Read Online Crushing On The Billionaire (Part 3) by Lola Silverman - Free Book Online
Authors: Lola Silverman
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a beer,” I said. “And nothing’s weird.”
“Uh-huh.” He looked doubtful. “Is it weird spending time with me, after…?”
“Stop!” I said. “It’s wonderful spending time with you. I’m happy to be here with you, working on this. I really am. You’re precious to me, Shawn.”
“Then it’s weird that you’re here. In the same physical structure as my father.”
“Is he here?” I gasped, betraying myself at once.
Shawn gave a long sigh that I misinterpreted, feeling awful, until he spoke.
“I feel especially terrible that I was a wedge that acted to drive you both apart,” he said. “What can I do to push you back together again? You all obviously were in love. Are in love?”
I screwed my eyes closed and shook my head back and forth quickly. “No, no, it’s not your fault. Really. It’s just not going to work out between Patrick and me.”
“But why? Give me one good reason, and I’ll drop it.”
There were several good reasons, but all of them pointed to Shawn. I didn’t want to do that to him. I didn’t want to make him think he was the problem.
But he nodded all the same at my silence. “Loren. I’m going to get you and my father back together. I owe it to you both. I put you through so much, and it wasn’t fair.”
“Please, don’t.” I all but begged. “Don’t concern yourself with it. It’s over. I don’t want you rehashing anything that happened.”
Shawn smiled at me and patted my hand before going back to his designs. I knew I should focus on the project. We’d had enough delays, and I was afraid if Shawn thought he had to play matchmaker, it would completely jettison our hopes for graduating on time.
He looked studious and focused, but I wasn’t sure that I’d heard the last of it.
We did the majority of our project at Shawn’s house, and as the weeks went by, it became easier and easier to focus on the task at hand. There were so many of them. We hosted models in the home studio one at a time; I was always on hand as an ice breaker. The majority of them were women, but there were a few men in the mix, which offered interesting variations on Shawn’s designs. I photographed the entire process, including the hours that it took to transform a human body into an organic canvas for Shawn’s designs.
It was transfixing, the entire project, and I knew it would be magic for our senior project, as long as we finished on time. I took detailed shots of the paintings, as well as portraits of the before and after versions of each model.
“What’s next?” I asked Shawn one afternoon, the latest model on her way out. I was uploading the most recent photos to his computer, deciding that in addition to the book, we would have a website people could visit to better understand the project. I marked a few of the photos as ones that would become prints.
“Next, we graduate.”
I stopped what I was doing, my fingers hovering over the keyboard. “We what?”
“We graduate.” He was grinning. “That was the final model. We’re going to make it. We actually did it. We’ll have to rush print the rest of the photos and frame them ourselves and rush the book, but we did it.”
We whooped and hugged and jumped around, and I finally recognized that it was worth it. Everything was worth it—this feeling of accomplishment, and my best friend here to enjoy it with me.
Chapter 6
The day of the senior project exhibition arrived, and I’d never seen Shawn more excited about anything. It had been such a pleasure working with him, such a relief to know that he was back, truly back, and better than ever.
And when we stepped into the room, my arm thrust through his, it was instantly clear that ours was the best among all the other projects.
Our advisers rushed to meet us.
“It’s stunning,” Mercedes said, flapping her hands, clearly thrilled. “Even the dean agreed that he’d never seen anything like it before. What a brilliant touch to include a live
“Uh-huh.” He looked doubtful. “Is it weird spending time with me, after…?”
“Stop!” I said. “It’s wonderful spending time with you. I’m happy to be here with you, working on this. I really am. You’re precious to me, Shawn.”
“Then it’s weird that you’re here. In the same physical structure as my father.”
“Is he here?” I gasped, betraying myself at once.
Shawn gave a long sigh that I misinterpreted, feeling awful, until he spoke.
“I feel especially terrible that I was a wedge that acted to drive you both apart,” he said. “What can I do to push you back together again? You all obviously were in love. Are in love?”
I screwed my eyes closed and shook my head back and forth quickly. “No, no, it’s not your fault. Really. It’s just not going to work out between Patrick and me.”
“But why? Give me one good reason, and I’ll drop it.”
There were several good reasons, but all of them pointed to Shawn. I didn’t want to do that to him. I didn’t want to make him think he was the problem.
But he nodded all the same at my silence. “Loren. I’m going to get you and my father back together. I owe it to you both. I put you through so much, and it wasn’t fair.”
“Please, don’t.” I all but begged. “Don’t concern yourself with it. It’s over. I don’t want you rehashing anything that happened.”
Shawn smiled at me and patted my hand before going back to his designs. I knew I should focus on the project. We’d had enough delays, and I was afraid if Shawn thought he had to play matchmaker, it would completely jettison our hopes for graduating on time.
He looked studious and focused, but I wasn’t sure that I’d heard the last of it.
We did the majority of our project at Shawn’s house, and as the weeks went by, it became easier and easier to focus on the task at hand. There were so many of them. We hosted models in the home studio one at a time; I was always on hand as an ice breaker. The majority of them were women, but there were a few men in the mix, which offered interesting variations on Shawn’s designs. I photographed the entire process, including the hours that it took to transform a human body into an organic canvas for Shawn’s designs.
It was transfixing, the entire project, and I knew it would be magic for our senior project, as long as we finished on time. I took detailed shots of the paintings, as well as portraits of the before and after versions of each model.
“What’s next?” I asked Shawn one afternoon, the latest model on her way out. I was uploading the most recent photos to his computer, deciding that in addition to the book, we would have a website people could visit to better understand the project. I marked a few of the photos as ones that would become prints.
“Next, we graduate.”
I stopped what I was doing, my fingers hovering over the keyboard. “We what?”
“We graduate.” He was grinning. “That was the final model. We’re going to make it. We actually did it. We’ll have to rush print the rest of the photos and frame them ourselves and rush the book, but we did it.”
We whooped and hugged and jumped around, and I finally recognized that it was worth it. Everything was worth it—this feeling of accomplishment, and my best friend here to enjoy it with me.
Chapter 6
The day of the senior project exhibition arrived, and I’d never seen Shawn more excited about anything. It had been such a pleasure working with him, such a relief to know that he was back, truly back, and better than ever.
And when we stepped into the room, my arm thrust through his, it was instantly clear that ours was the best among all the other projects.
Our advisers rushed to meet us.
“It’s stunning,” Mercedes said, flapping her hands, clearly thrilled. “Even the dean agreed that he’d never seen anything like it before. What a brilliant touch to include a live
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