Exposure (4 page)

“
Thank you. But they’re
still going to remember me.”

“
Sounds like this one’s
prone to humiliation,” says Rylan. “I don’t think he has the guts
to take on the job, to be honest.”

What’s this chick’s deal?

“
Don’t mind her.” Britain
winks. “She’s just mad because you’re a part of her—”

“
Brit! Shut the fuck
up!”

Britain sighs. “We’ll let the camera
decide how humiliated you are, shall we?” She glances at a closed
door on the other end of the living room. “All we need now is the
damn modelette.”

“
Excuse me?”

“
Delilah is the one you’ll
be shooting with for the test. We’re only attempting to do male
additions with her at first until we see the response.”

Delilah—that would make sense. She’s
the edgiest model, from what I can remember.

“
But we just finished a
shoot where she was covered in chocolate syrup, and I guess she
needs a few hours to recover with a shower and hair and makeup.
God, I didn’t think it would take this long. You don’t have
anywhere to be, do you?”

I shake my head at the same time
another male model walks into the room from down the hall. He wears
nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. Nodding at me, he
says, “’Sup, Bro.”

“
Uhh… ‘Sup.”

“
This is Adam, our first
hired male model. Adam, where’s Delilah?”

Adam shrugs. “Last I saw her, she was
just getting out of the shower.”

Britain sighs. “Great. Well, I don’t
have all day. And I’m sure you don’t have all day.”

“
I’m… really, I’m
fine.”

“
Hey Rylan, You’re
up.”

I turn to look at Rylan. Her eyes are
bugging out of her head as she clutches her empty glass in front of
her. A look of horror.

So the hottest model of EPE hates me
for no reason. I’m off to a good start.

Chapter Three

Evan

“
Hell
no!” I practically scream.

There is no fucking way
I’m going to do those things Delilah and Adam just did with a guy
from my department. Does Britain want me to
fail
college? God, and he’s so
gorgeous too.

This is bad. Dallas is just one big
awful distraction that needs to go.

“
I can tell I’m wanted
here,” Dallas says dryly. Britain shoots me a look of
contempt.

“
No, Dallas, it’s not that
I don’t like you,” I try to counter quickly. “It’s just… you know,
I have an image to uphold in my shoots. An untouched, virginal
image, apparently, and Britain and I specifically decided there’d
be no boys in my photo shoots.”

“
Well if that’s your
problem.” Britain hops up from the couch. “I never said I’d be
using these photos in the magazine, did I?” She grins. “This is
just a test.”

I hate my best friend sometimes. I
open my mouth, but unless I give away to Dallas that I’m in his
department, I have no argument.

“
Go change into what you
are wearing for your shoot today,
please
,” Britain orders.

“
Yes, your majesty,” I say
through gritted teeth, and stomp off toward the makeup room. I hate
her I hate her
I hate
her
…

“
What’s got your panties
in a twist?” Nora asks as I walk into the dressing room. When I
don’t respond, she says, “Can I do anything to help?”

“
Kill me?”

“
I wouldn’t go that far,
but I do have some fake blood in my kit somewhere.”

Maybe that would do, I could cover
myself in fake blood and then Britain would have to send me to the
showers. I get a hold of myself and simply thank nora for her
efforts, changing into what’s laid out for me—A white lace bandeau
bra and panties, and a blush pink sundress. Little Rylan, innocent
as ever. I dress and examine myself in the mirror. With my hair
this big, I look like a brunette Barbie doll.

I gag at myself in the mirror and head
out toward the pool.

Dallas is in nothing but a pair of
white gauze pants, gazing around. “This place is damn nice. You
rent the whole house just for shooting?”

“
We live here too,”
Britain says. I shoot her a glare. Next she’ll tell him what my
real name is, for the love of God.

“
Who takes care of the
pool?”

“
The pool guy.”

“
Yes, the pool guy, like
normal houses,” I say, interrupting their chit chat. “Can we get
this over with already?”

“
Alright, Miss Bossy
Pants.” Britain readies her camera. Pointing to one of the
white-washed walnut lounge chairs, she says, “Dallas go sit over
there.”

He does as he’s told, lounging back.
His skin barely glistens, capturing the light from the
sun.

“
Now straddle the chair.
Rylan, go sit in front of him.”

I slowly walk across the smooth stone
surrounding the clean water, toward Dallas. His piercing blue eyes
are on me the whole time—relaxed. Maybe even a bit
excited.

I think I’m going to throw up. Get a
hold of yourself, Evan.

I swing my leg over the chair, sitting
in front of him so that I too am facing the water.

Britain walks over to us and squats in
front of her chair, bringing the camera up to her face. “Scoot
together.”

We do so until his hard torso presses
against my back. His breath tickles my ear as he says, “This is
kind of awkward for a first meeting, isn’t it?”

I bite back my grin. Cute and
charming. Fuck me, I am never going to be able to stop thinking
about these next moments.

But this will be it. I’ll get this
test shoot out of the way and then I won’t have to shoot with
Dallas again. That will be Delilah’s job. I couple minutes with
Dallas is all I have. Maybe I should just loosen up and enjoy the
only male contact I’ve had in a year, and probably all I’ll have
until I finish my PhD.

“
Scenario,” Britain
begins. “Rylan, I want you to keep up that virginal persona of
yours. This is the first time you’ve ever been touched by a boy.
Shouldn’t be too hard for you.”

“
Fuck you,” I snap before
realizing that Dallas is going to find this work environment
incredibly hostile if I don’t keep my mouth under control. Luckily
for me, he reacts by giving a deep and throaty chuckle. My heart
begins to hammer in my chest.

“
Dallas, I want you to
unwrap her like a Christmas present. Rylan, I want to see every
touch of his written on your face. Let’s see you two make
magic.”

Your one chance to get some action in,
Evan. Forget your biases. Roll with it.

I lean my head back and breathe, “You
heard what she said. Touch me.”

I don’t know what, but I’m not
expecting him to listen. Maybe because, what I’ve seen from Dallas,
he seems more awkward than anything else. But he does listen. I
feel his slow breath on my jaw as his hand slides across my stomach
and he pulls me right up against him, my ass snug against his
groin.

“
Where do you want me to
start?” he whispers.

Oh, God.
Oh, God
.

Slowly, the hand resting on my stomach
trails up the center hem of my dress. He reaches the top and hooks
his thumb beneath the fabric. The moment his lips brush against the
cusp of my ear, he drags my dress down until my bandeau is fully
exposed.

I hear Britain snapping away. I think
she might be giving me direction, but I don’t want to focus on her.
I don’t care about the outcome of this shoot at all. I just want to
feel Dallas’s hands touching me in places I haven’t been touched in
ages.

He drags his hand back up my bare skin
and to my bandeau, cupping my breast. I let my head fall back, a
small moan escaping my mouth.

“
We’re not recording
audio, are we?” I can hear the amusement in his voice. “Or was that
noise you elicited not for the camera?”

“
Shut up,” I breathe. I
raise my arms up and behind my head, wrapping them around his neck.
His free hand rests on my thigh, slowly inching upward and beneath
the skirt of my dress. He’s going to feel how wet I am, and we’re
not even
doing
anything.

In one quick motion I flip my body
around so I’m facing him. I sit up and squeeze his hips with my
knees, hands finding his shoulders and pressing him back against
the lounge chair.

His eyes are surprised, but his mouth
is twisted into a smile, like he knows something that I
don’t.

I rock my hips into his, feeling how
hard he is.

“
This isn’t very virginal
of you,” he mutters.

Oh yeah, I’m supposed to be keeping
character. But facing him, I can study him more closely—his bold
jaw that I want to run my tongue over, his full bottom lip that I
want to bite…

Britain moves closer, changing her
angle. “Dallas, get her out of that dress. Ry, be unsure of
him.”

As he pulls down my dress, his fingers
graze the curve of my ass. Be unsure of him? How can I be unsure of
him when I want him so fucking bad?

He doesn’t give me a chance to ponder.
Keeping one hand pressed to my back, he pushes me forward until I’m
lying on the chair and he’s on top of me.

Britain’s voice floats through the
air. “Lift your arms above your head, Ry.”

I listen to her. Dallas hovers over
me, sliding the dress over my knees and off my ankles until I’m in
nothing but my bandeau and panties. Our eyes connect, and suddenly,
even with the bright light of the afternoon day, there is something
dark and wicked lingering in them. Something far different than
what I saw in him yesterday as he stumbled through the Power Point
at the front of the lecture hall.

In an instant, being unsure of him
comes naturally. I bite my lower lip as he dips his head to the
flesh beneath my navel. His tongue glides above the ridge of my
panties. I hiss and buck my hips. My skin vibrates with his
laughter. He’s aware of how much this is killing me.

This session just turned from
smoldering hot to pure torture.

“
Lick her neck,” Britain
instructs.

Okay,
now
it’s pure torture.

Dallas crawls forward until his body
covers mine. “Don’t mind me,” he murmurs, still grinning. I want to
counter with something clever but all that’s escaping my mouth are
rapid spurts of breath.

He lowers himself until his chest is
pressed against mine. He keeps himself steady with one hand and
uses the other cup my neck. His nose brushes against mine and I
part my lips, wondering if he’s going to kiss me. Wondering if I’m
okay with that.

“
Close your eyes,” he
orders. I let them flutter shut and wait.

I gasp when his tongue sweeps my
throat, finding a sweet spot behind my ear and sucking.

“
Don’t move,” says
Britain. “You look perfectly shocked right now, Ry.”

I hold my breath, trying my hardest
not to move or change my expression. As I do so, Dallas runs the
pad of his thumb against my jaw and whispers into my ear, “You’re
good at faking it.”

He’s teasing me. He’s teasing me
because he knows my reaction was real.

“
And that’s a wrap,”
Britain says.

I exhale. I need to get this boy off
me before I start panting like an animal. But he doesn’t release
me. Instead, he pulls me to his chest, grabs beneath my legs, and
picks me up.

“
What are you doing?” I
yell.

He starts to run toward the pool. I’m
screaming obscenities and Britain’s laughing and suddenly I can’t
hear her anymore, because cold water engulfs me.

I swim to the surface, spitting water
from my mouth. Dallas is treading water next to me, looking too
smug for my tastes.

I want to kill him.

I want to ravish him,
and
then
I want
to kill him.

“
You’re hired!” Britain
screams.

Dallas

I’ve taken three cold showers since
I’ve been home.

Luckily, Tricia’s so wrapped up in her
work that she doesn’t seem to notice. It helps that I try not to
get my hair wet, aiming the freezing cold jet of water right toward
my cock.

Every time I even think of
Rylan, I get hard again. The way she writhed beneath me like she
wasn’t rolling her eyes at me the moment before. She acted like she
hated me until I touched her. And then something happened. It was
like she wanted me—like she
really
wanted me.

I turn the shower off and stand there,
cold and dripping. And then I think about the way she tasted—sweet,
like frosting.

I groan and turn the shower back on.
There isn’t anything I’d rather be doing than getting off to the
thought of Rylan Willow for the rest of the night, but there’s a
seminar tonight on mitochondria and metabolism, and their flying in
the scientists from Philadelphia. All serious grad students will be
there.