AKA Lexi Frost (Lexi Frost Series) Read Free Page A

conversation. She was getting nervous about giving away her identity. There was too much at stake.
    “ All done?” Paul stood to face Kayley. Her long hair was pinned up again, but she still had a shimmer to her skin. Kayley looked to Lexi to be sure. Lexi nodded, standing as well.
    “ I guess so,” Kayley answered Paul then turned back to Lexi. “How soon?”
    Lexi felt better to be back on task. “It’ll take a few days to do enhancements and upload them. Think of it as Christmas: you know there’s something under the tree, you just have to wait for it.”
    “ Kayley doesn’t wait. I can’t put anything under her tree early. She cheats,” Paul said.
    “ It’ll be a good experience for you then,” Lexi patted Kayley on the shoulder.
    Kayley pouted , but couldn’t hold it for long under Lexi’s gaze and finally laughed. “Fine, have it your way. Besides, I owe you for heating the studio.”

Chapter Two
     
    Teri slipped out of her Lexi persona and into the magazine ’s offices next door to her studio as soon as Paul and Kayley left. Nicholas waited for her with smug satisfaction on his face.
    “ I couldn’t hear your conversation with Paul Lovett, but his body language was good,” Nicholas said.
    “ I think he’s happy, but I’m glad they’re gone. He makes me nervous.”
    “ How so?” Nicholas led Teri back to his little corner of the room. The magazine’s half of the floor was completely open; the staff shared space and didn’t have the luxury of individual offices.
    After Teri ’s husband, Allen, died, his editor tried it on his own for three months before leaving to take a better offer. Nicholas was newest to the magazine but had more management experience than the other staff, so Teri promoted him to the job. Nicholas protested initially, finally taking the job because Teri was in a bind and he owed Allen.
    Nicholas and Allen were college roommates and got along well until Nicholas discovered gambling. Allen ran into Nicholas again over a decade later , picked his old friend up, and helped him turn his life around. Nicholas’s debt had successfully put an end to his gambling. He had no credit with the bookies and was scrambling to keep from being made an example of. Allen gave him a job and let him sleep in his office, now part of the Lexi Frost studio, until he got his debts paid.
    Teri didn ’t know it, but the Mustang didn’t really cost as much to restore as she thought. Allen skimmed money off his project fund to help repay Nicholas’s debts in addition to throwing a lot of off-the-books jobs his way. Five years later, when Allen died, Nicholas swore to repay him by looking after the family he left behind.
    Today , Nicholas watched as his best friend’s widow met a man who walked into her studio cool and professional, but a couple hours later talked to her like they were alone in a bar. Nicholas noticed the way Lovett watched the session, the change from boredom to studying the process. He couldn’t see what Teri was doing; the camera angle was designed to watch the observers, not the set. He knew her routine in general, and the reactions most of her clients had. Something besides the photo shoot got Lovett’s attention.
    “ For a minute there I was sure he’d caught me. I thought he saw right through my Lexi Frost disguise. He didn’t, although there’s still something. I don’t know what exactly. He’s hiding something maybe,” Teri answered, interrupting Nicholas’s reflections.
    Hiding the desire to trade his girlfriend for a mother of two , Nicholas thought. Of course Lovett didn’t know the details.
    “ It looked like you had a good chat with him while waiting for Kayley to get dressed,” Nicholas said.
    “ He asked me to call him Paul,” Teri frowned.
    Nicholas wasn ’t surprised. He was confident Teri attracted Paul Lovett’s attention. Well, Lexi did. Teri was like a sister to him after all these years and he was pretty sure she wouldn’t be interested.