A Simple Proposition by Jennifer O'Donnell

won’t be a ‘thing,’ you really, actually want to do this?”
 
    He shrugged.
 
    She took a mouthful, while processing what Steve had asked. “So,” she said between bites,“What is it? The same thrill of you sharing me? And this time you won’t be jealous?”
 
    “Something like that.”
 
    “Like one picture?”
 
    “Or several.” Steve smiled as he thought about his kinky photo shoot.
 
    “Doing what?”
 
    “Whatever you like.”
 
    “Fucking?”
 
    He looked at her, then shrugged again.
 
    “Okay, I’ll think about it,” she said.
 

Chapter 18
     
    P
    am thought about it and looked at a couple of the web sites that Steve suggested. She wondered how many people shared erotic pictures of themselves . Still, she just couldn’t shake the idea that it was stupid, and there was no way she could allow her face to be in any of the pictures. There was no way she was going to let him or anyone spread pictures of her around the world. After all, there was no way to recall the pictures, and who knows where they might end up! In the end, she felt like this idea could bite her in the ass.
     
    “I thought about it,” she said a few nights later, over dinner. “And no. I don’t want to.”
 
    He nodded slowly.
 
    “Is that okay?” she said.
 
    “It’s fine.”
     
    “I’m not opposed to doing sexy pictures, as long as the pictures are never, ever, ever put up on the Internet.” She paused for a moment checking out his real reaction. “You seem upset.”
 
    “Nah, I just… I would have liked to.”
     
    She was taken aback by his comment. “Have liked to what exactly and why?”
     
    “ Get aroused thinking about other men seeing you, that’s all.”
     
    “It’s not that I don’t want to try some more erotic and kinky stuff, just not this. I don’t want someone that we know ending up seeing me. What if your boss found pictures of me on the Internet? How would you explain that? What if you lost your job? What if I lost my job?” She paused. “Worse yet, what if your mom found them?  Or say, your father!”
 
    “Yeah,” Steve said, realizing that he hadn’t thought the idea through.
 
    “Your dad,” she said. “Seriously! That wouldn’t be good. We’ll do something else, okay?”
 
    “You realize you don’t have to show your face? Not if you don’t want to.”
 
    “Oh, yeah, you dick, and you realize I don’t care? I said no.”
 
    “All right. Thank you for thinking about it.”
 
    “We’ll think of something else.”
 
    “Okay.”
 
    She looked at him and realized he was disappointed. He was being good about it, wasn’t pushing, but he’d been excited by this and was pouting now.
 
    She wondered if there was some compromise they could find. Could he have his fun without the need and wish to post the pictures on the Internet?
 
    “What’s the appeal?” she asked, “Why naked pictures?”
 
    “I’m not sure.”
 
    One thing came to her mind. “Because people can see me but not touch?”
 
    “I suppose.”
 
    “So not touching is the big thing?”
 
    “I think so. After last time.”
 
    She nodded and ate for a while, thinking.
 
    “We’ll work something out,” she said confidently. “I promise.” Maybe this was a way to really get to the root of Steve’s alter and kinky ego. Maybe she could test his quick dismissal of her being with another woman, or maybe she could get Mike in on a photo shoot?
    He nodded, and seemed to relax, so she decided he was okay with her saying no.
     
    “Good.”
     
    She went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. When she came back into the bedroom he said, “You really need to tell me a bit more. About the trying it.”
 
    “No I don’t.”
 
    “Please?”
 
    “I just noticed someone perving at me. And I didn’t mind it. That’s all.”
 
    “That’s all?”
 
    “Yep. Want sex?”
 
    He grinned at her.
 
    “So, yes?” she said.