VIPER (Fallen Angel Book 2)

by Brooke Blaine

“Sorry, it was hot and I didn’t want to get anything on the shirt,” I said, but Jacques held his hand up, still studying me, and then he snapped his fingers at his assistant.

  “Molly, get the oil,” he said, and as his assistant rushed off, my eyes bugged out.

  “Did you say oil? What’s that for?”

  “You wish to be naked, I will accommodate,” Jacques said. Molly came running back, the bottle uncapped and already pouring oil into her hand.

  I backed up before she could reach me. “That’s okay, I’m good with a shirt. Or a jacket. A shirt and a jacket, even.”

  They paid my protests no mind, Molly slathering a palmful of the oil across my abs as I inwardly cringed.

  “Is this really necessary?” I asked, as she spread the oil over my chest, my shoulders, even my back, which probably wouldn’t even be in the shot. A snicker sounded to my right, and I looked over to see Viper grinning and whispering something to the photographer. “Just wait till it’s your turn,” I told him.

  He winked at me. “Don’t forgot his biceps. He works so hard for those.” Viper’s eyes were full of devilry as Molly went to work on my arms, and I couldn’t glare him down enough.

  When my body was a complete oil slick, Jacques moved me into position, which just so happened to be in direct view of the sun, making me feel like I was an egg in a frying pan. I could practically hear my skin sizzling as he snapped away.

  I told myself to relax, that this was the last thing I’d have to do today, and then I could take the longest shower known to man. Almost done…almost done…

  “Halo, turn your face an inch to the right…a bit more… Why don’t you try looking at where Viper’s standing? Yes, that’s it.” Jacques’ camera snapped away as I stared at the man I’d been trying to avoid looking at all day. Viper ran a hand through his black hair, and I couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles stretched with the move. His olive skin had darkened during our time in Miami, and somehow that only accentuated the ridges of his body and made him look even more enticing.

  “Hold that look,” Jacques said, and I froze, not sure what it was he was seeing, but realizing if I’d been having thoughts about Viper, it was probably nothing good. A few more clicks of the camera and Jacques beamed at me. “Beautiful man. Thank you.”

  “I’m all done?” I asked.

  Jacques nodded and gestured for Viper to take my spot, but before I went anywhere, there was one thing I needed.

  I caught Molly’s attention and gestured to what felt like an inch-thick layer of oil covering me. “Could I get a towel?”

  “Of course.” She had rushed off again before the words were fully out of her mouth, and as I waited, Viper sauntered to where I stood.

  With his back to everyone, he let his gaze travel down my chest and abs. “You sure you want that towel, Angel? This could be a fun slick and slide…”

  I licked my lips, the sexual promise in his words so damn tempting that when the assistant came back with what I’d asked for, I thought twice about wiping myself off.

  “Halo, you stay right there,” Jacques called out suddenly. “Molly, get rid of the towel.”

  “Huh?” I squinted and brought my hand up to shade my eyes as I frowned at Jacques. “I thought I was done?”

  “You were, but this…” Jacques gestured between me and Viper. “This I can work with. Molly? Oil up Viper.”

  Twenty-Four

  Viper

  IF I THOUGHT Halo had looked worried before, the expression on his face as Molly rubbed oil into one of my arms, and then the next, was close to horrified. His eyes were wide and his mouth had fallen open, and when he glanced at Jacques and said, “Work with us how, exactly?” I almost lost it.

  Jacques wasn’t known for elegant, proper photographs. He worked for some of the edgiest magazines in the world. So when he walked to where the two of us stood in our half-zipped jeans with our oiled-up torsos, to get a better look at Halo and myself, it didn’t take a genius to see where his mind was wandering.

  “I like the feel of you two together. This vibe,” he said, as he wandered around behind Halo, whose head whipped to the left to peer at Jacques, who was now behind him.

  “Uh, what vibe? Slick and uncomfortable?”

  When Jacques stopped beside us, he grinned at Halo and shook his head. “No, no. Dark and light. Good angel,” he said to Halo, before turning to me and saying, “Bad angel.”

  I snorted, because Jacques had just hit the nail on the head.

  Jacques was nodding as he rubbed his fingers over his chin, his eyes roaming all over the front of me, much like Molly’s slippery hands. “I’m right, no?”

  “No,” Halo said a little louder than I thought even he expected.

  “No?” Jacques chuckled. “I can’t imagine Viper is a good angel.” When Jacques winked at me, I smirked, and his eyes lit up. “Yes! That right there. That’s all I need in the shoot. That expression and a guitar.”

  “Huh?” I said, confused, then he gestured to my jeans.

  “You can lose everything else,” he said.

  “As in…?”

  “Strip.” Jacques clapped his hands together. “Yes. Oh, I can see it all now.”

  Uh, pretty sure that everyone would be seeing it all if he was serious.

  “You with your guitar, slung across your hips, and Halo, we’ll have you next to him holding on to the neck of it. The curve of your hip mimicking the guitar and—”

  “Wait, wait—what?” Halo said, his eyes close to bugging out of his head as they flicked between Jacques and myself. “I’m not getting naked.”

  “Oh dear. See, good angel,” Jacques said as he moved between us, his hands coming up to frame Halo’s face without touching him. “I promise no one will see anything they shouldn’t. We’ll keep your modesty intact.”

  The blush that hit Halo’s cheeks then was so endearing that I couldn’t help the chuckle that slipped free. At the sound, his eyes flew past Jacques’ shoulder to find mine.

  “No. I’m not doing a naked photoshoot,” Halo said, shaking his head. “What about the rest of the guys?”

  Jacques looked over at Killian, Jagger, and Slade, who were over by the catering table out of earshot, then turned back to Molly.

  “Molly? While the men are stripping, can you go and get Viper’s guitar for him and close off the area to everyone who isn’t needed? Looks like we’ve got ourselves a shy one here.”

  Molly scurried off and Jacques faced Halo again.

  “There. That’s better, no?” Judging by the alarm pouring off Halo in waves, I was thinking…no. But before Halo could find the right words, Jacques said, “Both of you strip down and we’ll get the rest of you oiled up. Then we’ll start. This is going to be incredible.”

  As Jacques left us to “strip down,” Halo didn’t move. In fact, I wasn’t even sure he was breathing, as a dozen crew members began ushering people out of the backyard and erecting those collapsible poles that they then attached massive black privacy curtains to.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Killian look our way, but before any kind of explanation could be exchanged, his face disappeared as the curtain blocked him out.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Halo stage-whispered as he took a step toward me, his eyes a little wild as he ran them all over my face, no doubt trying to see what screw had come loose in my head. “We can’t do this.”

  “Can’t do what? Get naked together?” I said, my lips curving at the sides. “Pretty sure we’ve already done that, Angel. Many times.”

  Halo moved in even closer to me and said between gritted teeth, “Would you be serious for once in your life?”

  I lowered my eyes to his slicked-up chest and licked my lower lip. “I’m being very serious, and you are supposed to be stripping.”

  Halo shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

  “No? Well, if you need me to help, I can…” As I raised a hand, Halo took a hasty step back from me.

  “How abo
ut you keep your hands to yourself,” Halo said, and when I reached for the zipper of my jeans, he groaned. “God. That’s not any fucking better.”

  With my jeans hanging open, I glanced over my shoulder to where Jacques was fiddling with his camera and lighting, and then turned back to where Halo was looking like he might pass out. Knowing the only way Jacques was going to get the shot he wanted was if I managed to get Halo to chill the fuck out, I put my hands on his shoulders and said, “Breathe.” Halo glared at me, clearly unamused, but when I cocked my head to the side and said, “Fucking breathe,” he did.

  In and out. In and out. He took several deep breaths, and when he finally looked as though he could stand without falling, I let him go.

  “What’s the main issue here for you? Me? The nakedness—”

  “How about you and the nakedness?” Halo said, then he lowered his voice. “How am I supposed to stand next to you naked and not get…get…”

  “Turned on?”

  “Yes.”

  Fucked if I know, I wanted to say, but I didn’t really think he’d appreciate that much honesty. So instead I said, “The same way I’m going to stand next to you and try and do the same.”

  “Umm, that’s not the same,” Halo said. “Did you forget the fact that you get a prop?”

  Oh, that’s right. Well, shit. When I chuckled, Halo’s jaw clenched. Right, maybe don’t laugh, Viper.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it,” I said. “Jacques is a professional and it’s only going to be you, me, him, and Molly. He’s not going to care if you get turned on. Hell, he’ll probably like it more. He made it pretty fuckin’ clear he thinks you’re gorgeous…beautiful man.”

  “That’s your pep talk?”

  Halo ran a hand over his face, and I leaned in to say by his ear, “No. This is my pep talk. You look hot as fuck naked, and I can’t wait to frame this picture and hang it above my bed so I can get off to it each night you’re not there. Now strip, Angel. Or I’m gonna rip those pants off you.”

  That did the trick. Halo took a less-than-steady step back, his eyes full of fire as he reached for his zipper, and it was me who had to turn my back on him then to finish getting undressed without attacking.

  “Okay, you two,” Jacques called out a couple of minutes later after all was clear and Molly had handed me my guitar. “Let’s see if we can find a position we all like.”

  Halo made a noise that sounded like a tortured groan, and then, with his hands crossed in front of himself, ambled over to where Jacques was standing in front of me. I looped the guitar strap over my shoulder and slung the instrument across my lower body and hips, and when I aimed a grin in Halo’s direction, he quickly tore his gaze away.

  “So let’s try this,” Jacques said, as he eyed me. “Viper, I want you front on, facing me and the camera. The guitar looks perfect where it is, but let’s get your right hand sitting loosely over the strings.”

  I did as instructed—my feet planted on the ground slightly parted, the fingers of my right hand resting low on the strings.

  “Good, good.” Jacques nodded. “And let’s have the left hand down by your side.”

  By my side? That was interesting. But hey, I wasn’t the photographer, and if that was what he wanted, I wasn’t about to argue with him.

  “Yes, just like that. Now, Halo,” Jacques said, and when he looked to Halo, I did the same. The angel looked awkward and uncomfortable, and when Jacques crooked a finger at him and said, “Come closer,” Halo’s cheeks turned scarlet.

  Halo took the couple of steps needed to bring him in close to my right side, and when Jacques looked down our bodies, Halo mumbled, “This is fucking crazy.”

  “Okay,” Jacques said. “I want you to straddle his leg.”

  “What?” Halo said, and took an immediate step back. “I’m not straddling anyone. Viper? My parents are going to see this.”

  And if anything was going to kill a hard-on, that was it.

  “Your parents—” Jacques pulled up short, and when what Halo had said registered and offended, he shook a finger at him. “I don’t do porn, young man. I want you to put a foot on the front and back side of Viper’s thigh and then angle your body to hide your…” Jacques gestured to the lovely cock Halo had forgotten to cover in his minor freak-out. “For that very purpose.”

  How Halo managed to look chagrined and fuckable all at once, I had no idea. But when he gnawed on his lower lip and said, “Sorry,” I wanted to grab his hand, take him somewhere private, and bite down on that lip myself.

  “Right, well, if you’re done questioning me,” Jacques said, “could you please move into position?”

  With color still high on his cheeks, Halo lowered his eyes and moved into my side, placing a foot at the front and back of my right thigh. He then angled the lower half of his body away from the camera so the shot would be of the curve of his hip, and that phenomenal ass.

  “Yesss,” Jacques said, his excitement at what he was seeing now shoving aside his irritation from the earlier interruption. “Now, Halo, I want you to reach across Viper’s chest and grab the neck of his guitar with your right hand, and then look over your shoulder at me.”

  With Halo standing so close I could feel his cock brushing against my thigh, I had to admit that I was pretty damn happy for the prop I had across my hips, because nothing could’ve stopped the blood from rushing south.

  “Oh my God,” Jacques said as he walked backward, his hands coming up to frame us as he continued to his spot. “This is it. It’s perfection. Hold it just like that. Let me get my camera.”

  As he rushed to grab his camera off Molly, I caught Halo’s eyes and said, “I don’t care what’s scheduled for after this shoot. I’m scheduling you, me, and a fucking shower.”

  Halo swallowed, but I felt his hips inch in closer to my thigh, his dick now as hard as my own, but angled as he was there was no one to see what I could feel.

  A mischievous light now replaced the anxiety from the beginning of the shoot, and he grinned. “A fucking shower, huh?”

  I was about to tell him he’d be lucky if he made it to the shower, when Jacques called out, “Okay, you two. Let’s give everyone in the country something to talk about. I want sex. I want fire.”

  Jacques got both in spades. He had the shot he wanted in less than five minutes, and I had Halo in a shower in less than ten. All in all, I’d say that was one helluva successful photoshoot, and I couldn’t wait to frame the fucker over my bed.

  Twenty-Five

  Halo

  “I CAN’T BELIEVE you’ve been living at the beach for two months while I’ve been in snow up to my knees,” Imogen grumbled as we FaceTimed a couple of weeks later. To rub it in my sister’s face, I’d walked out to the private beach in front of the mansion and planted my ass in the sand, giving her a view of the house behind me and occasionally flipping the camera so she could look out at the sun setting over the ocean. I didn’t think I’d ever get enough of this view, but I also knew our time here was coming to a close, since the album was almost finished.

  “You can still come visit,” I said.

  “Ugh, I wish. I’m so pale I’m practically translucent, and you guys are gonna come back here all bronzed sun gods. Have I mentioned I hate you?”

  I laughed. “Not in the last five minutes.”

  “Yeah, well, I do. And speaking of coming home, when are you? I miss your face.”

  “From hate to missing me in the span of two seconds. You’re all over the place, Im.” I brought my legs up so I could rest my elbows on my knees, my toes digging into the warm sand. “We don’t have too much longer here. Jared, one of our producers, thinks we’ll have things wrapped in the next two weeks.”

  “Thank God. You’re not allowed to leave again.”

  “No? You gonna come on tour with us?”

  Imogen’s eyes widened. “You’re talking tour already?”

  “There’s been some rumbling about it happening before the end of the year. They
want the album out stat, so it makes sense a tour would follow pretty quick.”

  “It’s just all happening so fast.”

  “You’re telling me.”

  Imogen’s lips thinned into a straight line. “And are you okay with all this? You’ve been thrown into something huge and overwhelming, so if you aren’t okay, you’d tell me, right?”

  The concern on her face made me wish I was there to give her a big, reassuring hug. She wasn’t usually the type to worry—that was my job—so the fact that she cared enough to check in on me made me slightly homesick.

  “I promise I’m good. It’s been insane, I won’t lie, but there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing. Swear.”

  She let out her breath and nodded. “Okay, good. Because—”

  “Angel, I know you might think it’s romantic to fuck on the beach, but trust me, sand gets in all the wrong places. How about you get your hot ass back in my bed?”

  I jerked around to see Viper sauntering down the beach toward me, and then realized Imogen would’ve heard him and looked back at the screen to see her eyes wide and staring past me.

  “Is that—” she started, but I quickly cut in.

  “That’s code for the studio. Gotta go.” Before she could say another word, I ended the call and turned my gaze up to where Viper grinned and sank down onto the sand beside me. I could only stare at him, mouth open, because shit. Had Imogen heard what he said? The look on her face told me she had, and… Shit.

  I held my phone up. “I was on a call with my fucking sister.”

  “Something wrong?”

  “Yeah, something’s wrong. She heard what you said.”

  “So?”

  “So? So I haven’t exactly told her about…this.”

  Viper stretched his legs out and settled back on his hands, unperturbed. “She gonna have a problem with it?”

  “I…” I scrubbed my hands over my face and sighed. Would she? How the hell would I know? She’d never guess in a million years that I’d even look at a guy, so it wasn’t exactly something that had come up…ever. “I don’t know. I tell her everything, but I haven’t told her this, and I feel…I feel…”