Read Online Beneath Beautiful by Allison Rushby - Free Book Online Page B

‘sit for you’.”
    Cameron frowned slightly, not completely understanding. “For the sculpture.”
    “Yes, I know that, but exactly what does that involve?”
    “Sessions. Photographs. A lot of posing. Your time . . .”
    He still hadn't mentioned what Cassie was hoping he'd get to. “And what would I be wearing?”
    Cameron paused. “Clothes?”
    “Oh.” Cassie flushed, especially as the waiter chose that moment to deliver their beverages. “Thank you,” she whispered as he set her juice before her.
    “You don't like clothes?” Cameron brought his coffee around between them.
    “No, I just . . . presumed that you meant without.”
    “Well, you don't seem like you'd be happy with that.”
    “I don't think I would be.”
    Cameron gazed intently at her. “Only what you're comfortable with. I did say that from the very start.”
    “You did.” Cassie nodded, ashamed that she hadn't believed him. She watched as he stirred his coffee, then tapped the spoon against the cup.
    He grinned, then. “But, please, anytime you feel like stripping off, that totally works for me as well.”
     
     
    A s soon as the fasten seatbelt sign was switched off, Cassie saw Cameron pop over the top of her “pod” on the plane. Immediately she attempted to stop looking like a kid in a candy store, oohing and ahhing over the tiny little bar that lifted up to the right of her seat, the seat that folded out completely flat like a bed, and the fresh flowers that had been carefully placed in a tiny little holder next to the sliding door. She pressed the button that slowly retracted the bar. “So, I haven't done that 328 times already.”
    “I found the answer to all your writing problems.” Cameron passed her something—a cardboard encased package.
    Cassie turned it over, puzzled, until she saw some writing on the opposite side that read, writing kit . “Hilarious,” she said, giving him a wry look as she stood up from her seat.
    “I've booked us in to the shower suite. Separately, that is. In case you were wondering.”
    “I don't really need a shower . . . do I? Are you not telling me something?”
    Cameron laughed. “No. And I don't either, but you've got to have one anyway, just to say that you have. There's still that eight-year-old inside me who didn't get to go to summer camp who likes to get in that shower and think yeah, I'm having a shower while I'm flying over everybody. And that completely rocks. Totally childish, of course, but so what?”
    Cassie smiled. “Beats psychotherapy, I suppose.”
    “And what are you going to get up to now?”
    Cassie shrugged slightly. “Watch a movie, I guess. Or have you booked us into the ice-skating rink as well?”
    “Sadly, no. As I mentioned before, I was planning on doing some work.” Cameron bent down and picked up a leather satchel off his seat. He opened it and brought out a large, black Moleskine notebook that had bits of paper sticking out of it, and a small metal pencil-case, battered and well-loved.
    “So, the caffeine has kicked in after all,” Cassie said, staring at the tools of Cameron's trade. As she did so, a piece of paper fluttered out and she caught it. Passing it back, she saw it was a quick sketch of a woman sitting at a table.
    “I would love to be able to do something like that.” She sighed as Cameron stuck it back in his notebook, and looked at her quizzically. “The thing is,” Cassie continued, “people tend to think my job is so artistic, but in many ways it's not. It's sitting down, forcing words out, working to deadlines. Most people assume I illustrate my books.” She laughed at this. “But not in a million years. Drawing for me is . . . it's scary.”
    “Scary?” Cameron's brow creased.
    “Okay, for example, just the other day I'd been to the park with my niece and nephew. When we got home, my niece asked me to draw a picture of a baby, crawling. Like the baby we'd seen at the park. I froze. I always freeze.”
    In front of her,