“You know, the thing with that guy. I’ll tell you about it later.” Isabelle’s eyes dart over to me and then she looks me over from head to toe. “Much later. Bye!”
Josie shakes her head as Isabelle practically runs out of the room. “Wow. All my friends are traitors today.”
“Your friends care about you. And Isabelle knows that you’re safe with me.”
“Am I?” After glancing at my chest a few more times, she turns around and walks back to the table. She picks up one of the forms on the stack and then holds it out to me.
“What’s that?”
“It’s an application. If you’re going to do this, then you’ll need to sign the photo release form. Unless you’re backing out?” She raises an eyebrow.
I can tell from the way she’s not meeting my eyes that she’s hoping I will. That makes me all the more determined to do this. I grab the form and pick up one of the pens on the table.
“Not a chance.”
†
I sign the form without even reading it. I doubt Josie is angling to take advantage of me. I glance up and when our eyes meet, she quickly looks away. Oh yeah, she’s hoping I chicken out so she can go back to interviewing Chippendale dancers. Well, she’s stuck with me for now.
I hand her the form. “Done. I guess this means I can’t sue you for sexual harassment.”
Her smile appears and disappears so quickly I almost miss it. Damn, it’s fun to rile her. But I guess we should call a truce if she’s going to be taking pictures of me naked. Having pictures of my junk out there for the world to see doesn’t really bother me that much. I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks. But she could make me look really bad.
; Or really small.
Suddenly I’m not so sure about this. I probably should have asked a few questions before signing up to be her guinea pig.
“Am I allowed to ask questions about your show? How naked are we really getting with this?”
She rolls her eyes and points me to the couch. Since she hasn’t answered me, I guess that’s a no to the asking questions thing. I wait patiently while she does complicated shit to her camera and then starts snapping pictures.
“Should I just take the rest of my clothes off now? How are we doing this?”
I’m charmed by the blush that works up from her neck and spreads to her cheeks. She’s trying so hard to act nonchalant but that’s impossible when you’ve known someone as long as I’ve known Josie. Rough language and raunchy jokes have always made her blush.
“Not yet. I need to get a feel for how you move first. These are just test shots.”
“Why not just get to it?”
I see a brief flash of her smile before she disappears behind the camera again. The shutter clicks as she moves around me.
“Foreplay, Zachary. It’s a thing for a reason.”
“Believe me, I know. But it’s usually a lot more pleasurable than this.”
This is weird, feeling like I’m on display. Even though it’s what I signed up for, since I can’t see her face it feels like I’m doing this with a stranger.
“Can you at least tell me what your show is about? Or is it just about dongs in general?”
She lowers the camera. “Real mature.”
“Well, you haven’t told me anything. What am I supposed to think?”
She considers this and then shrugs. “Erotic art usually focuses on the female form. I want to explore sensuality from the opposite view.”
It sounds like bullshit to me but I don’t say anything. If she wants an excuse to photograph naked dudes that’s fine but why do women always have to make everything so complicated? Men don’t try to dress up our desires. We want to see naked women because we like seeing naked women. End of story.