“Just think, another few years, and I’ll be throwing you, lil pumpkin.” He lifted Holly from my arms, laughing as she squealed and waved her arms while he sailed her through the water, making motor boat sounds. Watching them together made me smile.
Then the baby got fussy and no amount of playing would quiet her.
“She’s hungry,” I said, holding my arms out for her. “She wants lunch.”
“Me too,” Doc agreed enthusiastically. “Time for a sandwich.”
We all trooped back into the house. Doc made sandwiches and Mrs. B made lemonade and I made the baby a bottle, and we all sat around the kitchen table eating. Mrs. B insisted on feeding the baby, so she ate one handed and had to stop to burp Holly. Janie and Henry burst out laughing when an air bubble escaped the baby’s mouth so loudly it sounded like a full grown man belching.
“Mom, my head hurts,” Janie complained, rubbing her eyes.
“Too much sun,” her mother said, nodding. “Why don’t you and Henry go upstairs and take a rest?”
“I’m not tired,” Henry said, his mouth full of sandwich.
“Well at least stay out of the sun for a while,” Mrs. B said, looking at Janie’s flushed cheeks. “Play X-Box or something.”
“Okay!” Henry brightened. I smirked. Any day his parents suggested staying inside and playing video games was clearly a good day, as far as he was concerned.
“Well someone needs a nap.” Mrs. B yawned and kissed the top of the baby’s head. Holly’s head nodded, her eyelids heavy.
“You or her?” Doc teased.
“Both.” Mrs. B laughed. “I’m gonna put her down and do just that.”
“I was going to give Gretchen her early Christmas present,” Doc said, leaning back in his chair and looking at his wife as she rose with the baby. “You okay with that?”
“Sure.” Mrs. B smiled over at me.
“I’ve got something for you, Gretchen.” Doc stood, clearing plates as Henry and Janie raced each other to the X-Box in the living room.
“Oh yeah?”
I knew, whatever it was, it wasn’t what I really wanted. Like Ronnie had assumed, I wasn’t ever going to get that. The Baumgartners didn’t think I was girlfriend material. It seemed like I was going to be just the nanny, just the roommate, just the doormat, for the rest of my life.
“Go on outside, I’ll meet you there.”
“Outside?” I raised my eyebrows. “Should I change?”
I was still in my wet bikini.
“No.” His gaze dropped down to my cleavage, then lower, to my belly, hovering on the small, white triangle of fabric between my legs. “Go on.”
I went past Henry and Janie, who were stretched out on their stomachs on the carpet playing Super Mario, going through the sliding door to wait on the patio. I sat in one of the chairs, watching the light play on the water as the waves rolled in. It was a beautiful day, the sky a bright, azure blue, hardly a cloud in it. I understood why the Baumgartners loved coming here so much. The place was paradise.
Doc came out the back door. He was still wearing his swimming trunks, dark blue, almost black when wet. They had a tantalizing white stripe at the waist that drew my eye, under which a dark line of hair ran down from his navel and disappeared. I glanced up, past those still sharply defined abs of his, noticing he had his camera around his neck and a camera bag slung over his shoulder.
I raised my eyebrows, curious, but he just held out his hand and told me to come with him. Of course, I followed. We walked through the sand, not talking, all the way down to the water’s edge, where the sand was wet, packed tight, easier to navigate. He took me down the beach, further than I’d been before, taking me past a field of tall grass. There was a little cul-de-sac here and that’s where we stopped. I could see the house still, but it was distant, small.
“So, this isn’t exactly your Christmas present.” He lifted his camera, pointing it at me. I cocked my head, half-smiling, and the shutter clicked. “I’m sure we’ll get you something new. But I wanted to pass this on to you because I just got myself a new one.”
“This…” I stared, my brow knitting, as the shutter clicked again. “You don’t mean… your camera?”
“Yep.” He smiled warmly, snapping again, catching my expression of surprise. “It’s all yours. I thought I’d take some time to show you how to use it. And take some pictures of you, if you still wanted to model for me.”
“Oh wow.” I blinked at the camera in his hands, too shocked to say much more. He was really giving it to me? We’d talked more about photography since that Halloween night when we discovered we had that hobby in common. I had showed him my old analog camera that still used such an archaic technology as film. “Really? You mean it?”
“Of course I mean it.” He laughed, taking the camera strap from around his neck and putting it around mine. It hung, a heavy piece of machinery, between my breasts. “Wanna learn?”
“Hell yes!” I exclaimed, laughing and suddenly throwing my arms around his neck. “Oh, Doc, thank you so much!”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” He held me close and I heard him take a long, deep breath, like he was breathing me in.
I couldn’t learn fast enough. He showed me all the settings, how to adjust the white balance, how to use the bounce flash, how to change the lenses. He had several macro lenses and two telephoto ones in the camera bag. I experimented with the macro lenses, fascinated. I had one for my analog camera and I used it all the time, but with the digital technology, I could see immediately how things turned out. It was amazing.
“I just took a picture of a blade of grass!” I exclaimed, showing Doc as we stretched out on our bellies in the sand. “Look at that! Look how close!”
“Isn’t it awesome?” He grinned at me. “You wouldn’t believe how close I can get with those lenses. I’ve taken some amazing pictures.”
“Would you show me?”
“Sure.” He nodded. “I have some on my laptop back at the house. But… well, some of them aren’t exactly G-Rated.”
“R-Rated?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. He shook his head slowly, eyes darkening. “NC-17?” He shook his head again. “Ohhh. X-Rated. Up close and personal?”
“Very.” He nodded slowly, the look in his eyes making my pussy and ass clench in my bikini bottoms. “I like taking pictures of the female anatomy.”
“Particularly female?” I swallowed, knowing just what he was talking about. And he knew I knew.
“That does happen to be my particular interest.” His gaze dipped to my cleavage. “So, about that modeling you said you would do for me…”
“You want to take pictures of me naked?” I licked my lips, the thought of it so titillating it made me lose my vision at the edges, so all I saw was him.
“That’s up to you.” He held his hand out for the camera. “We can start with you in your suit.”
“Okay.” I handed over the camera, rolling to my side. I was covered in sand. “How do you want me?”
His gaze moved over my body and I swear I could almost feel it, as if his eyes were his hands roaming over my breasts, down my sandy stomach, to the white triangle between my legs.
“Don’t ask me that unless you actually want me to tell you.” His voice was hoarse as he watched me sit, spreading my thighs and planting my feet apart in the sand
“How do you want me?” I asked, leaning my elbows on my knees, knowing the view I was giving him was incredibly tantalizing. At least, I hoped so. He was already snapping pictures.
“God, stop tempting me.” He groaned from behind the camera. “Just sit there.”
I grinned at his words. Then I did a few swimsuit model poses that made him smile and me giggle. He continued to snap away.
“You’re really beautiful, Gretchen.” He dropped the camera for a moment to look at me leaning back on my elbows, knees up, feet in the sand.
“Does Mrs. B know you’re doing this?” I asked, glancing toward the house. We were in that little cul-de-sac of grass, hidden down here, away from any roaming eyes.