Chapter Twenty-Six
Maria
I was compartmentalizing and putting Paolo and that whole crapshoot of a second date in a bullpen, entrapping it in an area of my brain that I wasn’t going to bother with for now. As Allie was known to say, I didn’t need that kind of energy. Least of all when I was getting ready to do this nude photoshoot with Dom.
I still couldn’t believe I, Maria Morelli, was modeling naked. It seemed unnatural, almost out of character. Naturally, I’d denied that fact, but my sisters had hit the nail right on the head, especially Perla—this so wasn’t me.
Then again, there was a part of me that got all hot and bothered anytime I’d so much as thought about this shoot. It was pretty sensual, if you thought about it, maybe even a little sexual, considering how intimate I’d been with Dom in the not-so-distant past. Oh, geez, what was I doing? I felt like a child with their finger two inches away from an outlet, but I couldn’t help myself because I wanted to touch it so damn bad and see if I lit up. Oh, and a word of caution: fingers and electrical outlets did not go together, so do not try it at home.
I closed my eyes so the makeup artist could add even more powder to my face. Seriously, how much powder did a person need? Huge props to Dom for doing this for a living. Good thing he was patient because sitting in a chair for the past hour while they did my hair and makeup without moving an inch definitely tried my patience. “Thank you,” I told her, smiling before she finally closed up shop and walked out.
Now I was left in my trailer—yes, I had a trailer, I was super cool like that—wearing nothing more than a silk robe and at least three pounds of makeup.
“Are you okay?” Dom’s voice broke me out of my reverie, and I immediately looked away from my own reflection and connected with his intense gaze just inside my door.
I nodded, swallowing past a lump in my throat. “Yeah,” I answered meekly.
“I’d tell you to relax, but I don’t think that’s going to happen, is it?” He walked over to me and placed a finger under my chin.
What I wanted to say was kiss me, Dom, do it. I’m hungry for a passionate kiss.
I blamed the way I was romanticizing the shoot.
And then there was Paolo and the way Dom had seemingly been avoiding me, so what I actually said was, “Probably not.” Best to be honest. He knew me well enough to know when I was lying anyway, so why even try, I figured. “How do you do it?”
“You get used to it.” He dropped his hand, and I knew what I was missing and it was a brain. I was a scarecrow, missing a brain, and so badly wished I could stop being so confused. Dating Paolo was doing nothing to help me like I’d hoped it would. “It’s not all bad,” he promised, smiling that panty-dropping smile. Although, it wasn’t necessary because I wasn’t wearing any panties as it turned out. Point one for nude photoshoots.
If my hair was in a ponytail, I would’ve tightened it, but since it was down and styled around my shoulders, I fought the urge to fuss and run a hand through it—the stylist would’ve been so very pissed with me. “True.” I tried to make light of the situation. “We could be actors who are directed to get frisky.”
He cringed, cocking a brow. “Frisky?”
“What?” I asked, shrugging a shoulder. “What’s wrong with the word ‘frisky?’”
“Oh, Maria.” He laughed. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
Seriously, what was wrong with the word? I didn’t hear it a lot nowadays, but it was a word, and I said what I said, so there you go. “Well, whatever. Let’s just make sure I don’t get sand in my butt, all right?” Yeah, the proverbial yesterday was forgotten (for the sake of clarity, I meant the way I thought Dom had been avoiding me), and I was good. Better yet, it seemed Dom was good, too. In sum, we were all good.
He laughed as I got up, and we left my trailer when someone from the crew knocked to get us. We were already on the beach and had just a short distance to walk since it was all ours for the day—courtesy of the producers, directors, and everyone else it took to put this shebang together. Really, the team was large. There was even an intimacy coordinator here to make sure we were comfortable. Which just seemed odd to me because wasn’t that why they’d insisted on the modeling couple being a couple in the first place—because they were comfortable being intimate and they wanted that to translate to the photographs? And, hello, I was comfortable—ridiculously comfortable—with seeing Dom’s cock.
Oh, wait, was I also going to feel his cock today?
At the sheer possibility, I wanted to clap my hands in excitement, but instead I cleared my throat and worked my way up to asking the most awkward question that had ever been asked. “Um, don’t think I’m stupid, okay?”
He fixed his robe, which was starting to open in the front, even more than it was already open. Basically, I could see his entire chest. The only thing that was really covered was, well, you knew. “What’s up?” he asked.
I swayed my head back and forth. Yep, no other way to do it than just come right out and ask it. “What happens if you. . . get excited?” Not sure if he was getting what I was putting down, I let my eyes roam downward.
A roar of laughter escaped him. “Good question.”
“Why, thank you.” Then I nudged him. “No, but, really, what happens then?”
“We either take five or stop for the day.”
“Has that ever happened before?”
“You mean, have I ever gotten an erection while modeling?”
Way to come right out and say it. . . . “Yeah.”
“No,” he said before we made ourselves known on the makeshift set. “Even when I model with a woman it’s usually not emotional for me in any way. It’s a job, and that’s it. I don’t even think about the woman at all, so it makes it easier. With you, though, I don’t know, it might happen.”
My cheeks flushed, and I felt weird saying this, but—“That’s one of the sweetest things ever.” Okay, it was possible something was wrong with me.
* * *
Dominic
Maria wasn’t about to let her robe slip. She had such a tight grip on it, I wondered if she would back out. If she didn’t want to do this after all, then that was fine with me. I wanted her to be comfortable, but I knew Maria, and once she got out of her head and came over, sliding the robe off and being completely bare on top of me, she’d be okay.
She’d be just as she was every time we had sex—confident. She was a lioness who needed to be lured out of her cage. Okay, maybe that came out wrong, but the sentiment was definitely there.
Why couldn’t she see it? How incredibly sexy and bold and alluring she was? How she had the ability to take my breath away just by being herself. It was a wonder she’d never known my feelings for her. That she’d never figured me out.
Maybe she didn’t want to. Ignorance was bliss on some level, I supposed.
Not that it mattered anyway because she was with Paolo, and we were back to being just friends. Fuck, that sounded wrong. Just friends wasn’t a bad thing.
All right, I was going to silence those thoughts.
Instead, I tried to count backward from one hundred, looking up at the sky as the sun made its nightly descent, thinking about anything and everything possible that was either disgusting or boring to keep myself in check. My cock was all for giving a standing ovation, and that was fine in the bedroom, but not now.
Oh, right, you couldn’t see me, so I should probably tell you. I was already lying on the sand—naked. Yeah, I’d stripped off my robe almost immediately. In my defense, I hadn’t known Maria was going to want to talk to someone on the crew first. Not that I didn’t understand where she was coming from, because I did. Some people didn’t mind nudity shoots, and others were very comfortable with them. I fell somewhere in the middle around I-didn’t-care-and-was-numb-about-it land.
Oh, and about that sand. I didn’t think Maria had anything to worry about since she’d be on top of me with her ass in the air, but there would definitely be sand in my ass when I got up. Perks of being a model. Said no one ever.
Maria was being directed and slowly starting to untie her robe and slip her arms through the holes before hovering over me. “Hi,” she said, her voice matching her smile—shaky.
I winked, trying to give her the encouragement she needed. “You can do this. It’s okay, and the only one who’s really going to see your body is me,” I whispered, but kept eye contact, trying to make sure she knew I was here for her. Just as I always was.
She nodded but swallowed hard as I watched her throat bob.
It seemed like the plan was to show her a little grace since she wasn’t a model and allow her to lay on me, then rip the robe off her back. Not a bad plan. Not conventional, but not bad, either. And, because this was Maria, I was glad that was the way this was going down. I couldn’t very well have demands, since I wasn’t calling the shots, but if I were, then I would have demanded she be treated like the queen she was.
“Ready?” one of the female directors asked, her hand on the back of Maria’s robe, seemingly ready to take it off her any second.
She let the robe go in the front and braced her arms around me on the sand. “Ready,” she responded, and the woman didn’t hesitate, only took it off completely and left Maria hovering above me stark naked.
“I don’t think I’ll be going to a nude beach anytime soon,” she joked.
I laughed because (a) she was funny, and (b) I knew it would help her relax.
And it did. Her smile grew less forced and intense, and her entire expression loosened up. Her tits gently brushed my abs and, with every rise and fall of her chest, they continued to do that. It was all I could do not to reach up and grab them. But we were on set and in front of other people. Yeah, calm down, I reminded myself.
The photographer started snapping photographs. At this point, we had to stay quiet and let everyone around us do their jobs.
A director instructed, “Okay, Dom, move your arm out of the way.”
Done.
“Now look at Maria like you love her.”
Was he kidding me? Done.
Then the photographer added, “Let us see and feel the love, Dom.” Usually, it was all pretend because the other person wasn’t my person, but today, I knew the objective was for it to be realistic, which, let’s be honest, was not a challenge for me.
“Yes,” the director added, “and Maria, stare soulfully into Dom’s eyes, giving us a pouty lip.”
Her eyes turned dark and intense as they remained completely transfixed on mine. If you looked closely—and I’d noticed this many times before, but now I was really noting it and committing it to memory—there was a light brown hue to her iris that was almost hard to notice with how dark they went, but it was there. If you weren’t looking, like really looking, then you could’ve easily missed it, and that would have been a shame because they were beautiful. Like every other part of her.
“Good, stay that way.”
Brother, I could stay like this for the rest of my life and be the happiest son of a bitch on earth. This, my friends, was all I wanted—to have the chance to soulfully stare into Maria’s eyes forever. Was that asking too much?
* * *
Maria
Dom’s cock brushed my belly, and it sent little shivers down my back.
At least it was a distraction from thinking about the way he was looking at me, which was soulful, so soulful. Yes, I knew he was being instructed to do that, but whoa. His intense glare sent chills across my body.
Man, he was really good at this because even I believed we were a real couple, that he cared for me as more than a friend.
Go, you, Dom! Who knew modeling meant you had to be a good actor, too?
I was enjoying every second of seeing him in his element. This was what he was born to do, no question about it.
The director asked us to reposition ourselves on the sand, and the photographer came really close for a few shots as Dom’s teeth nipped at the delicate skin on my neck (as per the direction).
Out of nowhere, a makeup artist came over and gave us a look of fake sweat. “You guys look great,” she expressed and winked at me before running off again.
And you know what? I believed her. Because I felt great. I’d never felt so beautiful, so desired. I knew it was all for show, but hot damn, this was a feeling I could get used to.