shoulder, hip and leg. As promised, the adjustments took only
minutes and silence ensued when Leo stepped behind her camera.
Several seconds passed before the shutter clicked.
“Was it okay?” she asked anxiously.
“It was absolutely breathtaking.”
Chapter 21
Present Day
Leo returned to the terrace and handed Eva a diet cola from
the minibar. For a bride, she didn’t seem the least bit anxious that
things were running so far behind schedule. On the contrary, she
seemed grateful for the quiet reprieve while she waited for her
mother and grandfather to arrive for their photo sessions.
“I was hoping to see Maria and Sandy today,” Leo said.
“Maria’s doctor won’t give her a walking cast because he
knows she’ll be out biking again the next day.” Eva covered her
mouth too late to stifle a belch, and her eyes went wide with
embarrassment. “Oops.”
“Better now than later.”
“No kidding. Todd would die laughing if I did that in the
middle of my vows.”
Leo chuckled at the image, thinking Marjorie Pettigrew
would probably faint.
“Maria said you guys had been friends for a long time.”
“About twenty-five years. In fact, if it weren’t for her, I might
still be taking baby pictures at the mall. She talked me into
taking a lighting workshop a long time ago and it turned out to
be a pivotal event in my career.” As she talked, she dragged her
stepstool behind Eva and held her dress out so she could perch
on the top step.
“Why haven’t I heard this story before? Maria’s talked about
you ever since I was a little girl.”
Leo was surprised, not only that Maria talked about her so
much, but that she apparently had spent a lot of time with Eva
while she was growing up. “There isn’t much more to it. I took
the workshop, and one of the instructors was a retired photo
editor from Left Coast. ”
“The magazine?”
“Right, and a couple of years later I got this call out of the
blue. He had recommended me for an article they were doing on
women business leaders in the Pacific Northwest. That was my
first layout for the big shots, and it helped me get noticed by the
right people.” When the jobs started piling up, the first thing she
had dropped was the contract for school pictures. It was only a
few weeks in the fall, but she couldn’t afford to be tied up that
long, not if she wanted to say yes when the more lucrative offers
came her way.
“I’d say you definitely got noticed. Maria said you even made
the cover of Vanity Fair .”
Leo smiled with pride. That job had fallen into her lap like
this one, when a friend of hers came down with meningitis. “That
was a stroke of luck—good for me, bad for somebody else. It was
pretty exciting.”
“What job was your favorite?”
“Probably the most fun I’ve ever had was back in 2004
when Gavin Newsom started marrying gays and lesbians in San
Francisco. I went up with all my equipment and took portraits on
the steps of City Hall. Those ended up all over the place…books,
magazines, even the newswires. In fact, I did an exhibit at Maria’s
gallery.”
“She has a couple of your photos at her house. They’re on
the wall going up her staircase. You know which ones I’m talking
about?”
Leo chuckled as she envisioned the pair, one a voluptuous
breast centered inside an oval spotlight, and the other a penis
with a slim line of hair tracking up to the navel inside a diamond.
“That was a whole series of geometric shapes on various body
parts, nineteen photos in all. For some reason, those were the only
two that made it to mass market. No shoulders, no chins…”
“Imagine that,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I remember them
specifically because I used to stare at them when I was a horny
twelve-year-old. I hadn’t seen a penis before.”
for it. In fact, we had to stop and wait a few times for him not to
enjoy it so much.”
Eva roared with laughter. “That’s hilarious.”
“Yeah, one minute he was a diamond, the next, a triangle.
Then a diamond, then a triangle.”
“So this is where the party is.”
The voice was deeper and more mature, but to Leo,
unmistakable. Fighting the churn in her gut, she turned and
almost gasped at the woman in the doorway of the bridal suite.
Chapter 22
December 1986
Claudia closed the door in her father’s study and tiptoed
behind the desk. Her mother, who had been lurking around the
corner all day trying to learn what was afoot, wasn’t above picking
up the extension phone to listen in on her call.
In her twenty-three years, she couldn’t remember a more
miserable Christmas holiday than this. Mike had shared with his
parents his hope of her coming to Taiwan, and the two mothers
had already begun planning a June wedding in San Simeon. As
far as they were concerned, it was a done deal—a ceremony on
the terrace of the magnificent seaside mansion followed by a
catered reception in the main hall. Mike had even promised an
extra week off work for a honeymoon in Phuket, the beach resort
they had enjoyed two years ago in Thailand.
With every new idea for the nuptials, Claudia felt her
resistance grow. No one seemed to hear her reservations about
moving to Taiwan, or especially her interest in finding a job for
the next school year. In fact, she had yet to receive a word of
congratulations from her mother or Mike for completing her
degree. Only one potential ally had emerged—her father—and
even he had gotten caught up in the prospect of giving her away
in marriage in such a grandiose setting. At least he had listened
when she voiced her reluctance to live in Asia for a year and a
half, and for losing the chance to find a teaching position next
year. As the pressure mounted for her decision on when—not if—
she would move to be with Mike, she came to grips with a pull
in a different direction. It was equally tumultuous and fraught
with barriers, but what she wanted most was on the other side—a
life of her own making in Monterey. Even more than pursuing
her career and establishing her independence, she wanted to be
with Leo and to explore the sensations their time together had
awakened. It was too soon to know if what she felt was love, but
she couldn’t deny that Leo had supplanted her feelings for Mike,
and the decision on whether or not to allow her emotions free
rein grew more urgent as the time drew near to leave for the
rendezvous in Hawaii. There was no point in traveling that far to
deliver the news to him in person. It wasn’t as if he could change
her mind.
She paged through her travel documents and located the
number for the hotel on Waikiki Beach, where it w
as a few
minutes after noon. Mike was supposed to be there already, but
she wasn’t due to arrive until late tonight.
Her stomach roiled as the call rang through, and she almost
lost her nerve and hung up. But then a cheerful operator greeted
her and asked how she could help. Claudia drew a deep breath
for courage. “Mike Pettigrew, please.”
Leo dropped her pencil onto the desk and pressed the heel
of her hand to her brow. A whole evening spent hunched over
paperwork had produced little in the way of progress toward
closing out her books for the year. Aspirin only upset her empty
stomach, doing nothing for her head, which had started pounding
after two nearly sleepless nights. She didn’t need a doctor to
diagnose her condition. She was heartsick over Claudia.
The photographs were anything but a solace, especially the
two she had made on their last day together. She vacillated from
one minute to the next on which was her favorite. The nude was
so erotic it made her want to touch herself, but the smile she had
captured in the one before made her want to touch Claudia. She
would give anything on earth to be the one who got to do that
all the time.
It hadn’t been so bad in the days immediately after Claudia left
because work had kept her busy right up through a wedding on
the day before Christmas. In the three days since, she’d had only
one portrait appointment and nothing else on her calendar until
a formal wedding on New Year’s Eve. Now she was consumed
with anxiety and grief about Claudia’s imminent rendezvous
with Mike in Hawaii. It made her physically ill to envision them
together, whether holding hands as they walked along the beach,
or having heated sex amidst tangled sheets.
Mike was self-absorbed and controlling, at least that’s how
she saw him given his insistence that Claudia set aside her dreams
for his. Though Claudia claimed he was sweet and attentive
when work issues weren’t plaguing him, Leo thought he was
a workaholic who would always give her the short end of the
stick. If her heart had been purer, she would have wished for
him to stop being an asshole and treat Claudia with the love and
devotion she deserved. Instead she hoped his narcissism escalated
to the point where Claudia realized what was in store and broke
things off for good.
A sharp pain pierced her temple as she recalled Claudia’s
intention to get away from the distractions so she and Mike could
sort things out. If anyone could smooth a difficult situation, it
was she. Leo had gotten a convincing demonstration of that the
first day they met, and it made perfect sense that reasoning with
third graders and with Mike required the same skill set, since
both behaved like children.
From the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Madeline
slithering from the studio through her office and into the parlor,
her belly low and her steps purposeful.
“Hey, you! I know that walk. What’s in your mouth?”
She tore off in pursuit, spotting the cat underneath the
davenport. Though the room was dark, she could clearly see a
small mouse squirming between Madeline’s teeth.
“Don’t you dare drop that rodent in my house.”
Luckily for Leo, Madeline had no intention of letting go of
her prize. She dashed around Leo’s legs and back through the
office.
Leo made a beeline to the kitchen and closed the door behind
her. Next she sealed off the staircase, thinking the last thing she
needed was the thought of a mouse in her bedroom to keep her
awake.
Madeline huddled under the small kitchen table with her
prey, her eyes wide and coal black. She let out a low growl when
Leo grabbed her around the middle.
“Growl all you want, but don’t let go.” She marched across
the kitchen and kicked open the back door, where the porch light
illuminated her small backyard.
As Madeline dangled precariously over a bush, she released
the creature, which promptly ran for its life.
“In the future, would you kindly just chase them out the
door?”
She turned and dropped the cat back inside, and was startled
by the sound of a car as it crunched the gravel around the corner.
Who would be dropping by at this hour? It was too late for a
walk-in, and Patty was visiting her sister in Houston. She listened
as a car door closed and footsteps drew nearer.
“Leo?”
The familiar voice sent a shockwave down her spine.
Confusion gave way to joy as Claudia rounded the corner and
rushed into her arms.
The outpouring Claudia had rehearsed on the drive back to
Monterey evaporated as Leo tightened their embrace. In silence
under the porch light, she basked in the relief of knowing she had
done the right thing by coming back to Monterey tonight. Only
her father knew that she had canceled her trip to Hawaii, and
though he usually stood by her decisions, her need to “be with
her friends” was one he didn’t understand at all. She couldn’t
bring herself to tell him about her feelings for Leo.
“Is everything all right?”
“It is now. I’ve broken things off with Mike.”
“I love you,” Leo murmured, planting a tender kiss on her
brow.
Claudia lifted her eyes to something she had never seen in
Leo outside of her studio—unbridled certainty. Suddenly their
lips were sliding together like satin.
Leo whispered, “I think I’ve wanted to do that since the first
day I saw you.”
She pulled Leo into another kiss, fascinated by the sublime
sensation. With her tongue, she teased Leo’s lips apart and delved
into the softness again and again, marveling at how seamlessly
they interchanged dominance and submission. It was her first
taste ever of sensual parity.
With one hand wildly caressing her back, Leo used the other
to open the door. They clumsily climbed the three steps into the
back hallway, and Leo locked up without ever breaking their kiss.
“I could kiss you all night.”
Her body wanted more than kisses and she boldly led Leo
upstairs to the second floor, where the light over the landing cast
a beam into each room. It was their moment of decision, and
Claudia never wavered as she steered toward the bedroom. She
had to feel Leo’s skin next to hers.
As they fell entwined across the quilt, her emotions hit a
fever pitch that matched the lustful sensations erupting all over
her body. This didn’t feel like anything she had ever experienced,
and it wasn’t because Leo was a woman. It was because she was
Leo, whose aura of vulnerability she found more alluring than all
the self-confidence in the world.
She felt no hesitation or inhibition as they lay together, and no
feeling that she had to wait for Leo to set the pace. Without ever
breaking their kiss, they explored one another in a continuous
give-and-take that i
nched steadily toward intimacy. She was first
to venture past the meager barrier their clothing provided, prying
Leo’s jeans open to brush her fingers into her warm, wiry curls.
“Oh, God.” Leo blindly kicked off her shoes and pushed her
jeans and panties to the floor. Then she sat up to strip off her
shirt and bra as Claudia too disrobed.
In the fleeting window before they came together again, she
stole a glance at Leo’s lanky body, noting the small breasts with
high dark nipples. She trembled in anticipation of feeling them
press against her own. When they did, her body reacted with a
surge of heat that caused her hips to writhe upward and their
smooth skin to slide together.
Leo’s hand was on her in an instant, caressing her mound
with tantalizing pressure.
In only moments it was too late to savor the sweetness and
excitement. Pulsating waves rolled slowly at first, then erupted
through her clitoris, spreading in all directions. She cried out
shamelessly as Leo slid inside and held her from within.
Leo caught her breath as the throbbing subsided around her
fingers. Claudia’s leg, wrapped snugly around her thighs, held
her in place. She hadn’t expected things to happen so quickly, but
Claudia’s insistent touch had signaled not only permission but
urgency. Not once had it felt reckless or uncertain.
Even as she relished their intimate embrace, her thoughts
gave way to invading doubts about why Claudia had come back.
Now that they crossed this bridge, she couldn’t let her leave
again.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” Claudia murmured after
a long silence, her nails trailing softly over Leo’s back.
Leo disentangled and pulled down the quilt, shivering as the
sheen of sweat cooled her skin.
They fell together again under the covers, hands crawling in
0
continuous exploration. Claudia surprised her by urging her onto
her back, and with tantalizing slowness, started a fingertip journey
from her collarbone to her sternum and across her abdomen and
hips, as if deliberately avoiding the places that screamed for her
touch. Then she stopped her tickling and clutched Leo’s hand.
“You have the softest hands. That was one of the first things I
noticed when we started shooting.” She pulled it to her face and