Unshuttered

by Philippa Grey-Gerou

  Not if he had anything to say about it. It was a mark of how tired he was that he didn’t feel even a twinge of guilt at the thought. Maybe… “I’m not asking you to take your clothes off,” he snapped, holding onto the anger her lack of confidence inspired. She was so damn sure of herself in everything else, it was infuriating that she lacked it in this. Humanizing, but infuriating.

  “Fine,” she growled back.

  Neither one of them spoke again until they reached the studio. Ian slammed the car door behind him, storming up to the building to yank open the door and head straight to Josie’s in bin. “There.” He pulled out the file copies of the pictures he’d sent off last night, slapping them down on her desk one by one in a collage of gemstones and skin. “That’s you. That’s all you. I couldn’t have done those pictures with anyone else.”

  She was quiet for a moment, studying the photos. Finally she shook her head. “It’s bits and pieces, Ian. You take anything out of context and it can look as good or bad as you want to make it.”

  He wanted to shake her. She needed to see the whole picture? Fine, he could do that.

  “Come with me.” He hauled her out of her chair and led her to the display area still set up from last night. “Don’t move,” he said and went to retrieve a folding chair from against the wall. Plopping it down in the center of the field of velvet, he shoved Josie onto it none too gently.

  “What the hell’s gotten into you?” She started to get up.

  “Don’t. Move.”

  He must have startled her, because she sank back down.

  He flew around the studio, snapping on lights and adjusting the incident lighting as she sat there, silent and bemused. Checking the load on his camera, he was finally ready to deal with his model.

  She’d crossed her arms over her chest, her ankles mirroring them, closing her off as she leaned back in the chair. Frustration erased all of Ian’s careful politeness from the night before. “Not like that,” he insisted, kicking her ankles apart while he unfolded her arms. “Wider.” Crouching down, he shoved her knees into a loose straddle and pushed the bottom of her skirt up to reveal those boots and the velvety length of her thighs, letting the fabric pool in the middle to protect her modesty. “There. Now lean forward. Put your elbows on your knees.” Eyes wide, she followed his orders, her fingers brushing each other where they met in the middle, emphasizing the large turquoise ring she wore on her left hand. “Better.” He reached between her arms to release another button on her blouse.

  “Ian!”

  “You wanted the big picture, Josie. Well, those are definitely part of it.” Ignoring her angry glare, he tousled her hair, barely registering the silky strands as he mussed it into something that looked like she’d just dragged herself out of his bed. That was looking like less and less of a possibility, but he was determined to make her see herself the way he did.

  “You’ve completely lost it,” she stated, but remained how he’d positioned her. “Isn’t it safer to humor a mad man than not?”

  “I’m not crazy, Josie.” Grabbing up his camera, he began shooting her. “In a little while, you’re going to believe me.”

  “Dream on, camera man.” After a moment of silence, she asked, “Should I be doing anything?”

  “I wouldn’t mind a smile. But if it’s too much…”

  She bared her teeth at him.

  He zoomed in, softening the focus. “Okay, that’s frightening.” He snapped a picture. “Now give me something more natural.”

  “I feel so unnatural right now, it’s not even funny.” She tried to bring her knees together.

  “Stop that.” He spread them again and then backed off. “Remember the first time I took you to Paris? You were trying to act all sophisticated, but I could tell you wanted to run through the streets screaming ‘Oh my God, I’m in Paris!’”

  The blush was absolutely perfect. “I can’t believe you even remember that.”

  “Of course I remember that. I remember a lot of things about you.”

  “Bullshit. You don’t even notice me unless you’re out of coffee or can’t find your lenses.”

  “I notice you, Josie. I just don’t always vocalize it.”

  “Unless you want something.”

  The corner of his mouth tugged with a smile. “You make me sound insufferable.”

  “Only when you’re out of coffee.” Her wicked grin warmed his heart and went straight to his cock.

  “We’re out of coffee now, but you don’t hear me complaining, do you?”

  “Because you’re still flying high,” she chuckled. “I’m waiting until the crash.”

  “Pictures first.” He held out his hand to her. “Come on.”

  Her animated face became suspicious. “Where?”

  “Darkroom. You’re going to see these before I pass out from caffeine toxicity.”

  Her hand was warm when she slipped it into his, nearly making up for the loss of her lovely legs when she stood up, her skirt pooling back around her calves. “You really are certifiable, you know that?” But she followed him docilely nonetheless.

  “I’m an artist. It comes with the territory.”

  He closed the darkroom door behind them and turned off the light, switching on instead the faint amber light that allowed him enough light to see by, once his eyes had adjusted to it. He didn’t need the light, really. He had done this so many times by now, he could go through each step of the process blindfolded, rolling the film onto the reel, dropping it in the tank, adding the developer, all automatic. In the darkness, he could sense Josie behind him, uncharacteristically quiet, waiting and watching in that way she had, always aware of the world around her. She could be so abrasive, too many people didn’t know what a gentle heart she had. Hell, even he hadn’t known how vulnerable she really was, and he worked with her every day. His own desires aside, he wanted to give this to her, to let her know beyond a doubt that all the big talk had more than a hint of reality behind it.

  Once the film was set, he fed it into the enlarger and exposed three of the frames, the best examples of the lot. These went into the developer and then the stop bath, into the fixer and finally into the wash as the exposures faded into brilliant reality. He didn’t wait for them to dry, snapping the main light back on as soon as the pictures were set and shoving them, still dripping, into Josie’s hands. “There. See?”

  Her eyes squinted against the brilliance as she uncertainly took the pictures from him. “You could warn a girl.”

  “Sorry,” he said and meant it. “Just look, please?”

  Shaking her head with a faint smirk, she did. The smirk disappeared as her lips parted enticingly. “Oh,” she whispered. Flipping to the next one, her brows drew together. “This can’t be me. You did something to them, right?”

  Ian moved over to her side, peering down at the pictures. “When could I have? You were there when I took the pictures and you stood here the whole time while I developed them. At no point did I have the opportunity to alter these.”

  “Sleight of hand.”

  “You’ve seen me shuffle cards, Josie.”

  “You did something,” she insisted. “In the developing or the chemicals or that—” she gestured towards the enlarger, “thing. This isn’t—”

  He kissed her.

  Whether it was the caffeine or the exhaustion, the intensity of the creative process or maybe her proximity, he threw all caution to the wind and kissed her, hard enough to stop her protests but not so hard that she banged her head when he backed her up against the wall. She resisted only for a minute before her mouth opened beneath his, welcoming him in as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders to pull him closer.

  Whatever he’d expected, it hadn’t been eager reciprocity. All his restraint shattered and he ground into her the way he’d been fantasizing about all night, aching for her soft curves gave against him.

  So he was surprised when she suddenly pushed him away.

  “Josie, wh—” Her eag
er lips recaptured his and silenced him as she shoved him back against the opposite wall.

  “Now then.” She broke off the kiss but didn’t move away, her body still pressed enticingly close. “Much as I would really love for this to continue, you’ve had no sleep and are running on more chemicals than is probably safe. Which means that with my luck, you’ll conk out just as things get going.”

  “Josie, I wouldn’t—”

  She shut him up with another kiss. “If this is going to happen, I want you fully present and participating.”

  There was so much promise in that simple statement. “Only if you promise it will. I’m not about to let you go if you’re going to change your mind in the meantime.” He emphasized it with a sharp nip at the base of her throat.

  Gasping, she kissed him again. “Trust me. Now that I know you’re interested, you aren’t getting away.”

  “But we work together.” Savoring her full lips, he took advantage of the opportunity to shamelessly indulge in playing with her thick hair. “Things might get awkward.”

  “You think they won’t be awkward if we stop now?”

  Her hands were all over his chest, tugging at his shirt. “This doesn’t feel much like stopping.”

  “I know.” She sighed and pulled away, not giving him time to grab her before she opened the darkroom door and stepped back out into the studio.

  Taking a moment, Ian finally pushed off the wall and followed after. Tomorrow. He could wait until tomorrow. Sleep really wouldn’t kill him right now. At least he knew he could look forward to good dreams.

  Chapter Three

  Ian slept for nearly eighteen hours. Josie had been right about him crashing hard. Following a quick, hot shower, he’d fallen into bed and didn’t wake up until his alarm the next morning.

  The promise of another taste of Josie’s spicy mouth was enough to have him bounding out of bed and through his morning routine, although he spent more time than usual dithering over his clothing. “This is Josie,” he chided himself finally. “Like she won’t see through any image you try to make, anyway.” Nonetheless, he pulled on a button up dress shirt. He was looking forward to how she undid the buttons. If she undid the buttons.

  He grinned.

  His car was still at the studio, so he called a cab, tempting as it was to call Josie to come get him, maybe tempt her into his apartment and spend the day in his bed getting to know each other. But that was presumptuous, despite yesterday’s promises. Better to start out on neutral territory and go from there.

  Neutral territory, however, had turned into a war zone.

  “I don’t care about her schedule!” Josie was shouting into the phone. “We already have the studio booked and the permits for shooting at the Museum of Science and Industry for next week. That doesn’t matter. You signed a contract in her name, so you can damn well make sure she gets there!” She was typing madly away at her keyboard the entire time, and Ian could see over her shoulder she was already looking at rescheduling their flights and permits, no matter how tough she was talking.

  He left her to it and headed for his office. It was best to leave Josie alone in these situations. She didn’t take kindly to interruptions.

  Hitting the coffee pot, he had just finished pouring himself a cup when he caught sight of the new bag. Decaf.

  “Cute, Josie, real cute.” He kept the coffee anyway. Less caffeine might not be a bad idea today.

  Work wasn’t appealing. He had a glossy shoot on Saturday, so he went through the motions of getting ready for that, checking and cleaning his lenses, winding enough film, all the time listening to Josie in the other room, first berating the agent and then subsequently the licensing office and the airlines, determined to get her own way.

  Ian’s thoughts kept drifting back to yesterday, but to his surprise he found himself focusing more on his shoot with her than on what had happened after. She wasn’t what most people would call beautiful, but there was a classic elegance to her, like one of the Golden Era actresses who had as much character as appearance, and that showed on film. Even in what could have been a rather provocative pose, Josie had radiated a passion that he had always read as inner strength. In many was, it was. Josie’s strength came from her commitment. The things she thought were important, she fought for tooth and nail, without wavering or relenting, and she almost always got her way in the end. Ian had been lucky to find her in the first place. He wasn’t entirely sure he deserved her.

  Sudden silence from the other room startled him. Glancing back over his shoulder, he was surprised to find her standing in the studio doorway, glaring at him. “What did I do now?”

  “So I don’t even rate a good morning now, huh?”

  “You were on the phone.”

  Josie crossed her arms. “Ravage a girl in the darkroom and suddenly everything’s awkward.”

  “I…what… Where do you get awkward from? You were on the phone! I know better than to interrupt when you’re beating clients into submission.”

  “A simple smile or a wave is not an interruption.”

  Ian was completely lost. Christ, they hadn’t even started anything and he’d screwed up. Was he supposed to apologize? “Uh…” He forced a smile. “Good morning, Josie?”

  “Hm, the sincerity needs work, but…” She grinned wickedly. “The effort is noted.” Turning, she started walking off.

  “That’s it?”

  “Oh, Chicago’s pushed back a week,” she replied without glancing back.

  “Yes, I kind of gathered that.” He shoved the camera bag he was loading across the table and followed her. “What about yesterday?”

  “What about it?” She was sorting through a chaos of papers on her desk.

  Crossing his arms, he leaned against the filing cabinet. “Certain things happened. Certain promises were made.”

  “I remember.”

  “And?”

  “Unless you’re planning to pay me for sex, you’ll just have to wait until after work.”

  “If I was planning to?”

  She shrugged. “I’m not that kind of a girl.”

  Ian gave a half-hearted laugh. “I’ll be damned if I can figure out what kind of a girl you are some days, Josie.”

  “Good, then at least I’m doing something right.” Grabbing up a sheaf of papers, she turned around and gave him a pointed look. “Mind budging over so one of us can do our job?”

  “Oh, sorry.” He moved to the side of cabinet. “Where does that leave us, then?”

  “It leaves us somewhere.” The look she gave him was sly. “However, I never discuss my personal life at work.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Work at work. Personal stuff after hours.”

  His jaw didn’t drop. Much. “Hold on. I have to wait until the end of the day before you’ll discuss what happened yesterday? During working hours, I might add.”

  “Yes.”

  “Josie.” He grabbed her arm when she started to walk away. She raised her eyebrows, but Ian felt the tremor that ran through her. “I only want to talk. What can that hurt?”

  She reached up to caress his cheek. “We know it wouldn’t be just talk.”

  He wanted to shake her. “That’s supposed to get me to wait?”

  “You’ve waited this long.”

  “So this is a test?” Abandoning common sense, he pulled her closer until he could feel her warm breath against his skin. “Are you testing me?”

  “If I am, do you really want to fail it?”

  “You’re going to be the death of me, woman.”

  Leaning close enough so her lips nearly brushed against his, Josie whispered, “Then you’d miss out on all the fun.”

  Before he could react, she was gone, beyond his reach on the opposite end of the desk. “Josie…”

  “Patience will be duly rewarded.” Waving him off, she added, “Now go get ready for that ten o’clock. We have a business to run here.”

  The ten o’clock was
an acting portfolio for a handsome enough local stage actor ready to “make it big”. It was one of the no-brainer jobs that paid the bills in between the bigger fashion shoots and was how Ian had gotten started in the business. Today it was just an aggravation. The kid had an actor’s overconfidence and didn’t know when to stop talking. By the time Ian was done, he was about ready to strangle the man.

  “So, when will these be ready?” Big Time Actor—Brian, Ian corrected himself—asked, buttoning up his shirt.

  “I can have them couriered over to you late this afternoon.” Ian had already dismissed him, clearing the cameras for the next step.

  “That’d be great. I’m taking the train up to New York tomorrow. I already have a meeting with an agent up there,” Brian repeated for the fourth time.

  “Yeah, good luck with that. Give all your details to Josie and she’ll take care of it. Josie!”

  Oh, yeah, that didn’t come out sounding like he was desperate for a rescue or anything.

  Josie’s smirk quickly gave way to a more professional smile as she walked over to Brian. “If you’ll come with me, we’ll get this wrapped up and get you on your way.”

  “Do you think the shirtless shot was too much?” Brian asked her.

  “Of course not,” she reassured him, leading him off. “You should always show off your best asset.”

  “Good thing I wasn’t taking pictures of his brain,” Ian grumbled under his breath.

  “Oh, and Ian,” Josie called back from the doorway, “you’ve got a three o’clock scheduled. Portraits.”

  “That wasn’t on my calendar.”

  “It is now.”

  He felt her slipping through his fingers. “Josie—”

  “You’ve got the time,” she forestalled his argument. “Trust me, it’ll be worth it.”

  Portraits were easy money. So, financially, it would be worth it. Personally, he wasn’t so sure. He would have to make certain to keep Josie from leaving at the day’s end. They were going to talk, one way or another.

  *****

  Three fifteen rolled around and the client appeared to be a no-show. Dammit.