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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Panties & Amazons

“ I really don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to forgive you for this, Joel,” I muttered as I walked towards him, wearing a satin robe over pink lacy lingerie. My dark hair fell in sexy, glossy waves down my back, and I was plastered with more makeup than I’d worn in my lifetime.

A couple of days ago I’d sat down with a female journalist for the interview portion of my Woody feature.

I could barely remember how I’d responded to her questions.

I just hoped that I’d made the one point that mattered to me – that adventurous sex was great, when everyone involved was fully aware of, and consented to, what was taking place.

The interview was a cakewalk compared to what I was about to do.

“You’ll forgive me, Stink,” he said, eyes sparkling. “You can’t stay mad at me, it’s impossible!”

I frowned. “Why do you have to be here, anyway?”

“I can go if you want me to,” he offered, turning back towards the house.

I panicked. “No!”

His smile was a thousand watts bright.

“Joel, you got me into this, you have to stay and make sure they don’t make me do something really ridiculous. ”

“Okay, Stinky, I’m not going anywhere.” He collapsed into a chair, resting one ankle on the other knee.

“We’re ready,” the photographer said. I looked around Joel’s tennis court, the location we’d agreed on for the shoot.

I slipped out of the robe, tossing it at Joel, and did my best to strut out onto the court in the enormous heels they’d dressed me in.

The lingerie was very pale pink and very see through.

I was glad I’d taken Joel’s cheeky but no doubt well-meaning advice and had a Brazilian a few days before – nothing worse than pubes peeping through lace underpants.

A tennis racquet is the most unwieldy prop for a sexy photo shoot. I handled it awkwardly as I followed the instructions the photographer called out, but he insisted I was doing just great.

I threw a glance in Joel’s direction. He was leaning forward in the chair, his elbows resting on his knees, his mouth slightly open, eyes roving my skin … hungrily.

“Wipe the drool away, Joel!” I called out with a syrupy smile. He leaned back, folding his arms across his chest and sending a sly grin my way as I changed positions for another pose, suddenly feeling much less awkward, and so much sexier, as I watched him watching me.

“Okay, we’re done!” the photographer said, satisfied. I held my hand out to Joel for the robe. He pulled it back out of my reach.

“Just let me admire the view for a little longer,” he murmured, eyes grazing my breasts, barely contained in the demi-cup bra. I snatched it from him, wrapping myself up self-consciously.

“You know,” Joel began as he followed me into the house, “I can enjoy the view just as much in the robe as out of it.”

I whirled around then, brow furrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”

He approached me, stopping about a foot away. “The way this gapes … just here,” he murmured, reaching out to touch the robe just below my collarbone, “it taunts me with the tiniest hint of what’s beneath.”

He traced the fabric down to where it rested against the curve of my breast. I watched his fingers leave a trail of goosebumps on my skin.

“You’re panting, Stinky.”

I gasped in a mouthful of air and stepped backwards into the bathroom, flinging the door shut in his face. I stripped out of the robe, glancing at my suddenly flushed chest, at the way my nipples were jutting obscenely through the lace bra.

Nope – we’re not going there again, I told myself.

“Oh, come on, Mel. I’m a red-blooded male, and those panties …”

I opened the door and stuck my head out. “Can you please not use that word!”

“What word?” he asked, holding the door so I couldn’t slam it in his face again.

“Panties!” I choked out. “Damn I hate that word!”

He let go of the door, and I shut it again as he guffawed. His laughter retreated as he showed the photographer out.

I finished pulling my clothes back on and stepped out of the bathroom, colliding directly with Joel’s chest. He pushed me back inside, against the wall, pressing a finger to my lips to signal that I should be quiet.

I wrenched his hand away.

“What’s going on?” I hissed.

He watched me, his eyes dark, worried. “Mel, just stay down here and be quiet , for God’s sake.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Ben.”

I gulped, making a gesture as if I was zipping my lips shut. Joel smiled gratefully and slipped back out of the bathroom. I crept to the door and cocked my ear up the stairs. What the hell was Ben doing back in Australia so soon?

Joel opened the front door.

“Ben, what a surprise!” Joel said, his sincerity so believable. Clearly he was a great liar.

“Where is she?” Ben demanded, his voice unrecognisable … sinister .

“She’s not here,” Joel replied.

“Joel, don’t be stupid, you can’t hide her from me forever!”

“I’m not hiding anyone from you. She’s not here.”

“Did you think you could keep it a secret from me? Did you think I wouldn’t find out? I have a right to speak to her.”

“Well, actually, you don’t. She doesn’t have to see you if she doesn’t want to … and there’s no secret here.” I sent a silent prayer of thanks to God for Joel sticking up for me.

“Oh really? I’m pretty sure that your mother doesn’t know about it. How about I tell her?”

“No! Do you really want to upset her like that?” Joel asked.

I was suddenly confused. What was he trying to keep from his mother, to do with me?

“You’ve been keeping a close eye on her since Steve died, haven’t you? What’s your interest anyway?”

Were they still talking about me?

“I’m just continuing what Dad had always intended.” I smiled at that.

“Well, I’m going to be moving back here now, so you’re not going to be able to keep me away from her forever.”

That was a threat if ever I’d heard one. This was a side to Ben I was very sure I didn’t want to see again.

“Goodbye, Ben,” Joel muttered and I heard the front door close again. There was silence, and then footsteps on the stairs. I waited for Joel at the bottom.

“What was that all about?” I asked shakily.

“Well, it seems like Ben’s moving back to Australia,” Joel replied.

I was less than delighted at the prospect, even as I realised that Joel hadn’t really answered my question.

“He was talking about me, right?” I asked quietly.

Joel paused, then nodded. “Uh, yeah, he was talking about you. You’re going to have to set things straight with him sooner or later.”

I swallowed. “Yeah, I know.”

“Can you see a trend happening here, Joel?” I asked through the change room door as I pulled on the cotton underpants and matching crop-bra. At least this shoot was happening inside, in front of a white screen, and not in full view of Sydney Harbour.

Joel chuckled. “Yeah, and it’s a trend I’m really liking!”

“Pervert,” I muttered under my breath. He heard and laughed harder.

I reluctantly unlocked the change room door and stepped out.

Joel eyed me appraisingly, chewing on his bottom lip. “Well, I have to say, I think I like this outfit more than the one from your last photo shoot.”

I looked up at him disbelievingly, and then down at the bright turquoise cotton undies and matching bra. Sure, the underpants were quite cheeky – they let a lot of my butt hang out – but it was modest compared to the racy lacy lingerie from the Woody shoot.

He saw the look on my face and grinned. “It’s cute in a kind of schoolgirl way,” he explained.

I gave him a withering look. “You really are a perve, aren’t you?”

He responded by pinching the exposed part of my bum and my stupid body, which clearly hadn’t gotten the memo about Joel being a perve, sent a hot throb between my legs at his stupid touch.

“Uh, we have a problem,” a tiny, leather-clad woman with black hair and loads of eyeliner said timidly to me. I looked to Joel.

“What’s up?” he asked, using the voice he saved for women who weren’t me. I scrunched up my nose in distaste – at least, that’s what I told myself I was feeling. I hated the little pang in my chest.

“Well, you know that Dudz always launch a women’s and a men’s range?”

Joel nodded, waiting for her to get to the point.

“We had booked a male model to appear in the photos with Mel, to showcase the men’s range. But we’ve just had a call and it turns out that his agency double booked him, and he’s gone to the other shoot.” She looked chagrined. “We might have to reschedule, if that’s okay?”

Joel shrugged. “No need to reschedule – I’ll do it if you want. ”

I gaped at him.

The Goth looking woman eyed him appraisingly. “Let me go and talk to my boss.” She trotted off.

“Joel, what do you think you’re doing?” I grated from between my teeth.

He grinned. “I’m saving us from having to come back and do this another day.” The twinkle in his eyes contradicted his reasonable tone.

I folded my arms across my chest and narrowed my eyes. Well, it wasn’t like he couldn’t be a model – he had the right body, the right face. The right everything. Damn him!

The little Goth came cantering back. “She’s happy for you to do it.” She handed over a bundle of men’s underwear.

Joel looked over at the Dudz rep: a power-suit clad Amazon with long, straight blonde hair and a pair of rimless glasses, which made her look hot in a dominatrix sort of way.

I dragged my eyes away from her as she pulled the glasses down her nose and gave Joel a very suggestive stare over the top of them.

Nope – not going to react , I told myself as that weird pang in my chest throbbed again.

Joel traipsed into the change room that I had just vacated and changed into the men’s underwear. I stood outside and tapped my foot impatiently. Or nervously. I wasn’t sure what they wanted from this shoot, but posing in underwear with Joel suddenly seemed terrifying. Or exciting. Ugh.

Heels clip-clopped our way, and I turned my head to see Amazon strutting towards me.