Alexei, Her Russian Billionaire

“Good job, Sasha.” She called.

Sasha relaxed and pushed off the tree, wobbling a little in her heels as the wind threatened to knock her off her feet.

“Is that it now, Maya?” She asked, coming towards Maya as one of the runners came hurrying over with her coat, which Sasha immediately shrugged into.

“Sure is.” Maya grinned and air-kissed Sasha, receiving it back. “Thanks, honey. That was brilliant.”

“Anything for you, Maya. Even in this weather.” Sasha bunched up into her coat. “I’ll hang around in case you need me. I’ll be with Jenny.”

“No problem.”

Sasha shivered as she walked away.

“Let’s hope Barbados doesn’t have the same wind factor, eh?” She called over her shoulder.

Maya laughed. In a week they were heading over to Barbados for a special shoot for a commercial. Maya had been chosen to take the stills and Jenny was doing the makeup for the models involved. Maya had been to Barbados before and was looking forward to going again; it was a place she would never get tired of.

But she had to get through three more photo shoots in the city before that would be happening. Now catalogs were going to be put into print in the next few weeks, Maya was busier than ever trying to follow what the clients wanted and what she wanted in the time allowed.

This was what she thrived on. Those three days she had taken off were what she had needed before a rush like this.

Maya reached the tent where the technical equipment was set up. They were in Central Park and where they were shooting was in the middle of a wind tunnel; it whipped right through and dropped the warmer temperature down several notches. It was also not helpful with the paperwork they had to bring around as it decided it was going to go on an adventure of its own, so the creative director Howie had set up the tent, which was more like a gazebo than a tent.

At least it was a little warmer in there with the heater.

Howie was at the laptop when Maya ducked inside and took out her memory card from the camera.

“Here we go, Howie. That’s Sasha done.”

“Thanks, Maya.”

Howie slotted the card into his laptop and Maya leaned over his shoulder as they surveyed Sasha’s shots. There was a few where it was clear she was struggling but the model had pulled it off easily. She had some beautiful shots. Howie nodded approvingly.

“That’s good. How many more have we got now?”

“Just two.” Maya adjusted her wool cap. She kept her hair short for simplicity and on days like this she was glad. “Do you want to head out and check them?”

“In a minute. Let me get these saved.”

“Sure thing.”

Maya found a free memory card in her bag and was busy putting it into her camera as she came out the tent. With her head lowered she didn’t see Jonny Widecombe until she ran into him.

“Hey, Maya.”

Maya blinked as she stared up at him.

“Jonny? What are you still doing here? I thought you had a show tonight.”

“I’ve got a bit of time before I need to leave.” Jonny gave her a charming smile. “Have you thought about my offer?”

Maya sighed heavily. The boy didn’t give up. He had tried texting and calling her the day before to ask but Maya had ignored him. If he knew about her he knew she wouldn’t give him an affirmative answer. He was handsome, true, with his swimmer-like body, blond locks curling around his neck and bright blue eyes, all finished off with a surfer’s tan from his childhood in California, but Maya couldn’t see the attraction. She wasn’t a fan of the surfer boys and she wasn’t attracted to blond-haired boys.

She just wasn’t attracted to boys full-stop.

Then she realized that Jonny was still holding onto her arms. Maya stepped back out of reach and his hands dropped.

“Jonny, you know the rules. I don’t date the models.”

Jonny’s forehead creased in a frown.

“Why not? I’m not like Ash. I would never hit a woman.”

Maya flinched. It had been a long time ago but even now Ash’s name made her feel the terror she had experienced from the last time Ash had used his fists on her. That time had put her in hospital with broken ribs and a broken eye-socket. She didn’t tell people about it but it was known in the modeling world what she had experienced. Most of the people she worked with knew not to bring it up but there was always one person who either didn’t know or wanted to hurt her.

She wondered which one Jonny was. He clearly wanted to date her but he wasn’t getting it into his head.

“It’s perfectly clear that I don’t date someone in the modeling industry.” Maya said stiffly. “That’s asking for trouble.”

Jonny’s smile disappeared. He gave an annoyed snort.

“You know, you should consider yourself lucky I’m asking you out at all.” He sneered. “You should be flattered someone like me thinks you’re still attractive at your age.”

Maya blinked. Where had that come from? The switch had flipped incredibly fast. Jonny seemed so normal.

“I beg your pardon?” She gathered her senses and felt the anger rising, adopting the voice she used when one of her models was pushing her patience when she was shooting them. “Would you like to repeat that again?”

Whenever she used her ‘big boss voice’ as others called it, they knew when there was trouble. Jonny obviously knew it as well because he backed off pretty quickly.

“No.”

“Good.” Maya jabbed a finger at him. “Because I’ve said no and that is my answer. Take it and go. Now. I want you off the set right now.”

“But…”

“Do you want me to call security? Because I will.”

They didn’t have security but Howie had a personal bodyguard, a big bruiser called Steve. He was like a teddy bear but when he was working that man was not someone to mess with. Jonny’s face paled and he hurried away, almost knocking into Jenny as she crossed from the makeup trailer. She frowned at Maya.

“What was that about?”

“Jonny was pushing it.” Maya wiped the sweat off her forehead. Even with the cold she was sweating like a pig under her hat and jacket. Her t-shirt was stuck to her back. “He’s going too far.”

“Speak to Caroline tomorrow about it.”

“I plan to.”

Jenny nodded. Then she looked over Maya’s shoulder and frowned.

“Hey, isn’t that the painting you like coming out of the gallery?”

There was a reason she liked this part of Central Park and it was because of the art gallery. It was small and quaint but there was a particular painting right at the back that Maya adored. It was one of those you could look at for hours and feel yourself calming. Maya hadn’t understood the way a painting made you feel until it happened to her. Whenever she felt down and it was within reason she would go into the gallery and sit in front of the painting, just looking at it.

Jenny teased her about it but Maya didn’t care. And the staff didn’t find it strange, either. They were all on first name terms and Maya had even taken photos for them for their website and posters so she brought work in for them.

Maya turned and saw that Jenny was right. Her painting was being carried out of the front door to a waiting van. It wasn’t even wrapped up. Maya stared. She couldn’t believe it.

“What do you think is happening?” Jenny asked.

“No idea.” Maya passed her camera over. “I’ll be five minutes.”