Clifftop Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (5 page)

She half expected him to insist on coming with her, but she desperately wanted to get Charlie alone for a minute before the two of them met. She scurried outside before he could say anything, and went to find her tormenters. They weren’t difficult to locate. She followed the sound of Jane’s rapturous declaration of how much she loved the angle of sunlight at this time of day. It led her to the side of the house where the three of them were standing around a camera on a tripod, deep in a discussion that about how best to photograph the barn, given the quality and direction of the declining sunlight. Jane had changed from her business suit and now looked like she was on her way to play polo at the country club. She wore tight, stretchy, brown slacks with a very expensive-looking silk top, scarf, and suede boots. Her figure was perfect, Allie noted glumly, looking down at herself. She’d put on fifteen pounds or so over the last few years, and it wasn’t helping any that she had been experimenting with different kinds of pastries to make for their guests’ breakfasts. Not that they’d had enough guests to make it worthwhile.

Allie watched them for a minute, debating the best way to hint that they should leave now. Charlie and Jane were looking toward the west, where the sun seemed to be lowering itself into the ocean for a bath. Charlie was pointing to the shadows and describing angles with his hand while Jane shielded her eyes and listened. Karl, who had been examining the camera, looked up and came over to where she was standing.

“What’s up, Allie?” he asked, and the other two turned, smiling and waving her over.

She murmured to Karl as they walked back toward the other two, “What have they been doing?”

“Just looking around and taking pictures,” he answered softly. “I’ve been keeping an eye on them.”

“Thanks,” she said, then louder, “are you having fun?”

“Oh, yes. We’ve been talking photographic techniques,” Jane said. “Are you very familiar with Allen’s work? He could do amazing things with light and shadow.”

“Not very,” Allie said absently, turning to look at Charlie. He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes in exasperation. “I need to talk to you about your registration,” she told him, deciding she didn’t want to explain their connection to Jane and Karl.

“Sure thing,” he said pleasantly, taking the camera from Karl and packing it in its bag. He nodded to the other two. “I’ll see you in, say, half an hour in the lobby?”

Allie perked up. “You’re going out?”

Jane giggled, putting an arm around Allie’s shoulders. Allie fought the urge to pull away, realizing she would never really be comfortable around this woman. “Charlie has generously offered to take us all out to dinner. You and your boyfriend are invited, too, of course.” She smiled around the group. “We have
so much
to talk about, don’t we?”

Allie’s stomach took a dive. She didn’t want any of these people talking around Brad. “Oh, I don’t think we could. You guys go and have a good time.” She walked away, making sure that Charlie was following. When they were around the corner of the house, she stopped and faced him.

“Okay,” she hissed, glancing around to see if any windows were open that might allow Brad to hear their voices. “Tell me what the hell you’re doing here.” A thought struck her. “And what did you tell those two?”

“I came to talk to you about a business opportunity,” Charlie said, not bothering to lower his tone in the slightest.

“I told you, I’m not interested in any business opportunities. And keep your voice down. That’s another thing. Brad doesn’t know anything about that time of my life, and I’m going to keep it that way. If you so much as hint to him, I’ll—” She stopped as Karl ambled around the corner. His eyebrows went up a little at seeing them standing together, but he didn’t stop, continuing past them, hands in his pockets. Allie peeked around the corner of the house to see if Jane was about to barge in on them as well, but she wasn’t in sight. When Karl had gone up the back porch and into the house, she continued. “I’ll throttle you with my bare hands and bury your nasty, sleazy corpse in the woods. Do you understand?”

“You mean you really haven’t told him?” Charlie stared at her.

“No! And I’m not going to. He’s a decent, upstanding person. He would never approve—”

“Of course he would. He’s a male, isn’t he?”

She wanted to stamp a foot in her frustration, but she made an effort to calm down. “Not all males are perverts, Charlie. Some are normal and don’t appreciate the kind of smut you deal in. Now, if you will go away, we can get on with trying to run our business here. I don’t need you coming back and babbling about the past.”

“It isn’t smut,” Charlie said, looking indignant. “We’re not just snapping off pictures in some basement. There’s real technique and true artistic quality at work here.”

Allie groaned. “I wish people would quit telling me how ‘artistic’ pornography is! I’ve got real problems here. I don’t have time for this shit.”

“That’s the point, though,” Charlie began. “I can help you—”

“You can
help
me?” Allie squeaked. “I don’t think so. You can ruin my life again, maybe, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that happen.”

He started to speak, but she went on. “And another thing. I want you out of here. Tonight. I don’t care where you go, but I don’t want you anywhere near my boyfriend or my new life. I’ve worked hard to get beyond what happened—”

The screen door banged, and they both looked up to see Brad coming toward them, followed by Jane. Allie fought down the panicky urge to turn and run. Instead she took a step toward them, trying to get between Brad and Charlie, and forced a smile on her face.

Jane was chattering happily as she and Brad approached them, and Allie noticed that she had a hand on his arm. Brad didn’t seem to mind. He was laughing at something she’d said, and when they approached, he nearly pushed Allie out of the way, holding out his hand to Charlie with a smile.

“Hi, I’m Brad McCarthy,” he said pleasantly. “It’s so nice to meet you. Jane tells me you’re a photographer, too, like Allie’s dad.”

Charlie beamed at him. “Charlie Wayne,” he said, shaking hands. “And I am a photographer, yes. I had the privilege of taking some classes from Mr. Walker many years ago. His work influenced me enormously, and he gave me some assistance in building my career.” He turned to smile at Allie, who was nearly dancing with agitation. He winked again, something that made her want to claw his eyes out, and turned back to Brad. “But why are we standing around here? I would be honored to take all of you out to dinner. I know Ms. Walker here has been working hard all day, and I’m sure you have, too. Is that great steakhouse still open?”

Brad’s eyes lit up, and Allie knew it was a losing battle. Brad dearly loved a good steak, but money had been getting so tight that it had been a long time since they’d splurged to that extent. She briefly debated bowing out herself but quickly dropped that idea. She would be on pins and needles wondering what stories Charlie would be telling over dinner. At least this way she could attempt to change the subject if it got too alarming.

She followed the group into the house and went to change.

Chapter 5

Allie couldn’t help feeling like a small, trapped rabbit in the lion enclosure at the zoo. Sitting between Karl and Brad, she was directly across the table from Jane, who kept asking questions about Allie’s life. Her life was not something Allie was particularly interested in talking about, especially since she didn’t know how much Jane and Karl knew about her past experiences. Well,
experiences
wasn’t quite the right word, she corrected herself. It was more like her past mistakes. She had sent her high school graduation picture to her father, and he had encouraged her to pursue a career as a model. She hadn’t really thought she could make it big, but college was looming and she had no way to pay for it. So she’d asked her father for help getting started. He’d introduced her to Charlie Wayne, who he said was excellent at portfolio photography. Allie had never been able to tell if he’d known about the kind of pictures Charlie had talked her into posing for.

She looked at Charlie now, sitting next to Jane, laughing at something Brad had just said. She was trying to work out in her mind when Charlie, Jane, and Karl would have known each other, and if it corresponded to the time she’d worked with Charlie. But every time she tried to think about it, someone would speak to her and she’d be distracted. Brad seemed to be having a great time and was more animated than she’d seen him in ages. Maybe it was the relief of finally having paying customers. He couldn’t be expected to know that they were only there to destroy any chance she had at happiness.

Karl leaned over slightly and whispered to her, “You okay?” His hand briefly touched her leg but pulled back before she could react. It was almost disappointing, but she reminded herself sternly that she didn’t know if he could be trusted. He could very well be in league with Jane, or even Charlie. He’d probably had some kind of ulterior motive all along. Fix up the place while it was her responsibility, then let her get desperate for money and buy it cheap. Something like that.

She nodded at him, trying not to think about the feel of his fingers on her thigh. Then she realized that the conversation had turned to the subject of her father’s nudes. Her attention snapped back to the group.

Charlie was saying to Brad, “Have you seen them? They’re really very spectacular examples of the genre.”

Brad shook his head. “I haven’t,” he admitted. “Except for one or two that were fairly mild, from what I’ve heard. Where do you have them stored, Karl?” He turned to give Karl a look that bordered on suspicion.

Karl smiled at him. “The prints are all safe and waiting until Allie decides she wants to deal with them.” He glanced down at her, and his hand went up to rest on the back of her chair. It wasn’t a possessive move, Allie thought. More like a friendly and protective one, as if he was warning someone else not to take advantage of her. Or he was letting her know that he was available to protect her if needed. Whatever it was, it most certainly wasn’t sexual.

Apparently Brad didn’t have the same assurance. His eyes narrowed, and he looked pointedly at Karl. There was a moment of almost palpable hostility before Karl, still smiling, moved the arm back to the table. His fingers lightly brushed her shoulder as they went past, sending tingles down her body. She glanced at Brad to see if he had noticed anything, but he was looking back at Jane, who was blushing and giggling modestly as Charlie praised her modeling ability.

This was even more dangerous ground. The pictures Charlie had done of Allie had made them both a nice tidy sum of money at the time. She had even been in some very well-known magazines for a while. Her modeling career had been very useful in seeing her through college, but then everything had come crashing down. A recent graduate with a degree in city planning, Allie had tried for three years to get entry-level jobs or even internships in city governments throughout the Midwest. But somehow her past had always come up and she was politely turned down every time.

It had gotten so depressing that she had finally given up on her chosen field and taken secretarial work. She was determined to stay away from any temptation to go back to modeling. Then she had met Brad, and it had been so refreshing not to have to explain why she had done nude pictures that she had almost managed to forget about it herself.

Until now. Now Charlie was back, Jane was here talking about her career as an erotic model, and Karl was sitting next to her with a knowing smirk on his face while sending wave after wave of heat over her. Maybe he was waiting for Brad to find out and leave her. That would mean the end of her dreams of owning her own business and she’d have to sell the house to him. She wondered if he could afford it.

She hadn’t been able to believe her luck when the lawyers had called last year and told her she had inherited the beautiful house on the California coastline. She had known there were bound to be issues with property taxes and upkeep costs, but she’d been determined to make it work somehow. And when Karl had approached them, saying that he’d been living there as her father’s assistant for ten years and was willing to help them remodel it to make Allie’s dream of owning a bed-and-breakfast real, it had seemed like the perfect solution.

But Brad hadn’t been quite as optimistic. He hadn’t really trusted Karl from the beginning, but Allie had been so thrilled with the idea that he’d gone along with it.

And now the dream seemed to be grinding to a halt. If they couldn’t find some way to drum up business and get the bank off their backs, they would have to give it up and sell the place. Brad had hinted at wanting to go back to Kansas City, where his family lived, but Allie had fallen in love with the California view, weather, and ocean breezes. Having breakfast on her very own back porch every morning while looking at her own gorgeous view was the best feeling she could imagine. As she sat there, aware of the huge house behind and above her, she would have sworn it was aware of her, too, and was consciously accepting and protecting her. It was crazy, she knew, but the house represented to her the possibility of building a life with significance and meaning. She didn’t want to go back to a small apartment and a day job. She loved the feeling that this place belonged to her, and she to it. She occasionally had a vague idea of other people living there with her, working by her side for a shared purpose, but that didn’t make much sense. She wondered if it meant her biological clock was ticking. She’d never wanted children, but she did crave the feeling of being part of something larger than herself.