Picture Perfect (2 page)

“That’s too bad,” I said, really meaning it. I had really been counting on landing this assignment -- I needed the money. “What happened, the book deal fell through?”

“Oh, no -- the deal is good. In fact, we’ll have to reschedule for another day as I told all the other female applicants that came. You see, our male model called in sick at the last minute, and we can’t do without him.”

“What a shame.” I shook my head. So not only was the shoot canceled, I was the last one to know. Apparently, all the other female models that had come to try for the shoot had already gone home. Well, at least I hadn’t lost it to another girl. I could still come back on the day they rescheduled. But that would probably be weeks from now and I needed the money
right away
.

“You know, it
is
a shame because this is going to be just beautiful.” The woman, who appeared to be the head photographer, smiled dreamily at the thought. She was wearing clothes that were too big for her with pockets everywhere, and for some reason, she reminded me of the absentminded anthropology teacher I’d had last semester. Suddenly, I realized where I’d seen her before -- I’d seen a showing of her work at the Tampa Museum of Modern Art, and she had been at the opening. She’d been better dressed at the time, but the glasses and the messy hair were the same.

“Excuse me,” I said. “Are you Lisa McKenzie?
The
Lisa McKenzie?”

She smiled at me. “Why, yes, I am.”

“But I thought… I didn’t know you did book shoots,” I said, still gaping at her. She was famous in the modeling world -- her work was cutting-edge. Never in a million years would I have thought I would get the chance to work with her -- not unless I got the cover of
Vogue
or
Glamour
@, that was. And since I’m not a celebrity or a rock star, there was no way in hell that was ever going to happen.

“I don’t usually do this kind of thing,” Lisa acknowledged. “But the author is a friend of mine, and she asked me to do it as a favor. It has to be tasteful, you know, and this kind of thing is delicate -- it can be so hard to get right. I’m going to do the main poses in black and white and the close-up work in color, whenever we actually get to shoot. Not today, of course, because we have to have a male model and --” She broke off abruptly and looked over my shoulder at Kurt, as if noticing him for the first time. “You didn’t tell me you brought another model with you, my dear,” she said to me while she was still looking at him.

“Oh, he’s not a model. He’s my --”

“Boyfriend, of course,” she said, stepping around me and going to feel Kurt’s muscular bicep. He has the same annoying effect on my friends, and I didn’t bother to correct her mistake. “Have you had any modeling experience?” she asked Kurt.

He looked uncomfortable. “Uh, no, not really. I’m just here with Melanie to make sure she gets home safe.”

“Of course, of course, but how would you -- both of you -- like to earn an extra thousand today on top of the five hundred dollar modeling fee?” She looked between the two of us, an excited expression on her face. “I can see it now -- light and dark, slender and muscular -- a study in contrasts. The two of you would be perfect together -- just exactly what we need.”

“I really don’t have any experience --” Kurt started, but I sidled up beside him and elbowed him fiercely in the ribs. “Ouch!” He frowned at me, and I smiled sweetly back.

“We’ll take it,” I said. The money was suddenly secondary -- this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to work with an acknowledged genius in my field, and I was
not
going to pass it up.

“Perfect!” Lisa was really excited now. “We won’t have to reschedule. Wonderful -- follow me, we don’t have a moment to lose.”

“I’m not really up for this,” Kurt grumbled under his breath as we headed into the big echoing space inside the warehouse. There were some screens set up in one corner and a set surrounded by lights on tripods at the far end. A few technicians were fiddling with the equipment, but all in all, it was a pretty empty set as far as I could see.

“For fifteen hundred dollars, you can fake it,” I told him. “Don’t blow this for me, Kurt. That’s
Lisa McKenzie
. I may never get a chance like this again. No, I
know
I’ll never get a chance like this again.”

“She’s that famous, huh?” He looked at the back of Lisa’s messy ponytail with grudging respect.

“She’s a genius,” I said. “Most models would give their left arm to work with her.”

“Fine.” He sighed. “But she better not ask me to wear anything weird.”

“Don’t worry; I’m sure she’ll ask you nicely if they want you to take off your clothes,” I said, laughing at the worried look on his face. Before he had a chance to reply, a tech was handing us both some paperwork and pens.

“Now here are the contracts -- pretty standard, really,” Lisa said briskly. “Just sign in triplicate and initial at the bottom, and we’ll get you to wardrobe.”

Kurt wanted to read over the whole damn thing, but I could see that Lisa was in a hurry so I nudged him impatiently. “Hurry up and let’s get going -- I’ve signed a hundred of these, and they’re all the same.”

“Fine. Don’t blame me if we’re signing our lives away,” he growled. With a sigh of irritation, he initialed and handed the paperwork to the waiting tech.

Lisa nodded and smiled. “Come with me.”

We followed her behind the folding screens where two fluffy terrycloth robes hung from a coat rack. I looked around, wondering where the costumes they wanted us to wear were, but there was nothing but the robes to be seen.

“All right, Kurt, Melanie,” Lisa said, smiling at us both. “I want you out of your clothes, into the robes, and out on the set in five. We’re going to start with some more general placement shots, but we have a lot to get through today and I’m hoping to get some close-up work done too.”

Kurt and I looked at each other. “Uh, out of our clothes?” he asked uncertainly. “As in,
all
of our clothes?”

She nodded. “Of course.”

He shifted uneasily. “Well, but don’t you have something else you want us to put on instead? Some kind of costume?”

Lisa began to look annoyed. “No -- just the robes. Put them on and come out as I asked, please.” The last please sounded forced, and it was obvious that she was getting irritated.

“We’ll be there,” I chirped, giving her my most winning smile. Kurt opened his mouth to protest, and I shook my head at him. The minute she left, though, he had plenty to say.

“Mel, what the hell is this about? You said it was just an exercise book.”

“It is -- I think.”

“You think?” He frowned. “Well, what if you think wrong? And why do they want us naked except for those robes?”

“I don’t know,” I said coolly, frowning at him. “I guess we’ll find out when we get out there. Just remember, you
promised
not to mess this up.” Turning my back on him, I began stripping down as casually as if I got naked in front of him every day. In fact, my stomach was churning with anxiety, but I wasn’t about to let him see that. Behind me, I heard Kurt growl impatiently, but I knew he would take my implied dare. If I was brave enough to go out on the set in only a robe, he had to be too. From the rustling sound behind me, I knew he was getting out of his T-shirt and jeans.

I was only naked for a minute, but I have to admit I felt relieved when I got the plush robe belted around me. There was a little feeling of excitement stirring inside me, though. It looked like there was going to be some nude work after all. I expected that I would be the model for the women’s exercise part of the book, and Kurt would be the model for the male part. This was exactly the kind of situation I’d been hoping for -- better, in fact, because not only was I going to pose nude, Kurt was going to have to as well. It would teach him a lesson about letting me pick my own assignments and at the same time give him a little taste of my world.

Lisa was waiting impatiently when we made our way back out to the set. I began to feel a little nervous when I noticed something that had escaped my attention earlier. The set had a black velvet drop cloth suspended on a large frame as its background, but the foreground contained only one prop -- a large double bed.

My hand crept to my throat. What was this? Where was the exercise equipment or failing that, the yoga mats? What kind of exercise book advocated exercising in bed? Obviously, Kurt was thinking the same thing.

“I don’t like the look of this,” he murmured in a tense voice. “What the hell kind of exercises can you do in bed?” He kept his voice pitched low, but Lisa heard him anyway.

“Erotic exercise, of course,” she said. “That’s the name of the book --
The Art of Erotic Exercise:
A
Modern Kama Sutra
.” She frowned at us when we stared at her blankly. “You did know that, right? Why else would you have come?”

“Wait a minute.” I held up a hand like a kid in class asking a question. Beside me, I could feel Kurt about to blow he was so angry.

“Yes, Melanie?” Lisa frowned at being interrupted.

“I just… I wasn’t aware that this was…this kind of book,” I said, stumbling a little over the words. “I mean, what exactly is involved here?”

Lisa straightened her thick glasses, still frowning. “Well, we’re looking to take pictures of the different sexual positions. The author of the book has actually worked out how many calories you can burn with each one, the different health benefits, how flexible you have to be… There’s a whole chart, but I don’t seem to have it on me at present.” She patted anxiously at the many pockets on her shorts, shirt, and vest as she spoke. Finally, she gave up and shook her head. “Never mind. The point is we’re just doing a few basic positions today, so don’t worry about your flexibility -- I’m actually flying in a couple who do a contortionist act to pose for some of the harder ones, like the Rainbow of Bliss.”

“Oh, well,
that’s
a relief,” Kurt muttered beside me. “Nice that we don’t have to do the hard stuff.” But I was still stuck at the first part of her explanation.

“Uh, you said sexual positions?” I asked weakly. “As in, have sex in front of the camera?” I felt like about a thousand butterflies had taken off in my stomach. Get naked and do the nasty with my hot stepbrother on film? It was unthinkable -- unbearable -- impossible. My pussy was suddenly sensitive and swollen beneath my robe, and my nipples were so hard they hurt.

Lisa waved a hand at me. “Simulated sex
only
, my dear. The penetration shots are purely optional.”

Kurt and I looked at each other.
“Penetration shots?”
we said at the same time.

She frowned. “Certainly. Remember I told you I wanted to do the close work in color? Some of these positions are more complicated than you’d think, and the reader has to know exactly what to do in order to achieve them.”

“I am
not
doing this.” Kurt glared at me, looking like an angry abominable snowman in the vast white terrycloth robe. “And neither are you.”

Despite the butterflies now doing loop-the-loops in my stomach, I bristled at his domineering tone. “I beg your pardon? I
told
you I have a right to choose my own shoots.”

“Not in this case, I’ll drag you home over my shoulder if I have to,” he threatened.

“Why, you --”

“Ahem.” Lisa cleared her throat loudly, cutting off our argument before it could really get into full swing. “May I remind you both that you signed a contract?” she said in a steely voice. “And I promise, if you don’t follow through, I will see that neither of you works in this town or this industry again.”

I knew she had the clout to back up her threat, and I further knew that word tends to spread fast when a model is difficult. Get a bad rep and it’s hard to get assignments -- even harder than usual with a hundred other models applying for the same shoot. And if you have someone as famous as Lisa McKenzie blackballing you, well, it doesn’t matter if you look like Cindy Crawford and Elle Macpherson rolled up in one, you might as well hang up your modeling hat and go work at Burger King. Clearly, some damage control was in order and fast.

“Look,” I said appealingly. “I’m really sorry but my, uh, Kurt here just isn’t comfortable with this kind of work. He told you he’d never modeled before, and this is kind of throwing him in the deep end, you know?”

Lisa nodded reluctantly. “Well, I guess I could see that. I assumed you both knew what you’d be getting into when you came to the call in the first place.”

“That’s my fault,” I said humbly. “I should have read the requirements more thoroughly. It’s really terribly unprofessional of me and I have to apologize.”

She nodded again and was about to speak when one of the techs ran up and whispered in her ear. She looked at him. “Really? In thirty minutes? All right, tell him to hang on and I’ll let you know.” She smiled at Kurt and me. “Well, it turns out that we do have an alternate male model who can be available shortly. So, Kurt, if you’re that uncomfortable, I’ll let you opt out. I’m afraid, however, that Melanie will have to stay. We still need a female model and as all the other applicants left, she is our only option. Also…” She cocked her head to one side, studying me. “The more I look at her, the more I like her. She has a vulnerable quality that I think readers will identify with.”

I turned to Kurt. “Happy now?” I asked him. “Looks like you’re free to go.”

He took a step toward me, crowding my personal space. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“Well, I am
not
leaving,” I said, beginning to get mad. Then I decided to try a different tactic. “Look, Kurt,” I said in a low voice. “Try to see this from my point of view -- this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to work with a world-famous photographer. If she likes me, it could make my career. If she doesn’t, it could ruin it. You can leave with no problem -- you don’t model in the first place, so if you get blackballed, it won’t matter. But with me -- I really need this. I really want it.
Please
don’t mess it up.”

He was still frowning like a thundercloud, but his piercing blue eyes softened a little. I didn’t often ask him “please” anything. “What if your mom or my dad happens to see this book?” he pointed out. “Is it worth risking that?”

“Kurt,
please
, this is going to be shelved in the sex section, and you know how straight our parents are. Can you really see my mom or your dad even going to that part of the bookstore, let alone picking up a big book of sexual positions?” I asked in a whisper. “It’s never gonna happen.”

He nodded reluctantly. “Well, okay, I guess you’re probably right. But what if someone else you know should see it?”

“Then I’ll tell them to mind their own damn business,” I hissed. “And if they matter enough for me to explain, I’ll tell them it was simulated sex -- which won’t be a lie. There’s no way in
hell
that I’m doing those, uh, penetration shots she was talking about.” Just saying the word made my cheeks get hot, and I knew I was probably blushing bright red. But it was the truth; even for Lisa McKenzie I wasn’t having actual sex on film. They could bring in some new model and I would pose with him and go through the motions, but there was no way he was getting his cock anywhere near my pussy -- I was prepared to be firm on that point.

He sighed. “This is really that important to you?” he asked.

I nodded frantically. “Yes, it is. It
really
is.”

Kurt seemed to make a decision. “All right, then I won’t mess this up for you. But if you’re staying,
I’m
staying.”

I looked at him in disbelief. “Are you sure? I mean don’t you think it will be…awkward?” I knew both of us were thinking about that time I’d seen him in the shower. Or possibly he was remembering the last time we’d taken a family picture. The photographer, a chatty middle-aged man with a shiny bald head, had gotten the bright idea to pose me sitting in Kurt’s lap with my arms around his neck. I had been horribly, uncomfortably turned on, and I knew Kurt had felt the same because I had felt his hard-on throbbing under my ass as I tried not to shift too much in his lap.

After that pose, he’d asked to be excused and had spent several minutes in the bathroom. I was pretty sure I knew what he was doing in there, although my mom and his dad had made comments about the bad Mexican food we’d had for lunch. Really, they were so oblivious to the situation. And yet, Kurt and I worked hard to be oblivious to it too. Posing together like this was going to bring everything out in the open. Was he really willing to go through that just for me?

“Are you sure?” I asked again.

“I’m sure,” Kurt said, nodding at me firmly. “I can see you’re set on doing this, and there’s no way I’m letting some stranger paw all over you.”

“I appreciate you wanting to protect me,” I said, although I usually didn’t. “But it would be completely professional, especially with Lisa McKenzie in charge.”

Kurt made a face. “The thought of some other guy with his hands all over you -- no. No, absolutely not. If you’re determined to do this, I’m going to do it with you, Mel.”

I was oddly touched. “Well, thanks, Kurt. That’s really sweet of you --” I began when Lisa McKenzie interrupted me.

“Well? Do I have one model or two?” she asked, tapping her foot impatiently and looking at her watch.

“Two,” Kurt told her. “Tell the other guy you don’t need him. I’ll pose with Mel myself.”

She nodded. “Excellent. So -- off with the robes and onto the bed. We’re going to start with a simple spooning position.”