Wet (The Water's Edge #1) (16 page)

Aubrey drew me to a little alcove off to the side. “I’ve got some ideas. I mean, I’m sure you know what you’re doing and all, but I wanted to make sure we were on the same page.” She was as excited as a little girl playing dress up. I started to feel guilty for judging her so quickly.

She pulled up a Pinterest board she’d made, and I reviewed the photos. They were all sultry without crossing over into sleazy, and I got the feel for the general vibe she was going for. She’d done her eye makeup dark and dramatic, and her hair was in big, sexy, loose curls. She was styled perfectly for what I had in mind.

“We’ll shoot it so it’s all about the tease. For you, I’m thinking black and white. Make it more classic and sophisticated. High-end editorial style.” I saw her eyes light up at the end. Bingo! Nailed it. “Let me see what you were thinking of for clothes.”

Nine outfits were displayed in her dressing room. Yes, her dressing room. As in, a separate room from her closet with a settee and a big, round ottoman and even a little mini fridge, all done in pale Parisian pink and black. “You like?”

I looked over the ensembles with a critical eye. Classic men’s white dress shirt, yes. Oversized, chunky v-neck fisherman’s sweater, yes. The other choices all consisted of lace, satin, mesh, and feathers.

Feathers?

“There’s too much going on in some of these lingerie sets,” I said. “The focus needs to be on you. Your skin, your curves, and maybe even your hair, but not so much on the clothes. They’re more background. You’re the main attraction.”

She nodded, digesting my words. “I like the way you think.” She moved through the lingerie options and tossed all but two in a pile. She kept one black and one white. “We’ll use these. Angel and devil.”

I had to force myself not to comment on that last part. It was just too easy. “All right, so let’s get down to the details. How much do you want to show? What are you comfortable with?”

She’d clearly already thought this all through. “From the back, everything is fine. From the front, underwear down below, and as long as no nipples show up top, I’m good.”

I set my bag down and pulled out my camera, all business now. “Let’s start with the men’s white button down. Nothing underneath. And I want you to pin your hair up high, so we can see your neck for these first shots. Just pin it up quick so it’s messy and haphazard. And throw on whatever music makes you feel sexy. I need you to be as relaxed as possible for this.”

Aubrey smiled, seemingly delighted, and clapped her hands together in glee. “This is going to be so fun!” While she sat at her dressing table to fix her hair, she nodded at the mini fridge. “It’s fully stocked, so feel free to help yourself.”

I went over to see what she had. Soda, fresh fruit juice, water, even tiny bottles of liquor. I chose a bottle of orange juice. “Can I get you anything?” I offered.

She crossed over to me, grabbed the tiny bottle of Bacardi, and tossed it back. “You wanted me loose, right? This should help.” She lifted one shoulder in a shrug, and the robe slipped down her arm.

While she changed, I moved around her bedroom, checking the lighting from various angles. In front of the windows would be good for these first shots. With the light shining through the shirt, her curves would be visible as shadows beneath. I dragged a chair out of the way. Better.

The bass thumped loudly, and I jumped, startled by the volume. Ray J’s “Sexy Can I” blared from a hidden sound system, filling the air with its playful vibe and talk about a Kodak moment. I grinned at Aubrey as she shimmied her way into the room, holding the shirt closed at her breasts. “Perfect song, right?” She smiled back.

“It is,” I agreed, pulling the camera up to my eye. “Just dance around there for a bit, if you want. Do what feels natural. Let’s just see what happens before we start doing actual poses.”

She moved to the small open space beside the window and kept the beat with her hips. She faced away from me and raised her hands above her head, causing the shirt to rise up, allowing a glimpse of her butt cheek. I snapped off a few shots and tried to direct her a little. “Look over your shoulder at the camera every once in a while. Keep it flirty. Pretend I’m the hottest guy you’ve ever seen.”

She danced around a little more until the song ended. Then I started working her through some specific poses: Facing away from me and letting the shirt fall to her elbows, exposing her upper back. Extending her arms out and holding the window frame, so the shirt fell around her and the sunlight shone through, leaving her silhouette outlined underneath. Profile shots looking out the window. Some sitting on the window frame, one long, shapely leg propped up opposite her.

She changed into the fisherman’s sweater, and Shaggy’s “Boombastic” kicked in. I lowered the camera, feeling lulled into a sense of camaraderie. So far, Aubrey had been nothing but cooperative and enthusiastic. Now I just felt like a bitch for my earlier misgivings. “Shaggy’s awesome. I wonder what ever happened to him? Do you have any more of his stuff?” I was surprised to find myself enjoying the shoot.

Aubrey nodded and adjusted her playlist so a few more Shaggy songs would play next. For this look, I had her unpin her hair so the curls hid most of her face. Letting the sweater droop off one shoulder, baring it and the top curve of her breast, she tugged the sweater down between her legs, as if trying to modestly hide herself. I took shots of that pose from several angles, knowing the contrast of her shiny hair and smooth skin against the rough weave of the sweater was going to look great on film. I had her crawl across the bed toward me, with the sweater still hanging off one shoulder, and from the angle in front of her, the low v-neck allowed a view of her cleavage and flat stomach, depending how she moved.

We took a short break after that, and I showed Aubrey some of my raw footage so far, just to make sure we were still on the same wavelength. She looked at each picture critically, as if she were viewing a stranger and not herself. A sense of uneasiness crept over me as I waited for her verdict. “You look beautiful,” I said truthfully. “What we’ve got so far is fantastic. Is this what you were thinking of when we started?”

She looked at me, her eyes big and guileless. “No. It’s so much better. You’ve somehow made it so erotic and yet, sweet.”

“Wait ’til I get it all edited. It’ll look even better. Softer, more intimate.” I was pleased with my work so far and knew it would be some of the best I’d done in awhile. The stuff I’d done of Cody was adorable, but kid’s shoots were easier in the sense that every parent already thought their kid was the cutest thing ever. Making a grown woman like photos of herself was a whole different bag of tricks.

Aubrey went to change again while I hummed along to Shaggy’s “Luv Me, Luv Me,” and I couldn’t help but giggle when Aubrey reentered the room to the opening bars of Akon’s “Smack That.” She’d put on the black lingerie. “All right, for this next section, I just want you to roll around the bed looking sexy, and I’ll move around you and shoot it. Move through some poses slowly, and try to keep your movements soft and feline. Slinky. And remember to keep your face either innocent or like you’re thinking really, really dirty thoughts. Try not to let it go blank. You’ll just come across as looking bored, which is not what we’re going for here.”

Aubrey lolled against a mountain of white, frilly pillows and sucked on her fingertip while looking at me out of the side of her eyes. Perfect. She tangled her hands up in her hair then ran them down the side of her body, eyeing the camera. Next, she rolled until she lay on her back across the bed, propped up on her elbows with her knees bent, arching her back upwards. She let her head drop back until her neck was stretched and exposed, and I said, “Hold that,” as I moved to shoot her from both head on and at a forty-five degree angle. Then, I kicked off my shoes and climbed up on a chair off to the side and captured the same pose from overhead, careful to keep my shadow from entering the picture.

As I got down, Aubrey looked at my foot. “Nice tattoo. What’s it for?”

I glanced at my tattoo, the little paper airplane with the dotted line behind it indicating it had done a loop. “You know, it was supposed to be a metaphor. Life’s about the journey, not the destination, some crap like that. I thought it was deep and philosophical when I got it.” Another lie. The truth was private.

Aubrey smiled and nodded like she understood and then shifted her body again, showing off her hourglass figure.

After I gave her the signal that I’d gotten those shots, Aubrey sat up straight. I had her tilt her head forward so her hair cascaded over her breasts, and I shot some close-ups of just her torso showcased by her black lace balconette bra.

“Okay, now, if you feel comfortable, I’d suggest removing your bra, and I’ll get some of your bare back and of you from the front with your arms covering your chest.”

She hesitated. “You’re sure this isn’t going to start looking…”

“Trashy? No, not if I do my job right. But it’s up to you. What we’ve got so far is great if you want to stop there.”

She bit her lip and went to unfasten the bra.

“Wait! Do it slowly and let me shoot that too.”

I stood behind her and clicked a quick succession of photos as her hands twisted behind her and unclasped the hooks. She flung the bra to the floor out of sight and leaned her back one way and then the other, peeking over her shoulder at the camera coquettishly. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d fluttered her eyelashes. She seemed to be getting into the role. I could imagine her fitting the whole cliché of lady-in-the-streets-and-a-freak-in-the-bed. Somehow, I didn’t think Aubrey had a problem with kinky. Without any cues at all, she laid on her back, one arm across her chest, her hips twisted to the side so it wasn’t a full on frontal shot, and, of course, her hair fell in perfect disarray above her head. She lifted her other arm above her, letting it settle in her hair. I did my job, capturing the tableau before me of a curvy young woman inviting someone to join her in bed, her face conveying her utter confidence, as if she knew — and expected the person viewing her to know — exactly what would happen next. As an Usher song faded out, I put down my camera.

“I think that’s a wrap. I know you still have the white outfit left to go, but I think we’ve already got everything you’ll need. We ran through most of the poses you tagged on your Pinterest board, and I know I’ve got pictures of you ranging the whole gamut from demure to seductive.”

Aubrey walked over to the ottoman that dominated her dressing room and started to slip on a robe, when I had a flash of inspiration.

“Hold on one minute,” I called out, grabbing my camera and hurrying over. “Let’s get a few of you on this thing.” I nudged the ottoman with my foot.

Surprised, Aubrey looked at it and considered the prop, then draped herself suggestively across it. “Like this?”

I nodded, snapped a few shots and then walked around to get some from the back. “Perfect.” Aubrey twisted a few different ways, even lying on her back and stretching her legs straight up in the air, crossed at the ankles, before we quit.

As she slipped on her robe, I finished off my orange juice from earlier. “How soon were you hoping to have prints of these?”

“Initially, I was going to say a week would be fine, but now I’m so excited to see the final results that I’ll throw in an extra thousand dollars if you can have them for me tomorrow.”

My eyes widened, and I tried not to let my shock show. Damn, I could do a lot with four thousand dollars for a day’s work. I glanced at my watch. It was already three-thirty. If I hustled, I could probably finish tonight. She wouldn’t need that much retouching. “I’ll have the prints here at noon tomorrow. Will that work for you?”

She reached over and squished me in a hug, catching me off guard. I patted her shoulder awkwardly. “I can’t wait! I can’t wait, I can’t wait, I can’t wait!” she squealed, bouncing on her toes. I could feel her bare breasts under her robe pressing against me, and I eased back from her, trying to put a little distance between us. It was one thing to photograph those bad boys but it was quite another to have them all up on me.

Shouldering my bag, I headed for the door. “I can let myself out, if you want to stay here and finish getting dressed. I’ll text you when I’m on my way tomorrow.”

“Thanks! I can’t wait to show them to my boyfriend!”

I paused on the threshold to her room. “Oh yeah? Text me and let me know what he thinks.”

“You can ask him yourself,” Aubrey said, her voice dripping sweetness.

“Oh? Will I get to meet him?” My brow furrowed in confusion.

“You already have. West Montgomery.”

CHAPTER 10

I
don’t remember leaving Aubrey’s house. Don’t remember the drive home. I had no clue how long I had been sitting in the driveway, white-knuckling the steering wheel and gritting my teeth so no emotion could escape. Holding myself on lockdown. Aubrey’s announcement felt like a sucker punch right in the stomach.

West had a girlfriend.

West had a
fucking
girlfriend.

The words played on repeat in my head.

Of course, he did. He looked like he could be Poseidon’s bastard son. It would be against the laws of nature for him not to be paired up. The man was made to procreate.

My phone chimed, the sound muffled by the detritus in my oversized purse. I reached for it and dug to the bottom of the bag, where my phone usually ended up hiding. I frowned at the unknown number.

You looked beautiful this morning. I hope I didn’t wake you when I left.

My fingers tightened around the phone. It was from
him
.

How did he even get my number?

I punched delete and then threw my phone down like it was diseased. It bounced off the passenger seat and settled somewhere in the foot well, the action not enough to calm my temper.

Blinking, I looked out my windshield and focused on the sky. The sun was just starting its descent. Dinnertime had long since passed, but I wasn’t hungry.