Scarred Asphalt by Blue Remy

up a bite. “It’s not every day that I actually get to cook for
someone.”
    “Oh.” Thorne hopped off of her stool, stepped over to the
skillet, and scooped herself out another healthy portion of the food. “Well,
it’s really good.”
    “I can tell.” Apollo’s smile widened in approval. “Have as
much as you want. Please.”
    His eyes trailed after her as she prowled back to her seat
unaware of the way she walked. It was sensual and yet confident. When she sat
back down, her hand unconsciously moved a section of her hair over the left
side of her face, hiding the scar from his view.
    “So, what is it you do for a living?” Thorne gazed at him
from under her delicately arched brows as she pushed her food around in her
bowl. “I mean, I realize you take pictures. You got busted for it. But there’s
got to be more to it than that.”
    Apollo laughed and took a drink of his coffee. “I do just
that. Take pictures. I’m contracted by magazines and agents to take pictures of
whatever they want. It could be models, scenery, animals, cars.” He lifted one
shoulder and let it fall. “Simple really.”
    Thorne crinkled her nose up and her brows bunched together
as her spoon dangled in her hand, hovering over her bowl. “It takes more than
that, Dalton. Give yourself a little more credit. I’ve seen some of your work.
Saber’s made sure of that. He’s very proud of you. To be as good as you are,
you have to see things others don’t. You find symmetry in things. Give you sand
and you’ll find the sea, give you rain and you’ll see a rainbow.”
    Apollo was a bit taken back by how she viewed his work. She
saw something deeper in it, things that others tended to miss. “And you got all
of that just from seeing a few pictures?”
    He watched her cheeks blossom into the cutest shade of red
that he had ever seen. Espina Lopez was actually blushing. She hid her eyes and
face from view by dropping her head and allowing her hair to fall just right
over the scar.
    Apollo reached out to push her hair away from her face with
delicate ease, tucking it behind her ear. “Are you actually blushing?”
    Thorne swatted his hand away from her, the blush deepening.
“Fuck you.”
    Laughter echoed in his voice as Apollo raised a single brow.
“No, I fucked you. Remember?”
    Apollo wanted to laugh out loud and gloat at the same time
when she buried her face in her hands with what he discerned as an “ ohmuhgawd ”
through her fingers. He knew if he did, it would ruin the light-hearted moment
he was finally able to share with her.
    Watching her try to regain her composure was just as
interesting. Apollo could tell she was fighting the instinct to turn her face
away from him, the rose-colored cheeks beginning to mellow as Thorne coughed,
then cleared her throat. It was as if he could see the wheels turning in her
brain as she met his gaze.
    “So what were you really doing at Pirates Cove?”
    Why the hell was it that no one believed him?
    Apollo dropped his shoulders and hung his head slightly, his
hand lifted up to scrub across the blond disarray he called hair. “I was
shooting the ocean wildlife. SeaWorld contracted me to take some photos for
their annual kid’s magazine. There was a seagull and otter that were fighting
over a damn clam.”
    “Uhuh.” Thorne had that sure tone in her voice, her
head lowered with a slight nod. “And you decided Pirates Cove, of all places,
was the best area to get shots of an otter? Are you sure you weren’t trying to
get shots of the local beaver?”
    It took a moment for what Thorne was implicating to
register, but when it hit him, he busted out laughing, wagging his finger at
her. “Oh, she’s got jokes now.”
    A giggle escaped her, and her widened brown eyes showed
shock as Thorne slapped a hand over her mouth. Apollo knew it had been a long
time since she had just let go to be the old Thorne that everyone knew and
loved, and he was lucky enough to witness it.
    The curtained