I nodded. It would be a good place for a shoot. I suspected the only problem might be whether or not Seth would get in the way and tell her that she shouldn’t cooperate with Horus. My fellow storm god was still a little bit tetchy about the situation with his nephew.
Then again, he was happily in love and that changed people.
“All right, so that’s the who and the where,” Horus said.
“Actually, you never told me who,” I said.
“Oh, right.” He picked up a piece of paper and handed it to me.
I read the list of names. “Some of these aren’t a surprise.”
He let out a bemused laugh. “I know. Kuaket would do anything that gave her an excuse to get naked. Her brother declined though.”
“I’m not surprised, Kuk has always been a lot more reserved. Fenrir surprises me though.”
“Really? Interesting,” Horus mused. “Anyway, I’m still waiting on a few people to get back to me, but I doubt they’ll say no. We’ll certainly have enough people to photograph. Which just leaves you. Have you got everything you need?”
I nodded. “My equipment should be fine for the task.”
“What about your team? Do you need me to find anyone?”
“I don’t think so, I have someone in mind.” I didn’t know how Chelsea would feel about a naked calendar, but I doubted she’d say no. And even if she did, I’d be able to find someone else from my multitude of contacts.
“And how much is that going to cost me?” Horus muttered.
“Nothing. If they want to be paid, then I’ll do it myself.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Now I’m intrigued, precisely who is it that you’re thinking of?”
My mind instantly slipped back to Chelsea. “It doesn’t matter, I haven’t talked to her about it yet. I’ll introduce her once she says yes.”
“Now I’m even more intrigued, but I’ll let you keep your secrets, I suppose I’ll find out when it’s time to shoot.”
“Mmm.”
“I take it you’ll be wanting a by-line on the calendar.”
“And for my assistant,” I said firmly. It was why I was hoping that Chelsea would take the position I was going to offer her. I knew she was desperate to make it as a photographer but had been struggling to get the exposure she needed. A charity shoot for a well-known sanctuary would be the perfect thing to add to her portfolio, and even in the human world, she’d be able to pass it off anything that appeared paranormal as nothing more than good prosthetics.
Though that was only one of the reasons I wanted her to say yes when I asked her, the other was far more selfish. I was done with just flirting over the counter at the copy shop, I wanted a chance to properly get to know her away from that. Perhaps a photo shoot wasn’t the best choice for that either, but I could see her turning down a date for the wrong reasons if I asked.
Perhaps it was sneaky to do it that way, but if she said no to a date after we’d spent time bonding over our mutual passion, then I’d take that as an indication that she really wasn’t interested, but I didn’t think that was the case. I saw the way she looked at me whenever I entered the shop, and heard the way her co-workers talked when she wasn’t in. If I had to guess, I’d say the beautiful and talented witch was just as interested in me as I was in her.
CHAPTER 3
Chelsea
I stared into the mirror and shifted my dress, trying to make sure it covered everything it should. It had seemed like such a good decision to wear it when I left the house, but now I was at Anise’s flat, I was starting to question my choice. If I sat wrong, anyone opposite me would be able to see right down my shirt, and that wasn’t necessarily the first impression that I wanted to make. Unless it was Baal, I wouldn’t mind it if he was the one sitting opposite me while I was wearing this.
“So, where are we going tonight?” Anise asked.
“Oh, I had an idea,” Delia responded. “Have you heard of DeLux Café?”
“Isn’t that the one where there’s a human bar upstairs and a paranormal one downstairs?” I asked, pulling myself away from the mirror and taking a seat at the table. I picked up my glass of wine and took a deep drink.
“Yes, that’s the one, I’ve never been, but I heard they put on great events,” Delia said. “There are even rumours that there are gods in attendance at their events.”
I scoffed. “I find that unlikely.”
“We should go.” Anise almost bounced up and down in her seat. “I’d love to meet a sexy god.”
“Then you’re in luck, tonight is Speed Dating,” Delia responded. “What better way to get on a god’s radar.”
“I doubt there are going to be gods actually speed dating, what are the chances of that?” I asked.
“Come on, Chels, don’t be such a spoilsport,” Anise said. “There might be one there, that’s enough for me.”
“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea...”
“That’s just because you’re hung up on our hottest customer.” She picked up her glass and drank it to cover her smug expression.
My cheeks flamed red. “I’m not.”
Anise snorted. “Yeah, sure. I don’t buy it.”
“Who is he?” Delia asked.
“Oh, some hotshot photographer. You can probably search for him online. Have you ever done that?” Anise asked me.
I shook my head and pulled out my phone. I wasn’t precisely sure why I thought this was a good idea, but I found myself typing out his name anyway.
I frowned and scrolled through the results.
“What’s wrong?” Anise asked.
“Don’t tell us that he has a super gorgeous wife, or something.” Delia’s face became harder as she considered the affront to me, despite the fact we barely knew one another.
“Not that I can tell, it’s just that I’m getting a load of hits for a god.” I turned my phone around so the two of them could see.
“You could try adding photography after his name?” Delia suggested.
“Though this carving does look a bit like him,” Anise said. “Is there a chance that our customer Baal is the same as this Baal?”
“You really think that a god is using our shop to process his photos?” I stared at the carving, seeing the similarities in features between it and the man I’d come to know, though I wasn’t sure if that was simply because Anise had suggested that they were there. It was easy to see commonalities when I was looking for them.
“Where else would he go?” Anise asked. “We do a good job and he gets a discount because he uses us all the time.”
“It’s not going to be him,” I said firmly, closing down the browser. There was no way that the man with a kind smile and a sparkle in his eyes was a god. Though I had to admit that he did exude confidence in a way that I thought fit with a deity.
I pushed the thought aside. It didn’t matter whether he was a god or not because he was never going to go for someone like me anyway, which meant that I didn’t have to worry about it.