Read Online Angela, Carla - Full Exposure (BookStrand Publishing Romance) by Carla Angela - Free Book Online Page B

Lake’s, who was now at her side. ‘Got to keep Bert on his toes. Hey, you’re gonna knock ’em dead tonight, I tell you!’
    Lake looked back at her best friend. ‘Let’s hope so,’ she said, grinning. She was still unable to shake the dirty, silhouetted image from her mind, nor did she really want to.

    * * * *

    The exhibition opening night so far appeared exactly how Lake had dreamed it would be—and that was just from her stance in the doorway. The space, which earlier in the day had seemed empty and cavernous, was now jam-packed from wall to wall with people. Like sardines. People with a passion for art. People with money.
    And there was her photography, dotting the walls, glistening under the lights. The naked, feminine images portrayed as raw and exposed, as she herself felt right now, set to be judged by the art world. Like a gladiator entering the ring. Tonight, she’d either be torn apart or victorious.
    As soon as she stepped over the threshold, the people seemed to swoop. First the gallery director in a navy, pinstriped suit, with gelled-back, black hair, which looked even glossier under all the lights, and a whiter-than-white smile. He took her hand in his in a warm, bear-like grip. ‘Fabulous, darling! Such a creative eye. Such talent. Well done!’ Then he wet her cheek with a smacking kiss.
    Then a beret-wearing critic with a thin, porn-star-like moustache, who she recognized from a local art magazine, wanted to know all about how she’d come up with the vision for the exhibition’s theme, how she’d got the lighting just right, and who her mysterious subject was. The latter she had kept mum about and wanted to continue to do so, so she put him off the scent by giving the vague—she hoped elusive —response of, ‘Unfortunately, that I have agreed to keep between me and the subject herself,’ offering just the merest arch of an eyebrow. Thankfully, the critic had just scribbled furiously in his notepad some more and not probed any further.
    Finally she got a chance for a breather when Fenella, in tune to when she needed an ‘out’ as her best friend, grabbed her by the elbow and herded her toward the bar, agreeable Bert trailing behind them.
    ‘Champagne?’ Fenella asked Lake lightly.
    Lake nodded, trying to catch her breath. The excitement of it all—her exhibition finally happening—was just too much to take in. It all seemed to be going swimmingly. Perfectly. She’d even spied a blur of red stickers dotted about the frames. Her artwork was about to adorn the walls of other people’s homes. Providing them with life-long, artistic pleasure. It was such a thrill. A joy.
    Yet her mind also kept jumping somewhere else. To that darkened silhouette captured on photographic paper. Of Hunter’s member, undoubtedly. Exactly what it could mean—
    ‘Earth to Lake!’
    Lake jolted back to the present as Fenella’s hand waved before her face. Fenella then reached for a glass of champagne on the wooden bar and handed it to Lake, advising her to ‘Put this down your hatch. Should help take the edge off!’
    ‘Uh, okay,’ Lake responded, clutching the thin stem, her cheeks warming again at the memory of what she’d just discovered in the darkroom. She tipped her head back and let the fizzy, golden liquid tickle her throat, bubbling in her nostrils. Mmmm… It tasted divine—expensive—and it was like an instant relaxant. She could feel her limbs loosening up and her mind freeing. She took a few more hearty gulps, barely noticing Fenella raising an eyebrow at her.
    Lake put the champagne glass back down on the bar, now finished, and Fenella reached over to squeeze her hand. ‘It’s all going excellently. You’re going to be a star of the art world—I can just feel it! Don’t fret, like you always do, and just enjoy the moment, okay?’
    Lake grinned back at her. ‘It is going kind of well, isn’t it? Who would have thought?’ she squealed, squeezing Fenella’s fingers in