It filled a wall that was over eight feet high and ten feet wide. There was no furniture in front of the wall, and it was the first thing you saw when you entered the living room. It was unavoidable, and everyone that visited was forced to comment on it. You had to comment. It was a woman’s face.

She was beautiful beyond description. The photograph was a candid shot; she wasn’t looking at the camera. Her glance was just over and to the right in the shot. Her sly smile was infectious.

The oversized photograph was in Jeremy’s South Kensington flat. He had taken the photo without the woman paying particular attention to his presence. He’d reduced it to a head and shoulders shot then had it blown up by his favorite print house so he could paper his wall with her. By then, she’d become an obsession.

Her long, lightly colored hair was almost perfect; there was just one strand that was slightly out of place. A sidelight caught it just right to highlight it. It drifted across her left cheek and had been in motion as Jeremy’s camera froze the image for posterity. It gave her a relaxed and carefree look. Yet, her eyes betrayed a much deeper and more caring personality, one that Jeremy wanted to know more intimately.

The background in the picture was slightly blurred, but not so much that you couldn’t tell she was at some kind of outdoor party. About fifty other people were evident in the fuzzy background.

She was dressed to the nines he recalled, but only the dark jacket and white V-neck blouse she wore showed in the photograph carefully revealing her sexy neckline.

The occasion for the photograph had been a wedding, but she was not the bride, only a chic guest, frozen in time by his Canon camera. Her name was Alexandra Cary Reid; people called her Alex.

Jeremy Foltz became a photographer in high school when he volunteered to work on the school newspaper and yearbook. He turned out to have an unusual knack for taking superb and artistic shots of people. Even at that early age and then in university his classmates sought him out for his skills in making them look good; no, not good – great, spectacular, magnificent, God like.

At an early age, he developed darkroom skills, but gave them up immediately with the advent of digital photography. He quickly learned the manipulation of digital photos and was masterful with his computer and photo processing programs. He could work lighting magic with only the ambient lights in a room, adjusting their placement, and brightness with a rare competency even professionals a generation older didn’t have. Give him a studio or the ability to set his own lights and strobes and he could create wonders for the eye to enjoy. Over time, his hobby consumed him and then became his vocation.

All that was almost fifteen years earlier. Now he was considered at the apex of his field. He was booked a year out, mostly for executive media shots and wedding parties. He was sought after by every bride in the country willing to pay the outrageous price he commanded for often turning a pig’s ear into a silk purse. This was the expression he used with his close friends to refer to taking ugly or unbecoming brides and grooms and making them look spectacular in their engagement or wedding photographs. Of course, he did the same for guests too. The photo on the wall of his living room was an exception; it was untouched except for its size.

Jeremy had taken over a thousand photographs at the September wedding where he photographed Alex. The photos and album that he produced were a personal gift from Jeremy to the bride and groom. The bride was his second cousin, Maddy. Everyone stood in awe of his work and the wedding package he produced; it was significantly beyond what the new couple or their families would have ever dreamed of spending for wedding photographs. He’d even used the event to experiment with some new equipment and some daring photography outside his traditional wedding fare; the results nicely complemented the usual shots he also took.

Jeremy sat every night and studied the photograph in his living room, often with a glass of fine wine. He’d come up one flight from his ground floor office and studio at the end of the day, pour a glass of chilled Sancerre wine he’d brought back from a trip to the Loire Valley, and sit on his sofa and stare at the woman. He could vaguely recall a brief conversation they’d had at the wedding, nothing profound but polite self-introductions and small talk about the wedding, guests and of course the English weather.

Often, he wondered about his sanity. Was he obsessed with her? Was this just a fascination that would fade aware or was there some dark side within him that was struggling to emerge? He questioned his motives for taking the picture and displaying the way he had. Today he decided it was the former since he was taking no action to do anything other than appreciate his own photograph. On other days, however, he admitted his obsession.

Over time, he fell in love with Alex. Not one to talk aloud, he would think with her about his day, his problems, his frustrations, his joys, his bliss – her problems, issues, and bliss. Through the love that he had developed for her he found answers and ideas. He found he was more sensitive to his inner voice; he also grew to like himself more.

At the end of June, Jeremy was a guest at the second marriage of his Aunt Jane. He enjoyed not being the regular photographer for the event; however, he couldn’t resist the urge to bring his camera to the event to capture some more candid shots. Jeremy loved photographing people – all people, especially at happy events, or at joyous moments in their lives.

Jeremy had taken a few shots during the service as unobtrusively as he could, leaving the “hired guns” to scurry around as he usually did seeking the perfect shots and angles as the wedding ceremony in the old Norman church unfolded. After the service, the 300 guests strolled through the church gardens to an adjacent old country inn. The wedding party had clustered along a riverbank for the mandatory group photos whilst the guests had the luxury of an open bar at the inn.

Jeremy stood with a Pimms in his hand, camera slung over a shoulder, as he watched alone from a corner of the patio. His square jaw, athletic frame, striking six-foot height, and mid-thirties age set him well apart from the other guests, many of whom were friends of his middle-aged aunt.

He didn’t notice the attractive woman with the broad brimmed hat and bright summer frock until she was standing next to him with a gin and tonic in her hand. She turned to him and spoke, awakening him from his study of the wedding party.

“You’re not running around taking pictures the way you were at Maddy’s wedding. Are you off duty?”

He turned to see Alex; her impish smile and dimples only three feet from him. This was someone he knew so well, but didn’t know at all. ‘Oh my God,’ he thought, ‘this is the woman papered on my living room wall!’ He was simultaneously horrified and tongue-tied.

After an awkward pause, during which he continued to stare at her she said, “That wasn’t a trick question. I remember your photographing everything at my cousin’s wedding. I didn’t mean to upset you. Did the shot you took of me there turn out? I’d love to see it. Jeremy, isn’t it?”

After an awkward silence as he stared at her, Jeremy slowly got his brain in gear. “Oh, excuse me for my gawkish behavior. I didn’t mean to stare. I didn’t expect you ... or rather anyone as nice ... I mean, you...” He took a visible deep breath and blurted out, “Yes, I’m Jeremy. Jane is my aunt. I’m glad you’re here too, Alex.”

He gestured towards Jane, and the group being photographed beside the river. The color rose in Jeremy’s neck. He was genuinely blushing. Something he seldom did. Of course, he seldom had anything other than a business conversation with the women he worked with. ‘His brides,’ he called them.

She laughed. “She’s something like my fifth cousin, ten times removed, too.” She extended her hand in a friendly gesture. He noted her American accent again.

Jeremy shook her hand, still staring into her deep eyes. ‘I mustn’t stare,’ he told himself. He thought, ‘My God, she’s the most beautiful woman on the planet and so much better than my photograph of her. I’m in love with her and she doesn’t even know it. I’m also being a dolt. Say something smart and witty.’

He turned towards the mostly middle-aged and older crowd milling around the bar and patio. “Well, I don’t have a cane or a walker. I sort of feel out of place here actually. And, yes, your photograph turned out very well.” He paused wondering if he should tell her he’d splashed it across one large wall in his living room, then added, “I had a print made; it’s in my, err, ah, gallery.”

“Well, then, take my picture again,” Alex said with a flirtatious laugh. She backed up a few feet and struck a pose with one hand lightly touching her chin and the other on one hip.

Jeremy’s mind clicked into gear as he brought his camera up: composition, back lighting, aperture setting, fill-in bounce flash, aim, and fire. He clicked off a dozen shots in a minute, each better than the last as she played to the camera. She was laughing. He figured he was capturing and preserving beauty for posterity. He finally stopped, and she came closer again.

“What do you do with them?” she asked. She gestured at his camera.

“Oh, I’ll sort through these and make a little album for Jane so she has some candid shots of everyone here.”

“What about you?” Alex asked. “Who’ll take your picture?”

“Well, no one,” Jeremy answered, but Alex was already reaching for his camera. “If you show me what to do, I’ll take your picture so you can be in the album too.”

Jeremy gingerly lifted the strap over his head and moved to put it around Alex’s neck. The camera, lens, and flash cost well over a ten thousand quid and he wasn’t going to take any chances, even if she were the most beautiful person there. The problem was the hat; he hesitated. How could he loop the camera over her hat?

Alex put her arm through the hanging strap and wound her wrist around the slack in it. He could see she had a firm grip and released the camera into her hands. “Hold the shutter halfway down for a second before you shoot. You’ll see it auto-focus through the eye piece, then push the rest of the way down.” He pointed at the camera’s silver button.

Alex squinted at him through the narrow eye piece on the camera. He posed, smiled, and the flash went off. “I’ve got to get more into this as a hobby,” Alex said, carefully passing the camera back into his loving hands. “I love photographs. My flat is covered with them. I think everyone I’ve ever met is on my walls somewhere. Will you email me this photo?”

“I’d be delighted, or you can come by...” Jeremy stopped himself in mid-sentence. He didn’t want her to see herself papered across his living room wall. “No. Yes. Yes, I’ll email it to you. Give me your card.”

Alex dug in her purse and produced her McKinsey business card. The card indicated she was a consulting manager with the firm. While she did that Jeremy extracted one of his cards from his wallet. They traded cards.

“I’m impressed,” Jeremy told her. “McKinsey is a fine company. Good reputation. Are you based here or in the States? I detect some American in your accent.”

“Good guess. I was born here, but moved to the States in the 1990s when I was a tot. I grew up there, but I live here now – as of six months ago,” she added.

People were starting to sit for the dinner. “Do you know your table?” Jeremy asked.

“No,” Alex said. “ There’s a seating assignments on the table over there,” pointing to a table people were filing by as they entered the dining area of the outdoor tent beside the Inn.

The two of them strolled to where there was a layout of the tables with little cards for each person showing which table they were assigned to. Jeremy was at Table 4, Alex at Table 8.

Jeremy reached over a took the Table 8 card with Alex’s name on it and placed it next to his at Table 4, moving a random card from his table to the now empty Table 8 slot.

“There,” he said,” at least we can sit next to each other for the meal. Come and join me.”

Smiling at his ploy, Alex joined him as they walked to Table 4 and introduced themselves to the others there. Jeremy knew a couple of the people from other family gatherings. He introduced his new but distant ‘cousin’.

The conversation was electric between the two of them. If there were other people at the table, or even at the wedding, they barely noticed. Jeremy was on his best behavior. He loved this woman but couldn’t let her know, at least just yet. Later, they circulated though the tent, meeting people, danced, consumed the mandatory piece of wedding cake, talked incessantly to one another, and fell into a comfortable relationship.

Jeremy was pleased to learn that Alex was unattached and had no interests in anyone at the time. He shared his similar position with her. They talked about their jobs, families, education, life growing up, values, and even some quirks that they’d be embarrassed if anyone else found out about. There was an intimacy between them that was instant and hard to ignore.

As the wedding gathering came to an end, they kissed goodbye. It was not any kiss of notice, only a quick buss on each other’s cheeks. There was a promise to meet again and a ‘call me, we’ll do lunch someday soon’ tossed out by both of them. Jeremy was in heaven that he might see her again soon, but in his mind, he knew that she’d have to take the first step. Handsome as he was, he was shy and not a ladies man. He had become more comfortable with her as the evening progressed, but still making that leap to ask for a date was not his forte.

Friday Evening, Three Weeks Later

Jeremy was hunched over his computer eradicating the blotchy complexion of a seventy-something board member from one of the world’s leading corporations in a photograph he’d taken the week before. The ring of his doorbell broke his concentration from his evening’s work. He saved his work and went to the door.

He pulled open the door to see a well-dressed Alex standing on his doorstep with a broad smile on her face and her briefcase in hand.

“You didn’t call,” she said in a slightly scolding tone. “And, I’m not one to wait forever. Unless you have a new girlfriend or the Queen here for a photo shoot; I thought I’d drag you away for a glass of wine down the street.”

Jeremy was speechless again.

After almost a minute Alex stated, “Well, I guess I’ve left you speechless again. I assume the Queen’s not here then. Come on. Come on.” She gestured towards the pub aways down the street.

Finally, Jeremy’s mind clicked into gear. “Wait. No. Yes. While, what I mean is you come in. I’ve got wine here: Great wine, in fact. I picked up a carload in the Loire only a couple of months ago. This is the perfect occasion.” He didn’t even think about the photograph on the wall of his living room as he made the invitation.

Alex came into the flat and followed Jeremy up the half flight to the living level. He gestured to her to enter the living room as he followed.

She froze in the doorway to the living room. “Oh my God!” she blurted out as she saw the immense photograph of herself on the wall facing the door. “Wow!”

Now, she was the one that was speechless. Slowly she turned to him. “Why?” The look on her face was one of worry as well as puzzlement.

Jeremy smiled then admitted shyly, “I think you are the most beautiful person I have ever seen: Why not?”

Alex nodded silently. The look on her face remained.

He went on quietly. “I need someone to talk to, to share with. You fill that role. Well, your photograph does. It’s been here since Maddy’s wedding where I took it. I know I’m a bit of a recluse, but not with you here.” He gestured towards the photograph again.

Alex asked almost in a whisper, “There’s no one else in your life?”

“No, just you,” Jeremy said as he barely gestured to the large photograph. After a long silence he added, “When we talked so much at Jane’s wedding, I was even surer I’d picked the right person to grace my flat. You are a wonder.” He smiled warmly at her.

Alex turned to him and walked the two paces to be in his arms. He enfolded her automatically as she raised her head to his for their first serious kiss.

That kiss became another ... and another.

Jeremy started to talk rapidly as they paused, “I was afraid if you saw the photograph and what I’d done with it that you’d think I was a weirdo or be scared at my obsession. I forgot it was here ... when you arrived ... otherwise, we’d be at the wine bar. I mean no offense, really.”

Alex said, “Offense? Because you think I’m the most beautiful woman in the world? Offense? I think it’s wonderful to be obsessed over. No one has even been obsessed with me before, and I love it – really love it. What a turn on. Now kiss me again.”

They took their kisses to the sofa. The initial tender kisses of affection and caring they both gave each other gave way to more passionate kisses as the minutes ticked by. They cooed and talked softly to each other in a loving way.

Jeremy pulled Alex’s hair away from the side of her head and ran his tongue around inside her ear, and then he licked, nibbled, and kissed his way up and down her neck. Alex purred like a contented cat and leaned into his attention.

Alex reciprocated, with passion and eagerness. Both ran out of available skin area that wasn’t covered by clothing; soon one of her hands started to undo the buttons of Jeremy’s white shirt. The other hand pulled his head into hers for another passionate kiss.

He took her assertiveness as an invitation to also start to smooth Alex’s breasts through her smooth blouse, although tentatively at first. Not only did she not protest, she pushed into his advances. He could feel her nipples respond to his touch and her sexual excitement just as her hand started smoothing his bare chest.

Jeremy became impatient as he awkwardly worked on the buttons to her blouse. She kept a lock on his lips with hers, but worked from the other end of the row of buttons on the same blouse. There was an increasing urgency in her moves. As it opened, she shrugged the expensive blouse off her shoulders and tossed it to the side. Her lacy bra soon fell by her own hand.

Alex pulled Jeremy’s shirt apart and thrust her naked chest into his with a gesture of further passion. Jeremy noticed that she was well endowed, not engorged but with bountiful handfuls. He pulled her to him and allowed her nipples to stroke across his chest. Both knew where the evening was going. There was no doubt now.

After another round of petting and intense kissing, Jeremy stood and picked up Alex from the sofa. He was surprised at how light she was. She put her arms around his neck while continuing to kiss him.