Dominic joined Collin and looked on with interest almost as if he was partially in charge. “Since hair color is an option on Vera, do you think she would look better as a brunette?”
“No,” Collin said quickly. “The thing that’s special about Vera is that we can match her hair to whatever shade we want, as long as it complements Alexander’s. Also, her eyes—a blue-eyed girl wouldn’t have filled the bill. I still haven’t discarded the idea of having everything in the photos black and white except for their eyes.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Dominic said, looking at her and Alexander together. “Your graphics wizards don’t care what color her eyes are. They’ll make them the color we want.”
Collin frowned and picked up his camera. “You two talk!” Collin yelled at Helen and Alexander. Then he turned to Dominic and started explaining something.
Alexander turned and looked at Helen. “So, how long have you been a model, Vera?”
“I’m not really a model,” Helen said carefully.
“Really?” Alexander said, looking intrigued. “That’s interesting. So, what do you do? Are you an actress or a singer?”
“No. I just graduated from college.”
Alexander looked confused. “Studying fine arts? Performing arts?” She shook her head.
“Really? No? Then who recommended you for this job? You know an ad with me is a pretty big break, even if you have already worked as a model for years.”
“It was Dominic's idea,” Helen answered.
“That’s even weirder,” Alexander said, laughing. “I wonder why he’s trying to get you a job. Maybe he wants to be your manager, but that seems odd, too. He never takes on clients. I’m the only one.”
“He thinks I’m talented,” Helen answered. “He thinks I’m good at sensing the emotions of others and supplying them with what they want. He's not the only one. Mark thinks I’ll be able to sense the wants of the photographer and give them what they’re trying to capture.”
“Wow!” Alexander exclaimed. “That’s pretty impressive. But how did you convince those two of that? They’re so different. That strikes me as…” then he stopped, right in the middle of his sentence. At that moment, it was clear to Helen that Alexander realized something and it wasn’t something good.
“Did Dominic tell you anything about me?” Helen asked.
Alexander shook his head like he was shaking off a particularly bad thought. “No. He didn’t say anything. But he never talks about a woman unless he’s insulting her, so the fact that he didn’t say anything about you is a compliment." Here, Alexander actually smiled.
Maybe Alexander thought he was telling a joke. Maybe not. Whatever his thoughts, Helen was one hundred percent convinced Alexander was telling the truth. Dominic was the type of guy who used women. Helen was growing to learn that more and more. The photoshoot was just an opportunity for him to use her. But why?
“How is Laura doing?” Helen asked breezily. “I haven’t seen her since last week.”
“Well, then you’ve seen her more recently than I have,” Alexander said coyly,
looking at the scarf at Helen’s throat. “So, I should be the one asking you how my sister is. Was she well?”
“She seemed to be doing all right,” Helen answered cautiously. Alexander definitely had a scary look on his face. He was about to do something.
“Vera, do you know why Collin asked us to talk just now?” Helen looked at him curiously and waited for him to continue.
“It’s so we can get familiar with each other—comfortable. The plan for the ad casts us in the role of lovers, so we’ve got to get to know each other,” he said, suddenly slipping her scarf from around her neck.
Maybe it was Helen’s experience as an escort, or maybe it was the intensity in Alexander’s eyes which Helen knew to be false. One wolf recognizes another. The reason why Helen was mesmerized was because she’d never seen a guy pull that sort of trick on her before, or be so good at it. He looked like he was interested in her, enchanted by her, and perhaps even more. He wanted her to play along and Helen was so used to the game her bottom lip quivered.
At that instant, Collin rapidly started taking pictures.
Alexander finished the moment by bringing her scarf to his lips. He kissed it lingeringly as Collin shot off with his camera.
“That’s good, Lex,” Collin said, as he pulled his camera away from his face. He started reviewing the shots on his digital camera when he stopped at one of them and looked hard at it. “Hmmm… Dominic, look at this one.”
Helen was impressed he wasn’t already leaning over Collin’s shoulder.
Dominic went up and looked at it. His eyebrows flew up in the air like leaflets caught in the wind. “That’s not bad,” he said, scratching his nose and keeping his tone deadpan. “Did it turn out well?” Alexander asked, approaching the two of them. Collin showed him the picture. Alexander looked less impressed than Collin and Dominic. He even stepped back quickly to make room for Mark.
When Mark saw the picture, all the air escaped from his lungs and he visibly drooped.
“That’s more than I expected.”
“More than I expected, too,” Collin said easily. “Funny, she didn’t look star-struck by Alexander when she came in the door.”
“I’m not,” Helen said urgently.
“Really?” Mark asked leaving space beside Collin for her to have a look at the screen.
When Helen got her first look at the picture, she was stunned. Only Alexander’s back was in the picture. His hands were moving around her throat to remove her scarf. He was hardly in it. The main feature of the picture was her face. The look on her face was like the open heart of a wounded bird. She looked like she was the heroine on the last page of a romance novel where she had just spent three hundred and sixty-five pages tearing her heart to shreds over Alexander and on the last page he was confessing he had been in love with her all along.
Helen didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know she was capable of that much emotion. It hadn’t been over-acting, had it?
“Did I go too far?” she asked Collin.
“Not at all,” Collin said pursing his lips together. “Actually, it makes me feel like you might be capable of a lot more than a simple still photo. We might be able to get a commercial out of you, but let’s start with the photos.”