magazine while I talk to him?”

  Mika looked at him for the first time that day with compassionate eyes and, for a moment, they were back on solid ground. A warmth spread though him that he hadn’t realized he’d been missing.

  “Sure, just send them to me. That’s what I’m here for.”

  And then it was gone. She’d drawn the line in the sand, making it clear exactly what her boundaries were. Ale fought to keep his expression neutral as he nodded his head and then sent her a copy of the files.

  *

  Ale was shocked by his brother’s appearance. His normally well-groomed preppy look was replaced by an unkempt getup. His hair looked like it had been combed through with only his fingers, his polo was wrinkled, and his jeans looked like he’d slept in them. All this was topped by a ratty old pea coat Ale remembered from his college days.

  Mika gave Ale a look of confusion behind David’s back. “Can I take your coat?” she asked softly. “How about a cup of coffee? Light and sweet, just like you like it.”

  David gave her a weak smile. “You are a godsend, Mika. Always so thoughtful.”

  Alejandro snorted, and Mika cut him with a quick glare.

  David looked between the two of them with confusion. “Um, did I interrupt anything?”

  “No!” they both said in unison.

  David smirked to himself. “I can see I did. Maybe I should go. I’ve got enough going on in my life right now.”

  He made a move to grab his coat from Mika, but she pulled back. “Don’t be silly,” she said sharply. “Sit down and let me get your coffee. You and Ale have a visit. I have plenty of work to do.” With that, she turned and walked away, taking his coat to hang up and then heading toward the kitchen.

  David looked at his brother. “What’s gotten into you two? You usually save the crappy attitude for other people.”

  Ale shook his head. “You don’t know the half of it. But you didn’t come here to talk about me. You look like hell. I can’t believe Carla let you out of the house like that.”

  David shook his head. “It’s not like she let me out. She kicked me out. Or maybe I left. I don’t know. All I know is, we had a big fight, and I screwed up royally.”

  Ale chuckled.

  David looked at him with sad eyes. “It’s not funny, bro. This is serious. Deadly serious.”

  Ale’s expression sobered as he looked at his brother, his tired eyes and rumpled appearance. “No way. You and Carla are Mr. and Mrs. Perfect.”

  For a moment, Ale worried that his brother might break out into a fit of tears as his face started to crumple. He braced himself, holding the edge of his desk, not quite knowing what else to do. The men in his family didn’t cry. Thankfully, David frowned, clenched his fists and held on. “She kicked me out. Out of my own house.”

  Ale couldn’t hold back his shocked expression. His brother wasn’t kidding around. David and Carla were college sweethearts. David was always the loving, carefree one, and Carla his sweet, almost syrupy wife, was definitely not the kicking-out sort. “What do
you mean, she kicked you out? Carla would barely kick out an intruder. ” Then his eyes narrowed as he looked over his brother. “Wait a minute. What the hell did you do?”

  Just then, Mika walked back in the room with David’s coffee and sat it beside him before returning to her desk. David regarded her with a small nod of thanks before turning back to Ale.

  “I don’t know, really. It just seems like she’s different now. Like I can’t get close to her, and no matter what I do, it’s not right. I mean, I know she’s going through some really rough things with her mother being sick and maybe I should’ve been more sensitive to that.”

  “Wait,” Ale said, “Carla’s mother is sick?”

  “Yeah, turns out she has breast cancer.”

  Mika gasped. “Oh, that’s awful. Carla must be a mess.” She paused. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear. I can go in the next room.”

  David looked up at her. “No, it’s okay. And yeah, I guess she is.” Then he looked back at Ale. “But she didn’t have to get on me like she did about work and everything. I understand what she is going through. Really, I do. But I still have to work. Someone does.”

  Mika let out a groan, and both men looked at her. “I’m sorry,” she said, holding up her hands but looking at David with a stern expression. “Obviously, this is a family conversation and you don’t need me hovering. I’m going to take my work to the conference room if you don’t mind.”

  She started to walk away but David stopped her as she passed, reaching out for her hand. “No, wait. Obviously, you have something to say. It can’t be worse than what my wife said.”

  She looked at him, taking in his disheveled appearance and sad expression, and then looked at Ale. “I don’t think I should. It’s not my place.”

  “Mika, go ahead. It’s not like you’ve ever held back before.” Ale growled, and she answered him with a frown before turning to David.

  “Okay, she needs you for support, and I think you’re burying yourself in work and excuses to cover up your own fear. You’ve been married to her for more than five years now and she’s done nothing but take care of you and see to your every need and that of the children. And now here she is, facing one of the scariest moments of her life, and you aren’t there for her. I think it’s shameful.”