Caught on Camera (Love Through a Lens, #1)

by Chelsea Curto

“Have you been deadlifting?” “Deadlifting my wine glass to my mouth,” she answers, and I laugh again.

“Is there a reason you’re pretending to not know how to skate when I distinctly remember you winning the junior hockey league MVP when we were eight?” My ears turn red, and I dip my chin. “Because I like watching Lacey pretend to know what she’s talking about.”

“Anything I can help with?” he asks, and I shake my head. Not unless you want to fuck me in a gingerbread house at a Christmas tree farm.

“Why do you call me Lacey girl? It’s the only pet name you’ve ever used twice.” “Because I can tell you don’t hate it. And because you’re my girl.”

“So it wasn’t to piss me off? To see how I’d react?” I put my hands on either side of her head and cage her in. “A way to get me to remind you that you’re mine?”

I’m not allowed to want her, but I do anyway.

I grab her by the belt loops of her jeans. I tug her into my chest and cradle her cheek with my hand. I tilt her head back so I can look at her, and she’s smiling at me.

“You make it impossible to stay away,” I say. “So don’t,” she says, and the challenge hangs heavy in the air between us.

“Fuck it,” I ground out, then I bend down and crash my mouth against hers.

🥹😮‍💨🫠

I scoop her up under her thighs and walk us backward until I find a solid wall. Her legs settle around my waist and her heels press into my lower back, a fire kindling at the base of my spine.

I got a taste, but now I want the whole fucking thing.

“Because once you tell me yes, I’m going to make sure no man is ever good enough for you again.”

“Would you have gotten on your knees for me, Lacey?” “Not before you got on yours first.”

I’m going to claim her, so every time someone else is inside her, she’ll be thinking of me.

“Going to fuck you raw,” he says through a strangled exhale. “Really make you mine.”

“I’ve never wanted someone as much as I want you.”

“Sometimes I’m busy taking care of other people, and it’s hard to put myself first,” I admit, and it’s scary to be so honest with him.

I don’t know why his help makes me want to cry, but it does. I think it’s because accepting help isn’t easy for me, and Shawn is so nice. He’s not overbearing or controlling, and knowing he’s picked me to be the one to take care of makes me feel adored in a way I’ve never been before. He doesn’t think I’m weak or incapable of doing things on my own. He’s offering a hand to make sure I don’t go under the water for too long, and it’s the kindest thing anyone’s ever done for me.

I look at Lacey, and it hits me square in the chest. She’s my favorite person in the entire world.

I need Lacey Daniels like I need oxygen.

“I’m lucky to have you in my life, Lacey girl. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for seeing me. You make me happy.” “You make me happy too, Shawn. I’m always going to see you, even when you have trouble seeing yourself. In your dark moments, I’ll be there. Don’t ever forget that.”

“We might as well go get married in Vegas,” I joke back, and he chuckles.

“You want—you deserve someone who isn’t intimidated by your success. Someone who looks at you and sees all your wonderful accomplishments and lifts you up. Someone who isn’t afraid. Someone who knows you’re worth more than a million tons of gold. I hope you never settle for less than that, Lacey girl. Promise me you won’t.”

Meeting him was fate; to expect someone just as wonderful is a pipe dream.

I see all of you, and gosh, I like what’s there. I always have. When this ends, I’m still going to see you, Shawn. The real, full you is one of the most marvelous things I’ve ever gotten to experience, and I feel lucky that we met all those months ago.”

“It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.” “Doesn’t mean I automatically get to see it again.”

When I’m with him, I feel like I can fly.

Seventy thousand people in a stadium or four hundred people in a museum. It doesn’t matter. I always find her, and I’m happier because of it.

“I’ll take a bad day with him over a good day with anyone else.”

Two broken halves are still a whole.”

“Yes and no. I think some love is hot and heavy. It burns fast and bright, like the flash of lightning in a summer storm. Other love takes more time. It’s more… raw. Real. Slow and steady. It’s uncovering bits and pieces of someone and dusting away that coat of armor they’ve put around themselves. It’s also relentless, because it keeps showing up. It’s sneaky and it’s annoying, because just when you think you’ve escaped, just when you think you’ve gotten away without being burned, you realize you’re totally obsessed with someone and your world is on fire when they’re around.”

“You feel more like home to me every day.”

I feel instantly lighter with her joke, like I’m levitating high above the shit swarming around in my brain. Lacey has that effect on me; she always knows exactly the right thing to say. Sometimes I think she’s in my head and reading my thoughts, because there’s no way someone can be so in tune with my emotions.

If she were mine, I’d make sure she smiled every day. A hundred times a day, because the world is a better place when she’s happy.

This woman saved me tonight, and I’m starting to wonder if she wasn’t put in my life by accident but for a very specific reason. To be mine until the end of time.

“Flirting with me, Daniels?” “In your dreams, Holmes,”

I’ve never felt more beautiful than I do when I’m with you.”

I’ve massively fucked up, a mistake I can’t undo. I didn’t make other men not good enough for her. She made other women not good enough for me. Lacey ruined me, all while I was trying not to ruin her.

“I’ll drive the getaway car,”

“I guess that’s life, isn’t it? We’re all just trying to figure it out.”

“We can keep pretending we’re just fuck buddies, Lacey, but you’re wearing my shirt with nothing underneath it. What about this feels fake to you?”

“Careful, Lacey. You keep saying things like that, and I’m never going to let you go.”

I like that it’s hard for him to control himself around me.

“You win every time. It’s not even close. Even with a billion choices, it would still be you.”

“She’s my favorite person in the entire world.”

“Do you—I still want to kiss you,” he says. “I always want to kiss you, even if we’re the only ones in the room. Is that… would that be okay with you?” “Yeah.” I wrap my arms around his neck and bring him close to me. He tumbles onto the mattress, knees knocking against mine. “That would definitely be okay, because I always want to kiss you, too.”

What I thought was the stupidest thing I could have ever done, the biggest mistake that would have ruined our friendship and everything I cared about, ended up being the greatest decision of my life.

“Okay.” Lacey pats my hand and smirks. “Whatever you say, honey bunches of oats.” “Veto. Jesus, Daniels. I’m not a box of cereal. Have some class.”

“Doing the bare minimum shouldn’t be the standard,

“People who like each other always find a way to stay around.”