Uh-huh. From all your nude sunbathing?
Sounded good. Yes.
Funny then, how creamy and pale your skin is. He came around the front again, looking over every inch of her with his photographers eagle eye, lingering on her legs, which were up in front of her.
Could he see between them? She didnt want to know, she really didnt.
Being aroused like this was not only painful but embarrassing. As a writer shed put her characters in situations that shed thought sexy, but she knew now shed been tame, and that was because she hadnt had any idea of what sexy really meant.
Now she knew.
Rafe was still looking at her, which made her want to squirm again. Then there was the matter of the thong, tight in front, brushing against a sensitive part of her in a shocking, tantalizing manner with every passing second until she could hardly breathe.
Shouldnt you take the picture now? she asked.
Shh. He took the material again, draping the transparent length of it over her head, bringing the ends down to the hands holding her knees and slowly tucking it in. Nice. Hold. He backed to his camera. Holding on to the material, lift your hands and toss your head back to the sky.
What?
Do it.
ButIll be uncovered.
Your knees will shield your breasts from the camera.
But what about from him? Holding her breath, trying not to picture how hard her nipples were or how her belly rose and fell with her every erratic breath, she did what hed asked, she lifted her arms and tossed back her head.
A little.
More, he commanded in that silky voice that was so utterly captivating and tyrannical at the same time. Expose your throat. Thrust your breasts out. Sacrifice yourself, Amber. You know you love to do that. He peered out from his camera and gave her a long, assessing look. Unless theres some reason why you wouldnt.
Oh boy. Of course not. Breathing as if shed been running, she sacrificed herself, throwing out her arms, tossing back her head, thrusting out her breasts, and over the roar of the blood in her ears, she heard a hiss of breath. She had no idea if it was Rafe-who else-and wasnt sure if she wanted to know because it sounded soprimal.
Hold that, he said.
She tried not to think about how much of her he could see while she held the pose. All around her was the scent of the forest and above her came the sound of the rain.
And the clicking of his shutter.
A little bit more. His voice was both low and husky, and utterly hypnotic. Open your eyes wide. Like that. Now your mouth, pant a little, like youre both petrified and aroused beyond belief-Yeah, just like that.
If he only knew she was petrified and aroused beyond belief, despite the fact that Jen and the other techs were still watching and that Stone had come back down the path holding a white umbrella in his hand-
A sharp bolt of lightning startled a gasp out of her, the following boom of thunder nearly stopped her heart and she hugged herself again, breaking out of the strange trance Rafes voice had put her in.
Rafe took one last shot of her like that before lowering the camera. The rain I didnt care about. But the electrical storm well have to wait out. I dont want to get struck by lightning. Break time, he said when she just sat there staring at him.
She stood on legs that were still a little shaky, grateful when Jen came forward with a soft, silky white robe that she wrapped around herself as quickly as she could.
Did you get it? Stone asked Rafe.
Emma strained to hear his answer, hoping against hope that hed indeed gotten whatever it was he felt hed been looking for, that the shoot was done and over with so that she could fly home to her little world of work, work and more work, with only the occasional dream about this venture into a world shed had no idea existed.
It had been shocking, being so exposed to perfect strangers. Shocking and erotic.
Amber would laugh at that. Her sister definitely didnt consider what she did erotic, but rather manipulative. And she loved that-loved manipulating men into little panting puppies.
That didnt appeal to Emma and, now that it was over and the cameras were being set into their cases, she was trying to tell herself that she hadnt felt anything but humiliation.
But deep down, she knew the truth.
I cant be sure, Rafe said with a frustrated shake of his wet head. I want to come back when the storm passes.
They were coming back.
She was coming back.
3
BY THAT AFTERNOON, they all realized the storm wasnt going anywhere.
If Rafe wanted the virginal shot in the tropical forest of Kauai for the calendar-and he did-then he couldnt take the chance by leaving now. Hed have to deal with the weather and work around it.
Fine. Hed do whatever it took to finish this job, to get what he wanted. Retirement. He could indulge himself instead of dealing with other peoples schedules and needs. He could ride his bike down the coast of California if he felt like it, maybe from Santa Barbara to his new home in Los Angeles, the one hed bought three months ago and had hardly unpacked or bought furniture for. Hed catch up with old friends. Hed visit with his sisters Carolyn and Tessa, both of whom he was extremely close to.
Hed get himself a big, sloppy, happy puppy for his new place. Not exactly the wife and kids his family had been campaigning for, but hed work on that as well.
But first up, dealing with Emma, the Amber substitute. And even though his gut said that the film hed shot earlier would be breathtaking, he wanted more, just to be sure. With the rain now coming down in cupfuls, he stalked out to the set as the dark afternoon gave way to evening. The gazebo was empty, but he could see how she would look there on the bench, wet and dewy, surrounded by candles, glowing and just a touch nervous.
She had that last down and if anything had convinced him she wasnt Amber, it had been the look in her eyes when hed asked her to spread her arms and toss back her head.
Amber loved exposing her body and would have done so with abandon.
Queen Emmashe clearly wasnt used to any such thing. Shed trembled and shivered, and he might have felt guilty, except that shed come here of her own free will, for whatever reason.
It still made no sense. Why the hell didnt she tell him who she was? Did she really think she could play him?
Nobody played him.
Why would she want to?
He didnt know, didnt care as long as she did the job. He pulled out his radio and called Stone. The lightning is gone. Lets do this.
DESPITE THE DELUGE OF RAIN, the air was hot and humid, so, that when Emma got out of the shower, she couldnt get dry. Shed been working on her laptop in her hotel room, taking her script on a wild and sexy turn she hadnt seen coming. In a way, she supposed she could thank Amber and Rafe for that. This afternoons session had let something loose in Emma.
Then Stone had called her and told her to report back to the set, costume on. She hadnt even hung up the phone before her heart had started a heavy beat.
She was going back. Costume on. For once, her own work flew right out of her head and she had a flash of what it would feel like if the people in her world could see what she was about to do.
Amber would get a big kick out of her uptight and slightly prudish twin blushing nonstop. Her mother, a prestigious author, would probably take one look at Emmas costume and have a fatal heart attack, because in her eyes, Emma was already compromising her talents by writing for a soap opera. What was it shed called Emmas work? Oh yes, a waste of trees.
Seeing Emma now would just confirm what shed always known-that her daughters were some odd and inexplicable mutation of the family genes. Her mother would blame Amber, of course, citing that shed been a bad influence from infanthood, which indeed she had. Emma had gotten really good at being in the middle of those two. If her mother ever found out about this, Emma would manage to smooth it out somehow, as she always did. But she couldnt concentrate on that now, not while looking at her costume lying innocently on the bed.
Stone had told her not to worry about her hair, that they wanted it long and loose and damp. Well, good, because thats what she had to work with at the moment-long and loose and damp. Dropping her sundress, she slid back into the thong, grimaced at herself in the mirror as she wrapped the white material across her breasts like a bandeau, and then put on the silk robe Jen had given her.
Emma still felt naked.
She glanced back at her laptop on the hotel bed, where shed worked all afternoon. Live And Love had been in a ratings slump for months, and shed tried to help fix it by putting their fan-favorite leads in romantic pairings.
But oddly enough, fans didnt necessarily want sweet, traditional romance. According to their letters-buckets and buckets of letters-they wanted steamy, hot sex. That had worried their head writer, which in turn had worried Emma a little-okay, it had worried her a lot, because she wasnt very good at steamy, hot sex. But shed given it a shot this afternoon.
Guess that meant she could use this trip as a research tax write-off.
Holding the robe open, she took another peek at herself in the mirror. Her sexy twin looked back-a tall, willowy brunette with wild, light amber eyes and a see-through outfit that brought to mind all sorts of wicked things.
Oh boy.
With renewed anticipation, she tied her robe, slipped into her sandals and braved the storm to head toward the set.
And her evening of research.
Walking through the hotel lobby in her white silk robe, she noticed that no one even glanced her way. So much for knocking people over with her newfound sexuality. Trying to get into playing Amber, she swung her hips a little more and tossed back her hair, but only succeeded in tripping down the front stairs as she headed outside into the falling night.
The path was lit but it was still an eerie and strange feeling, walking through the heavy, drumming rain with no one accompanying her but her own thoughts. The growth beneath her feet squished like a sponge as she moved. The night seemed noisy, with the sound of rain hitting leaves and the squawk of the occasional bird combining to bring chills to her skin.