"Are you sure this isn't going to be awkward for you?"
Asha leaned her shoulder against the wall, the hood of her sweatshirt pulled up, glass of ice water pinched between her fingers. She took a sip through the garish purple straw and creased the corners of her mouth upward. "Is it going to be awkward for
you
?" she countered.
Honestly, I couldn't say. We'd been friends for years. Acquaintance friends though, not friends friends. We would see each other at parties or at the homes of mutual friends, run into each other at restaurants, and sometimes the movie theater. We hung out now and then, as part of the group. But this was the first time I'd been to her house. Did all that make this awkward? I was about to find out.
"Of course not," I replied, "I'm a professional."
She laughed, tipping her head back for a chunk of crushed ice. I popped the battery door on the camera and dropped in a freshly one. The camera clicked to life, powering up the display. "Does that mean you're ready for me?" she asked.
"Two minutes," I replied. "Just let me grab the other lenses."
Asha disappeared down the hallway. Setting the camera on the counter I returned to the dining room table and plucked the camera bag from the chair. Rifling through it I dug out the 18mm and 85mm lenses from their soft cases at the bottom and set them on their ends. As I checked the focus switches a shutter clicked behind me.
"What happened to your regular model?" she asked, scrolling through the images on the memory card.
"She had an accident a few weeks ago," I replied, "broke her ankle. Said she didn't think the cast fit the theme of the shoot. I was willing to give it a shot, but she insisted." She laughed, setting the camera back on the counter. "Thanks again for doing this," I said. "I would have just waited for her to get the cast off but the submission deadline for the collection is in two weeks and it would be at least three before she was ready."
Asha shrugged. "Happy to help." Slipping her hands into her pockets she cocked her head and flipped her dyed-platinum hair out of her eyes. "Besides," she added, "I'm looking forward to being famous."
My turn to laugh. "I'm professional, not famous."
"You will be after this."
I smiled, tucking both lenses into the pouch slung over my shoulder. "Let's get the outdoor shots first before it gets too hot. Then we'll do the interior stuff."
I followed her through the dining room to the nine-foot sliding glass door, the sweet scent of lemon and sugar trailing behind her. She swept aside the heavy white curtain and dragged the door open. The rush of air billowed her hood, brushing it from her head onto her back. She stepped down over the threshold onto the deck. I followed suit, shutting the door behind me.
Asha's deck overlooked the river at its widest point, at the apex of its longest bend. To either side a line of old evergreens separated her property from the neighbors. Across the water the glass towers of the city skyline gleamed in the morning sunlight. I stood and stared for a minute, soaking it all in. "How did you find this place," I wondered aloud, leaning over the railing to look past the trees.
"One of the doctors at work," she said, her voice some distance behind me. "He was talking about wanting to sell for months before he put it on the market. So, I got my offer in first."
"Nice," I replied, following the shimmering patterns thrown across the deck boards and up the tubular posts. "You really lucked out."
She was quiet again. The air filled with wind and the muffled woosh of traffic. I swung the camera up to my eye and snapped a few shots of the city, the lens flare bisecting each image at a different location. I leaned on the railing, steadying myself for a longer exposure. I felt her step up beside me, Her voice light and playful. "So," she said, "where do you want me?"
I turned my head and froze. She had shed the hoodie, tossing it over the back of a deck chair. On the seat of the chair, the blue and white shorts she had been wearing only moments earlier. She stood before me relaxed and completely naked, save for a glittering copper anklet and a small vibrant caduceus tattoo on her right shoulder.
She was a beautiful woman. About 5'7", light eyes, bright smile, and completely out of my league. Her mother was Korean, co-owner of a family-run billion-dollar shipping company. Her father was a Chicago native mutual fund manager for the largest investment bank west of the Mississippi. And she was an orthopedic surgeon at the best renown hospital in the region. But aside from the house on the river, you wouldn't have known what she came from. She drove a modest car, wore modest clothes, and lived a modest life. The only thing she flaunted was her hair.
It was long, straight, silky smooth and black as night. It stood out on its own without any help, but she liked to experiment. With color, with style, anything that made it unique. Last time I saw her it had been flame red with a single center part and curls at the ends. Today it was a lightly curled platinum blonde with dark roots, creating somewhat of a halo around her head and shoulders in the cool white light.
Her breasts were perfect little teardrops suspended from her chest. Her tummy was taut and her legs shapely and toned, as one might expect from a yoga enthusiast. Her hips flared gently between them all, framing a supple, smooth pubic triangle. I stared -- far longer than I should have, panicking that I'd lost track of how long it had been since she'd spoken to me. I now knew the answer to her initial question. And I
certainly
couldn't admit it at this point.
"Let's start here," I said, willing down the stirring in my jeans. I directed her a stride back from the edge, then had her lean forward at the waist to rest her elbows on the top rail. She pushed up on her toes tightening her calves and thighs and raising her perfectly rounded ass while dipping the small of her back. Her pussy peeked out from between her thighs. Teasing. Inviting.
I backed away, coming to rest against the door. I framed her in the viewfinder. The blues of the sky and the greens of the leaves tinted the platinum in her hair. I snapped a few images, varying the aperture and the exposure, searching for right balance of contrast and saturation. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, cocking a hip and bending a knee. I snapped several more, the asymmetry of this pose more dynamic than the previous one. But it still wasn't perfect.
I asked her to take several steps to her right and reset the pose. And when she stopped and leaned forward again, a refraction of light through the penthouse windows of the tower across the water fell across her back, splashing what looked like an oil slick of swirling metallic colors from the curve of her shoulder to the base of her spine. I chuckled to myself, snapping every angle and exposure of that shot until the sun dipped behind a cloud and dissolved it away. I couldn't have planned that shot if I tried. Sometimes you just get lucky.
We switched up to put her back against the railing, the sun casting deep shadows beneath her breasts, making them appear much larger than they were. Then we moved on to an Adirondack chair, stretching out and crossing her legs at the ankles, covering her nipples with her hair, teasing her privates in the shadows. By the time we finished it was 80 degrees and I was ready to head back in.
"I think we're done out here," I said, replacing the lens cap. "We can head inside to finish the rest."
She swung herself up out of the chair, a smile creasing her lips. "Can I see what you have so far?"
"Of course," I replied. I lowered the camera into the shade and powered up the screen, scrolling slowly through the shots. She tucked in close, the lemon and sugar filling my head, her ass bumping against the bulging seam along the front of my denim, sending a jolt through my pelvis. I hoped to god she didn't notice. But after every third or fourth image reviewed, she would adjust, nudging me with those firm shapely buttocks. I fought not to flinch each time.
"These look really good," she offered, beaming up at me.
"I have a great model," I said. Her cheeks warmed. She returned to the deck chair and scooped up her clothes, bending just a little further than she needed to. I ducked inside, the image lingering in my head. I needed a couple more hours to get all the shots I planned on. And the more distracted I was the longer it would take, and the more distracted I would become. I bit my tongue to get my attention. Focus. Just focus and get through this.
I heard ice clink in a glass behind me. "You can cover up for a bit," I said, not turning around. "It's going to take me a minute to set up."
"Okay," she said following a sip of water. "Can I help you with anything?
"Nah, I'm okay. Go ahead and relax." Her footsteps padded across the tile toward the living room, falling silent once she reached the carpet. I pulled the light panels and stands from their pouches. The muscle memory of assembly and the chill of the air conditioning helped soften my erection. And by the time I was ready to position the lights I was comfortable again. The comfort was short-lived.
I lifted the stands and turned to find Asha. She was laying on the couch, one knee bent, her head resting on the arm, white hair draped over the dark fabric. She had not covered up. Her nipples stretched from her breasts in the cool air. One hand rested casually on her stomach, the other disappeared behind her raised thigh. I looked away quickly, clearing my throat as I set the lights in their positions. "I think we're ready now," I announced.