Page 16 of The Hook Up
Okay, so it was a little off-center. Still, Ty wasn’t going to start putting his hands all over her. “All right, I’m just going to clip this right here.”
He held the wires and mic in one hand and opened the jaws of the clip on the mic pack. He clamped them onto the fabric—something silky and soft. Almost as soft as Ellie’s hand, which he grazed as he let go of the clamp.
“There,” he said. “That should—gah! Goddamn egg-whacking piss-wizard!”
He reached out and caught the transmitter, halting its plummet to the floor. “Sorry for the language.”
Ellie laughed. “Sometime within the hour, I’m going to be talking to the camera about sex toys. I’m hardly worried about a few creative curse words.” She gave him a curious look. “Where’d you learn to swear like that?”
A dark cloud seeped into his consciousness, but he fought to keep it from showing on his face. “My grandmother.”
She rested a hand on one of his high-backed chairs and regarded him with interest. “She sounds like a unique woman.”
His throat was tight, so Ty just nodded. Nodded and reminded himself what it felt like to say good-bye to her—to his grandmother and to all the foster parents and foster siblings who’d followed. It was one of sixteen-thousand reasons he shouldn’t be thinking illicit thoughts about Ellie Sanders.
“She was.” Ty cleared his throat. “I wish I’d had her around longer.”
“I’m so sorry.” She touched his hand, and the sincerity in her voice felt like a warm balm on his heart. “Losing someone you care about is such an awful experience.”
Exactly.That’s exactly why he shouldn’t be flirting with Ellie Sanders. Mentally, he thanked her for the reminder, even though his heart wanted to soak up her kindness like a sponge.
Looking away, he gripped the mic pack in one hand. “Would you mind if I took another stab at clipping this on you?”
“Please, go right ahead. Obviously, I can’t reach very well.”
“Okay.” He took a step closer and pinched a large swatch of fabric together, careful not to let his fingers graze the bare skin showing through the cutouts on the side of the dress. The silky fabric felt warm from her body, and Ty’s hands trembled as he clamped the mic pack onto it. “There,” he said. “How does that feel?”
“Um, a little tight.”
Ellie frowned down at the front of her dress. The outline of her breasts looked a whole lot clearer now than it had been before, something Ty didn’t mind in the least.
But he recognized Ellie was uncomfortable. “Sorry,” she said, plucking at the front of her dress. “I’m a little self-conscious.”
“Right. Sorry about that.” Crap, he definitely didn’t want her any more uncomfortable than she already was. He released the clip on the mic pack and tried again with a smaller swatch of fabric. “There. How does that feel?”
“Better. Thank you.”
“No problem. Okay, now we need to thread this wire up through the dress and?—”
“You mean under my clothes?”
“Yes.” Crap, there he went, making her nervous again. “Don’t worry; I’ll turn around to give you some privacy. You can try threading it up the side, though I guess that might be a problem with the wire showing through.” He gestured to the cutouts, and Ellie smoothed her hands self- consciously over them.
“Sorry. I really should have planned better. I can run home and change if you?—”
“No! We can make this work.” He cleared his throat. “Okay, what if you, uh—threaded the wire from the back up through the front?—”
“You mean between my legs?”
“Right. Yes, that would do it.”
God, it felt hot in the studio. Ty thought about opening a window, but that would seriously fuck with the sound. He handed Ellie the wire and the mic and took a few steps back. “I’ll just turn around, okay? You got it?”
“I think so.” She seemed uncertain, and Ty wondered if there was any way of salvaging this, of putting her at ease.
He turned his back, hoping a little privacy might help her. “Shout when you pull the wire through, and I’ll help you hook the mic to the front.”
“Thank you.”
