But what I was more grateful for was Xander. He talked to me. Calmed me down. Asked me about home. Not about family, or boyfriends, or anything like that, but about my favorite shooting spots and my favorite subjects and some of the best places that I'd shot and places for great light. As if everything about me from the past that was important was all he was actually interested in, not that superficial stuff. It made me feel more normal and calmed me down.

By the time the Uber arrived, he'd already paid for my pastry and tea, despite my irritation and annoyance about it.

"Come on, I dragged you into this cafe. I pay."

When he opened the door to the Uber, he glanced down at me and gently guided my elbow and helped me inside. "Listen Abbie, I'm serious. If you should get scared like that again, I do want you to tell me. Because I can make that experience better for you."

Just before he closed the door, while we're still connected, I met his gaze. And there it was… a spark of something. Something a little bit like I felt the other day with that guy who saved me from the Mini Cooper. Now why the hell would I feel the same way?

10

Lex…

“You ready for dinner?” I asked Xander as I narrowly avoided stepping on a box of lens filters.

“Yeah, just let me put away the student portfolios,” Xander muttered.

I looked around Xander’s tiny office. “Just where do you plan on putting them, Xan? It’s not like you have a lot of room in here.”

“Take the piss all you want, mate. I have a system.” He stuck the portfolios on an already overflowing shelf. “Besides, it’s not like I have an assistant right now. Most of this stuff will move to my studio anyway. Once that’s done, it’ll be downright tidy in here.”

I just laughed. “Sure. Whatever you say.”

Xander studied me as we left his office and took the back hall to the staff parking lot. “So, what’s with you?”

I shoved my hands into my pockets and kept my gaze straight ahead. I didn’t need Xander probing into the dark recesses of my mind. “Nothing. Why do you ask?”

Xander dropped his camera bag in the boot, then strolled around to the driver’s side of his Pagani Huayra. “Seriously, Alexi? You seem to forget it’s my job to study the nuances of human features and emotion then capture those moments.”

I wasn’t in the mood for Xander’s attempts at psychoanalysis. I carefully opened the passenger door of the Huayra. The car was both the fastest and the flashiest of Xander’s vehicles. I preferred to run around in something more subtle, but Xander liked the attention. Although, I had to admit the thing was cool.

“I’m not biting, Xander. Let it go.”