Secrets Vol. 2(20)

He doesn't reach for me again. Instead, he sets me up in a pose on the white set. I lay naked on the floor. Cole moves around me searching for angles, and I stare past him, my gaze getting lost somewhere on the ceiling.

"You're frowning," Cole removes the camera from his face, and looks down at me. I try to stop, but I'm too irritated with him. Cole watches me for a moment, and then tethers his camera directly over me on a boom that swings out from the wall. He pulls a square black remote from his pocket and turns it on. Cole tests it, and I hear the shutter snap shut.

As he sets things up for the pose he wants, he says, "Why do you always offer an escape clause?" The sneer slides off my face and I look at him. His broad shoulders are reaching above his head as he moves the lights back away from the set.

"What are you talking about?"

Cole doesn't look at me when he replies. He continues moving around the set, putting things in place. "You ask these jarring, emotionally loaded questions that demand an honest answer, but you tack on these clauses that allow the person you're asking to back out and not answer."

"Again, what are you talking about? I'm tired of your games and you're PMS is giving me whiplash."

Cole stops and looks down at me. His eyes are glinting, brilliant blue. "It's amazing that you're that blind - that you can't see what you do to me. I swear, Anna..." his hands clench and he forces them open. His eyes shut tight and when he reopens them, he looks down at me shaking his head, "Deranged logic? Really? That's easier to believe than the truth?"

"Oh, please," I say, feeling too exposed. "Like you'd tell me the truth anyway." I avert my gaze, too upset to look at him, but Cole stands over me. He falls to his knees with the remote in his hand.

"I've told you things that I never told anyone. I'd tell you anything you have the guts to ask without adding those ridiculous clauses to at the end." He flicks the light and the room goes black.

My heart is racing and I twitch when I hear the camera shutter. It's a prolonged exposure and I know that I can't move or I'll mess up the image. A blue light appears and he starts to move around me, running the light up and down my sides quickly.

His voice fills the shadows, "If you asked, I'd tell you that you inspire me. Your passion ignited something within me, something that I thought was gone a long time ago. I'd tell you that I think you're too young for me. That I'll only hurt you if I act and do the things I want to do with you." The light is over my lips and they part. My gaze is on his face. He's close to me, kneeling, crawling around my naked body on the floor. "Stay like that. That's perfect, Anna."

The question I want to ask burns in my mind, but I don't move. Cole grows quiet as he crawls around me, covering my body in light, inch by inch. When the shutter clicks again, I know I can speak.

I start to sit up, but his hands are on my shoulders holding me down. "Don't move. Everything is perfect. I don't want to reset the pose." I still under his hands, and he releases me, saying, "Ask your question, Lamore."

"How do you feel about me?" Before I can say anything else, the shutter on the camera snaps open and I'm still again. Cole doesn't respond right away. His light is next to my hair, moving in rapid sweeps over the right side of my body.

Finally he says, "Too many things. I feel like I know you, but I'm not entirely sure I do." Moving to my breast, he waves the light close to my skin. I fight the urge to move, to speak. He continues, "I feel like I want to know you more. There is nothing about you that doesn't captivate me. You're addicting, and I can't help myself, Anna. I want things from you, things I can't have. I feel things I shouldn't feel." His voice trails off as he moves around me.

My body reacts to his words and it becomes harder and harder to stay still. He's so close. That light sweeping over my body puts his hand just above my skin. As it passes over, I wish he was really touching me. My mind is racing with thoughts. While I know the age difference is large, I don't know why he holds back.

When the shudder snaps, I ask him, "What do you feel, Cole?"

He presses the button almost immediately. I barely had time to ask. He speaks as he works. A dim blue glow outlines his face. He looks haunted, pained almost. His voice is a breath, barely a whisper. He doesn't move this time. The light doesn't flash, outlining my body. He just sits there next to me on his knees, staring into the darkness, "I feel like I'm falling in love with you Anna. And it doesn't matter what I do, I can't stop." He's breathing hard, looking down at me.

When he answers this time, I reach for him. I thread my fingers behind his neck and pull his lips down on mine. Cole tries to pull away, but I don't let him. I can feel him warring with himself. The tension in his back and the strength of his arms says he's trying to resist, but I hold him to me, gently stroking his lips with my tongue. When I push inside his mouth, when the kiss deepens, he melts into me. His body relaxes and Cole kisses me back, softly at first. His hands find my face and I hear the remote fall to the floor. His body lines up with mine, and I can feel his erection through his jeans. He presses against me and I moan, wanting to feel him inside of me. My hands drift down his sides, feeling the curve of his body beneath my hands.

Cole's fingers tangle in my hair. As his hands slide down my face, he touches my neck, skimming my breasts until they land on my hips. He pulls me tighter to his body and kisses me harder, sweeping the inside of my mouth with his tongue. Every kiss grows hotter, making my heart pound harder. His hands on my bare skin are sending currents through my body and I can't ignore them. I realize that I don't want to. The room is so hot that Cole's body slides against me. Running my hands under his shirt, I place my palms on his back. When Cole holds me tighter I feel safe and wanted. His fingers find my nipples and he teases me, holding them between his fingers, kissing me gently.