The Virgin’s Guide to Misbehaving (Bluebonnet #4)(4)
Author: Jessica Clare

But when she went in, only Brenna was seated at her desk, and Elise felt a pang of disappointment. No hot, vaguely scary guy to gawk at.

“Hey,” Brenna said, waving cheerily at Elise. She had her new puppy in her hands and forced the puppy to wave a paw. “What brings you here this morning? You come to hang out?”

Elise smiled at her brother’s fiancée and sat down in the chair across from her desk. “I was a little bored and thought I’d come and see about taking some photos. The light is great today.”

“Working? Barf.” Brenna nuzzled her puppy. “No one’s really working today. Isn’t that right, Gollum?”

Elise tactfully refrained from pointing out that Brenna was, in fact, at work, and seated at her work desk. “Where’s Grant?”

“Sleeping in. I wore him out.” She gave Elise a wickedly smug smile. “I wouldn’t ask questions if I were you.”

“Um. Okay. I don’t think I want to know more.”

“So how goes the man hunt?” Brenna looked excited. “It’s been a week. You score yet?”

“Man hunt?” Elise shook her head, feeling the hot flush creep up her cheeks. “I’m not looking for a man.” But even as she said it, a flurry of images flashed through her mind. Rome Lozada, shirtless and muddy. Crissy’s email. Not enough life in her pictures.

“What about those beefcakes that Dane just took into the woods? We could always call them back for a minor emergency and send you off with them.” Brenna gave her an encouraging look and wagged her eyebrows. “That’s how Miranda met Dane, remember?”

“Um, I don’t think any of them were my type,” Elise said in a soft voice. One had camo on his face and looked as if he’d want to skip the camping phase and go right to the skinning of animals.

“You’re so picky. No one’s your type, according to you.” Brenna kissed her puppy’s wrinkly forehead.

Elise gave her a faint smile. She wanted to ask Brenna how she could get more life experience—Brenna would know more than anyone.

But there was something that held her back. Maybe because Brenna was distracted this morning by the puppy? Maybe because she’d run into a few men on the way in and that had set her on edge?

She realized that anything she asked Brenna would be innocently blurted back out to her brother, Grant, and right now she didn’t want to have to deal with it. She could just imagine the pitying looks that Grant would send her way. His poor, fragile baby sister.

She was so tired of being the delicate flower everyone had to protect.

Mentally, she squashed her idea of asking Brenna about ways to get life experience. She’d simply have to think of something on her own.

“So whatcha working on?” Brenna asked. “More pinups?”

She shook her head. “Not until Beth Ann gets back. I have the keys to her salon, but no appointments set up. We still don’t even have a website.” And if she wanted to be honest, the pinups were fun if Beth Ann was there. By herself, she couldn’t really do hair and makeup. She didn’t have the skill. “I thought I’d see if you guys needed pictures for the paintball brochures.”

“Probably,” Brenna said, cuddling her puppy against her chest. “Sounds kind of boring to me.”

“I don’t mind it,” Elise said, watching Brenna play with the puppy’s ears. It was like trying to keep the attention of a two-year-old. How on earth did she not drive ever-so-proper, work-oriented Grant insane? “Is it okay if I go ahead and head out to look at the grounds?”

“Sure,” Brenna said. “I’ll stay here in case Grant wakes up and wants me to work. Or did you want company?”

“No, I’m fine. I know where it is. Thank you, though.”

“Have fun.”

Chickening out, Elise shouldered her camera bag and headed out of the lodge.

The day was a great one for photos. The skies were bright but overcast, ensuring that any photos she took wouldn’t be a mess of shadows. There was a hint of a chill in the air, but Elise tugged the sleeves of her old sweatshirt down over her bare hands to warm them. The breeze scattered the leaves, and she watched it for a minute, then decided that it would be good for the picture. She could always take new ones in the spring if she was still in Bluebonnet.

Not that she had a reason to be. She was just drifting, in between everything, at home nowhere.

She hated that. But if she set down roots in Bluebonnet, she’d need a reason to keep hanging around. The Wilderness Survival Expeditions business was too small to need a photographer on hand at all times. Beth Ann already had her hands full with her salon. Elise didn’t have a home here, or a car. Or anyone that she could say she was staying for.

There was Grant, but Grant had Brenna. The last thing he needed was his pathologically shy sister lurking around in shadowy corners, cringing at the thought of someone talking to her.

Elise headed up the trail to the area that had been fenced off for the paintball course. They’d set aside a few acres, enclosed it with a rail fence that was already getting covered with multiple colors of paint, and were working on adding obstacles and scenery for game scenarios. Rome and Colt’s pop had actually built a rather neat castle construct, and she wanted to get a photo of that for the brochure, since it would likely be the focus of a multitude of games.

She pulled her camera out and selected a lens, then did a few test shots, reviewing them on the screen on the back of the camera. As a hobbyist, she loved “real” film and developing her own photos in a darkroom, but practicality meant that digital won out almost every time. There was never an issue with too many chemicals, not enough chemicals, and underdeveloped photos when all you had to do was import your file.

Elise tucked her bag near the fence post, out of the way, and began to trek through the rolling hills and bushy growth of the paintball course. She snapped a few photos here and there, testing shots, playing with angles, and trying to mentally picture what would look good in the brochures. In several spots, mini barricades made of stacked logs had been set up at corner angles for defensible positions. Someone was putting a lot of work and thought into the paintball course, and Elise was impressed by it. Heck, she didn’t play paintball and it even looked like fun to her.

Over a ridge, she made out the edges of the castle. Constructed entirely of wood, the castle was about twenty feet tall at its highest, and had walls about ten feet high angling over to the side of a cliff. It was defensible, but the back end was open so no team could dig in and corner themselves. The tops of the castle walls were crenellated, and an orange flag was flapping at the top of the castle itself. The side of the wall facing her was painted gray with black lines denoting a brick pattern. It was rather cool, she admitted to herself, and snapped a photo of it from afar, then moved closer to get additional shots.