“Shit.” And thank fuck for neck straps. I’d dropped cameras before, and there was nothing more depressing than seeing an expensive Canon smashed on the ground.
Strong hands steadied me. “Sorry, mate. Didn’t mean to scare ya.”
Kim. Of course it was. As his melodic brogue reached me, even over the pounding music, I let myself imagine that I’d recognise it anywhere.
Idiot.I got my bearings and tried to let my sensible inner voice calm me into someone remotely like the cool dude I liked to kid myself I could be. Trouble was, I wasn’t cool, never had been, and I met Kim’s twinkling gaze with a noise that was suspiciously like a giggle.Nice one,numbnuts.
Kim appeared unfazed, though he waited until I’d gathered my equilibrium, then offered me a beer. “Cheeky one on the job?”
He didn’t have to ask twice. I took the bottle and downed half of it in one go. “Cheers. It’s fucking boiling up here.”
“Yeah, I thought you looked a little parched.” Kim drank from a bottle of water with a smirk that made me forget about the camera around my neck and the band tearing up the stage below. “And happy, which makes sense.”
“Makes sense?”
“Aye. No offence, but I could tell the jam shit wasn’t your bag. Had you pegged for an artist . . . a designer, or a sculptor maybe, when I first saw you, but the camera fits. It suits you.”
“Suits me?” In the back of my mind, I was aware how thick I was likely coming across, but my ability to string a sentence together seemed to evaporate more with every second I stared at Kim, at his messy hair and warm eyes, at the artfully tatty T-shirt stretched across his lean chest. Dear God, he was something else.
Kim chuckled. “Trust me. I’ve been watching you dart about this place since I got here, and it’s probably the coolest shit I’ve ever seen. Last photo I took, I chopped my pa’s head off.”
I didn’t see how that made me cool, but I took the compliment. Coming from Kim, it felt more sincere than anything I’d heard in a while. “Trust me, there’ll be plenty of shots where I’ve decapitated people. Shit happens.”
Kim smiled, but said nothing as I refocussed and snapped the last few angles I’d had on my list. When I was done, I half expected him to be gone, but found him behind me again. “So this is what you do?” he asked.
“Some days.” I reclaimed my now-warm beer and took a healthy swig. “When I’m lucky.”
“What do you do the rest of the time?”
“Editing, some design work. Anything that keeps me out of trouble.”
“Trouble? You don’t look the type.”
Kim leaned closer, eyebrow raised. I absorbed the scent of fresh-cut wood, and covered the dizzying effect it had on me with a snort. “Tell that to my stepmum. Everyone always told her my brother Gaz would give her the most grief, but I smashed that shit out of the water.”
“I’m intrigued.”
“Yeah?” I studied Kim, tried to gauge if his bright eyes and open stance were really the flirtation I wanted them to be. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
Okay.My brain failed me for a moment. Most of my anecdotes from the past involved heavy drinking and the hooliganism that inevitably followed, but I had other stories too, tales of being caught with my pants down by my elderly grandmother, furtively exploring the anatomy of the summer help from the neighbouring farm. Did Kim seriously want to hear those? The rational voice inside me said no, until Kim edged closer, his thigh touched mine, his wayward hair brushed my cheek, and the air shifted.
“I’ve been watching you all night,” he said.
“Really?” I swallowed thickly. “What did you see?”
“Enough.”
“Enough for what?”
“Enough to know that I want to see more.”
I tightened my grip on my beer bottle. Felt the warmth of the glass seep into my palm. “Like what?”
In answer, Kim plucked the bottle from my hand and set it on a nearby ledge. “Everything.”
We pushed our way through the crowded venue. Kim’s hand was hot at the base of my spine, and I felt him behind me with every nerve in my body. It crossed my mind to make for the nearest exit, catch a cab back to my Porthkennack flat, and screw his brains out in the comfort of my bedroom, but I couldn’t wait.