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“Me neither, honey,” Mrs. Kendall guffawed before hollering even more encouragement. “This is for charity, remember? Put some ‘Oomph’ into it! Hug her to you, Cortes! Woman, make that blouse gape or splash some water on you. We need to know you can see down to her belly button, young man!”
“This isn’t a porno, Mrs. Kendall!” Alec snapped – and then glanced at his ‘buyer’ who was fanning herself even more ardently, before gesturing at the couple in the distance. “Are you expecting that, too?”
“Not expecting…” Willow said sheepishly, looking away.
“Oh mercy,” Colton muttered under his breath as poor Alec’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“She’s wishing for it, you young strapping buck! I know you’ve got it in you, Alec Beckett. Your daddy was a loose cannon back in my day,” Mrs. Kendall encouraged, yelling again at Lance. “C’mon, Cortes, I want this photo to look like the front of a romance book from the seventies. Let’s see some skin, young man. Woman, where’s your cleavage? Get right on in there, ya hot little stud. Pretend like you’ve just been roofied, and now she’s holding out on you. Young woman – act like you’re about to faint, would ya – and let that hot piece of meat hold onto you, lady!”
“Oh my gosh!” both men yelped and looked at Mrs. Kendall in horror. “Would you just stop?!” Colton added. “Lance…”
Alec was suddenly slapping Colton on the arm frantically as the two of them stared in shock at the couple posing and waiting for their picture to be taken. Lance Cortes had the woman in his arms, bent backward, with a firehose now coiled around the two of them, and looked like he was about to kiss her.
“I’m not doing that!” Colton said bluntly, looking at Mrs. Kendall, who wagged her eyebrows at him mischievously.
“You’ll do whatever I say, Handsome,” she crooned. “I paid dearly for you, and I’m gonna frame our picture.”
“Good luck, brother,” Alec said, slapping him on the shoulder and laughing. Apparently, each of them was taking two photos for the calendar, then one as a team, and then one of just the ladies sitting in the fire truck.
“Fischer!” Chief Carpenter called out. “You’re up.”
“C’mon, Handsome…” Mrs. Kendall grinned, yanking him forward by the arm. He saw several of them look at him with pity and hesitantly took off his shirt.
“I cannot believe I’m doing this,” he muttered and felt someone touch his shoulder – Mrs. Kendall. He looked at the old woman, who spoke in a hushed voice to him, away from everyone, giving him a knowing smile.
“I’m not that bad, and you are a little young for me, pumpkin. Heck, you are younger than my own son. Let’s just pretend that I’m making some big stinking scene, and you can cuddle me in a hug.”
Oh, thank heavens…
“I can do that.”
“I had no idea you were shy, Colton Fischer. That’s so sweet.”
He wasn’t about to correct her assumption of him. Instead, he stepped on the green ‘X’ taped to the ground, and the woman stood in front of him. He put his arms around her gingerly, and she nodded, looking utterly thrilled.
“Now, I want you to make a face like you’ve got to go to the bathroom.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Look pained or in distress. Pretend you’ve got the runs, and there is no commode within ten miles…”
“Okay, whatever you want. It’s your photo.”
“Yes, it is, Handsome,” and moments later, his photo shoot was done. Colton glanced up to see the fire chief’s grim expression and the photographer’s. The woman was laughing wildly, wiping her eyes. He glanced at Alec, who was also chuckling, while Willow looked utterly horrified.
“What?”
“The photo… oh man…” Lance and Alec were both laughing hysterically and chuckling.
“What about it?”
“Can I see what it’s going to look like?” Mrs. Kendall was asking the photographer. “Oh, I’m framing that thing and putting it in my bedroom!”
“Wait… what?!”
Colton marched over to look at the photographer’s camera – and his mouth dropped open. Oh yes, it was a sweet, simple, innocent photo where it looked like he was hugging the old woman from behind, and if he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend it was his grandmother or something.
Except for her hand.
