Page 81 of Pour Decisions
On shaky legs, I followed a petulant Sonya to a bedroom in the back corner of the apartment. Unceremoniously, she threw a bra and panty set onto the bed and chirped at me to get dressed before leaving the room again.
I quickly stripped out of my clothing, goosebumps raising on every inch of my exposed skin as I stepped into the intimates. The bra was lightweight cotton with a scoop neck that matched the same orange of Owen’s shorts. There was a wide, white band across the bottom with the brand logo stitched in black, and the panties matched. Before leaving the room, I took a moment to twist and turn in the full body mirror resting on the floor in the corner, deciding I looked amazing. The bright fabric popped against my olive skin, the cut of the panties making my legs look miles long, my modest chest perked up in the sports bra. I feltsexy, and excited anticipation mixed with nerves pricked at my skin. I sent a silent prayer up to whatever unseen force nudged me to get an emergency wax and take an everything shower before this trip. As it was, everything below my waist was smooth as silk.
With a deep breath, I opened the door and stepped out into the bright living space.
Immediately, the hair and makeup team descended on me, running a brush through my mane and dabbing powder along my t-zone. Thankfully, I’d been blessed with dark, thick brows and lashes, and per Felix Alain’s instruction, I wasn’t allowed to wear any makeup but a little highlighter on my cheek and collarbones.
When I’d gone into the room to change, Felix Alain had been directing Owen toward a white leather chair, but when I stepped onto the set, the heat from the lights instantly warming my skin, Owen was once again positioned on the bed. He was in the center of it, upright on his knees, hands on his hips while he waited for me.
God, give the man a cape and he’d be a fucking superhero.
“You are breathtaking, my dear,” Felix Alain said, settling a hand on my lower back and ushering me deeper onto the set. “Now I want you to get up there next to Owen. With two of you, we are going less for sexy and more for sensual. Romantic. A couple waking up and lazing the morning away in bed. In fact…”
He trailed off, spinning and snapping his fingers at another assistant. “You. Get me one of the denim classic button downs for Miss Delatou.”
“I’ve got it!” Sonya shouted, rushing across the room andhurrying over with the shirt, unceremoniously throwing it at my head despite obviously wanting to get in Felix Alain’s good graces.
God, I wanted this to be over if only so I could get the hell away from her negative energy. I was already nervous enough, both at the thought of being on camera, posing for photos that would appear in aninternational ad campaign, and also over doing this with Owen. I’d barely kept my hands to myself this morning, and now I was being given permission to put them all over his chiseled body?
Lord help me.
I stuffed my arms into the denim shirt, grateful for the small amount of modesty it provided me. I wasn’t ashamed of my body in the slightest, but I’d never put it on display like that before. Where everyone in the room was watching me, analyzing me. Surely Sonya’s little brain was spinning, critiquing every inch of my skin.
My pulse reached cardiac event levels as I knelt on the bed and shuffled over to Owen, though the nerves instantly receded when I looked into his eyes. Their ocean depths were calming in a way that nothing else in my life was. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, Owen reached out, resting one hand on my hip, the other dragging the collar of the shirt back to reveal one strap of the bra, my bare shoulder, and my chest down to the barest hint of my ribs along my side. Distantly, I heard the shutter of the camera going off as Owen danced his fingertips across my exposed flesh.
Goosebumps raised in their wake, and I sucked in a breath.
“It’s just us, Whiskey,” he whispered. “Remember how youfelt about me this morning? Just imagine we’re back there.”
Pretend? I could do that.
“I wanted you so badly.”
“Yeah?” he asked, voice rough. “What did you want from me exactly?”
My core turned molten, heat pooling between my legs. “I wanted you to move my panties to the side and slide your fingers through my pussy.”
Owen groaned, barely loud enough for me to hear. “Would you have been wet for me?”
“Soaked,” I breathed. “And I wanted you to kiss me.”
“I’ve been waiting for you to let me.”
Then he moved until his lips were centimeters away, until my exhales became his inhales, until a simple, slight shift forward from me would have us locked together.
But not here. I didn’t want that first time to be in front of a crowd of people, all of whom were being paid to watch our every move.
Still, the world had melted away so completely as we cocooned ourselves inside that bubble that I practically jumped three feet in the air when Felix Alain’s voice rang out.
“Are you sure you two are not more than business partners?” he crowed. “My camera is on fire! This is going to be a wildly successful campaign, I can feel it. These photos are…” He pinched his fingers together and brought them to his mouth, pulling them away with a “muah!” “C’est magnifique!”
“I’m sure,” I croaked, and Owen only smirked.
“Well, you should be,” Felix Alain said. “The way you two look at each other? The chemistry? It is explosive.”
“One day,” Owen said, loud enough for everyone to hear, though his gaze never left mine. “One day she’ll be mine.”
I only smiled mildly. I wasn’t about to correct him—to tell him I already was.
