It was pouring down rain, big wet fat drops that you couldn't avoid no matter how big your umbrella was. The cab pulled to a stop in front of the brownstone and the back passenger door opened and she stepped out onto the street. She landed in a big puddle, soaking her feet immediately. She reached in and grabbed her overnight case, which she brought changes of clothes for her sitting with the photographer. She paid the driver and closed the door. He sped away and a truck followed him and splashed her all over by hitting the puddle she'd just soaked her feet in. She squealed in shock and then groaned in rage as she realized she was completely soaked from head to toe, cold, and in no way looking forward to this photo shoot which her friend had gotten for her as a birthday gift.
Her friends said she never did anything daring or outrageous. She didn't live adventurously, they claimed. She needed to do something out of the ordinary to make a jump start in her life. She listened to her friends for years, and for most part laughed and knew she was considered staid or uptight. But she was happy, wasn't she? She didn't have a divorce under her belt, she didn't have kids that could drive her to insanity, did she? And she didn't have someone driving her crazy at home, asking where she'd been, what was she doing, and certainly didn't have to coddle anyone at home other than her dogs.
Her life was pretty good; she thought as she trudged up the steps of the brownstone and rang the bell to the photographer's studio. But in the back of her mind she wondered if that was really what she wanted. To be alone, not have to hassle with being in a relationship, to have to work at being with someone. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she wished for someone to lie with, to snuggle up to and whisper naughty things and enjoy what came from it. To be made love to and make love to someone, to be held and stroked by someone who cared about you. It wasn't wrong to want those things just a little, was it?
The door buzzed her out of her reverie and she pushed open the door and followed the hall down to the address listed on the card her friend had given her. She shook herself off, attempting to dry herself and she realized she must look like a drowned rat. Her hair hung in her face, water soaked her shoes, stockings, all her clothes. She knocked on the door and heard a voice tell her to come in. She opened the door and walked inside a small hallway. She dropped her bag down on the floor and removed her raincoat.
"Hello?"
"Come on in. I'm just setting up." She heard a male voice say. Crap, her friend hadn't told her the photographer was male. She really wasn't going to be comfortable with this. She looked around and was about to bolt out the door when suddenly someone was standing in the hall with her.
"Let me take that for you." He said as he pulled her raincoat from her and hung it on a tree at the end of the hall. He turned and faced her and held out his hand. "Hi. I'm David. You must be Heidi?"
She swallowed hard and placed her hand in his and felt its warmth as it closed around hers. He was dressed in blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt that he had rolled up to his forearms. He had a nice smile, which put her a little more at ease, and she smiled back nervously.
"Hi, yes I'm Heidi. I'm really sorry about the mess..." she gestured to the water on the floor that she had brought in with her.
"Don't worry about it. I didn't realize it was starting to rain." He pulled her out of the hall and into the apartment. He had a camera set up against a huge backdrop to the left, which shared space with a huge bed. In the middle of the apartment was his living area, with television, sofa, etc. To the far right was a very open kitchen, with an island in the center of it. The windows were floor to ceiling by the bed and by the kitchen, showing that it was beginning to rain even harder than before.
"This is huge." She said in wonder as she looked around.
"I like open space." He answered and showed her to the area where his camera was set up. "Go ahead and sit down." He gestured towards a stool that was sitting in front a camera on a tripod in front of the drop cloth.
"Oh, I need a minute." She laughed. "The rain ruined my hair..." she raised her hands hopelessly and sighed. She looked down and realized her hose were ripped and ruined, her skirt was hopelessly wrinkled and her blouse was so wet it needed to be in a dryer. She groaned to herself and looked up at him through her lashes. "Maybe this was a bad idea." She whispered. "I'm just not..." she sighed. "I'm not very comfortable with this." She lifted her arms up and crossed them across her chest.
He came up to her and stood in front of her. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her hair and with his other hand he tucked it under her chin to make her look at him.
"Look at me please." He whispered.
She lifted her face up and looked him into his eyes. He smiled at her as he ran his fingers over her face, pushing her hair away from her face, and finally cupped her face in his hands.
"You're a very lovely woman and I would love to take your picture. But only if you want me to." He put his hands on her upper arms and guided her to the stool. "Sit down."
She sat down as he pulled her arms from her chest and placed them in her lap. He smiled again at her and then went over to the camera.
"I'm just testing out the lighting against your height and coloring. No picture yet. Ok?" he smiled at her over the camera.
She laughed, and agreed as he began coming forward with some contraption, he said to measure light, and then back again to the camera. He adjusted lights and adjusted a flash on the camera. He asked her questions as he did so, where was she from, what did she do for a living, etc. She found him very easy to talk to and very easy to watch. She also found him very attractive. He wasn't drop dead handsome, but he had this adorable quality about him that she found very attractive in men. She found herself blushing as she watched him bend over in front of her so she could admire his backside. She realized she was caught daydreaming when he said her name as if he'd said it already.
"I'm sorry, what?" she asked.
"I asked why you were here if you are so nervous." He smiled as he looked at her, making her think he knew exactly what she'd been doing.
"Oh, a friend of mine gave this to me as a birthday gift." She looked down as she said, attempting hopelessly to adjust her skirt. "I'm supposed to meet her for dinner after this and tell her how it was." She laughed.
"Happy birthday." He startled her by whispering in her ear, as she didn't realize he was standing beside her.
"Oh," she gasped, "It's uhm not my birthday anymore..." she trailed off when he stood in front of her. He reached for her hands and pulled her off the stool. He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.
"Every women deserves a birthday kiss." He whispered.
She didn't know how long they stood there, her hands in his, looking at each other. He finally broke the moment and took a step backward and pointed to a dressing screen.
"If you'd like to change into what you brought, you can step behind there and change. I brought your bag over and it's behind the screen." He turned and went to adjust something. "I promise not to peek." He said over his shoulder.
She turned sharply when he said that and found him grinning at her. She opened her mouth to say something then shut it and walked behind the screen. She was still stunned he'd kissed her on the lips. She brought her fingers to her lips and thought how long it had been since she'd been kissed. She shook off her melancholy and began looking in the bag she had brought which he had placed on a luggage stand.
She unbuttoned her blouse and removed it and hung it over the screen. She removed her skirt and ruined stockings and began rummaging through her bag. She stood in her bra and panties and went through her bag. She didn't like anything she had brought with her to wear. Everything she had in the case just didn't seem right, and she sighed in frustration and threw a blouse back into the case. She grabbed her make up bag and pulled a comb from it and ran it through her hair in some attempt to make it look good. She looked in the mirror on the wall and realized that it was hopeless, and threw the comb into her bag as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Heidi?"
"Yes?" she whispered.
"Are you having trouble finding something to wear?" he asked. She half laughed half sobbed at his question.
"Uhm, you know I'm really thinking that this is a bad idea." She whispered.
"There's a robe hanging on the wall in the corner. If you'll put it on, I'll come in and help you." He said from the other side of the screen.
She looked up and found the robe and put it on. It was huge and engulfed her and could have wrapped around her three times. She tied the robe and walked out to him on the other side of the screen. She smiled sadly at him and wrapped her arms around herself.
"I really don't have anything to wear..." she whispered and hung her head.
He looked down at her. She looked like a drowned elf, standing in her bare feet in the huge robe. Her hair was drying but was still damp and hung in ringlets down her shoulders. She barely came to his shoulder; he could easily rest his chin on her head. When she first came in, he had been blown away by her huge blue eyes. And then he'd seen her smile and he was lost. He leaned in and inhaled the scent of her, and placed his hands on either side of her head and lifted it up to look at him.
"Hi." He whispered. "Look, if you don't like anything you brought we can look in the wardrobe over there and see if you can find anything that you like. I have lots of stuff in there that people have left or that I've picked up that I believe would look good on certain people." He walked over to the wardrobe and opened it. "Take a look in here and see if you find anything." He turned and found her looking at him uncertainly.
"Would you like me to pick something out for you?" he asked gently.She nodded slowly and smiled in relief.
"Thank you, I really don't know anything about this." She said. "I just normally don't care about this kind of thing. I just..." she trailed off as he pulled out a sapphire silk flowing nightgown. "That's a nightgown." She gasped.
He smiled and brought it up to her.
"Well, yes but it would really great on you. It really brings out the color in your eyes and you would look exceptional in it." He said huskily, while holding it up to her.
"But, these pictures are supposed to be ones I can give to people, like my parents." She laughed uneasily. "I couldn't give my parents, or anyone for the matter, a picture of myself in lingerie."
"Ok," he said. "I'll make you a deal. You take a few shots in this for me, and then we'll find something else. Something more suitable for giving to your family and friends." He looked over at her and smiled devilishly. "Come on. If you can suffer through your picture being taken in this, imagine how easy it will be for the others." He held up the nightgown in front of her as if daring her to take it.
She looked up at him, snatched the gown from his hands and walked behind the screen. She heard him smother his laughter as she took off the robe. Darn him anyway, she thought. This is probably how he gets all the women he photographs to get comfortable. She hung the robe up and unhooked the front clasp of her bra and removed it. She picked up the gown and looked at it. It really was beautiful, and felt so soft and silky in her hands. Feeling daring and not knowing why, she removed her panties and grinned to herself as she dropped the gown over her head and shimmied it down her hips.
