Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“Really.” I handed the paper back to her.
“You don’t even want to know what you’d get out of it?” Her eyebrows rose.
“I don’t have to get something out of helping you, Callie.”
“But I want you to!” She composed herself with a quick breath. “I mean, this is a business proposal. Yes, I’d need some training, and I’ve already enrolled in an online seminar for this kind of photography—”
“You know I already said yes, right?” A smile quirked my lips.
“Just let me get this out!” She leaned forward and put a finger across my lips.
I resisted the urge to suck it into my mouth.
“As I was saying.” She removed her finger, then folded the World Geographic flyer and put it back in her pocket. “I’ve already invested in some equipment. I would absolutely make sure the skiers signed releases, and you could use whatever photographs we get for marketing. Ava said that might help you out, since I’m not really in a position to pay your hourly fee. See? It’s a business proposal.” She grinned.
“A good one too.” I nodded, my chest going liquid at the joy in her eyes. “If you’re taking marketing photos, the extra flight hours would just be a business expense for us.” I probably would have agreed to fly her to every resort in Colorado if it made her smile like that at me again. “You know, you could enter that competition this year if you wanted to. It says the deadline is in January. We’d have months to get you ready.”
“Oh no. I’m not looking for anything like that. Sutton…” She vehemently shook her head. “Besides, I’d need way more than a couple months,” she scoffed, turning slightly so she could see the screen and palming my mouse. “Here, I’ll show you.” She navigated to the resort’s webpage. “I’ve taken all of these, but they’re not the same.”
“These are good.” The pictures were of skiers and boarders coming down the runs. Some were mid-jump on the little manmade area we had, and others were action shots in the trees.
“Thank you. I just want to up my game. Getting into that gallery, even as small as it is, would make Sutton proud.” She shrugged. “It would make me proud too.”
“It’s a great gallery. They have some of my mom’s pieces.” The ones Reed had been able to track down. The ones Dad hadn’t pulverized in rage-filled grief.
“Her sculptures are phenomenal,” Callie said softly.
“She was phenomenal.” I pushed away the wave of sorrow that always loomed when it came to missing Mom and leaned in toward the screen, my shoulder brushing Callie’s arm. The contact was electric as always. “These say photos are courtesy of Callie Sutton Photography.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Part of the deal when I renegotiated my contract about five years ago was photo credit, even though the resort owns the rights to everything I shoot on property. And I thought combining our names was cute for my LLC.” She tensed. “But I’d need you to sign over some of the rights for the photos I’d shoot.”
“The ones you’d want to submit to the gallery,” I guessed.
“Yes. Assuming you can sign on behalf of Madigan Mountain.” Her teeth bit into her lower lip for a second. “And I know that might be abusing the fact that we live together, and I can ask Reed—”
“I can sign for Madigan.” I’d never been happier about the deal Reed and I had cut before I came home, and it had nothing to do with the money. This was something I could give Callie. “It’s not a problem. I’ll handle Reed if he has any questions. And we can start whenever you want. We don’t have a trip planned tomorrow, but I’ll give you the schedule.” Had to admit, I liked the idea of spending time with her outside the house, even if it was for work. I couldn’t seem to get enough of her.
She grinned. “That would be amazing.”
“Your shots will be amazing, especially once we get you harnessed in so you can lean out the door of the bird.” I nodded, already thinking through the safest way to get her a clean view.
Her mouth dropped open. “Harnessed?”
“Oh yeah.” I grinned. “We already have a rig.”
“You think I should hang out the door of a helicopter?” Her eyes flew wide.
I wanted to kiss the surprise right off her face.
“It’s safe,” I promised. “Come on, I’ll show you.” I shut down the computer quickly and locked the front door as I led Callie into the hangar. We were closed for the day, so it wasn’t like I was shutting out guests or anything.
She was quiet as I slid the door open to the helicopter and climbed inside. “Come on.” I walked back between the seats, and she followed me in, watching as I opened the container near the back row and pulled out the harness. “See?”