“Which she is,” Daniel pointed out. “It’s just that she’s a beautiful drunken slob, and her photos don’t do her justice.”
“Exactly,” Wendy said. “See, you’re so difficult to work with—”
“Me!” he exclaimed.
“—but we really are on the same page. Because here’s what I was thinking. Maybe we could take some test shots to see what looks best on camera.”
A smile crept across Daniel’s face as he caught her meaning. “And we don’t want to disturb her,” he said. “She’s probably doing something really important, like staring into space, or embroiling herself in an online battle with her high school choir director. We can take care of this ourselves.”
He put his hands on Wendy’s knees and rolled her office chair to the edge of the bed, right in front of him.
The sudden manhandling was so out of character for him, and so titillating for her, that she sat there dazed for a moment, staring at him without speaking, enjoying the tingles that still raced through her blood.
He handed her his phone. “Try your cle**age first, and we’ll go from there.”
Heart beating wildly, she examined his phone to figure out where the camera buttons were, then aimed the lens down her blouse and clicked.
He took the phone back from her before she could even view the picture herself. Suddenly embarrassed, she tried to snatch it away from him. He held it above his head and gently slapped at her hands until she withdrew them. He peered at the screen, then at her. He tilted his head, considering her. She felt herself blushing, thinking of him examining her cle**age, waiting for his verdict.
“A little higher, I think, and centered better. And we need to show a little more.” He placed the phone on the bed and reached both hands toward her neckline. She watched him coming, instinctively throwing her shoulders back to give him better access to her br**sts.
His hands stopped inches from her blouse. He was watching her. He asked softly, “May I?”
“Of course,” she said casually. “Anything for Lorelei’s PR.”
He bit his lip to keep from laughing. She suppressed a shudder as his fingers slipped past the neckline of her blouse to explore the lace edge of her bra. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “We’re probably going to have to adjust all this.” His fingers trailed down to unfasten the first button of her shirt.
She tried to enjoy the warm waves of excitement that washed over her as his hands moved in slow motion. But relaxing was impossible with this tight thread of anticipation running through her and making her skin burn. He gently tugged the sides of her shirt apart and smoothed them back, deliberately pressing her br**sts and stroking her ni**les beneath the silk. He cupped her br**sts in his palms as he tugged her bra lower to expose more of her cle**age. It was all she could do to hold in a groan of pleasure as he touched her through the lace.
“There,” he said. Holding her gaze, he felt around for the phone. He glanced at it, adjusted the settings, and then reached over to point it down over her chest. The camera flashed, warming her bare skin, and the warmth seemed to remain and pool in the cups of her bra.
This time he offered her the phone. They put their heads close together to look at the photo.
“Wow,” Wendy said. “That’s an improvement.” It was amazing how buxom she looked with her br**sts and lacy bra out of context. She could hear Daniel breathing beside her, smell his cologne.
He looked over at her, dark eyes questioning, asking her permission to go on.
She winked at him.
“Let’s try something different,” he said. “Switch places with me.”
She let him have her chair, and she shifted to the edge of the bed.
“Spread your legs a little,” he suggested.
She laughed and felt her cheeks turn flaming red, but she obeyed him, inching her knees farther apart. He slid the phone under her skirt and up her thigh.
“Hold still,” he said.
This time she didn’t laugh, just watched him. He looked back at her, half smiling, eyes black.
She blinked as the phone flashed. She wasn’t sure where the light in her eyes was coming from: out from under her skirt, up her blouse and out her neckline, or all in her own mind.
Slowly he slid the phone out from between her legs. His grin gave away that he might be enjoying himself a little.
“Is it a good picture?” she asked. “Let me see.”
He turned the screen around and showed it to her. There were her panties all right, and the lining of her skirt, and her thighs looking unnaturally white in the bright flash.
“Take a few more,” she suggested. “I’m not smiling in this one.”
He burst into laughter, and she was so surprised that she forgot to laugh herself. “This job,” he grumbled, still chuckling. Without ceremony, he reached forward, grabbed her hips, and dragged her to the very edge of the bed. He put one hand on each of her knees and spread her legs wide.
“Now,” he said, his voice more gentle than she’d ever heard it. He slipped his phone underneath the edge of her skirt. She strained to keep from jumping as she felt his whole hand on the inside of her thigh, very close to her panties. “A little farther apart. We want a good view this time.” Obediently she opened her legs further. She heard the phone click, saw the flash, and felt the heat, whether it was her imagination or not. “Hold still,” he said. He took several more photos and then drew the phone out to look at it.
“Well?” she asked gamely.
“It seems awfully innocent and tame,” he said. “I think we need something else.”
“Like what?”
“A prop.”
She bit her lip and repeated, “Like what?”
He held up his hand and splayed his fingers.
She widened her eyes at him. He grinned at her.
“Let’s try it and see how it looks,” she said.
He moved his hand up her thigh again. She sucked in a sharp breath as he rested his fingers on her panties. She was sure he could feel how wet she was through the silk. His palm rested possessively on her mound. An electric zap of pleasure moved across her chest and down her arms.
She heard the camera snap.
He peered at the screen. “It’s hard for me to get a good angle with one hand.” Then he stood and turned toward the desk. He must have decided enough was enough, and now it was time to get back to work.
Recess was over.
Supremely disappointed, but determined not to show it, she kept a smile pasted on her face and inched her knees back together.