Chaos (6 page)

“I have absolutely no idea how you expect me to respond to
that.”

“Good because I don’t want a response. I’d prefer that you
indulge me by letting me pose you however I want now.” She tugged him to the
area she had set up while he explored her studio. “Come over here.”

“Campini, I feel stupid. My parents will be very happy with
one of the pictures you took at the wedding. We don’t really need to do this.”

“Shut up or get out. We had a deal.”

“I think I’m going to need some extra incentives.”

“All right, how about if I tell you that I took some shots
of me in your tux yesterday, before I came to find you and, if you let me do
this and help me print them out, I’ll give you one. Oh, maybe I should ask if
you have any interest in having one first.”

“Hell, yes! That might help convince me that the sex really
was as hot as I’m going to be dreaming it was. What do I do?”

For the next half an hour, Shane moved as Alyssa instructed
him to. She was so focused that his fascination dispelled his awkwardness. No
wonder she got the images she had with her gang kids. The ones he’d seen of the
homeless were even better if that was possible. “These are going to be tremendous.
Are you sure you won’t let me put together a calendar? Even fully dressed
you’re giving off some heavy sensuality here, McKade.”

“You’re losing it, Campini. I think you’ve been staring
through that little window too much this morning. Are we done yet?”

“Well,” she looked uncertain, which caught him off guard.

“Well what? What are you thinking?”

“There’s something else I’d like to do, if you’ll let me.”

“You know I’ll let you.”

“I mean with my camera. Don’t pout, we’ll do that too.
Actually, that’s a really good idea. I’d like to take some shots with fewer
clothes, if you don’t mind.”

“Well I do mind so forget it!”

“Listen, McKade, the same thing goes for these as the
others. If you hate them, you can destroy them. I’ve always wanted to try this
and I wouldn’t ask just anyone to take his clothes off for me. I have some
ideas that include me getting in the shot too. What do you say? I’ll let you
have copies if they turn out the way I picture them. And when we’re done, we’ll
be just about naked anyway so we could take a break.”

“It’s illegal to bribe a police officer.”

“You’re off-duty and I didn’t offer you a bribe. I offered
you a repeat performance of something we’ve already done.” She moved closer and
unbuttoned the shirt that she was still wearing. “Please,” she said just before
she tugged his shirt over his head and pressed herself against him, indulging
both of them in a searing kiss.

* * * * *

“I owe you an additional apology, Campini,” Shane declared
softly.

“For what?” She didn’t raise her eyes to his.

“I’m impressed. Again, I originally thought you were some
sort of nutcase. But then I asked some questions about you. I kept hearing how,
if anyone could show gang members as lost kids it would be you. After I saw
your book, I realized that you really were as talented as everyone seemed to
think. Now seeing this, I feel as if I should be honored that you wanted to
photograph me. I mean, look at these. I can’t believe you made me look like
this.”

“McKade,” she shook her head and laughed, “you do look like
this. Or you do when you’re not scowling at me. Didn’t you hear me when I said
you’d be a great subject?”

“I thought you were only saying that to get me to do what
you wanted.”

“Yeah, as if you’d ever do anything just because I wanted
you to. Face it, stud. You’re hot or perhaps I should say handsome? What’s so
funny?”

“You are. I’m not bad but hell, everyone knows that Jordan
is the good-looking McKade brother.”

“Sure he is. In many ways and I should add that my cousin
would insist that he’s perfect. He’s not the only good-looking McKade brother
though. He’s a little more classically handsome than you are, yes but don’t
sell yourself short. Personally, I find your more rugged, slightly
rough-around-the-edges appearance much more appealing. Even when you have that
dark scowl plastered on your face, you’re still eye candy. It adds a little
hint of danger or maybe mystery to your aura.”

“My aura?” Shane chuckled. So his pixie queen liked the look
of him. Too bad they were only having a temporary truce. He was actually
enjoying the day they’d spent together.

“You know what I mean, so stop pretending to be so dense. Or
are you so insecure about your looks that you’re fishing for more compliments?
What’s wrong? Did you just figure out that you have a better chance of finding
that career woman you say you want if you keep your mouth shut? Too bad you
always ruin the look by talking.”

“Yeah too bad. Maybe you should give me some of these. I
could hand them out to likely candidates. I could write my intentions on the
back and never have to say a word.”

“Stop being such an ass. I almost liked you while we were
printing these.”

“That’s because you were telling me what to do. You like
being in charge.”

“I only told you with the first one. You did the rest
yourself.”

“But you told me what part to print. I would have done the
standard three by five, print the whole picture thing. You’re the one who made
these look artistic. And that brings me back to why I wanted to apologize.
You’re extremely talented, aren’t you, Campini?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, well, I guess you could say that. I
think it’s more that I’m focused and I love what I do. Then again, maybe I am
good. Look at your expression in some of these. I must have some talent if I
can get a disagreeable lout like you to show so much emotion. I didn’t think
you’d ever let me see all this.”

“You can take all the credit for it, Pixie Queen. You asked
all the right questions to get me talking and thinking and you knew just when
to click the shutter to catch the expression you wanted. And look at this one.
If I hadn’t been there, I’d swear the girl had just been penetrated by the guy
she loves and was feeling the best sensation of her life.”

“That was the idea. Don’t ignore your contribution though.
What about this one? You can see the outline of this guy’s cock in his
well-worn jeans. You know she just unzipped them and he’s already swelling from
her touch. Can’t you see the anticipated passion on his face? Don’t you know
that in another minute she’s going to slip her hand in there and caress him? He
wants her so badly but he’s willing to control himself and let her reach for
him. All that animal magnetism is being held in check because he knows it’ll be
better for both of them if he lets her initiate this.”

“See Campini, that’s my point exactly. You made us look like
this. You set the mood and caught the split second that it all lined up just as
you wanted it to.”

“But you helped, McKade. Not just anyone would be able to
look like this. I could pose Brett forever and never get him to express this.
Oh, sure, I would get some nice shots. Hot ones even. But I could never pull
this out of him. And I would never be able to pose with him, even though I
consider us friends. I know I could ask him and we could be mostly nude and
he’d try his best to do what I wanted without turning it into something sexual
but he just doesn’t have the magnetism that you do.”

“You better not tell him that. He’d be very disappointed if
he knew you don’t find him absolutely irresistible.”

“He already knows. He saw me handcuffed to you, remember? If
I found him irresistible I would have been dancing with him that night, not
you. I would have gone home with him.”

“Why didn’t you go for him? He’s creative, like you are.
He’d be able to see the shots the way you do. You’ve seen his sketches.”

“I don’t know. He just feels more like a buddy. Are you
trying to get rid of me? Is this a pitiful attempt to pawn me off on your
friend because you’re tired of me?”

“Hell no! I was just curious. You and Brett make much more
sense than you and me.”

“You say that like we’re a couple or something.”

“Aren’t we? I mean, we are sort of, right? We’ve spent the
last three hours together, talking. I’m not suggesting that we make some kind
of permanent commitment or anything but I thought we’d progressed beyond casual
sex.” He waited as she busied herself with some of her materials. “Campini, say
something.”

“Like what?” She spun around to face him, suddenly angry.
“What do you want from me, McKade? I don’t do relationships. I don’t make promises.
We’re having fun. That’s all. If you’re expecting more then you’re playing with
the wrong girl.”

“Hold on! I’m not asking for any promises or declarations. I
was just trying to tell you that I like being with you. That is, I like being
with you when you’re not jumping to conclusions and being hostile over nothing.
Jeez, can’t a guy say he likes you without you getting irrational? I’m not
proposing here, I just want you to know that I’ll be around when you get back
from chasing your tornadoes if you want to get together again sometime. I mean,
we’re sure to run into each other when we visit Jordan and Kiley. I didn’t want
it to be weird when that happens. Can’t we be friends?”

“Oh.” Alyssa stared at him and Shane had no idea what she
was thinking. “Sure, friends, that’ll be great. I’m sure they’ll be pleased
with that.”

“They will but I’m not saying this for them. I didn’t get
involved with you for them. It was purely selfish for my own pleasure, well,
our own pleasure. Damn it, Campini, until you kissed me back that first time I
thought you hated me. I fully expected you to punch me and scream bloody
murder.”

“And yet you kissed me anyway.”

“I had to. You wouldn’t stop pointing out my many faults.
The more you talked, the more I watched your mouth move. I decided that
something that soft-looking shouldn’t be used in such a harsh way so I thought
I’d kiss you and see if I was right. I was too. Your lips are as soft and
sensuous as they look. I honestly never expected you to respond but I figured,
since you were criticizing me, you may as well have a real reason to.”

“And I thought you should put your mouth to better use than
sneering at me. How can you be so annoying and turn me on so much at the same
time?”

“I’ve wondered that about you too. Can’t we just try to be
friends and let this thing between us run its course? We’ll have some good
times together, I’m sure of it.”

“Fine. But when the time comes and we’re done, we are not
going to get weird with each other. We are going to be polite and civil if it
kills us because I don’t want Kiley and Jordan to wind up in the middle of some
nastiness between us.”

“Deal.” Shane agreed, already knowing he was going to hate
it when she showed up with someone else.

“Deal.” She held his gaze, hers unreadable again. “Okay,
friend, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Already?” He laughed, trying to regain the lightness their
conversation before he’d ruined it.

“Yes but I was going to ask you to help me with this anyway.
I told you I was putting together a personal album for Kiley and Jordan. Well,
I’d like you to give it to them for me. Before the ceremony, Jordan told me
about a few of his guests and why it would be better if I didn’t take any
photos that clearly showed their faces. I promised that if they ended up in the
pictures, I would give them all to him and delete them from my files. I also
spoke with the ones he mentioned and made them the same promise. I have the
album ready and I don’t think I’m comfortable leaving it here while I will be
gone. I guess they’ll look at it and then Jordan will have to destroy it but
part of me hopes he’ll keep it instead.”

“Can I see it?”

“Of course you can. You know who they all are anyway. What
an odd group of people they invited. And what a simple wedding. I would have
thought Jordan would want a full-blown, high society wedding to show everyone
how far he had come.”

“Jordan’s not like that. He wanted Kiley to have what she
wanted and what she wanted was small and simple, at the home so her friend,
Vera and the people who took care of her mom could be there. If she’d wanted to
get married on the observation deck of the Empire State building with the Pope
officiating, he would have found a way to arrange it for her.”

“Neither one of them is Catholic.”

“So? I’m just saying that my brother would have agreed to
whatever your cousin wanted, as long as he ended up married to her.”

“And all my cousin wanted was him and the few people who
matter to her. He doesn’t have much use for high society.”

“Nope. He prefers his group of honest friends to the rest of
the world who only want to use him. I think they’ll be one of the couples that
are still in love and trying to please each other on their fiftieth
anniversary.”

“Me too. I’m happy for them. Kiley hasn’t had the easiest
life and she deserves to have what she wants. You know it wouldn’t matter to
her if he was poor.”

“Yes. Christ, Campini, we all know your cousin isn’t a
fortune hunter. How can you even suggest that?”

“I wasn’t. It’s just obvious that you’d do anything to
protect your kid brother even though you know he doesn’t need you to. I just
wanted to be sure you knew you didn’t have to worry about them. I didn’t mean
to sound cynical but you do sometimes, so…”

“Okay, I get it. Sorry I got mad. Why don’t you show me this
secret album now? We’ll talk about the people in it instead of this.”

She nodded and went to a safe that he hadn’t noticed. She
really had listened when Jordan told her not to flaunt his guests. “They’re
going to love this,” he said as he flipped open the album.

“That’s why I hope they decide to keep it. What a bunch they
had there. Kiley’s friends are what you’d expect but Jordan’s.”

“Yeah, he had quite an assortment. I didn’t know he had
invited Mr. and Mrs. Samuels, although I shouldn’t have been so surprised.”