Chapter 1

Fumbling in the depths of her bag for keys, Sara raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Not exactly ladylike, but she was running way too late to worry about that. Why did this always happen? The only times she overslept were when she had an appointment first thing in the morning. Well, not to worry - today’s appointment was a rock singer, so she should have plenty time to get set up - those guys were never on time. At the very least, she should have time to check what clothes she had here - anything would be more appropriate than the halter top and long, floating skirt that were the first things out of the closet after her shower. The skirt had been a particularly bad idea - she was having to hold most of it gathered in one hand to avoid tripping over it as she climbed the stairs, leaving her long legs bare almost to the tops of her thighs.

Just as she reached the landing, her searching fingers found the keys, and she hauled them out with a triumphant grin. Unfortunately, though, her watch caught on the edge of her bag, yanking it upside down and spilling most of the contents like shrapnel across the landing.

“Shit!” she spat, dropping the handful of skirt as she unhooked her watch from the zipper of her bag.

Sara threw her purse to the floor and crouched to collect up the scattered debris of her junk. Cellphone, wallet, book, I-pod, perfume…….the only thing missing was..

“I guess this is yours?”

Shocked, she threw her head up to see who’d spoken. Sparking sky blue eyes were gazing down at her, crinkled at the corners by the slight smile on his tanned face. A smile which widened at the surprise on her face. He looked down again at the tiny tin he held.

“Whip stick?” he read. “Oh, I think I’ve come to the right place.”

Sara rose to her feet, holding out one hand to take the tin he was offering.

“Thanks” she said with a rueful smile “Sorry I’m late Mr Bon Jovi.”

“Oh, you’re not late” he said “I just like to be early. And, please, my name’s Jon.”

“Nice to meet you, Jon. I’m Sara Holland.”

She held out a hand to be shaken, and was shocked at her immediate response to his cool touch. As their fingers parted, she prayed silently that he would blame her flushed face on running upstairs. Turning her back to him, she unlocked the door - crouching low to open the lock at the foot of the door, and pushing the door wide as she stood.

Jon had stepped forward, toward the door, a second before she straightened up, but he hadn’t realised that his boot was pinning the hem of her skirt to the floor, and as Sara stood up, she yelped as her skirt was dragged down, almost pulled completely over her butt before she caught hold of the waistband.

“Christ - sorry!” Jon blurted out, embarrassed, but also captivated. Looked like he wasn’t the only one who liked to go commando. He tried not to dwell on the view but, damn, she did have a nice ass.

“Don’t worry about it” she said, trying unsuccessfully to block out what just happened, and cursing herself for not taking those extra seconds to put on underwear. Skirt settled back in place, she led Jon inside.

“So - I’ve got to ask” Jon began, trying to break the somewhat uncomfortable silence “What’s whip stick?”

Sara laughed, a sexy, throaty sound.

“Hope you’re not too disappointed, but it’s lip balm. Chocolate orange flavour.”

“Yum” he grinned “I’ll have to try it sometime. So - are you going to be doing me today?”

“Excuse me?!” Sara couldn’t quite believe her ears - especially since the thought had already crossed her mind.

“Sorry - I meant are you going to be taking the photos!” and, for the first time he could recall, Jon realised that he was actually blushing. ‘Jesus’ he thought ‘What’s up with this - I’m blushing? Me?’

He saw that Sara was watching him with a detached smile, then he realised she wasn’t actually focused on him, but on something behind him. He turned, and saw that her gaze was aimed at a worktable which was set out with cameras and a PC.

“Okay” she said, suddenly professional “The brief I was given is that the magazine want some fun, cute, and of course sexy photos to go along with an interview piece. Is that right?”

“I guess so. Not sure how you’re gonna make a 44 year old look cute though” he joked.

“I don’t need to” she said distractedly. ‘Whoops. Learn to think before speaking, Sara’ she thought.

Now he hit her with that full-on megawatt smile, and she felt her knees tremble. With an effort, Sara shook off the almost overwhelming effect of his presence, and moved across to her worktable where she had a camera all ready to go.

“If you don’t mind” she said “What I like to do is let my subject get comfortable in this space, and I can take some candid shots to start with. We can load them onto the PC, see where we are before we start on any posed shots.”

“Fine with me. You’re the expert.”

“Well, make yourself at home then. I’ll be back in a minute - I need coffee - you probably guessed I couldn’t get out of bed today.

“Lucky guy” Jon murmured, so softly she wasn’t sure what she’d heard.

“Sorry - what was that?”

“Uh…I said I could use a coffee too”

She gave a suspicious look, but headed off to what he assumed was a kitchen, then he heard the banging of doors and running water. Fervently, he prayed for real coffee, not instant, then heard the familiar and reassuring sounds of percolating coffee.

For the first time since entering the room, Jon looked around, seeing the area with lights and backdrops, and a wall cupboard intriguingly labelled ‘props’. One wall was nothing but an immense window, looking out onto derelict factories and wasteland, and he strode across to take a closer look - thinking it might make a good location to shoot a video. As he walked, he shrugged out of his battered denim jacket and tossed it in the general direction of an armchair. He missed.

Barefoot and unnoticed, Sara had slipped back into the room, camera in hand, and she blessed - not for the first time - digital cameras for their near silent operation as she snapped a chain of shots as Jon stripped off and threw his jacket.

Before he reached the window, Jon stopped, perplexed by the incongruous sight of a fully tiled shower stall against the side wall. He grinned sheepishly as he remembered a long-ago photo shoot involving a shower and a lot of beer. Moving on toward the window, Jon remained oblivious to Sara behind him as she took full advantage of his rear view. She even took some photos at the same time.

Reaching the glazed wall, Jon heard a sound behind him and glanced back quizzically. Nothing. Sara must still be in the kitchen he thought - or maybe she’s gone looking for her panties.

In actual fact, Sara had just returned to the kitchen, where she poured two mugs of steaming coffee. She took one mug and her camera, catching some potentially good shots of Jon, back turned, face reflected in the glass.

“What do you take in your coffee?” she asked, camera poised, and caught a series of shots of Jon jumping slightly then turning to face her with a startled expression. The lazy smile that followed looked like another keeper.

“Just as it comes” he said “Sneaky lady, tippytoeing around barefoot, huh?”

“I like to be comfortable” she replied as she handed over his coffee. He slugged back a mouthful, eyes bugging a little as the caffeine hit.

“Wow”

“Sorry - is it too strong? I like to be able to taste my coffee.”

“No. It’s fine. Just didn’t expect it to be so strong” he said, taking another, more cautious swig.

“Okay then” Sara padded back to the kitchen and retrieved her own mug, emblazed with the slogan “I’m not a Tease - just a reminder of what you can’t have”. She carried coffee and camera back through to the studio, where she found Jon settled comfortably in the armchair, legs slung over one side of the chair as he watched her approach. A few quick shots of that sight, then she came over and took a seat on the old couch, setting camera and coffee on a low table. In the centre of the table sat a fruit bowl, but it was filled with chocolates, and Sara grabbed a couple before pushing the bowl closer to Jon.

“Help yourself. I do have some healthy stuff……..somewhere….” she said, unwrapping her chocolate.

“Chocolate? For breakfast?”

“Yep - coffee and chocolate. What more do you need?”

Jon laughed, and took some chocolate himself. Cute. They had roses on the wrappers.

“So, I was thinking” she said “of an idea for the photos”.

Jon cocked his head to one side, listening. Damn, with those eyes fixed on her, Sara thought, how the hell was she meant to concentrate.

“Well, I was doing some prep work for this shoot - as usual - and I was going through a load of old photos of you. My thought was to re-create some of the shots.”

Jon grimaced slightly “That would depend on what ones I guess! Can’t quite see me fitting into spandex these days.”