Page 40 of Finding Mr. July
“All the more reason to get on with it. Positions, please.”
It’s not easy to picture what the final image will look like when you’re working with low light and a backdrop that will be altered later, so I focus on what I think is the most important aspects of these photos—the dog and the male form.
Jonathan’s face is shadowed to the point of unrecognizability, but I’d know that chest and those arms anywhere.
The lamp behind him makes them glow in relief, and the small lights we’ve set up to draw attention to Sir Leonard create a powerful map of ridges and trails across Jonathan’s torso.
He checks the progress once I’ve snapped a few shots. “Not too bad,” he says. “Are there other poses you want to try?”
I stare at him. He’s giving me creative control? All right, then. Because I love the angle of his jaw, I ask him to tilt his head toward the sky and snap another picture, but it’s not as strong as I want it to be. “I wish I could tell Sir Leonard to do the same. The symmetry is off.”
The dog blinks at me but doesn’t move.
“Let’s try something,” Jonathan says. “Be ready.” Then he tips his head back again and howls. Sir Leonard freezes for a split second before he, too, starts howling.
I click away, and now the results are as I imagined. “You look like a hot werewolf in this,” I say, showing it to him. “I think I’m going to keep this for me even if it’s not the one we pick for the calendar.”
“Fair, since I have a few of you.”
My cheeks flush at the mention of that day in Discovery Park. “Right.”
“Anything else you want to try? I have maybe another ten minutes in me before my nipples fall off.”
“And we wouldn’t want that.” I look through the viewfinder. Try to imagine the sky lit up in every color of the rainbow. “There is one thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Usually when there are fireworks, people watch them. So I’m thinking you take off your clothes and turn your back to the camera.”
“Um what?”
“Your back. To the camera.” I do a circle with my finger.
His eyelids lower into an unamused glare. “Before that, Holly.”
“Ah.” I pretend to catch on. “Yes, so for this idea, I need you naked. Maybe you’ve just woken up and come outside to watch the festivities. And maybe the sheet you swept around you falls to the ground because the fireworks make you forget to hold it up.”
“Oh, there’s a story to go with it and everything?”
“I figure it might help you get into character.” When he doesn’t move, I come out from behind the camera and approach him. “Please. No one will see your face. And I only want the top outline of your cute ass to show, not full cheek.”
“Not full cheek? That’s much better, then.” He rolls his eyes.
I allow his features to settle before I take another step closer to him, my fingers reaching behind me for the button fastening my top at the nape of my neck.
“What if I took off some of mine, too? Would that make it better?” I pull my top up and out of my jeans and then lift it over my head.
The cold air makes me suck in my belly as a shiver runs through me. He wasn’t joking about the temperature.
He still doesn’t move, but at least the eye rolls have stopped. Sir Leonard tips his head to the side as if he’s confused about this nighttime shedding of coats. Foolish humans , he seems to say. Maybe he’s right.
I bridge the few feet still separating Jonathan and me and don’t stop until I’m right in front of him. “Thoughts?” I ask.
“Not many at the moment.” His gaze dips to the pink-and-black bra I’m wearing. In the light we have set up, the pink trim shimmers like pearl against the dark satin. He reaches for me, reverently tracing the lace, before running a hand up to my throat and back down again.
“Take your clothes off,” I murmur.
He swallows, the shadow beneath his Adam’s apple jumping as he does. “Okay.”
While he sheds his jeans and boxer briefs, I return to the camera. He covers himself with his hands, and considering the temperature, I let it slide, instead focusing on the shoot.
“Turn around and look up as if you see the fireworks,” I instruct him. “And let’s have Sir Leonard sit next to you. I’m going to move the lights. There. Good.” I snap a couple of pictures. “Your back looks really strong like this. Feel free to flex it if you can.”
“Are you almost done?” He glances over his shoulder. “If not, you’re going to have to take off your bra, too.”
“Bargaining for time, are we?” But as I ask the question, I unsnap the hook in the back and let the garment slide down my arms. Without the thin layer of protection, my nipples instantly grow painfully tight.
“A few more shots. I’m going to lower the tripod for a different angle.
” I do, but when I stand again, he’s still watching me, eyes gleaming with want.
“I think we need to be done soon,” he says, voice strained. Then he flashes me a glimpse of what’s going on behind his cupped hands. “Considering the temperature, that should tell you something.”
I squirm at the sight.
“I saw that,” he says, covering himself again. “Let’s get this over with, Holly, and let me take you to bed.”
I let out a sharp breath. “Okay, okay.” I grab hold of the remote. “Whenever you’re ready. Don’t clench.”
“Easier said than done,” he mutters, but he does what I ask. Even though he didn’t want to model in the first place, and even though he might prefer it if I don’t win, and don’t move away, he’s come through for me.
One glance at the last image on the screen, and I’m overwhelmed with the need to be done and to be closer to him than the camera has allowed.
I drop the remote and hurry to him, wrapping my arms around him from behind.
The skin between his shoulder blades is surprisingly warm against my nose, but he doesn’t seem to mind the temperature difference.
I hear him tell Sir Leonard to go inside, and then he clutches my hands tightly against his chest.
“Thank you,” I say over and over again between kisses along his spine, and I’m still saying it when he spins around and wraps his arms around me, too.
“Don’t thank me yet,” he says into my hair. “There’s still a lot of work to be done.”
“But not now.” I move one of his hands to my breast and press into it.
“No, not now,” he says gruffly.