Read Online Black & White (Picture Perfect #1) by Traci Hayden - Free Book Online

darkness. "Are my sister and daughter here yet?"
    It took a second for reality to slap my brain. "Sis...sister?" I was completely stunned by the word. She wasn't his wife, she was his sister. She was Angel's aunt, not her mother.
    "Beth?" William tilted his head, trying to get my attention.
    Speechless, the thought ran over and over; she was family, but not his wife! While staring into his eyes, my chest rose and fell as fast as my heart was beating. She's not Angel's mother!
    "Speak to me, Beth. Are you okay?" His voice was full of concern and uncertainty. Why did all his emotions seem so negative?
    He was getting closer to me, and I felt the electricity flying between us. "I... I'm..." I shook my head, clearing the random thoughts. "I'm fine, William. I just... I thought... Anne..."
    "I know. There are so many people who would never believe we're related.” William totally misunderstood what I was trying to say. “We're like night and day, but I promise you, she is my sister." The small smile on his lips was breathtaking.
    A sudden realization of something William had said the other day at the consultation hit me. "She's your one in a million?" Unless he had another sister, it was obvious I was right.
    William's eyes became softer, still numb, but a little more alive. "Yes, that's her."
    The small spark of life in his eyes made me smile. There was something precious in his life and I had inadvertently found it. It was important to bring him closer to the happy side of life, if this shoot was going to work. "Angel's a beautiful baby, William."
    Suddenly there was a glowing light in his face. It wasn't much, but it still shone more brightly than anything I had seen from him. "Where is she?" he asked ignoring my statement, looking around the room and down the hallway.
    "In the studio, Anne needed to change her." The million dollar questions were now present in my head. Why did his positive emotions only circle around his daughter? Where was her mother?
    "Umm, Beth?" William's voice had gone soft and quiet. He seemed a little nervous.
    "Yes?"
    "Is there somewhere I can wash up and get changed? I had to work late and didn't have time to go home." His eyes refused to connect with mine. I had seen this reaction before.
    Having been that person many times, I knew he was uncomfortable asking for favors or help. Being independent and more than capable of taking care of my needs, I considered it a sign of weakness asking anyone for help. William was the same way.
    "Of course, William." Locking the door and turning off the 'open' sign, I motioned down the hall. "Come on, there's a bathroom in the back and a change room."
    "Change room? You surprise me, Beth." His voice indeed reflected his statement.
    "Why?" The opening was there to keep the conversation going as we walked down the hallway and I was grabbing on to it with both hands. My mind wanted to day-dream as it processed his voice and his words.
    "Consultations, follow-ups, change rooms, I'm betting you have your own dark room," he said.
    A giggle escaped me, making me sound like a school girl talking to her first crush. Then there was shock as the realization set in - he was figuring me out. "Well, photos are mostly done digitally now, but... ummm, yeah. I actually do have a dark room in the back. But I don't see why that would surprise you."
    “I'm only surprised you do so much for your clients for such a small amount of money. I've never met someone who gives so much and gets so little in return." William stepped close to me so he could enter the bathroom.
    I reached in, flicking on the light. "I'm in this business for the passion and pleasure of it. I want everyone who comes through my door to feel they've been treated like royalty." His scent made me weak in the knees. He had a dirty sweat smell to him, but it reminded me of standing deep in the woods near my home in Vancouver. Everything about him was breaking down my resolve about men.
    "It makes you a very beautiful