She quivered in excitement. “That’s a naughty impulse.”
“But that’s not all.” His blue eyes were glowing. “I’d like to photograph you in bed right after we’ve made love. You’re all rosy-cheeked then too, and naked, but bundled up in love.”
She draped her arms over his shoulders. “Mmmm. I like that one.”
“But that’s not all.”
“There’s more?”
“Uh-huh.” His arms circled her waist. “I’d like to photograph you in bed right after we’ve made love. You’re naked and rosy and wrapped in love. And you’re pregnant. You’re breasts are fuller, with tiny veins running over them, and your belly is round, the skin stretched tightly, protectively over our child.”
Marni sucked in her breath and buried her face against the fleece lining of his collar. “That’s … beautiful, Web.”
“But that’s not all.”
She gave a plaintive moan. “I’m not sure I can take much more of this. My legs feel like water.”
“Then I’ll support you.” True to his words, he tightened his arms around her. “I’d like to photograph you with our child at your breast. It could be a little Brian, or a little girl named Sunshine or Bliss or Liberty—”
She looked sharply up in mock rebuke. “You wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t photograph you breast-feeding our child? You bet your sweet—”
“Wouldn’t name the poor thing Sunshine or Bliss or Liberty. Do you have any idea what she’d go through, saddled with any one of those names?”
“Then you choose the name. Anything your heart desires.”
Marni thought for a minute. “I kind of like Alana, or Arielle, or Amber—no, not Amber. It doesn’t go well with Webster.”
“You’re partial toA’s?”
She tipped up her chin. “Nope. Just haven’t gotten to theB’s yet.”
She never did get to theB’sbecause he hugged her, and she was momentarily robbed of breath. When he released her long enough to loop his arm through hers again and start them along the path once more, he was thinking of things besides children. “We could keep your place if you’d like. Mine above the studio wouldn’t be as appropriate for the entertaining you have to do.”
“I don’t know about that. It might spice things up. If we were really doing something big, we could use the studio itself, or rent space at a restaurant. I think I’d like the idea of knowing you’d be there whenever I came home from work.”
“Would you have to travel much?”
“I could cut it down.”
“I’d feel lonely when you were away.”
“Maybe you could come.” Her eyes lit up. “I mean, if I knew far enough in advance so that you could rearrange your schedule, we could take care of my business and have a vacation for ourselves.”
“With Brian or Arielle or whoever?”
“By ourselves. Two adults doing adult things. We’d leave the baby with a sitter…. Uh-oh, that could be one drawback about living above your studio. You wouldn’t get much work done with a squalling baby nearby.”
“Are you kidding? I’d love it! I mean, we would hire someone to take care of the baby, and no baby of ours is going to be squalling all the time. I’d be able to see him or her during breaks or when the sitter was passing through the studio going out for walks. I’d be proud as punch to show off my child. And I’d be right there in case of any problem or emergency.”
“But you shoot on location sometimes.”
“Less and less in the last year or so, and I’ve reached the stage where I could cut it out entirely if I wanted to. Just think of it. It’d be an ideal situation.” His cheeks were ruddy, and his blue eyes sparkled.
“You really mean that, don’t you?”
“You bet. I never knew my own father. I want to know my children and have them know me.”
