Page 14 of Faking the Goal

Ah.

He said the magic words.

I lift the camera again.

Click.

The flash goes off.

Kentaro closes his eyes and exhales through his nose so slowly I swear I can almost see smoke curling from his nostrils like an angry fucking bull.

When he opens them again, I grin.

"There. That one's probably adorable."

"Lewis."

"Oh, we're on last-name terms now? Azuma."

His jaw tightens. "There are twenty other players on this team who practically start posing the second they see you. Go photograph one of them."

"I do photograph them. Extensively." I gesture toward the ice, where his teammates are already warming up. "Unfortunately, my assignment is to cover the Ridgewater Warriors, and last time I checked, you're still on the roster."

"You don't need fifty pictures of me walking out of a tunnel."

"Good thing I've only taken six."

"You took at least twelve."

"You counted?"

His mouth presses into a flat line.

I lower the camera against my chest, unable to stop my grin from spreading. "Wow. For someone who hates having his picture taken, you're paying an awful lot of attention to me."

"I'm paying attention to the fucking flash going off in my eyes."

"Occupational hazard of being a star athlete, Sunshine."

"No. An occupational hazard is getting hit with a puck." He points at my camera. "That is you being annoying on purpose."

"Two things can be true at once."

His nostrils flare.

God, he's easy.

And after the shit he gave me at the football house, I don't feel even slightly guilty about enjoying this.

"You know," I say, "most people actually cooperate when someone from Student Media photographs them. Your teammates even smile occasionally. It's this fascinating thing people do with their faces when they're not perpetually miserable."

"I don't care what my teammates do."

"Clearly. God forbid a little joy infects you by association."

His gaze drops briefly to my camera before returning to my face. "Just keep the flash out of my eyes."

For once, there isn't a sarcastic edge to the request. He sounds genuinely irritated, and some small, reasonable part of me knows I probably should stop fucking with him.