Chapter 1 The nude portrait

"Huh!

My mother can't see this, and that's a really good thing", I inwardly talked to myself as i stood, staring at one of the pictures on the wall. My mother would freak out when she sees it.

This photograph was shot by my best friend Benny and tonight it is going to be sold in his show. I told him I'd be here and I know how important it is for him. It's important for me too. I only want the best for my friend, just like he does for me. In the past three years Benny has been right there to console me, drink with me, commiserate with me, and even to help me pay my rent upon occasion by giving me work. Well, that is all fine but the main problem is the picture I'm staring at right now. And it's a picture of my nude body.

Posing as a nude model isn't something I dreamed of doing for my life's work or anything, but it is a way to make some extra money in between student loans. And lately I'd been getting offers from other photographers. Benny said to be prepared for more interest too, because of this show tonight. People will inquire about the model. It's a given, Brynne. That's my Benny, always the optimist.

I sipped my champagne and continued to study the really huge image hanging on the gallery wall. My portrait had been enlarged and printed on canvas for this show. The effect was a bit startling but even so, it was apparent that Benny had talent. For a child of Somali refugees who started with less than nothing in the UK, he knew how to configure a picture. He'd posed me on my back with my head turned to the side, my arm over my breasts and my fingers flared between my legs. He'd wanted my hair splayed out, my legs straight up, and my pussy covered. I'd worn a string thong for the shot, but you couldn't see it. Nothing showed that would classify my image as porn. The proper term is artistic nude photography, anyway. My stuff was shot tastefully or I didn't do it. Well, I certainly hoped my pictures didn't get onto any porn sites, but who could know for sure these days. I didn't do porn. I hardly did sex.

"There's my girl!" Benny's big arms wrapped around my shoulders and he rested his chin on top of my head. "It's smashing isn't it? And you have the most beautiful feet of any woman on the planet." He said staring at my portrait.

"Everything you do looks good. Ben, even my feet" I turned around and faced him. "So, you sell anything yet? Let me rephrase. How many have you sold?"

"Three so far, and I think this one's going very soon." Ben winked. "Don't be obvious, but see the tall bloke in the gray suit, black hair, speaking with Carole Andersen? He's inquired. Seems he's quite taken by your gorgeous naked self. Probably going to go for a good palm session soon as he can get the canvas all to himself. How does that make you feel, Brynne luv? Some rich toff pulling his pud to the sight of your unearthly beauty."

"Shut up." I rolled my eyes at him. "That's just nasty. Don't tell me things like that or I'll have to stop taking jobs." I tilted my head and shook it. "It's a damn good thing I love you, Benny Clarkson." Ben could say the crassest thing and manage to make it come out proper and refined. Must be his British accent. Hell, even Ozzy Osbourne sounded proper at times thanks to that accent.

"It's true, though," Ben said, placing a kiss on my cheek, "and you know it. That chap hasn't stopped eyeballing you since you glided in here. And he's not gay." I gaped at Benny when he said that.

"Good to know, thank you, Ben, for the update. And I don't glide!" He grinned at me in that wicked, boyish way of his. "Believe me, if he was I would've offered to blow him in the back room by now. He's off the charts hot." "You're going to hell, you know that, don't you?" I snapped at my friend but as I looked over casually and checked out the buyer. Benny was right about him; the guy oozed hotness from the leather soles of his Ferragamos to the tips of his wavy dark hair. About six foot three, muscular, confident, rich. I couldn't tell about his eyes because he was talking to the owner of the gallery. About my picture maybe? Hard to say, but didn't matter anyway. Even if he did buy it, I'd never see him again.

"I'm right, huh?" Ben saw me looking and nudged me in the ribs. "About the jerking off? No possible way, Benny!" I shook my head slowly. "He's far too beautiful to have to resort to his hand for an orgasm."

And then that beautiful man turned and looked at me. His eyes burned across the room almost as if he'd heard what I'd just said to Benny. But that was impossible. Wasn't it? He kept staring and I finally had to look down. There was no way I could compete with the level of intensity, or whatever the hell was coming at me from where he stood. The urge to leave kicked in immediately. Safety first. And it was already night.

I gulped another swig from my champagne and drained it. "I need to go now. And the show is brilliant." I hugged my friend. "And you will be famous the world over," I told him, grinning. "In about fifty more years!"

Benny laughed behind me as I headed for the door. "Call me, my lovely!" I waved a hand without turning and stepped out. The street was busy for London on a weeknight. The upcoming Olympic Games had turned the city into an absolute cluster of humanity, though. It could be years before I got a cab. Should I risk the walk to the closest Underground station? I glanced down at my heels, which looked great paired with my dress but were seriously lacking in the walking comfort department. And if I took the Tube, I'd still have to hoof it another couple blocks to my flat in the dark. Mom would say no, of course. But then again, Mom was not here in London. Mom was home in San Francisco, where I didn't want to be. Screw this. I started walking.

"It's a very bad idea, Brynne. Don't risk it. Let me give you a ride." I immediately froze on the street when i heard the voice. I knew who spoke to me without ever hearing his voice before. I turned slowly to face the same eyes that had burned me back at the gallery. "I don't know you at all," I told him.

He smiled, his lip turning up more on one side than the other of his goateed mouth. He pointed to his car at the curb, a sleek black Range Rover HSE. The kind that only Brits with money can ever afford. Not that he didn't reek of money before, but he was way out of my league.

I swallowed hard in my throat. Those eyes of his were blue, very clear and deep. "Yet you call me by name and—and expect me to get in a car with you? Are you crazy?"

He walked toward me and extended his hand. "Ethan Blackstone."

I stared at his hand, so finely elegant with the white cuff framing the gray sleeve of his designer jacket. "How do you even know my name?"

"I just bought a work entitled Brynne's Repose from the Andersen Gallery for a nice sum not fifteen minutes ago. And I'm fairly sure I'm not mentally impaired. Sounds more PC than crazy, don't you think?" He kept his hand out.

I met his hand and he took mine. Oh, did he ever. Or maybe I'd lost my mind shaking hands with the stranger who'd just purchased a huge canvas of my naked body. Ethan possessed a firm grip. And hot too. Had I imagined he pulled me a little closer toward him? Or maybe I was the crazy one, because my feet hadn't moved an inch. Those blue eyes were nearer to me than they were a moment ago, though, and I could smell his cologne. Something so gawd awfully delicious that it was sinful to smell that good and be human.