Stereo (28 page)

“This is all just so… confusing and... unlike anything I’ve ever known in my reality before this.  I feel like I can barely remember the person I was before I met you.”

Adam felt exactly the same way. “I get that.” He looked down at his shuffling feet.  “More than you know.”

“I want you to know how thankful for that I am. I’m realizing that if you hadn’t come along I would still be so stuck in this rut that I didn’t even realize I was stuck in.  You opened my eyes, you woke me up!  No one has ever had that kind of effect on me and… I guess it scared me.”

He heard the words she was saying to him and couldn’t bite his tongue. “Come to the barbeque. Noodle is burning burgers and hot dogs right as we speak, there’s plenty to go around.”

A long silence followed.  “Maybe I’ll stop by.”

“Are you serious right now?”  He couldn’t help the shy smile splashing across his face and was eternally thankful she couldn’t see it.  “What about the rules?”

Shaun hesitated.  “Fuck those rules,” she finally whispered.

“Ah…”  Adam looked up towards the ceiling of his bedroom and bit back a ‘hallelujah’.  “A more beautiful three words have never been spoken, babe.”

She giggled.  “I’ll call you when I’m almost done here.”

“I’ll answer,” he whispered.

“K.”

He waited for her to hang up first, which she did, before slowly ending the call on his end, as well.

--

Shaun sat on the edge of the pool, shaking like a leaf and baffled as to why the bright afternoon sun overhead had done nothing to warm her up in the three hours that she’d been wading around in that freezing cold pool. The director’s assistant, Brenda, continued to run around, grabbing her more hot tea and draping towels and robes across Shaun’s trembling shoulders.  At that moment Shaun was sure that if she never saw another chamomile tea for the rest of her life it would be too soon.  It had now been over three hours with her in that soaking wet couture Versace corset and dark washed jeans, trying to be the model she had never been in a sub-zero pool. She was slowly starting to realize that Adam had been right.  They had done take, after take, after take and nothing she did seemed to be good enough for the French photo editor. He was now staring at her shots on a computer screen as she sat there freezing.  She could see the disapproval in his eyes from all the way across the pool.

“No, keep your legs in the water!” Brenda, the assistant, cried when she saw Shaun beginning to climb out.

“But I’m f-f-f-f-freezing,” Shaun managed to sputter, her teeth chattering loudly as she did.

“If you keep your legs in the water it will be less of a shock when you get back in again.”

“Again?!” Shaun cried. This wasn’t over yet? She slowly felt tears touch her eyes.  “How can he not have a useable shot yet?”

“He’s not looking for ‘useable’, love, he’s looking for
perfection.”

“But I’m s-so c-cold.”

Brenda threw her jet black hair over her head and bent down so she was on Shaun’s level. “I know you’re new to this industry so I’m going to give you some solid advice today.  Nobody cares about the model.  You’re nothing but a coat rack with a pretty face, and if you want to last in this business you need to learn how to be freezing cold, burning hot, and completely uncomfortable in every way without uttering a word of unhappiness about it.  Okay?”

Shaun’s mouth was hanging open at the assistant’s candor, but she managed a struggled. “O-o-o-okay.”

“We have the shot,” the director exclaimed from across the pool.

Shaun felt her heart--or the parts of it that weren’t frozen, anyway--leap with joy.

“That’s a wrap!”

“Oh my god!” She leapt out of the pool yelped out loudly when she turned and was immediately wrapped up in a pair of arms.  She’d expected it to be the overly honest assistant and when she saw the green eyes that had grown so painfully familiar to her, she gasped, “Adam!” 

“You’re shaking like a leaf, Jesus fucking Christ.”  Fury took over his face.

“Adam, I got the… the, g-g-got the…”  She closed her eyes and fought to stop her teeth from chattering so she could speak a full sentence.  “I got the shot,” she finally bellowed, her eyes growing wide with joy.  “Can you believe it?”

Adam was raging.  “No, I can’t.  Let’s get you inside.”

Once they were alone inside the warm confines of the make-up trailer, Shaun was still stammering on as Adam patted her face down with warm wash cloths and rubbed her arms through the many towels draped over her.  “This is so b-b-bizzare!”

“You said it,” Adam mumbled.

“I can’t believe V-Vogue got a picture of me that they actually think is g-good.  Vogue!”

Adam didn’t know if her non-stop chatter was a direct result of the fact that she was freezing to death, or if it was helping her cause but he didn’t have to heart to shut up her up.  “Why would they make you swim around in a pair of jeans and a corset?  This is fucking ridiculous.”

“It’s f-fashion dah-ling,” Shaun said in her best British accent, with a wave of her hand.

“Who is the director?”

“It d-doesn’t m-matter.”

“But it does, though.  He needs to know that it’s not okay to do this.  Not to you.”

Shaun was surprised when she felt a little wave of fear at the idea of Adam confronting the photo director.  Since when did she give a damn about this ‘modeling’ career of hers?  She
wasn’t
a model.  She was a writer. Right?

She tilted her head at him. “W-wait.  Aren’t you supposed to be at the barbeque?  I-I t-told you I would c-call you when I was d-done, didn’t I?”

He draped two more towels over her body, frustrated that she didn’t seem to be getting any warmer.  “There’s enough alcohol in my backyard for the whole of Los Angeles. The barbeque is not going anywhere.”  His eyes ran across her shivering face.  She looked beautiful.  Cold, but beautiful.  He yearned to tell her but bit his tongue.

Shaun was suddenly hit with the realization that he’d been worried about her.  She smiled at him at the thought. “Were you w-worried about me?”

“Of course I was worried about you. Look at you.” Even as he took in the warm smile on her face he was unable to smile back.  He’d never been so sincerely pissed off in his life.  “I have no idea how you’ve made it this far in life on your own.”

Her smile fell.  “Hey.”

“I’m serious.”  He finally let a hint of a smile hit his lips.  “You’ve got to be the dumbest smart girl I know.”

It was finally hitting Shaun that Adam was actually angry.  It made her think back to her conversation with Celia, and she was hit with an equally sweet and sour realization.  She didn’t have to test Adam to see if he would be her Prince Charming and come to her rescue.  He’d already done it on his own, without her even having to ask.  The familiar wave of guilt hit her like a ton of bricks and as her body seemed to shake her to her very core physically, she was experiencing the same ice cold shift emotionally, as well.  She stood from the high chair she’d been sitting on and looked up at him.  Her knees shook. “A-Adam?”

“Shhhh.” He continued to run his hands violently up and down her arms.

“I-I…. I want it to be you.  I want you to be my… my first.”

Adam’s hands froze on her arms as he watched her carefully before slowly beginning to move, again, much more gingerly than before.  He wondered if she was delirious from the cold or if she was actually aware of the words coming out of her mouth.  “Do you know what you just said?”

“I-I-I…”  She jammed her eyes shut when the freeze seemed to penetrate her more.  “I—“

“Okay, you’re not warming up, at all. We have to take these clothes off.”  He grabbed the bottom of her corset and pulled at the perfect velvet bow that held it together at the bottom.  The boning of the corset immediately gave way, opening just enough to show a hint of her chocolate-y skin and black bra.  Adam had a moment where he wondered if he could do this.  It was short lived as the need to get her warm overwhelmed everything else.  “I can’t fucking believe they did this to you.  You should have called me.”

Shaun allowed him to pull her corset apart until it fell to a heap on the floor behind her, too cold and happy to be around him to worry about the fact that she was now standing in front of him in her black lace bra, soaking wet jeans and heels.  As far as she was concerned she was as good as naked.  It was definitely the most naked she’d been in front of any man and she didn’t care.  It felt right. She didn’t miss the wave of dark desire that seemed to wash over his green eyes as he took in her half naked form or the way he swallowed heavily as he fingered the button of her jeans. 

“These too, babe,” he whispered.

Shaun continued to shiver.  “Did you—did, did. Did you hear what I said? About me and you?”

“I heard you,” he said, gruffly. He undid the button and zipper of her jeans before bending down and tugging the impossibly wet fabric down her soft brown legs, revealing her matching black bikini briefs that stood out perfectly against her dewy skin.  She kicked off her heels, one at a time, so he could tug the jeans passed her freshly manicured red toes.  She felt more like a woman in that moment than she ever had, and it was exhilarating.

Adam focused on keeping his breathing even.  Every inch of her body was moist, some areas even dripping wet.  For her to be in this state the first time he saw her naked was nothing short of torture.  The fact that she was so delirious from the cold that she was now propositioning him for sex was just the icing on top of an already irresistible cake.

He stood tall and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her soaking wet body firmly into the open flaps of his leather jacket.  He wrapped one flap around her, then the other, until she was completely encircled in it.  In him.

Her eyes fluttered slowly closed when she could clearly feel his length pressing against her even through his skinny jeans.  The warmth of his body immediately enveloped her, but she felt like his hardness was on fire, almost burning her through her lace underwear. “Adam...”

“You’re delirious,” he said, unable to make eye contact with her as he ran his hands up and down her back, just barely brushing the curve of her ass.  “Two days ago you were telling me you wanted to keep this professional.”

“I don’t.  I only said that because… because I was scared of how much I…I want you.  I do want you.”

Adam finally looked into her eyes, his cloudy green orbs searching hers. “I don’t think you have any idea what you want.”

“I know that I don’t want to be cold anymore.  Wouldn’t sex be a great way to keep warm?”

He smiled coyly, even as he tried to fight it.

“Don’t be mad at me.”

“I’m never mad at you. I’m just…”  Adam looked away, reminding himself to keep his cool.

“Yes you are. You’re totally mad at me.” Shaun took in his cheekbones—which were pulled taunt in frustration—and sighed.  “I know you think that I’m playing some back and forth game with you and… in a way, I guess I am.  It’s just because I’m totally confused about you.  Then I spoke to my parents about you the other night and they had… a lot of opinions.  I pathetically seek their approval on everything I do simply because they’ve never given it to me. I go reeling when they disapprove of anything I do. I guess yesterday was no exception.”

His rubbing of her arms was slowly falling in intensity.  “So what’s their opinion?”

Shaun wondered whether or not she should regale him with all of the gems her parents had blasted her with the night before at dinner and decided that if she wasn’t going to be honest with him about anything else she might as well be honest about this. 

“They think that me being seen with you will make me look like a fool.  They don’t think that you’re e-equipped—or will ever be equipped--to raise our black children.”  She giggled.  “As if children would ever be in the picture for us.  If they only k-knew, right?”

Adam noted that she was still shaking, not as much as before, but still shaking.  With great effort, he took his arms from around her and removed his jacket.

“Hold this,” he said, waiting for her to take the leather jacket from his hands. He began working on the buttons of his plaid shirt.

Shaun’s mouth gaped open as, with every button he undid, Adam revealed a little more of himself.  His torso was long, not obnoxiously ripped like some roid-head, but strong.  She could see the subtle definition in his abs and, when he removed the shirt completely, new tattoos that she’d never seen caught her attention.  As he draped the plaid shirt over her shoulders she put her arms in slowly, still entranced by his tattoos. 

“Who’s that?” she asked, running her finger gingerly along a beautifully done tattoo of a dark haired, smiling woman on his right pec.  He had many other pieces of black and white art dancing across his chest and arms, but something about this one stood out.  The woman’s smile was almost flirty, making Shaun instantly intrigued and interested.  Maybe it was a woman that Adam had loved once.  Maybe she was one of the inspirations for some of the beautiful music he’d made.

Adam slowly buttoned each button, both happy and regretful that he was covering her up.  “My mom,” he answered, softly.