Safe and Sound Read online

  “Do you want a soda? Some tea?” I offered him as I shut the door behind him and followed him into the living room.

  He shook his head. “I’m okay. Thanks.” He swayed on his feet again. I was starting to think it was a nervous habit with him. “I forgot to ask. And I should have. But what are you going to use the pictures for?”

  He was right. He definitely should have asked that before getting on a bus and coming here. I could have sold them to a porn site for all he knew. Lucky for him that wasn’t the case. “I have a friend who is an artist. He uses some of the pictures to sketch from. Others I keep in my portfolio to show potential clients when they want to see examples of my work. I’ve done a few shows as well where I’ve displayed various photos that fit a certain theme. I’ll never sell them or give them away, and no one will ever have use of them when they aren’t in my possession. I have an online portfolio, where they can be seen but not downloaded and your face will never be shown there. And my artist friend won’t be seeing your face anyway if you were worried about that too. He says that faces distract him from the beauty of the body.” I shrugged. I didn’t agree with Phillip, but I also wasn’t a painter. I liked the expression in a person’s eyes and the curve of their smile more.

  He seemed to be hesitating.

  “I have a release that I’ll have you sign, and you can decide what you’re comfortable with. If you don’t want your face shown ever, I’ll take plenty of body shots. That’s fine.”

  Mason’s tight expression relaxed a little. “Thank you. I’d prefer that. I was worried.”

  “About someone seeing the photos and recognizing you?” That was the usual reason someone didn’t want their face shown. He nodded. I figured he probably had some girlfriend who wouldn’t want him modeling because he was showing off what was hers. I knew the type well. That’s why I typically didn’t allow other people in my studio while I was working.

  I led the way into my sunroom, which had been set up as my photography studio. There was a daybed, a few chairs, and plenty of props to use when I needed them. I even had a few kinky things hanging up. Just a pair of handcuffs, a flogger, a crop, and a paddle. Certainly nothing too extreme. Plenty of my clients wanted to take some risqué pictures for their partners from time to time to spice things up in their relationship.

  I went to the wall, where I had a floating shelf with all of my paperwork on it. “Are you sticking to just no shirt today?” I asked him as I looked through the papers to find the right consent and release forms.

  “Yes. I—”

  I waved off his reasons. I didn’t need to know why he didn’t want to take his pants off. I just needed to know that he didn’t. Most people weren’t comfortable doing that. I didn’t mind in the least. There was plenty to be admired about a person above their waist.

  I grabbed the forms I needed and handed them to him along with a pen. “Fill these out for me please. Read them over. Don’t just sign them. I can’t stand when people do that.” I smiled at him, and he gave me a shaky little smile. He was definitely nervous, but I was hoping that once we got started some of that would go away. Nervousness, or fear, would definitely come through in the photos with his body language, and while I didn’t mind a shy guy, I did not want to have a frightened little boy in my photographs. That would be an absolute waste of a perfectly good few hours.

  And, as I looked at Mason with his bright blond hair and lean build, I knew it could be a very good few hours with him. If only he’d finish filling out the damn paperwork. He handed the pages back to me about five minutes later, and I looked them over. He was twenty-one, but as long as he was over eighteen, I didn’t care. He could have passed for being that young, though. Easily. Especially when he took off his hoodie and laid it over the back of the chair closest to him.

  The T-shirt he had on underneath had a horse on it. The best place to be is on the back of a horse, his shirt said. I smirked and got my camera and lenses put together. “Do you like horses?”

  He looked down at his shirt, then back up at me. “Yeah. I work at a horse sanctuary. Green Acres. It’s not named after the show. It’s after—”

  “Evaline Green,” I said, interrupting him. “I know her. One of my first paid photography gigs was taking pictures for her of some of her rescue horses.”

  Mason stared at me for a few seconds. “That’s her. She’s stepping down soon. My best friend, Eli, has been doing a lot more around the sanctuary. She hasn’t said anything official yet, but everyone knows that he’ll be running things soon.”

  I hadn’t spoken to Evaline in a decade, but maybe it was time to reconnect with her before she went into retirement. She’d been a nice woman to work with back then. A bit pushy, but I’d been able to tell, even in my youth, that it had come from a place of love for the horses I was taking pictures of.

  “Are you ready to get started?”

  Mason gave me a sharp nod, then began stripping off his shirt as if he couldn’t wait to get this over with.

  “No, slower. Like you were taking off your clothes for a lover,” I corrected him as I brought my camera up to my eye.

  He froze with his shirt pulled up to his ribs. Then he slowly lowered it again. “I’m not sure if I know how to do that. I’m really not experienced in any of this.”

  And that one simple statement told me so much about him. “Just take your time.” He was hesitant, and I smiled at him encouragingly. I felt like I was back in high school, when I’d been so scared and nervous about being naked around another person for the first time in my life while we’d both been afraid of his dad coming home early and catching us together. I took a few pictures, and he paused each time the camera clicked. “You’re doing fine. Try to relax.”

  I went behind him, thinking maybe that would help some, since then he couldn’t see me right there in front of him, and I surveyed his back for a bit as he pulled his shirt up. I’d been with all kinds of guys in my life, most of them far more muscular than Mason was, but I liked that he was strong without being built. He was lean, and maybe when he wasn’t nervous as hell, he could be graceful.

  He managed to get his shirt off much slower this time, and I walked around him, taking pictures of him simply standing there with his shirt in his hands. “You can put it with your sweatshirt.”

  “It’s okay if I move while you take pics?”

  I smiled at him, but I didn’t drop the camera from my eyes. “Yes. Of course. Part of the fun of this is having you move around and do things while I take pictures of you. Feel free to play with anything in this room. Do whatever you want. Go get a drink. I’ll simply follow you around, and if I want you to do something, I’ll tell you.”

  He looked completely unsure of himself as he frowned at me, but after a few seconds, he did go over and sit on the daybed. He pulled his knees up to his chest and looked out the window. He was posing, which wasn’t at all what I had wanted him to do.

  “Is this okay?”

  I needed to come at this from another angle. “What would you do if you were home right now and there was no camera on you or strange man taking pictures of you?”

  Mason blushed. I liked how easily he blushed, how naturally he showed his emotions, even when he seemed to be embarrassed about something. “I’d probably be on my phone. If it wasn’t dead right now.”

  He had a similar phone to mine, and I knew my charger would work for his. I took it off the wall and plugged the charger in closer to him. “Then take it out and charge it while you’re here. Play a game. Answer emails. Whatever it is that you’d normally be doing, go for it. I want to get pictures of you being natural right now. Don’t pose, don’t give me what you think I’d like, just do what you’d like to.”

  He lifted his eyebrows at me, but I didn’t budge or take back what I had said. Eventually he shrugged. Then he lowered his legs so they were crossed in front of him. He tucked his feet under himself and then took out his phone. I started taking pictures. After a few minutes, he went to his stomach
. He was playing some game with balls that had to change color. I didn’t really care. I wanted him to be relaxed, and that’s what I was getting. He swayed his feet over his butt and I kept taking pictures of him.

  This wouldn’t be my best or my most exciting shoot. But if I could get him to be relaxed now, then I hoped I could convince him to come back and try more things out with me later. I wanted to see him draped in nothing but the sheer cream-colored fabric I kept for when I wanted to do sensual nude shoots. I wanted him sprawled over the bed, his cock hard, his hand under that bit of fabric as he stroked himself while he sucked a finger between his lips and moaned softly, teasing me and letting me know just how good he would be under me.

  “You’re hard,” Mason pointed out bluntly.

  I reached down to adjust myself and brought the camera away from my face. “I am. Sorry about that. Do you want a drink?”

  He quickly shook his head. He was sitting up now, and I was pretty sure I’d ruined any chance I had of getting him back to my place for more shots in the future. “Did you get enough pictures?” he quietly asked me.

  I could make do with what I had for now. “Sure.” Strangely enough, getting hard had killed the mood. My boyfriend was going to find that hilarious when I told him about it tonight. “Hold on a sec and I’ll get you the money.”

  I put my camera down while he was getting dressed. In the ad I’d only said fifty, but I pulled out sixty anyway. Maybe the extra bit of money would help cover his bus fare back to wherever he lived. Or maybe it would make him more likely to come back to see me again. Either way, I wanted him to have the little bit of extra.

  I handed the money over to him, and he took it wordlessly.

  “If you want to come back, I’d love to take more pictures of you.”

  Mason pursed his lips. “All I did was play on my phone.”

  While that was true, I knew he had a lot more in him than that. “This time, sure. Next time maybe I can get you to do something else.”

  “I won’t be taking my pants off.”

  I laughed and shook my head. “I know. I wasn’t saying that. Go home and look at my seminude or full-nude albums online when you get some time. They’ll give you an idea of everything that can be done even with clothes on. Then, if you want to come back, I’ll pay you again. It’s that easy.”

  He looked skeptical, but he still nodded, and I showed him out of my house.

  AT THE end of my busy day taking photographs, editing them, sending them off to clients, and then updating my website with my favorites, I was more than ready to call myself done and go over to my boyfriend’s house. Chester lived in North Denver, near the Highlands neighborhood. He hated driving down I-25 during rush hour, when there was a football game, a parade, or anytime really. I wasn’t exactly a fan of it either, but when I came up, he made it worth my while.

  As usual, as soon as I came into his house, he handed me a beer and kissed my cheek. He was shirtless, which wasn’t unusual for him. He liked photographing his porn, or his erotic art as he called it, without a shirt on. It brought him closer to his subjects to be undressed and vulnerable too. That’s what he said. I didn’t much care. I smelled garlic and a red sauce cooking on the stove as he tugged me over to the couch to sit with him.

  “Spaghetti?” I asked, my mouth already watering.

  He gave me a wink. “Close. Mussels de Diavolo. Mussels in a spicy red sauce. Over angel hair pasta. So sort of the same thing.”

  I laughed. They really weren’t even close to the same thing, but he knew how much I loved seafood, even having grown up in the very landlocked state of Colorado. I put the beer down so that I could kiss him. He tasted like his sauce. Warm and fragrant with just the right amount of heat to leave me wanting more.

  “Tell me about your day.”

  “I got a couple who wanted pictures taken for their one-year anniversary. Nothing sexual but definitely nude. More your style of pretty naked people versus mine of naked people having sex. But it was still fun. You? What happened with the kid? Did he end up coming over even after being late?”

  Ah, Mason. I really hoped he came back. “He did.” I dug out my phone and found a few shots that I’d put up online of his shoot. Nothing with his face in them, but a few of the curve of his back as he lay stretched out over the daybed. “Here you go.”

  Chester whistled low. “I can’t see his face or anything really about him and I can already tell he’s your type. And mine too. I want to shoot him. Please give him my card. I want him laid out across the bed in the staging room with his hands tied to the bedposts and his nipples under some clamps. You have to give me this. I need it.”

  I knew Chester would live without having Mason in that position, but I couldn’t deny how much I would have liked to see that myself either. Chester slid his hand to my inner thigh and then to my crotch. “You want him too. Of course you do. Cute little boy like that, I’m surprised you didn’t try to fuck him right there in your studio.”

  “It was a near thing. I didn’t want to scare him off, though. Maybe next time you can be there getting pictures of us together.”

  Chester took out my cock and bent his head over my lap. I laid my hand on the back of his neck and sighed blissfully as he took me into his mouth.

  Chapter Three

  Mason

  AS SOON as I was on the first of the buses I’d be taking to get back home, I pulled out my phone and went to Oliver’s online portfolio to look at it again. I ignored the wedding album and the baby one. The pet one had some cute dogs in it, but that wasn’t what I was there for either.

  If I had to pick one way to describe Oliver’s nude shots, it would be that they were tastefully done. I’d expected a bunch of boobs and cocks just hanging out and to have to hide my screen before I risked offending anyone nosy enough to look over my shoulder to see just what I was looking at. But when people were clearly naked, their hands or a bit of fabric hid those parts of them. And it wasn’t like I was looking at porn either. This was like art with naked people in it. And they all looked really, genuinely, happy. Looking at those photos almost made me wish that I could pose for shots like that. Instead I’d been scared out of my mind at just taking off my shirt. I hoped he hadn’t been able to tell that I’d been that uncomfortable with what we’d been doing. Telling me to play with my phone had definitely helped calm me down, though I was pretty sure he’d only said that to get me to do something. Surely he didn’t actually intend to use any of those pictures he’d taken of me just messing around with my phone. They’d probably come out horribly. I was never any good at being in pictures at all.

  When I got home, both my mom and John were there. “How was work?” Mom asked me.

  “Good. I didn’t have to do much.” I went upstairs to put my things down in my room, and when I came back down, they were ready for a movie. I liked when my mom was off work for the night because then I got to have time with her. And it also meant that John would barely pay any attention to me. I stretched out across the couch I usually used and didn’t worry about having to have a sweatshirt on or anything like that. He was watching me. But that was usual for him. It was the touching that I couldn’t stand. That always got to me the most.

  Mom looked over at me as John picked out whatever action movie we were supposed to all enjoy. “Are you hungry?”

  I should probably eat something soon, but right then I really wasn’t hungry. I shook my head, and she went back to paying attention to John. He was all into her. And I was left alone to simply watch a movie I had no idea the name of or what was going on in it. I looked over and saw them kissing on the couch, so I decided to pull out my phone and text Oliver.

  I looked at your portfolio. Can I come back?

  I’d like that.

  His text back to me made me smile. I quickly put my phone away before either of them could ask me what was so interesting. I tried to be careful with my phone around them. Mom hadn’t taken my phone away and read it in a few years, but I didn’t
put it past her to do that now. Especially not if John thought that it was a good idea. She’d do almost anything if he said that she should. It made me pretty sick sometimes.

  MY NEXT appointment with Oliver was two days later at four in the afternoon. “Hey,” I said when he opened the door for me.

  Oliver smiled and looked me up and down. I was coming from work and had lied to my mom about having to stay later, so I was in my polo shirt with the sanctuary’s logo on it and a pair of jeans I’d tried to keep nice but had ended up filthy anyway.

  “You look good.”

  I blushed instantly, and he let me inside. We went to the room he’d set up as a studio again, and I took off my shirt. It was easier this time to be even that naked around him. He hadn’t been a creep to me last time, and I’d been paid for being on my phone. It didn’t get any easier than that for me. But I was pretty sure things wouldn’t be nearly that simple tonight, even though I wanted them to be. I had the feeling that the first time he’d had me over was just to see if he liked taking pictures of me. I thought this time would be more intense, whatever that meant.

  “Do you want a drink?” Oliver asked.

  I shook my head. I was good for right now. “Where did you want me?”

  He looked over at the various things hanging on the wall. The only one I recognized was the handcuffs. I swallowed thickly. “How do you feel about kinky props?” he asked me.