Chapter 20

As my flight touched down in Tucson, my thoughts turned to Tina. We'd talked several times during the holidays, but beyond that, she'd been far from my mind. Now, as I landed, she flooded my thoughts. I realized I missed her.

I pondered that. 'Out of sight, out of mind' didn't quite fit. It was more like I had a life in Tucson, which Tina was a key part of, and I had a life in Colorado, that involved the weird 'friends helping each other out' dance with Sharon.

As the plane rolled toward the terminal, I realized my Tucson life wasn't so bad. Tina'd be thrilled to see me as soon as she got back in town. And she'd want me. In her arms and in her bed.

In her bed. I was definitely looking forward to that. Just a few more days and she'd be back from her parents'. That'd give me some time to put together some cover letters and mail some more resumés. It'd be nice to have that off my mind, at least for a little while.

Of course, I couldn't really. As much as I didn't want to think about the job search at all, I was leaving, as soon as I could. I'd keep applying for jobs in Colorado, but I had to be realistic about my chances. I also had to open it up and accept the possibility of living elsewhere.

Was I willing to look in Tucson, too? I supposed I had to, since any job was better than no job. Except I hated so much about Tucson. I hated the heat. I hated the dearth of fine dining. I had too many scars and bad memories of my academic failures and my failures with Alicia. The only thing Tucson had going for it was Tina.

And Tina was committed to Arizona. Not only did she have years of school left, being so young, but she was too tied to her family. I was sure she wouldn't leave them.

No, the relationship was certainly going to end when I moved. At least, knowing that, I could avoid getting too attached. I could avoid any heartbreak like I'd had with Alicia. For me or for Tina.

Sherri snorted.

"Yeah," I said. "It was a stupid thing to think."

"You bet it was."

"If I knew then what I know now..."

"What would you do?"

"Well, for one, I would have talked about possibly taking more pictures of Sharon before the Christmas break instead of after. Tina was not happy..."

I thought about the pictures when I unpacked. After some serious dithering about whether to keep them or pitch them, I ended up sticking them with the others. The right thing to do was confess to Tina and take my lumps. After all, she might not be upset.

That didn't stop me from postponing the conversation. When she returned to Tucson a couple of days later, she came over almost immediately. We embraced deeply and quickly found ourselves in bed. Like our last reunion, she seemed insatiable. Much later, lying in bed, she mentioned taking an erotic shower together and the memories of Sharon under the spray came flooding back.

"Err," I began, "speaking of showers. When I gave Sharon the poster, well, we were both a little drunk. We started talking about how it looked better than her shower and, well, things got a little out of hand. She ended up handing me the camera and posing for more pictures under the shower."

"What?" Tina's body went stiff beside me.

"We ended up doing another photo shoot. Kind of like we did last year."

"Oh." Ice dripped from her voice.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I should have probably talked to you beforehand, but I didn't think it was going to happen."

Tina turned her face away. Her body was still tense.

"We were drunk."

She still didn't respond.

"I'm sorry."

Still no response.

I started to panic. Now my own body was tense and my heart pounded.

"I said I'm sorry," I repeated. "We didn't touch, or anything. I knew you didn't want that, but I thought that the pictures wouldn't be too bad. At least not from what you said in Albuquerque. And we didn't touch."

Tina sighed, turned and looked at me.

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" I blurted.

"You didn't touch?" she asked.

I vehemently shook my head. "No. Not ever. In fact, Sharon doesn't want us to touch."

She slowly nodded. Then she paused.

"I want to see the pictures," she said.

I couldn't tell the tone in her voice, but I bounded up. Moments later, I returned with the prints. Tina sat up as I placed the stacks on the bed in front of her.

"Those are the older ones," I said, pointing to one stack. "They're roughly in order from best to worst. "Those," I pointed to the other stack, "are the ones we took this break."

Tina slowly thumbed through them, her eyes carefully passing over each one, studying it. Then she moved it to the side and picked up the next one in the stack. She didn't say a word until she'd gone through all the photos. Then she sat back, staring down at the collective piles.

"Why haven't you asked me to pose?" she asked.

"Uh..." This was not the reaction I'd expected. "Because I didn't think of it. I never actually asked Sharon to pose, though. It was her idea or it just kinda came up. I never asked. And as far as asking you..." I realized there was only one possible response.

"I would love for you to pose," I said. "It'd be incredible to have you in front of the camera. In fact, I'd rather have you pose than Sharon, any day."

Tina looked at me, one eyebrow raised.

"Any day," I repeated. "You're beautiful. You're incredibly sexy. And it'd be hot. I'm sure we'd get better pictures than these," I said, sweeping my hand over the pile of prints.

Tina cocked her head, still looking at me.

"Besides," I said, "you and I can touch. Which means instead of having to remain all distant and professional-like, we can have a lot more fun."

"More fun?"

"Sure," I said, my words speeding up as I continued on my roll. "We could take racier pictures. Or sillier. Maybe get me in some of them. Maybe get really naughty." I waggled my eyebrows, which invoked a smile from Tina.

"You and I have so much more," I said, "than I could ever have with Sharon. Don't you think it would come across in the pictures?"

Tina hesitated and then nodded.

"Look," I said, "I'm sorry I took the pictures with Sharon without talking to you first. And I'm sorry I haven't asked you to pose. But it'd be great and you'd be great, and we should do it."

I reached out, scooped all the pictures into a single pile, and lifted them to the nightstand. Then I reached over and put my hand on Tina's shoulder, turning her slightly. When she met my eyes, I looked deep within them and continued. "You are the sexiest, hottest woman I know, and I would love to have pictures of you, now and years into the future."

She blushed and smiled simultaneously, looking away and then looking back.

"Into the future?" she asked.

"Absolutely." I wouldn't feel guilty masturbating to pictures of Tina, so I was sure I'd love having them in years to come.

"Okay..." Her face softened and her eyes warmed.

"Great!" I smiled as wide as I could. "In fact, how about if we do it next Friday night? Now that we've discussed it, I can't wait!"

She nodded and then took my hand.

"You still should have told me earlier."

"I know," I said. "And I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you however I can."

She nodded, and then didn't resist when I put my arm around her and hugged her. We just held each other for a few minutes.

Finally, I cleared my throat. "In the meantime," I said, "we were talking about getting a shower. I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry, and I don't think they'll let us in the Bluebird Café dressed like this."

Tina looked down at our nakedness and chuckled.

"C'mon," I said, starting to slide out of the bed and tugging on her hand, "I'll wash your back."

"That's not all you'll wash," Tina said, her eyes dancing for the first time.

"I hope not," I said, and waggled my eyebrows for emphasis.

In the shower, I gently soaped and caressed Tina as best I could. As the water flowed and the soapsuds slewed off of us and circled the drain, she relaxed further and further under my fingers. I persuaded her to let me wash her hair, massaging her scalp and neck, until she was almost limp. Finally, as she rinsed off, she kissed me. We slid into each other's arms and kissed several more times before finally escaping waterlogged from the cascading spray. By the end of dinner, things felt back to normal, and our goodnight kiss had all the heat of the past, as well as hints of things to come.

In the following week, I spent some time pondering whether to get a Polaroid or a regular camera. I wasn't sure I wanted to hand over nude photos to a regular developer—who knew where copies might end up? But I also knew that I wanted better quality than I'd get with a Polaroid.

In the end, I called Sharon.

"Get a good 35mm camera," she advised. "You need something decent or you're wasting your time."

"Okay," I said. "but what about developing?"

"Find a photo shop that caters to the arts community. They're used to nudes. They won't blink twice."

"I don't know where to do that here," I muttered.

"So send the film to me. I'll do it."

"Okay." I had a momentary twinge, thinking about what Tina might say about Sharon developing the pictures, but then let it go. Tina would be far more upset if someone unscrupulous made copies for themselves.

"Oh," Sharon said, "I got the letter for Allen done. You should see it in a few days."

"Okay."

"I'm going to do a double envelope arrangement," she said. "So all you have to do is add the address to the inner one and send it on to him."

"Sure, no problem."

"Great!"

For the rest of our conversation, I was distracted both by thoughts of cameras and the nagging feeling that I should warn Allen about the letter. The next day, I went camera shopping and that evening I sat by the phone, pondering whether to call him.

In the end, I did.

"Dude, what's up?" Allen asked once he'd gotten on the line.

"Mostly the usual," I said. "How are the wedding preparations coming?"

Allen sighed. "Jenna's mom is... helping. And our small wedding has become a medium-sized wedding."

I snorted. "What fun. Anything you need me to do?"

"Not much before you get here. Then we'll have some stuff for you to do."

"Cool." I paused. "Listen, there's another reason I called."

"Yeah?"

"Sharon found out you were getting married. She asked me for your address."

"I hope you didn't give it to her."

"No," I said, "but I agreed to forward her letter to you. You'll get it in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure what she's going to put in it, but I figured it was your call on whether you read it or not."

"Hmmm."

"Look, if you'd rather me not send it..."

"No," he said. "Go ahead. I might as well see what she has to say."

"Thanks."

The line fell silent for a heartbeat.

"So," Allen asked, "how's the job search going?"

I proceeded to catch him up on both it and my preparation for my thesis defense. He, in turn, filled me in on more of the wedding preparations. When we got off the phone an hour later, I couldn't help the being amused over his soon-to-be mother-in-law's antics.

That Friday, Tina arrived with a garment bag over one shoulder and a duffel bag in the other hand.

"What's this?" I asked, helping her in the door.

"Clothes," she said. "And my make-up kit. I want to look my best for the pictures."

"You look fine without all that," I said. "You're beautiful just in jeans and with morning bed head."

Tina's cheeks dimpled and her eyes sparkled. "That's sweet, but I still want to look my best."

"Whatever the lady would like."

"The lady would like to change." She glanced around the living room. "Where are we going to do this?"

"The bedroom," I said. "I've cleared one wall to give us a backdrop. And we can use the bed itself, of course."

Tina just grinned and pushed past me into the bathroom. "I'll be out in a few minutes."

I wandered back into the bedroom. I'd shifted my nightstand and dresser away from the bed, so that the wall at the head of the bed was completely bare and unobscured. There wasn't enough room to move the bed, too, so I'd have to be careful how I framed any shots with Tina standing. I fiddled with the camera a little and paced left and right, ostensibly to find good angle to shoot from. After a while, I realized that Tina was taking more than a few minutes getting ready. I sat on the bed to wait.

It was worth it.

Tina appeared in the doorway, a nervous smile on her face. Her eyes scanned mine, and, once she saw my delight, she sighed and relaxed. I winked and then slowly trailed my eyes down her body, conscious of her watching me as I did.

She'd found a gauzy black robe, which hung loosely from her shoulders. It didn't hide the black bra beneath, but teased the view instead—blurring where the lingerie ended and her skin began. It did the same with her garter belt, turning the edges into a mélange of black and pale flesh. Her panties seemed maddeningly smaller than the ones I'd seen before, but the tails of the robe made it hard to tell.

At least her stockings were familiar—sheer and dark. Tina stood with one leg forward, slightly bent, highlighting the smooth lines of her thighs. I'd have to remember to get a shot like this later. She also wore her black heels.

My smile now that of a kid in a candy store, I returned to meet her eyes. She'd put on make-up, I realized, darkening her eyes and highlighting the blush of her cheeks. She'd also pulled her hair into a loose pony tail, tied with a ribbon.

"Wow," I said. "Wow, wow, wow."

Her eyes twinkled. "You like?"

"Boy, do I like!"

She softly chuckled. Then, following a mock curtsy, she slowly spun around. My eyes darted everywhere as she did—hungry to drink up all the sight. I realized there was more of her ass visible through the gauze than I'd expected. A g-string, of course.

"Some of this is new," I said, still grinning ear to ear, when she'd completed her turn.

"Marcy loaned me the robe," she said. "And took me shopping for the new panties."

"Thank Marcy for me," I said, my eyes doing another quick tour of her curves.

She laughed. "I'll be sure to."

I nodded and sighed. Our eyes met again.

"I suppose I should take some pictures."

Tina nodded. "Where do you want me to stand?"

I indicated the wall I'd cleared. Tina strode over, then turned and stood facing me.

"Now what?" she asked.

I stifled a sigh. Despite the outfit, this pose didn't appear sexy at all. Too clunky. I supposed that was my job to fix, though.

"Put your foot forward, like you did by the door," I said. Tina complied, and the pose was much better. I suggested she put one hand on her thigh and then took the picture.

Most of the first roll of film went the same way. She'd strike a basic pose, and then I'd give her some directions to improve it before taking the picture. Slowly, her poses became more fluid, probably because she was beginning to relax. I knew that some of early ones weren't going to be great, but I had hope for the later ones.

"How are you doing?" I asked, when I'd stopped to change the film.

"Okay," she said.

"You look great," I said. "Some of these are going to be really hot."

Tina smiled. "Thanks. I think I'm getting the hang of it."

I nodded. "Are you ready to try some nudes and semi-nudes?"

Tina took a deep breath and then nodded. "How do you want to start?"

"Let's have you take the robe off, slowly. Maybe roll it off your shoulders?"

"Facing which way?"

"Let's try a couple of different ways."

The first shots, with Tina's back turned, were pretty good—the gauzy fabric sliding slowly past her shoulder blades, while she gazed back at the camera. But the side shots were even better. Since the robe bottom overlapped the tops of her stockings, her side was a solid swath of black from toe to the newly bared flesh.

I paused. "Can you do smoldering?" I asked.

"Like this?" she asked, promptly narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips. Her expression was sexier, but still a tad cold.

"Try thinking of sex," I said. "Think about how I'm going to throw you on the bed and ravish you when we're done."

Tina smirked, but then returned to her harder look. Except now there was a little fire in her eyes. I took the picture. I got several more good shots before the robe fluttered to the floor.

Tina bent and picked the robe up, tossing it on the bed. Then she faced me, smiling, and wrapped her arms around her waist. Then she slowly and smoothly raised them up to her shoulders, crossing them across her breasts.

"That was nice," I said after I'd taken the picture. "You're getting the hang of it."

Tina's face beamed. She turned slightly and struck a pose straight out of Vogue, her hands sweeping her hair up and back away from her body. I managed to avoid shaking the camera too much with my chuckles.

"Ready to remove the bra?" I asked.

Tina took a deep breath and nodded. She reached for the clasp.

"Wait," I said. "let's make this sexy. Face the wall and look back at me over your shoulder."

Tina did so, and her gaze smoldered once again. She reached up and slowly unhooked her bra, then dropped her hands, sliding the straps off her shoulders and letting it drop. I snapped away as she crossed her arms across her chest and slowly turned around. Her eyes flashed wide for just a moment, almost nervous. I pulled up from the viewfinder and smiled at her, as reassuring as I could. With another breath, she relaxed and dropped her arms.

I'd seen Tina's breasts so many times over the past year that seeing them again brought nothing new. Except a raging erection and a pounding pulse as I looked through the viewfinder. She was absolutely beautiful, I realized all over again.

"Now what?" she asked.

I realized I'd stopped taking pictures and was just looking at her. I quickly glanced at the exposure count—we had only about six left. I sighed.

"We're almost out of film," I said. "I'd like to get one of you from behind in that g-string."

Tina smiled and slowly pirouetted. I got two good pictures of her ass as she turned. When she faced me again. I stood up for a moment and stretched the cramps out of my legs.

I grinned and waggled my eyebrows. "Can I talk you out of your panties?" I asked, a mock leer in my tone. I licked my lips for emphasis.

Tina laughed, her eyes on my mouth. "If that's what you're offering..." She hooked her thumbs under the strings at her hips. Slowly, she peeled it past her hips, exposing her dark hair inch by inch. Then, it bunched into a band, almost a tangle that began sliding more than rolling, until it stopped halfway down her thigh. It perfectly framed her womanly charms. I dropped to one knee for the direct shot. Tina sensed my intent and moved her hands out of the way.

I stood back up. "I was right," I said, "you are the sexiest woman alive."