At four o’clock, they ate an early dinner. Then Sabrina sat at the table, desultorily paging through one of her photography books. After a half-hour, she realized the light was falling perfectly in front of the fireplace and that she might soon lose the opportunity to take the photos she wanted. Sunbeams highlighted the rich brown of the rug, and she imagined the way Gabriel and Jimmy’s skin would look in the light, all sleek and golden. She eyed them speculatively. Would they go for it? Maybe if I offered a reward, she thought, nibbling on her lower lip. Hmm. Sabrina was still thinking about how she’d arrange them when she noticed Gabriel staring at her mouth. Bingo!
“So, would you guys like to help me out?” Sabrina asked, grinning mischievously. Gabriel smiled at her, looking hopeful, while Jimmy pretended to look apprehensive. He’d known her longer and remembered some of the crazy schemes she came up with when they were younger. Like building that tree fort and getting grounded for a month one summer, Sabrina thought as she narrowed her eyes at him, remembering how he tried to convince her not to do it. He ended up helping her, and she didn’t understand why he was still disgruntled about it. It wasn’t like he was the one who’d been grounded for a month. Sabrina blew a kiss at him, remembering. He flinched, and she laughed out loud as Gabriel stared at them, confused.
“You can’t trust her, Gabriel,” Jimmy muttered darkly. Sabrina smiled and bit her lip.
“What do you mean?” Gabriel asked, looking at Jimmy. He licked his lips. Mmmm, she thought.
“She gets people into insane situations,” Jimmy explained. “I can’t tell you how many times I got into trouble when I was a kid for things that were not my fault.” He idly turned a page in the photography book Sabrina had been reading. She put her hands on his, stilling them.
“I don’t know why you’re fussing, Jimmy,” Sabrina said. “I was the one who was grounded.” He glared at her. “And it was only the one time with the tree house thing,” she explained to Gabriel, who was laughing now. Sabrina smiled back.
“I was grounded, too,” Jimmy stated firmly. “Yes, I can see your shock and care.” Sabrina rolled her eyes. “What? You didn’t think my dad grounded me? I was locked up for the rest of that summer.” Jimmy looked disgusted.
“Really?” Sabrina laughed, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I wondered why I didn’t see you around much that August.”
Jimmy eyed her, obviously trying to decide if she was serious. “Yeah, well, it’s okay. And you’re right, it was only the once.” He pulled his hands out from under hers. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to go along with whatever idiot idea you’ve got in your head this time!”
“Oh, it’s nothing like that, Jimmy.” Sabrina shrugged carelessly at him.
“So, what is it you want us to do?” Gabriel asked, leering at her hopefully. Sabrina smiled generously at him, then watched as his leer lost a little of its ease. She couldn’t possibly be scaring the FBI agent, now could she? She chuckled. Gabriel glanced at Jimmy, and his face lost even more of its humor.
“Oh, it’s nothing painful,” Sabrina assured them blithely. “I just want to photograph the two of you together. On the rug. The light is perfect right now.” Jimmy blinked and Gabriel smiled.
“That’s it?” Gabriel shook his head in disbelief and turned to Jimmy. “I can’t believe you were getting bent out of shape over something so innocuous!”
Jimmy chuckled darkly. “Oh just wait. I bet she wants to photograph us nude or something equally outrageous.” Sabrina felt her eyes widen in surprise. How did he know?
“See? See? She does!” Jimmy exclaimed, searching her face. Sabrina tried to look innocent. She knew that he knew she was planning on getting him naked, and while he wasn’t modest during sex, she realized that the thought of just lying there while someone photographed him made him feel uncomfortable. She didn’t think he was ashamed, given his lack of modesty in the bedroom—it was that he didn’t really enjoy getting his picture taken. She watched him look at Gabriel, trying to appeal to the other man’s sense of decorum. Except, Sabrina laughed under her breath, Gabriel didn’t have a sense of decorum. She could tell the exact moment Jimmy realized that.
Gabriel smirked at the expression on Jimmy’s face. “What? You’re modest now? You?” Gabriel asked as Jimmy flushed again. Sabrina sensed victory.
“Yes, I am!” Jimmy replied, looking put out.
“If you just take your shirts off and leave your pants on, that would be fine.” Sabrina smiled in what she hoped was an innocuous fashion.
Jimmy looked at her suspiciously. “I don’t have to take the jeans off?” Gabriel laughed aloud.
“Not if you don’t want to.” Sabrina didn’t add that she hoped he’d want to take them off, eventually. She looked at Gabriel. He was staring at Jimmy; then he looked at her questioningly. She nodded. He knew what Sabrina was thinking, and probably wanted it just as much as she did: Jimmy naked, sprawled in all that beautiful sunlight…
“Okay,” Jimmy said. Sabrina’s head snapped up in surprise, and she squealed like a little girl before she could stop herself. Jimmy still seemed suspicious, judging from the skittish way he got up from the table, but she didn’t care. Gabriel didn’t seem to have any nudity hang-ups, and Sabrina knew that she would get what she wanted before the afternoon was over. She stood up and kissed Jimmy on the lips.
“Thanks, Jimmy.”
After she set up her tripod and chose her lens, she directed the two men to lie down on the rug, facing opposite directions. Sabrina wanted to get both of their torsos in the shot so all that beautiful skin could show up in the picture. She had Jimmy sit behind Gabriel with his legs folded yoga fashion. Gabriel lounged in front on his side. She couldn’t resist running her hands along their arms as she positioned them. They were so warm and looked so sweet, Gabriel smiling engagingly up at Jimmy as the other man tried to get comfortable. She kissed Jimmy, unable to help herself, then leaned down and kissed Gabriel, too.
“Relax, Jimmy,” she said as she sat back and ruffled his hair a bit. “I’m not going to hurt you.” Sabrina smiled and messed his hair up a bit more. She wanted him to look like he’d just rolled out of bed.
“All right, enough with the petting,” he grumbled. “Why are you fooling with my hair?” She caught his hand before he could reach up to smooth it back down.
“Because she likes the ‘just-fucked’ look, Jimmy,” Gabriel said, amusement in his voice. Sabrina glared at him and messed up his hair, too. He just laughed. Jimmy rolled his eyes at the two of them.
“Can I help it if you are just freaking gorgeous like that?” Sabrina asked, getting up and walking to her camera. She crouched down, composing her first shot. “God, the two of you are just beautiful,” she breathed and snapped three pictures in quick succession. Jimmy looked startled.
“Hey, aren’t you going to warn us when you do that?”
“Nope. I want you to look natural, and if I tell you when I’m going to take the picture, you’ll do that fake grin thing.” She took a few more photos, then adjusted the zoom to move closer to their faces and chests. Gabriel’s blue eyes almost glowed in the sunlight. Jimmy sighed, then placed a hand absentmindedly on Gabriel’s shoulder, leaning in as he shifted again, uncrossing and recrossing his legs. Gabriel shivered. Sabrina snapped another few pictures.