Cedar’s smile sharpened. “I’m part of the local kink community. You’d be surprised how many people are kink-friendly or active.” He laughed and spun toward Zayden, and my jaw clenched because he still hadn’t let go of Z’s hand. “You won’t need makeup, sweetie. Austrian mountain girls who live on dewdrops and goats’ milk don’t have complexions this fresh.” He pointed at me, and I stepped back. “You require touch-ups. Arihiro! I need you!” he yelled, and I flinched.
“Oh, I don’t know….”
“I do!” A man came out from the only doorway in the room that wasn’t the one we’d come inside through, clutching a red toolbox in his hand. A bored expression settled on his face. Purple streaked his styled short black hair, and his deep brown eyes held more emotion than his face—they were judging me. “Nice to meet you. As this one bellowed, I’m Arihiro. People call me Hiro, but Cedar’s pretentious.”
“Don’t be a brat,” Cedar said offhandedly, as if this was an old discussion point for them. “Come on, beautiful. Let’s get you changed. You’re going to love it, Daddy Dare!” Cedar blew a kiss at me, and for a second I felt light-headed with all the strange things happening.
“Just Dare will do it,” I called after him as he dragged Z through the doorway toward what I assumed was the rest of the studio. Apprehension settled into my gut as Z disappeared from sight, but Hiro just nudged me closer to a window with a gentle hand on my wrist.
“Stay,” he said firmly, like he was talking to an extremely simple dog. He left and came back quickly with a step stool. The ladder was the type he could pop open with a foot, and he whirled it around to face me in a practiced move.
“I could sit,” I said with a laugh.
He only shook his head and stepped up until we were more or less at eye level. “I like to see you where the light would naturally hit you, if you were standing in a shot.” Hiro smelled sweet and musky, which was unusual but pleasant. He shoved the toolbox into my arms, and once I had it steady, he opened it, staring into its depths as if it was a treasure chest and he couldn’t quite decide what jewel he wanted to pluck out. He made me tilt my head toward the sun shining in the window, then grabbed a bottle of something.
“Are you certain this is necessary?” I asked as he shook a bottle around, staring far too close at my face.
“If you want your boyfriend happy, you will let me even out your skin tone. We can do a lot with photo manipulation, but it turns out better if you just let us do it. You drive a lot, don’t you? One side of your face is slightly darker than the other.”
“Are you sure? I’ve never noticed.”
He narrowed his eyes on me, and again I got the impression he didn’t think much of my intelligence. “Yes. Stand still.”
He worked for a few minutes, putting cool dots of makeup here and there on my skin, and then he hauled out a big brush and a tub of something. Powder was introduced to this process, which made me turn away and sneeze three different times.
“Are you excited to see your boyfriend in front of the camera? Excitement is allowed,” he said with a small smile that barely curved his lips. He didn’t stop working as he talked.
“I’m just happy you’re putting that stuff away,” I said as he dropped the tub of powder back in the box and, with a swift motion, tossed the brush toward a nearby bin next to a couch I hadn’t noticed earlier.
“Why—”
“It has to be cleaned. I can’t use the same brush on someone else without cleaning it first. I mean, I could, but gag me.” He rolled his eyes, and I stood very still as he took a small white tube out of the pocket of his skintight jeans. “Pout at me like you’re a Kardashian and I just told you that no one cares about your Instagram.”
I laughed and did as he asked, and he opened the tube and swiped it over my lips. When he was done he popped the top back on the tube and traded it for the toolbox. I stared at the little cylinder. “I am excited. More than I ever would have thought.”
Hiro laughed. “You two will be good together. He’s Tawny Peach and you’re Warm Ivory. Mm. It’ll look good. Sometimes people come in and I lie and say the shots will be great, and we just do the best we can, but you actually will have nice photos.”
“Thanks, I think?”
He chuckled.
“That’s yours to keep,” he said, tapping the tube in my hand. “Natural. Coconut oil. You’re all set.” He clutched his toolbox tight in one hand and dragged his phone out of his pocket with a sigh. “Oh, they’re outside. Come on.”
Hiro led me around the building, and I noticed as we walked that he was dressed almost the polar opposite of Cedar, with sleek black jeans, boots, and a T-shirt that was almost made to be overlooked. I wondered if that was purposeful, or if it was simply his personal choice. We walked farther than I thought we would and came to a path that led into a field of purple and white clover. The afternoon sunshine painted everything in a beautiful golden glow, and I inhaled the fresh herbal scent of growing things and felt lucky to be alive. We walked up over a small rise—and then my breath caught.
Zayden was all I could see. On his knees. Shirt gone. Even at a distance his pretty nipples were so fucking pink. Why hadn’t I played with them in days? Why had I let work take that from me? And Mom? I should have done it. I wanted to suck them every day of my life.
The skimpy white shorts he had covering his ass were almost nonexistent, much smaller than the ones he’d worn to the office, and those had nearly been indecent. The baby belly around his middle was larger than the one he normally wore at home. It was as if that tiny little bump I’d gotten used to seeing at his middle had grown like a real baby would, filling his belly out more.
As I walked I tried to spot where the belly ended and Z’s skin began, but the belly was so high-quality I couldn’t from this distance. Cedar crouched next to Z, and I had to smirk when I realized he was settling a crown of white flowers onto Z’s curls. He was so fucking beautiful. My cock gave a needy throb, and I wasn’t sure when I’d gotten so hard, but I wanted to touch him.
“It’s girly,” Z said with a laugh as I approached, touching the crown. He sounded like he wanted to really scream that hefucking loved it. There was a piece of shimmery white fabric spread out on the ground beneath him that seemed like it would be soft and amazing to lay him out on top of—naked.
“It’s beautiful. I love it.”
He beamed at me and there was a clicking sound from Cedar. It startled me to see the camera he had raised to his face. Z turned to look at Cedar, and Cedar made an unhappy sound. “No, no, just make fuck-me eyes at your lover.”
Z threw his head back and laughed, just being himself, and Cedar hummed out happily. He called instructions, and Z complied with gusto—cupping the belly, twisting this way and that way, crawling and sticking his perfect ass into the air. My cock throbbed and pushed out the front of my pants and I couldn’t do a fucking thing about it. Hiro ignored me and did a few things when Cedar asked, adjusting Z’s crown or the blanket.
