My Body-His Marcello (19 page)

“
Let’s
change the light filter to gold. That’ll warm things up a bit.
Jane, roll the lights to the left until I say stop.” Luke stared at
his camera screen, watching for the right change in lighting.
“Stop. Right there … excellent. Okay, let’s drop Carlie and remove
the girdle as well.”

Luke and I
adjusted the ropes and lowered her down. I pulled off the thick
black panties, managing to avoid the spikes, and replaced the foot
bib
.
After we reaffixed
the ropes Luke took the whip and began to strike Carlie again
across the base of her buttocks to mid-thigh until she gushed. He
swung his camera around and began shooting furiously capturing the
flow from Carlie onto the open pussy of Tess bound helplessly on
the floor.

“
That
was good, Carlie. Excellent job. How are you doing down there,
Tess? You okay?” Luke asked as he scrolled through the photos on
the camera.

“
Feeling squeezed, but I’m good for a bit longer,” Tess
said.

“
Great. Jane, the fish eye lens, quickly. Let’s make some art
while we have these two beauties tied up,” he said as he handed me
the 210 lens.

He danced around
both women, the shutter constantly firing. I watch him in wonder.
Seeing him chase his passion and lost in the moment made me love
him even more. I still felt peeved about the orgasm but I also
realized that he had made me an integral part of his life and work.
That was what I’d always wanted and needed.

“
These
are great,” he said as he scrolled through the shots he had just
taken. “Okay. That’s a wrap unless you just want to hang around,
Carlie.” Luke laughed and looked over at me, winking. “I’ll get
their money while you help them out of their gear. Be right
back.”

* * *

I had gotten used
to the never-ending stream of people tramping through our house and
shopping for a horde instead of just the two of us. I had long
stopped considering my nakedness around the company in our home. I
became the hostess of our abode, making sure every model or client
had what they needed. At first I was jealous of the sexy models
parading naked through our place but after the first few weeks of
watching Luke’s professional manner with them, I began to feel more
maternal toward the young women. Luke never used Carlie again and
it seemed the other models got the message or didn’t have designs
on Luke. They confided their boyfriend woes, making me even more
certain that I’d found the right man, that I had established the
relationship everyone hoped to find.

I remember
another day vividly from that time. We had a full schedule of
shooting and clients due to come over in the evening. We’d stayed
up late the night before watching
Tokyo Decadence
and when
the alarm went off in the morning, Luke said, “I need a day off.
How about you?”

“
Are
you serious?” I asked, sitting up in bed, sure he must be joking.
“We have a lot scheduled today.” I was bright-eyed with
anticipation.

“
Time
to play hooky!” he said. He tackled me back down onto the bed and
started to reach for the strap under the right corner.

“
Hey,
wait!” I laughed. “I need to cancel the appointments or the girls
will be showing—”

He crushed his
mouth over mine and took my resistance away. “I’ve already taken
care of that.”

“
But
how—”

“
If
you insist on talking I’m going to have to find something to stuff
in your mouth.”

With my free
hand, I mimed a key turning over my lips and then giggled as he
rolled me onto my stomach and began my capture ...

As we lay
recovering together, Luke’s phone chimed with an incoming text. I
had my head on his chest so when he grabbed the phone off the
nightstand and held it up to see who had texted, I could see it as
well.

“
Who
is Naomi?” I asked calmly, but inside chaos reigned. The text read:
I need to speak to you.
I knew all the names of the models
and this was not one I recognized. Naomi.

He paused way too
long for my comfort. “I have to take this,” he said, moving me
quickly aside.

As I awaited his
return, the turmoil kept building inside me. I was afraid the text
had come from the woman Luke had brought back from Japan. My
jealousy assailed me and forced me out of bed and into a restless
pacing.

Luke was absent
for what seemed like an eternity. I could wait no longer and
stormed into the living room, expecting him to be on the phone, but
he wasn’t there. Through the window I saw him moving about out back
as storm clouds scudded toward the coast from the Atlantic.
Plunking down on the couch, I watched him argue into the phone and
waited. I could see how upset he was.

He finally came
back in and said gruffly, “I don’t want to talk about
it.”

“
What?
Wait! That’s not fair. I can’t so much as speak to Scott and yet
you can talk to any woman you like?”

“
Don’t
push it, Jane,” he said as he brushed passed me.

“
Is
Naomi the woman you brought back from Japan? You seem very upset.
Please, trust me enough to confide in me,” I said as I followed
after him back into our bedroom.

“
She
says she’s pregnant.” He sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes black
with fury.

“
Is it
true?” I asked. It felt as if my heart ceased to beat.

“
She
may be, but there’s absolutely no chance the baby’s
mine.”

“
Then
I’m confused. Did you use a condom?”

“
No, I
didn’t.”

“
Then
how are you so certain?”

He looked up and
his expression chilled me. Was it sadness or regret? I couldn’t be
sure.

“
After
the last scare, I got a vasectomy.”

“
You
what?!” Not able to process this new information I leaned against
the door, trying to get control of my breathing. Fuming mad I said,
“Did you ever consider that I might want to know that
information?”

“
I
would never consider bringing children into this lifestyle, and you
never expressed interest in kids so there didn’t seem to be any
point.” He shrugged like it was no big thing.

“
What
else have you kept from me? Do I even know who the hell you
are?”

“
Jane,
I’m already redlined so do us both a favor and shut the fuck up.”
He stomped into the bathroom.

Unable to let it
go, I came up behind him and said, “I’m confused, why would it take
forty-five minutes to tell
Naomi
that it couldn’t possibly
be you?”

“
She
threatened to contact you.”

“
What
could she say to me, Luke?”

“
Jane,
I’m warning you, let it the fuck go. We can talk about this
later.”

I tugged open my
drawers, pulled out my running clothes and clutched my
sneakers.

I had to run off
the anxiety that had been injected by another woman into what might
have been another perfect day.

* * *

All Luke ever
said about Naomi after that day was that he had taken care of it.
We were still settling into our new life. Sex continued to
alternate between making love and fucking with bondage, but it was
nothing I couldn’t handle and most of it enhanced my pleasure. I
still felt convinced I traveled on the path to Happily Ever
After.

I could have
remained in that cocoon of our life forever, but sometimes forever
doesn’t last a lifetime. What would emerge from the cocoon became
the ever gnawing question.

A few weeks
later, after we’d been playing in the surf together, Luke led me up
the stairs and past the pool, through the back of house.

“
Let’s
take a bath,” he said as I trailed behind him.

I knew his
statement required no response.

Our bedroom held
the same furniture I had observed the first night we met—he later
had it transferred to our little downtown apartment and then here,
to the beach house. This place was more spacious than either. As we
passed the antique, dark wood furniture, I smiled at myself in the
mirror on the dresser.

Our tub
accommodated both of us comfortably and we sat on its edge waiting
for it to fill.

Luke got in
first. “Come lie between my legs,” he said. He soaped up a wash
cloth and cleansed the salt water from my skin. Using the hand-held
sprayer, he rinsed me off. He gravitated back to my breasts,
spinning the knobs to the side of us to increase the pressure. My
nipples became erect at the assault.

“
Mmm.”
I couldn’t help but moan and grind my hips. His growing erection
bobbed at my back.

Trailing the
water between my breasts and down my stomach, he swung his legs
between mine, spreading them and lifting up my pelvis.

“
What
are you … ohhhh,” I said when the water hit my vulva.

He bobbed my body
up and down as he swirled the water around my hard clit. With his
other hand, he continued the torment of my nipples, pulling and
squeezing. My pulse grew rapid as he leaned over to bite my ear,
clamping his teeth down hard. My body shook, splashing water over
the side.

The pain and
pleasure had me so close to orgasm. “Luke, I need to
cum!”

“
Wait
until I say so, love,” he said, bringing the
shower
head closer and increasing the
pressure on my protruding clitoris.

“
Oh
god, oh Luke, I’m so close, please ...”

Just as I hovered
at the edge of orgasm, the bathroom door opened, startling us both.
Marcello strolled in as if it were his birthright. As I shifted to
cover my body, more water spilled out over the side and our
surprise guest backed up a step.

“
What
the hell are you doing in our bathr—” I began.

“
Jane,
stand up and get out,” Luke admonished me with his tone.

“
Really, Luke? This man has the audacity to not only invade our
house uninvited but our bathroom, where we are clearly making love
and you want to admonish—”

Luke snatched me
up by the hair and began maneuvering me toward the bedroom. As he
forced me past Marcello I saw the man’s smile of satisfaction and
wished I could slap it off his face.

Over his shoulder
Luke said, “I’ll meet you in the living room.”

He tossed me on
the bed as if I weighed nothing. “When are you going to learn to
respect my friends?”

“
So
you are okay with him barging in our house and our
bathroom?”

“
That
is for me to handle. I’m not very happy with you at this moment.”
He quickly dried off and threw on a pair of shorts and a
t-shirt.

“
That
makes two of us,” I said, rolling away from him. I heard him leave
the room and shut the door. With the door closed, I couldn’t hear
what Luke said to Marcello. I felt pretty sure I would be the one
to suffer for the man’s outrageous behavior.

However, an hour
later—after Marcello left and I was sitting in my writing room
chronicling the last bit of drama in my life—Luke strolled in as if
nothing had happened.

“
Let’s
have a party,” he said as he lifted me into his arms.

I leaned sideways
to hit save and close the program. With growing dread, I asked,
“What kind of party?”

He looked down at
me and laughed. “What an odd reaction. I’m talking about a
party
here.”

“
I
have been to
parties
before ... Will I be naked?”

“
Of
course,” he said. He carried me over to the loveseat by the door
and settled me onto his lap.

“
Must
we?” I hugged him tight.

“
You
haven’t seen your friends in forever and I have clients to
entertain.”

“
We
can see my friends at Allison’s wedding and I have no interest in
being naked in front of them again.”

“
Okay,
that’s even better. I’ll plan all of it.”

“
That’s what I was afraid of.”

“
Don’t
worry yourself about a thing, I can promise you’ll have the time of
your life.”

He meant to
reassure me, but instead the overwhelming sense of dread twisted
and turned inside me until I realized I had stopped breathing.
Gulping air, I rose from his lap and left the room. This was all
Marcello’s fault. What else could have caused Luke to interrupt the
calm and joyful rhythm of our lives?

* * *

Over the next few
weeks the anxiety never fully left me, but I managed to push it
aside.

Sandy called,
wanting to get together, but I put her off again. Taking so much as
a second away from my life with Luke held little interest for me. I
told myself she was busy with Jason and that she and I had never
resolved our issues after the wedding. I no longer felt like I
needed anyone other than Luke. He had become my entire life, the
air I breathed, and the food I ate. He sustained me and filled me
and if we never saw another soul I believed I could be happy
forever.