"The costume, your portfolio, my portfolio," Jace counted off the items by the door. "My wallet, car keys… anything else?" Susan shook her head and smiled, then leaned forward and lightly kissed his lips. "Nothing I can think of."
"Good," Jace said. "I shouldn't be gone long. "After I drop the portfolios off at the agent's office, I should be able to get out of the city before rush hour."
"Hurry back, lover, I'll miss you," Susan said, giving him another kiss. "I've grown accustomed to having you around."
"That's good. I'd hate to think the woman I'm going to marry didn't like having me around." He kissed her, then picked up the folios and costume. "See you later."
Standing in the doorway, Susan watched him pull away, then closed the door and climbed the stairs to their second-floor studio. She smiled and began humming, still filled with the warm satisfaction of their lovemaking.
You're a damn lucky woman, Susan Howard, she told herself while taking the recently shot roll of film from the camera.
Think what life would be like with a man that didn't like sex as much as you do, or thought sex was something a man and woman did only when they wanted to make babies.
But Jace wasn't like that, not at all, she thought while she entered a darkroom built to the far side of the studio, and turned off the light to begin developing the film.
Letting her hands do a routine job, her mind wandered bask to three years ago when she and Jason had been college seniors. Both art students, they had been lucky ones receiving professional assignments before graduation. Jace had lived with his sister Melinda, a freshman then, in their parents' old house, the top floor of which he converted into a studio.
When Melinda decided to transfer to a college on the West Coast, Jace offered to rent Susan the only remaining bedroom on the second floor, plus share the studio with her. He needed the extra money to pay taxes on the house, and she couldn't pass up the chance of having a studio to work in. After all, a girls' dorm didn't aid in getting the creative juices flowing. Nor did her roommate understand the necessity of staying up without sleep for three days to meet a sticky deadline.
She smiled, remembering those early times together. It was all business. She and Jace ate, slept and worked in the same house. But never once did the attractive young artist make a pass, nor, as a matter of fact, did she. While she knew Jace was good-looking, fulfilling the tall, dark, and handsome criteria she seemed to find attractive in men, he was simply her landlord, plus a very talented artist she worked with.
To be sure, both dated and entertained friends in the house, and both brought home lovers who stayed the night, but never did any romantic thoughts spark between the two of them.
Susan pulled the film from the developing canister, ran it through some quick wash, then hung it to a drying line hung within the small darkroom. Switching on the overhead light, she pulled out a hair dryer to help in the drying process. A professional photographer would climb the walls if he saw film treated so roughly, she thought, but the film was just a step in the artistic process for her. From it would come the reference photographs she needed for the book cover illustration she had to do by the beginning of next week.
She grinned to herself when her thoughts returned to Jace, remembering their first, sort-of, date together. It was the day after graduation and Jace proposed they go into business together, form an official studio, get an agent and make a million or two.
She agreed, then drove to a motel where her parents were staying for graduation ceremonies, told them of her plans, listened to their protests, then saw them off, still bemoaning the fact that their little girl was not returning to the Midwest to get married, have babies and become a housewife.
That night, to cheer her up and celebrate their business partnership, Jace had taken her to dinner. Later before she retired to her upstairs bedroom, Jace had kissed her gently-no more than that-a simple, polite good-night kiss.
But from that moment on, she was suddenly aware that the man who lived in the same house as she, her new business partner was just that-a man. His presence constantly reminded her of that fact. But to Jace, nothing seemed to change. It was still all business, even formally so when his sister Melinda came home during school holidays.
Susan sighed, recalling her frustration during those days, while she threaded the dry negatives into the enlarger and turned off the lights to begin the print process.
Only a year ago did Jace come out of that businesslike shell.
A shivery, warm thrill suffused through Susan's body remembering that first time…
"Damn!" Susan slammed the receiver into its cradle. "David and Liz can't make it either. Their baby's sick and they won't leave him with a sitter."
"Can't you get another couple to pose?" Jace suggested.
"Mary and Bill? We've used them before."
"Out of town," Susan replied. "Lisa and Jim are too. Paula and Greg have got finals, and every other couple won't pose nude.
Jace, what am I going to do? This has got to be done and in the city by Wednesday morning. That's less than seventy-two hours."
"Call and say you can't handle the job," Jace replied.
"I can't do that," Susan shook her head. "Thinner Pubs gives us too many jobs.
I'd draw and paint this without references, but they want a super realistic, almost photographic approach on this one."
Jace leaned back from his drawing board and lit a cigarette.
He looked at her a moment, then glanced back to the painting before him, as though pondering. He shook his head.
"Well, what is it?" she asked, knowing he had just discarded some thought.
"Nothing, " he said. "Just a bad idea."
"Let's have it. I'm desperate. Even a bad idea could help."
He took a deep drag from his cigarette, then crushed it in an ashtray. He looked back at her. "We could pose for it."
"Jace, if that's a proposition, I'm not in the mood. I've got to get this cover painting done." Shivery sensations shot through her at the thought of Jace and her, naked, their bodies, touching.
"Susan, I told you it was a bad idea. I was afraid you would take it as a pass."
She studied him a moment. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"We could use the automatic timer on the camera," Jace said.
"Wear bathing suits."
"No it has to be nude," Susan said. "That is, if you don't mind."
He didn't smirk, or joke or chuckle nervously. He simply said. "If that's what you need, I'm willing to help out."
Ten minutes later Susan had tossed some blankets on the floor, set up the lights and positioned the camera on the tripod.
"We're supposed to be lovers. The genitals aren't to be shown, but they want to see the man's buttocks and the woman's breasts. This is for an illustration for a story in one of their men's magazines. The couple is supposed to be on a blanket in the woods. I've already got references on the background." She turned. Her eyes widened.
Jace stood naked and in a very businesslike manner walked to the blankets and sat down. He turned his back to her, so that she could disrobe without his gaze and wouldn't embarrass her.
Those shivery thrills returning while she tried to maintain a similar businesslike and casual manner, Susan stripped. Setting the automatic timer, she joined him on the blanket and stretched out, then helped him position himself in just the right pose.
The camera clicked.
They moved a bit, rearranging themselves, seeking new angles and shadow plays.
The camera clicked again.
Beside her now, her arms stretched above her head, Jace gazed at her-his business partner, his fellow artist.
She shivered, feeling vulnerable and more than simply nude- she was naked. Her own eyes tried to avoid his gaze. They flitted away, only to rove over his chest, then downward. She looked back up, feeling weak and watery. Honey-thick juices flowed deep within the intimate recesses of her womanly body. Trembly sensations fluttered around within her stomach. She felt like some schoolgirl, nervous and very aware of the naked man beside her.
Jace's dark eyes no longer studied her face. Slowly they moved to her chest.
Standing firm and proud, her breasts jutted upward. His nostrils flared as he sucked in a deep breath. She shivered again.
Tingles of pleasure radiated up from the core of her body and raced into the exposed mounds of her tits. She tried to think of icebergs and winter blizzards. Her own body betrayed her. Her nipples, buds of coral pink flesh, throbbed. They stiffened and thickened, standing atop her breasts like two ripe cherries.
For a year now, she had wondered what it would be like to be at this man's side, to feel his gaze covetously move over her nakedness. Now she knew. She loved it.
But did he?
The camera clicked again. She jumped with a start. Jace smiled. Why was she so nervous? She had known other men before, taken lovers into her bed. Why was Jace different? Confused and befuddled by her business partner, she managed to smile back.
Jace moved closer, taking another pose. The bare flesh of his hip pressed to hers. She whimpered softly. Sexual electricity tingled through her. Still Jace made no move, though his eyes now moved over the supple sleekness of her quivering belly and probed the soft moss of blonde hair covering the knoll of her sex. She shivered again, wanting him to reach out and touch her, to have his hands explore the nakedness of her body.
Again his eyes rolled back to her. Her lips parted, the pink tip of her tongue flicking out to slicken her lips. Inwardly, she moaned. Her nipples felt swollen to at least twice their normal size. They ached. She arched her back a bit, trying to draw his attention to the needy pillows of satiny flesh.
When he stubbornly made no move-she did.
Reaching out, she took his left hand and placed it atop one of her warmly glowing breasts. She whimpered again, melting with the simple touch of his fingers. Her eyes fluttered closed and she sighed. His fingers closed around the pliant demi-globe of tits, squeezing gently. Higher her back arched, pressing the smoothness of her tit into his palm.
"Susan?" Jace whispered.
Her eyes opened to his questioning expression. "Yes, Jace.
This is what I want. I want…"
Words mumbled and jumbled, sticking in her throat. The cloud of confusion this man created in her mind seemed to churn like a thunderhead. She hadn't expected this. Did he realize that? Or did he think she had arranged this, planned to seduce him.
"I want you too," he said softly, leaning forward, his lips brushing lightly against hers. "Ever since you moved in, I've wanted this to happen. You're a very beautiful woman. Many a night I've taken a cold shower to stop myself from running up the stairs and breaking into your bedroom."
Again his lips touched hers. This time they pressed close and firm. Her nipples brushed the thick black hair sprouted over his chest. His tongue flicked out, cajoling her lips to open and admit its seeking probes.
Slowly, his hands fondled and caressed her, exploring every inch of her body.
Likewise, her fingertips moved over his nakedness, reveling in the masculine strength of his body, feeling the virile power that coursed in his veins.
Where other lovers had simply mounted and fucked her, this dark-haired artist touched her with gentleness and caring.
Eventually, his mouth left hers and he kissed down her neck to the globes of her white breasts. His tongue and lips worked magic, creating all sorts of fiery needs within her.
But his mouth didn't finish its work with her tits. Instead he kissed downward, over the tautness of her flat belly, then into the silky fur of her pussy.
Like a moist snake his tongue tickled up and down the pink lips of her quim. He teased and taunted her-and she loved it.
Even more, she loved the delightful invasion of her body when he wiggled his oral digit up into the heated harbor of her cunt.
She writhed and undulated her hips, fucking herself on his laving tongue. She moaned and groaned, savoring every sensation his mouth created while hungrily eating at the lusty slash between her thighs.
Her own excitement from at last having the man she had ached for for over a year and the expert oral attention he lavished on her pussy, proved to be too much for her. She came, crying out in pure pleasure…
Susan trembled as she pulled the prints from the dryer.
Despite her recent lovemaking, fresh feminine juices welled in the wanton gash between her legs. Her memories of that first time were vivid and real.
After her coming, Jace had tenderly mounted her, his cock filling her body as she had never been filled before. She came five more times that night before Jace finally erupted, flooding her cunt with his seed.
That night, she first slept in his bed, something she had done ever since. And the next day, they developed the roll of film. Luckily, Jace had maintained his business manner long enough for the camera to capture one pose that suited her artistic needs. The remaining thirty-five exposures she kept safely tucked away as a very graphic souvenir of that first night. She doubted that few other couples had ever captured such intimate moments on film.
Taking a stack of prints, Susan walked back into the studio and spread them out on a layout table. Her desire for her future husband only grew as she studied the shots of Jace and Charolette.
Would Jace have actually made it with Charolette? What would it be like watching him ball another woman?
Exciting, she thought, admitting to herself she would like to see her magnificent stud tup another woman. Not that I would like it to happen regularly, nor have it happen behind my back, but…
She stopped in mid-thought, shocked by the images in her mind. A woman wasn't supposed to act this way. A man was her property. And if she caught him screwing around, she was supposed to take him to a divorce court and take him for everything she could.
But she didn't feel that way. Jace wasn't hers, not in the way most women thought. He wasn't some piece of property. He was a man she loved and if he wanted to get a piece on the side now and then, she saw no harm in it. That was as long as he was there when she needed him and gave her all of that magnificent cock she could handle.
What would be his reaction if he found me in bed with another man? She didn't know. She had never noticed a jealous streak in Jace, but then, since that first night, she had never found another man that sexually excited her. But there is always that possibility.
One of these days, she would have to talk to him about it.
Nothing blunt and blurted out, but casually to see how he felt.
Susan's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. She glanced at a clock hanging on the wall of the studio. It was too early for Jace to be home.
The bell sounded again.
Leaving the photos atop the table, Susan quickly left the studio and went down the stairs two at a time. She opened the door. For a moment, she just stood there, stunned. Then she threw open her arms.