The First Time is the Sweetest (21 page)

“Let’s get everything cleaned up,” he said as he began gathering up the dishes and placing them in the sink. Gabriel laughed and started tossing Jimmy the plates and glasses while Sabrina snorted at their antics. Despite the weight of this love and the uncertainty of this kind of relationship, she knew they’d figure it all out together.

Chapter 8

After their late breakfast, Sabrina peeled off her bandage and was happy to see that the wound had scabbed over enough that she no longer needed the dressing. She spent the rest of the morning reading and exploring the cabin; then Gabriel sat her down and taught her how to use a gun. After he explained how the weapon worked, making her load and unload it a dozen times, he took her outside and taught her how to shoot.

Nearby, Jimmy chopped some wood for the fireplace, saying he thought it would be fun to lounge in front of a fire tonight since they didn’t have a television. His torso gleamed in the sunlight as he swung the axe, distracting her and Gabriel enough that they eventually gave up on the target practice, instead sitting in the grass and watching Jimmy until the other man caught them gawking and smirked. Sabrina blushed, and Gabriel dragged her back inside to show her how to clean the weapons.

Since there was only so long she could sit there as he rubbed small unidentifiable objects with an oily cloth before going mad, Sabrina made brownies to keep the boredom at bay. Periodically Gabriel would go outside to “check the perimeter” as he explained it but found nothing to indicate they were followed. By mid-afternoon, she hoped that she could convince the two men to let her photograph them. The light in the cabin was wonderful at that time of the day, slanting over the rug in front of the fireplace from the two long windows that ran from the floor to the ceiling up in the loft. Between the small skylights and those long windows, the loft was lit almost every hour of the day.

At four o’clock, they ate an early dinner. Then Sabrina sat at the table, desultorily paging through one of her photography books. After a half-hour, she realized the light was falling perfectly in front of the fireplace and that she might soon lose the opportunity to take the photos she wanted. Sunbeams highlighted the rich brown of the rug, and she imagined the way Gabriel and Jimmy’s skin would look in the light, all sleek and golden. She eyed them speculatively. Would they go for it?
Maybe if I offered a reward
, she thought, nibbling on her lower lip.
Hmm
. Sabrina was still thinking about how she’d arrange them when she noticed Gabriel staring at her mouth. Bingo!

“So, would you guys like to help me out?” Sabrina asked, grinning mischievously. Gabriel smiled at her, looking hopeful, while Jimmy pretended to look apprehensive. He’d known her longer and remembered some of the crazy schemes she came up with when they were younger.
Like building that tree fort and getting grounded for a month one summer,
Sabrina thought as she narrowed her eyes at him, remembering how he tried to convince her not to do it. He ended up helping her, and she didn’t understand why he was still disgruntled about it. It wasn’t like
he
was the one who’d been grounded for a month. Sabrina blew a kiss at him, remembering. He flinched, and she laughed out loud as Gabriel stared at them, confused.

“You can’t trust her, Gabriel,” Jimmy muttered darkly. Sabrina smiled and bit her lip.

“What do you mean?” Gabriel asked, looking at Jimmy. He licked his lips.
Mmmm
, she thought.

“She gets people into insane situations,” Jimmy explained. “I can’t tell you how many times I got into trouble when I was a kid for things that were not my fault.” He idly turned a page in the photography book Sabrina had been reading. She put her hands on his, stilling them.

“I don’t know why you’re fussing, Jimmy,” Sabrina said. “I was the one who was grounded.” He glared at her. “And it was only the one time with the tree house thing,” she explained to Gabriel, who was laughing now. Sabrina smiled back.

“I was grounded, too,” Jimmy stated firmly. “Yes, I can see your shock and care.” Sabrina rolled her eyes. “What? You didn’t think my dad grounded me? I was locked up for the rest of that summer.” Jimmy looked disgusted.

“Really?” Sabrina laughed, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I wondered why I didn’t see you around much that August.”

Jimmy eyed her, obviously trying to decide if she was serious. “Yeah, well, it’s okay. And you’re right, it was only the once.” He pulled his hands out from under hers. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to go along with whatever idiot idea you’ve got in your head this time!”

“Oh, it’s nothing like that, Jimmy.” Sabrina shrugged carelessly at him.

“So, what is it you want us to do?” Gabriel asked, leering at her hopefully. Sabrina smiled generously at him, then watched as his leer lost a little of its ease. She couldn’t possibly be scaring the FBI agent, now could she? She chuckled. Gabriel glanced at Jimmy, and his face lost even more of its humor.

“Oh, it’s nothing painful,” Sabrina assured them blithely. “I just want to photograph the two of you together. On the rug. The light is perfect right now.” Jimmy blinked and Gabriel smiled.

“That’s it?” Gabriel shook his head in disbelief and turned to Jimmy. “I can’t believe you were getting bent out of shape over something so innocuous!”

Jimmy chuckled darkly. “Oh just wait. I bet she wants to photograph us nude or something equally outrageous.” Sabrina felt her eyes widen in surprise. How did he know?

“See? See? She does!” Jimmy exclaimed, searching her face. Sabrina tried to look innocent. She knew that he knew she was planning on getting him naked, and while he wasn’t modest during sex, she realized that the thought of just lying there while someone photographed him made him feel uncomfortable. She didn’t think he was ashamed, given his lack of modesty in the bedroom—it was that he didn’t really enjoy getting his picture taken. She watched him look at Gabriel, trying to appeal to the other man’s sense of decorum. Except, Sabrina laughed under her breath, Gabriel didn’t have a sense of decorum. She could tell the exact moment Jimmy realized that.

Gabriel smirked at the expression on Jimmy’s face. “What? You’re modest now? You?” Gabriel asked as Jimmy flushed again. Sabrina sensed victory.

“Yes, I am!” Jimmy replied, looking put out.

“If you just take your shirts off and leave your pants on, that would be fine.” Sabrina smiled in what she hoped was an innocuous fashion.

Jimmy looked at her suspiciously. “I don’t have to take the jeans off?” Gabriel laughed aloud.

“Not if you don’t want to.” Sabrina didn’t add that she hoped he’d want to take them off, eventually. She looked at Gabriel. He was staring at Jimmy; then he looked at her questioningly. She nodded. He knew what Sabrina was thinking, and probably wanted it just as much as she did:
Jimmy naked, sprawled in all that beautiful sunlight…

“Okay,” Jimmy said. Sabrina’s head snapped up in surprise, and she squealed like a little girl before she could stop herself. Jimmy still seemed suspicious, judging from the skittish way he got up from the table, but she didn’t care. Gabriel didn’t seem to have any nudity hang-ups, and Sabrina knew that she would get what she wanted before the afternoon was over. She stood up and kissed Jimmy on the lips.

“Thanks, Jimmy.”

* * * *

After she set up her tripod and chose her lens, she directed the two men to lie down on the rug, facing opposite directions. Sabrina wanted to get both of their torsos in the shot so all that beautiful skin could show up in the picture. She had Jimmy sit behind Gabriel with his legs folded yoga fashion. Gabriel lounged in front on his side. She couldn’t resist running her hands along their arms as she positioned them. They were so warm and looked so sweet, Gabriel smiling engagingly up at Jimmy as the other man tried to get comfortable. She kissed Jimmy, unable to help herself, then leaned down and kissed Gabriel, too.

“Relax, Jimmy,” she said as she sat back and ruffled his hair a bit. “I’m not going to hurt you.” Sabrina smiled and messed his hair up a bit more. She wanted him to look like he’d just rolled out of bed.

“All right, enough with the petting,” he grumbled. “Why are you fooling with my hair?” She caught his hand before he could reach up to smooth it back down.

“Because she likes the ‘just-fucked’ look, Jimmy,” Gabriel said, amusement in his voice. Sabrina glared at him and messed up his hair, too. He just laughed. Jimmy rolled his eyes at the two of them.

“Can I help it if you are just freaking gorgeous like that?” Sabrina asked, getting up and walking to her camera. She crouched down, composing her first shot. “God, the two of you are just beautiful,” she breathed and snapped three pictures in quick succession. Jimmy looked startled.

“Hey, aren’t you going to warn us when you do that?”

“Nope. I want you to look natural, and if I tell you when I’m going to take the picture, you’ll do that fake grin thing.” She took a few more photos, then adjusted the zoom to move closer to their faces and chests. Gabriel’s blue eyes almost glowed in the sunlight. Jimmy sighed, then placed a hand absentmindedly on Gabriel’s shoulder, leaning in as he shifted again, uncrossing and recrossing his legs. Gabriel shivered. Sabrina snapped another few pictures.

“How is this not as boring as everything else?” Jimmy asked petulantly.

Sabrina sighed. “It’s not boring for me. If you want something to do, why don’t you give Gabriel a back rub or something?” Gabriel smirked at her as Jimmy rolled his eyes, then started dragging one of his hands along Gabriel’s shoulders. Gabriel closed his eyes, and Sabrina moved back so that Gabriel’s jeans were in the picture. He looked like he was enjoying the massage.

“Gabriel,” Sabrina called, thinking about the angle of the light, “would you mind unbuttoning your jeans for me?”

He opened his eyes and smiled, saying nothing as he silently moved his hand down and pulled on his waistband, popping open the button while staring right into the camera. Sabrina caught her breath at the sheer sexuality of the gesture. Arousal slid through her as she saw Jimmy watching Gabriel, too, his hand draped on the other man’s bare shoulder, his eyes darkening as they followed Gabriel’s hand down to his jeans.

“God, that’s perfect, Jimmy,” she breathed. “Just do whatever, okay?” With that statement, Gabriel lifted his hand from his pants and turned slightly to stroke Jimmy’s cheek before letting it fall back down to the rug. Jimmy swallowed, and Sabrina felt another spike of heat rush through her body. She could see Gabriel’s cock hardening.
Would he mind me taking a picture of him like that?
she wondered, and then he winked at her under his eyelashes. She blinked, then held her breath and depressed the shutter. Jimmy was staring at Gabriel’s groin, mouth open. Sabrina stared, trying to remember to take pictures. The sun fell across Gabriel’s chest and the top of his left thigh, lighting his body gorgeously. Jimmy slid his hand over Gabriel’s hip and rubbed his thumb along the worn cotton on the fly of Gabriel’s jeans. Gabriel gasped and closed his eyes as his hips twitched and Sabrina took another picture, hoping to capture the sensuality of the gesture.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all,” Jimmy rasped and he pressed his hand more firmly on Gabriel’s fly. It was so hot. The way the light hit both men, the way that Gabriel held his body completely still as if he were afraid Jimmy would take his hand away, stole her breath. A trickle of sweat ran down between her breasts when Gabriel opened his eyes and looked at her. The heat in his gaze made her flush, and she knew she was getting wet. She wanted to touch them. She wanted to stand back and take a thousand photos of them making love together. She wanted to close her eyes and feel them make love to her. All of this rushed through her as Gabriel reached out and pulled the zipper on his jeans down. As soon as Gabriel’s cock was free of the denim, Jimmy bit his lip and slowly traced his thumb up and down the hard length still trapped beneath Gabriel’s boxers. Sabrina noticed a small circle of wet on the fabric and nearly abandoned the camera before taking a deep breath, willing herself to concentrate on the photos she still wanted to take.

“This okay, Sabrina?” Gabriel’s voice was low and husky, and he hitched his hips into Jimmy’s hand slightly with each stroke as if he couldn’t help himself.

Sabrina nodded and took the camera off the tripod. There was enough light for good handheld shots, and she wanted to get closer. She wanted to smell their sweat. She moved in and photographed Jimmy’s hand on Gabriel’s, then Jimmy’s hand rubbing against the other man’s sex. She walked along the edge of the sunlight and knelt down by the rug, careful not to block the sun. Jimmy was bent over now, kissing Gabriel’s neck softly as Gabriel’s breathing sharpened. She loved the shots she was getting of Gabriel. He looked debauched. She wanted to rumple him up even more. What could be sexier than a man half-dressed and aroused? Still, despite how much she liked the hint of sex, she wanted to see more. She wanted to celebrate the way the two men looked together, completely nude.

“Do you think you could lose the pants, Gabriel?” Sabrina asked quietly, not wanting to break the mood. He nodded without speaking, and Jimmy sat back up, hands drifting around Gabriel’s waist and then up to his shoulders as Gabriel hooked his thumbs in his jeans.