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Sameen hadn’t planned on becoming a model. She’d planned to become a doctor, but at some point that idea had become more miserable than appealing and she’d dropped out of med school. She still had student loans, though, and no idea of what she wanted to do. Somehow, she’d stumbled into modeling.
It could have been a worse choice, she supposed.
Pretty quickly, she’d become a very sought after model in New York City. By some quirk of fate, she’d even become a favorite of the very popular photographer Harold Finch, which of course just made her more sought after. Apparently doing shoots with Mr. Finch or his pet model John Reese meant everyone wanted to rub shoulders with her and enjoy a bit of the popularity.
It was all fine with her, she’d never really wanted or needed the attention brought on by her modelling career. Really, it was more amusing than anything most of the time. Except for that time she’d had to punch a paparazzo in the face, but that was an entirely different situation.
Shoots with Harold and John were her favorites, for more than just that they paid the best, though she’d never tell them that. She liked watching how the two of them worked seamlessly together, always knowing exactly what the other one wanted them to do. A little voice in the back of her head said she might want something like that, but she was content to stand in shadows and watch.
At least until Root came and twisted everything up.
The first time Sameen heard about Root was a few days after a shoot with Harold. Apparently in a nigh unheard of move, he’d taken on an assistant photographer, an apprentice as it were. She was a darling of the underground photography scene, shooting images that either enthralled or enraged. It was evidently quite impressive, but Sameen didn’t actually meet Root for a few weeks after that, and honestly she didn’t give much thought to the other woman until she saw her at Harold’s next shoot.
“Mm, the infamous Sameen Shaw,” Root purred when Harold introduced them. Her eyes swept up Sameen’s body like Root wanted to eat her alive. “So nice to finally meet you.”
Sameen hummed noncommittally and turned her attention to she shoot, keeping half an eye on Root throughout the rest of the day. The other woman seemed strangely interested in her, but she couldn’t say the interest was entirely one sided. Root was gorgeous and just as brilliant with a camera as Sameen had heard.
They flirted a little throughout the shoot, though not unprofessionally so in Sameen’s experience. She liked Root’s cheekiness, which wasn’t something she said about people very often. It made her feel wanted for something other than her looks or her connections.
After a shoot, Harold liked to take his models for dinner to decompress and talk over the experience so he could improve upon it. Sameen headed for the dressing room so she could change while he cleaned up before they all left to whichever too expensive restaurant was his favorite that week.
Of course Root was waiting for her when she went in.
“Stalking me now?” Sameen asked. She wasn’t really bothered, but she had an image to uphold.
“Oh, I think you like it,” Root said with a smile. She stalked a little closer, heat in her eyes as she watched Sameen strip off her slinky pink shirt and exchange it for a plain black one.
“Hmm,” Sameen said. A smile curled at the corner of her lips as the other woman stopped just in front of her. A few inches more and they would be kissing. “You know, I think I do.”
Sameen wasn’t sure which one of them moved first, but a moment later they were kissing. It was hot and wet and so good that she couldn’t help but press forward, hands reaching up to curl into Root’s long brown hair. She felt answering hands grip her hips, hot on her skin, pulling them together until there was absolutely no space between them.
They kissed and kissed, only breaking apart long enough to gasp for air a few times, until a knock on the door of the dressing room made them jerk apart. They looked at each other, lips swollen, and Sameen had to smile at this unlikely outcome.
“Are you two finished?” Harold called. “Our reservations are for in fifteen minutes.”
“Out in a moment,” Root called, giving Sameen a wink.
Sameen pulled away and quickly pulled on a pair of pants over the underwear from the last scene they’d shot. “All set,” she said, grabbing her bag and walking over to the door. She stopped before she got to the door and turned, giving Root a quick kiss. “We’ll finish this later.”