TRAGIC: Rook and Ronin, #1 (19 page)

"Whose thumb?"

"Ronin's, of course. Unless, you two have some deal going." She narrows her eyes at me.

"What deal?"

"Well, I find it interesting that you got the garden apartment and don't have to be at work on time. Why is that? Ronin keeping you or something?"

"What does that even mean?"

They laugh and go back to their clothes and it's only then that I notice every girl in the dressing room is staring at me. "What?" I ask them.

They turn back to their business but I'm left there feeling stupid so I just turn on my heel and go find Elise in the salon.

Thankfully things in the salon seem a little more amicable. I don't generally care if the girls I work around are friends with me or not—typically when I have a job I'm there to work, not socialize. But that blonde girl asked if Ronin was
keeping me
. And Elise said something very similar the other night when we had dinner with her and Antoine. She said,
You're not any different from the other models, just because Ronin wants to keep you
.

What the fuck does that mean?

I'm not sure but the alarms are going off in my head again. I could let it slip by as a cute way to say he likes me, but now this girl said it too. Not to mention the whole
I belong to Ronin
thing they have going on down at the diner.

"Over here, Rook." Elise points to the shampoo chair and I ease back, ready to relax for a moment, even if it is in a shampoo chair and I just woke up an hour and a half ago.

It takes several hours for them to make me up, not so much because what they're doing to me is complicated, but because there are so many girls here today they have to keep trading us off like an assembly line. One does toes, one does hands, one does hair, one does make-up.

It's total insanity.

But I kinda like it. Everything goes fast, people are talking fast, walking fast, the girls come and then they go. The photographers are busy calling out directions, the camera shutters are clicking wildly.

It's all very exciting.

Everything I imagined a big important photography studio would be. Before I came here and found out it wasn't, of course. But today it's all business. After Ronin gets rid of that Clare chick, no one has time to think about anything but doing their job. Finally, when it's well past lunch, Elise pronounces me ready and ushers me off to the dressing room to get dressed, then tells me to meet them all out on the terrace.

I head into the dressing room, which is eerily quiet compared to the chaos I just came from, and find my clothes on the rack. Ronin is nowhere to be found and for a minute I miss him being there for me. He's not been around all day. The girls gossiped about him all morning though, talking about Clare.

I'm getting the impression she was an ex-girlfriend.

It bugs me that I feel jealous over that, but I really haven't had time to think about it much.

I lift the bag of clothes off the rack, expecting it to weigh—something—but it's like air. Like that bag contains almost nothing. I walk over to the armless couches that span the middle of the room and open it up.

It's a men's dress shirt. White.

And a pair of little boxer shorts that were definitely not made for a man.

It takes me two seconds to put the new clothes on. I button the shirt all the way up, then feel a little stupid and unbutton three of them.

Even though the shirt drops down to my mid-thigh, is long-sleeved, and goes up to my neck—I feel exposed. I exhale a long breath and force myself to walk out into the studio. Ronin is the first face I see because he's standing in the doorway as I turn the corner that hides the dressing room from onlookers.

He smiles and all the tension just evaporates.

"You're so fucking sexy."

I actually blush at that.

He takes my hand and leads me over to the terrace, then opens the door and waves me through like a gentleman.

There are about a dozen people outside and the afternoon sun is shining down on the terrace. It's shedding a lovely pink light and I can only assume that Antoine is in love with how it drapes over everything, washing out the drab harshness of the city and making it all soft.

Once I'm noticed everyone snaps to attention and then lights are on and those black umbrella things they use for diffusing it come out, and people are all busy. Ronin leads me over to a nook in the side of the building. There's a flowering cherry tree in a massive pot in the middle of the nook and the branches reach out and soft pink petals brush my cheek as I follow him under the canopy. "This is where we're shooting today, OK?"

All the camera shutters start clicking and I look over at the photographers.

Ronin directs my gaze back to him with a light touch on my chin. "I'm right here, Gidge. Forget about them, understand? You're not posing for them, you are reacting to me today. OK?"

I nod.

"They will not interfere unless it's time to stop. Otherwise you will only look at me or where I tell you to look. Ignore them completely. They do not exist."

"OK," I say, gulping down some air. That makes all the cameras start clicking again and it takes all my self-control not to look over at them.

"Good girl," Ronin says smiling. "Now, let me explain the rules. We both have power here. I have power to tell you what to do, to make you react, and to get the shots we need. Does that makes sense?"

"Yes, you're here to help me give them what they want."

"Yes, that's a good way to put it. I take care of you in the shoot, Rook, but my hands will be all over your body. Are you going to be OK with that?" I nod. "Words, please," he prods.

"Yes, I'm OK with that."

"And if the situation calls for it, meaning if we're getting the reactions we need, if everything is working, I might undress you."

"Might?"

"We make art here, Rook. We want the models to exhibit feelings that can be felt immediately when people see the pictures—we are not making porn."

"OK." More clicking shutters almost make me look but instead I find Ronin's eyes and ask him instead. "Why are they shooting already?"

"Because today is the first time you've ever done this and right now you're looking very sweet and innocent." He grins and wraps one hand around my waist, pulling me into him. The cameras go wild again. "Your reaction right now, as we do this for the first time, is priceless."

I blush and try hard to tuck the smile away, but I fail and try and forget about the cameras. They're doing their job, Ronin is doing his job, and I need to do mine.

Which is, as far as I can tell from yesterday's fully clothed version of a shoot, letting Ronin make me feel good.

"OK, now on to your power. You can give me direction in how quickly I proceed. Fast is not generally something we want. We want to make it all slow so the photographers can get their shots. But sometimes we get going and things move too fast, or maybe you're feeling uncomfortable. When that happens you can tell me one of two things. If you say the word
slow
, I'll change direction until you're comfortable again."

"OK, slow. Got it. What's the other one?"

"You can tell me to
stop
. And then the shoot ends and we all go home. Understand that, when you say stop, the shoot ends. So use it when you want things to be over. Not because you want things to change direction. Use slow for that, OK?"

He slips his hands under my shirt and caresses the skin just above the waistband of my shorts and while I know the cameras are clicking, suddenly I stop hearing them. My focus is one hundred percent on Ronin. His touch sends shivers up my entire body and my nipples perk to attention.

He smiles, like he knows, but he can't possibly know. The shirt is big and there's no way to see them.

Still he grins like he knows.

"Now, there's one more thing you can tell me." His hands retreat and start undoing the lower buttons of the shirt. He stops at the button just below my breasts and then returns his hands to my waist, but this time he pulls the shirt back, exposing my belly in the process. He looks down at my little boxer shorts.

"I love those," he whispers before looking back up at my face. He licks his lower lip. My tongue darts out and mimics him before I can stop it.

"What's the other thing I can tell you?"

He leans down to my neck and kisses me softly. I know the cameras are going crazy, but all I hear is his breath in my ear. Heat fills my lower body and I have to inhale deeply, making my whole chest rise and then fall with my exhale.

"The other thing you can tell me is
go
, Gidget." His hand wraps around my neck and massages my jaw line with his thumb while his words tickle all the way into my ear canal. I swallow down the desire that's building in me. "When you're done with slow, you tell me to go."

His mouth pulls away from my neck and finds my face. He's so close our lips almost touch, my mouth opens a little in anticipation and his hand glides up my torso and tenderly grabs my breast.

And then his mouth is on mine, his tongue flicking in, his mouth closing, then another flick. I close my eyes and my head drifts back a little as I respond. He's pinching my nipples now, ever so slightly, just enough to know his fingers are on me, are in control of me.

He teases me with his kiss over and over. I let him at first, I let him control me with his movements, his hands still drifting up and over my breasts, a little more forcefully now.

But then the desire inside me takes over and I reach up and wrap my hands around his neck, I pull him to me, I let my fingertips glide down his chest. He's bare on top and is wearing jeans on the bottom. Just a pair of old and faded jeans, but he is so fucking hot I can barely contain myself.

He laughs a little and I pull away, my hands still touching him, still caressing him. I slip a finger inside his waistband and he actually gasps.

"Do you like that?" I ask.

"You're trouble, Rook." He smiles and takes my hand and pushes it down farther and I feel the little hairs that run the length of his belly. I pull on one and he takes my mouth again. His hands are on my ass now, slipping inside the little boxer shorts and squeezing my cheeks.

A moan actually escapes my lips and the camera shutters are so loud I almost have to look at them.

I'd forgotten they were there to be honest.

Ronin won't tolerate the distraction, his hand dips between my cheeks and his finger tickles me between my legs.

My head drops back as I gasp and then he's holding my face again, his mouth taking me completely. I begin to rake my fingers through his hair when he abruptly spins me around so I'm facing forward, straight at the cameras.

"Do not look at them, Rook. Forget about them, OK?"

The throb between my legs is making it very hard to even open my eyes at this point, so I have no intention of looking at anyone, let alone the photographers. Ronin's fingers resume their undoing of the shirt buttons and I know this is the scary moment. Up until now it's just been a public makeout session. A heady one, for sure. But nothing obscene.

"Tell me what to do, Rook. You're in charge."

I don't even have to think about it. I turn my head up to him and he leans down in response, tilting his ear towards me. I breathe out, and I feel him shudder as it tickles him like he just tickled me, then whisper, as softly as I possibly can, "
Go
."

"I'm going to bare you to them, are you sure?"

"Go," I repeat.

I expect him to rip the clothing off me in a rush, but he doesn't. Two fingers grasp the collar of the shirt and tug it slowly, fractionally, down one shoulder. He leans down and nibbles my neck and I almost lose it right there. My clit is throbbing, pulsating to the beat of my racing heart.

I reach my arms up and back so I'm grasping the back of his head. This must be magic for the photographers because they go wild at this move. I tip my head back so far, I'm almost looking at Ronin upside down. He claims my mouth and pulls one arm down and slips that half of the shirt off. I pull my arm out, exposing my breast. His fingers are instantly there, flicking my nipple and then pinching it, making me whimper.

I bite his lip in response and he growls, forcing my other arm down.

The shirt slips all the way off and drifts to the floor.

He claims my wrists and brings them back over his head and I respond by pushing my ass into him. He is so hard.

I wiggle against it and then one hand is caressing my breast while the other travels down my belly, slips inside my boy shorts and goes right between my legs where the throbbing is so profound I think he might actually be able to feel the pulsations against his wet fingertip.

He flicks my clit and pushes his finger inside me and a feeling I have never felt before begins to build in me.

The moan escapes my mouth and it is
loud
, but all I can think about is Ronin's fingers as they play with me and then that feeling is there, like a wave getting ready to break on the beach, rushing forward, building and building, just beginning to crest and—