I felt like a voyeur watching this man tend to himself while Alec captured the image. It felt racy and laced in sex. Two things that made the room sweltering hot and had wetness pooling between my thighs.
“Fini,” Alec declared with the last shot. He gripped a robe near one of the lights and handed it to the model. The model put the robe on and looked at the images Alec showed lifting up his camera to him. “These will not be in the photograph. I will paint them, oui? You agree to them?”
The man nodded. “You do good work. At first I thought it was going to be like porn, but this is nothing like that.”
“No it is not,” he agreed softly then clapped the model on the shoulder. “You ready for the female?” he asked, and I looked around. My shoe scratched against the concrete and both men’s gazes focused on me.
I lifted a hand and waved. “Hey,” I offered lamely. Good thing it was dark in this corner or they’d see the blush I could feel creeping up my neck and cheeks.
“Mia, come here. Meet Aiden. He’s going to pose with you, ma jolie,” Alec’s words hit me like a pail of ice-cold water.
“Um, what?”
Alec came over to me and led me to Aiden. We shook hands.
“Nice to meet you, Mia. I look forward to working with you tonight,” he said sweetly. Okay, sweet, muscled, and hotter than hell? The universe is a sick, twisted bitch. Now I understood why they characterized it as a vindictive woman. Any god that could create Aiden, Alec, and Wes—three perfect incarnations of male forms, all coming into my life within weeks of each other—was an expert at cruel and unusual punishment.
I grumbled a greeting than turned to Alec. “What do you mean? I’m going to pose with him?”
“Forbidden Love, chèrie. I’m going to take stills of you both making love on the canvas.”
The words making love crashed into me and my head jerked back. “Explain…fast,” I warned speaking through a clenched jaw.
“Oh, non, you will not be faire l'amour,” he rushed to say. “Making real love, non. It will be staged for the camera.” He cupped my face in both hands. “Maintenant, tu comprends? You understand now?”
“No, not even a little bit. More details before I high-tail it out of here, Frenchie,” I said using the tone he was now intimately familiar with after almost two weeks together.
Alec pinched his lips together and placed his hands on his hips. Aiden moved over into a chair and sat down away from us. I appreciated the gesture of trying to give us some space.
“Mon amour, I need to have the two of you, bare, holding onto one another like lovers. Then when I have enough, I shall paint it.” He moved closer, “Of course, that is after I make love to you.” His nose came close and he slid it alongside mine sending prickles of excitement to tingle and taunt my senses. “It will be my most inspiring piece yet. You and this man, who is very male, deep in the throes of passion.” He leaned forward and kissed me briefly, licking just my bottom lip before pulling away. Frenchie used his kiss to talk me into something without needing to talk me into it. Bastard hot French guy.
I huffed and pushed my hair back from my eyes. “You said bare, as in naked, or did I miss that?”
“Oui, you know I need to see the body in order to paint it. Besides, no woman has a more beautiful body than yours.” His eyes scanned my jeans and tight camisole. I hadn’t bothered to wear a bra knowing I was going to be at least naked on top today, and with the way his gaze was running up and down my body, my nipples were beading tight, clearly visible. His hands stroked the side of my ribs, and his fingers brushed over the erect peaks. “I see you like this idea very much.”
I pressed close into his body, thankful that my back was to Aiden. “I like the idea of being with you, but this guy, I don’t know,” I said honestly. It was hard enough baring my body to Alec for his art, but to be naked and rolling around with another naked guy pretending to make love to him? Seemed really forced, unlike the other pictures we’d done that were just Alec and me.
He watched me and waited for me to work through his request. His tawny eyes were kind, no pressure. And it wasn’t like I had to have sex with the man. Just pretend to. I looked over at Aiden. His knees were bobbing up and down while he glanced at us then away quickly. “Fine, I’ll try. For you.” I wanted him to know this was not something I waited my entire life to do. It was outside my comfort zone, more so than being naked in front of him. I was doing it because I trusted his vision.
“Okay, Mia, you go over there and remove your clothes. Aiden, your robe.” Alec was all business once more. Aiden stood and removed his robe. His gorgeous, naked body was on full display. Even soft, he was impressive. He’d make some woman very happy with what he was packing. I giggled looking at him but not seeing him.