Manic

"Oh, are you in this shot with me?" I ask, trying to sound nonchalant. I'm a little surprised because no one ever mentioned that Spencer and I would model together.

"Yeah, I'm the owner, right?"'

I squint at him. "Did you just pull rank on me?"

"Spencer," Antoine warns.

Spencer throws up his hands. "She asked me a question. Fuck! What am I supposed to do? Ignore her?" He takes a seat on the bike and then pats his lap. "Sit down here, Rook."

I hesitantly sit on his leg and he grunts. "Now look, Antoine, I'm paying for this f**king shoot, I need her to be natural, you've got her all wound up. Rook"—his attention goes back to me—"just pretend like you do in your other jobs. I'm your boyfriend, we're on sitting on the bike at the beach, and you like me."

I wrap my arms around his neck and scoot back on his lap a little more, which makes him suck in his breath—and makes me snicker a little if I'm honest—and then lean into his neck and whisper, "I do like you Spencer. But you scared me. I don't like that fighting stuff."

"I'm sorry," he says. "But I'm not taking advantage of you and I'm sick of everyone thinking I am."

Antoine is busy shooting as we talk and then he's barking out orders in French, which Spencer seems to understand.

"Do you speak French, too?"

"It's hard to know Antoine without learning French, he hates to speak English. And I took it in school so Ronin couldn't talk shit about me behind my back." He grins a devious smile down at me. "I know enough and Antoine says if I want good pictures I gotta get you to act like you're having a good time in my lap."

"Spencer!" Antoine barks.

Spence winks at me as he wraps me up in his arms. "I made that last part up, but it's true. Just give me some good pics, Rook. I saw the ones you did with Ronin and those were f**king hot."

I bite my lip a little. They are paying me a butt-load of money, a lot more than the TRAGIC contract was worth, so f**k it. If I'm gonna do this job, I might as well do it right. I lean in and kiss Spencer and Antoine's camera clicks like crazy. Spencer rubs my back a little and then he wraps his hands around my neck and pulls until we bump foreheads, our lips very close but not touching. I look down at him and smile.

"Thank you," he whispers.

"It's my job, right?"

"Right." He leans in and kisses me again. It feels… weird to do this and not have it be cheating. Is it cheating? I pull back and then Antoine tells me to stand on the other side of the bike and lean down on Spence's shoulders, draping my arms around his body.

The plus side to this pose is that it's not an ass-shot. But my tits are practically dangling right in front of Spencer's face. I try to pretend it's just a job, but the truth is, Spencer is excited, and while I am flattered to have that effect on him, I'm also kinda worried, because I'm a little turned on too.

Antoine asks for a few more poses, all of which compound the energy between us right now.

I do not like him that way, I tell myself emphatically.

That's not a lie either. I want Ronin.

But there is a purely physical part of me that can't help but respond.

When Antoine finally gets what he needs I get up quickly and trot downstairs to wash this paint off. Billy dutifully follows me.

"So," he says, grinning, as I turn on the water and grab the sponge that is already in the bucket of paint cleaner on the floor of the shower room. "It's not as easy as it looks, is it?"

"What's not?"

"Keeping it professional."

"Did it show?"

He laughs. "Uh, yeah, Rook. We're not blind."

"Ronin's gonna be so mad."

"Hey, look at it this way, Rook. Ronin's been doing this for years now, longer than me, that's for sure. And if he tells you he's not turned on in those shoots, probably every single one of them, he's a liar. It's natural, it's sexy as hell, Rook. It's the whole purpose of erotic photography, right? If we're not turned on, we don't give Antoine what he's looking for. So as bad as Antoine feels about needing Spencer to make you feel that way, that's his job. To give you a partner who turns you on so he can get his photos."

I think about this for a few minutes as I scrub. Billy stands off to the side, not facing me so I have an illusion of privacy. "Do you sleep with them, Billy? After you're done? I mean, what's it mean afterward?"

He shrugs. "I sleep with some of them, sure. But sometimes it's just a thing, ya know? Just a physical reaction, and nothing more."

I finish up with the shower and Billy hands me a towel and walks me upstairs to the studio.

Just a job, Rook. It's just a job.

Chapter Thirteen - ROOK

Ford is back when I enter the studio, but he's on the other side of the room, sitting in a chair next to Director Larry looking at the wall of screens. I ignore him and walk over to Spencer. His shirt is back, but he's still got the board shorts on. "Are we modeling together for all the shoots, Spencer?"

He doesn't turn, just keeps messing with his brushes and paint. "Does it bother you?"

"Um." Does it? "No, it doesn't bother me, that's not the right word." My camera team zooms in on me. I guess this is what Larry is looking for, because I can hear a tinny voice coming out of the earpiece of my main camera guy. "I'm just worried about what Ronin will think."