Sexual Politics by Tara Mills

body.
    He turned and gave her a smile. “I’m almost ready. Why don’t you pour yourself another glass?”
    “Okay.”
    Following where he pointed, she wandered over to the table and refilled her glass and added a topper to what he hadn’t finished. She was ahead of him.
    “I turned up the heat in here so you’d be more comfortable,” he said, moving some metallic umbrella thingy on a stand.
    “Thanks, but I don’t think I’m going to be comfortable no matter what.”
    “Try not to stress. You’ll be surprised.”
    She took a sip and watched him work. Too bad he’d changed out of his fancy clothes. Well, the buttoned-down shirt, sweater vest, and blazer were gone, but he was still wearing the same slacks. The gray almost matched his kitchen cabinets. Realizing it made her snicker softly to herself. She sobered when she reconsidered the plain v-neck t-shirt he was wearing. It hugged him in all the right places. Maybe she wasn’t so sorry to see his dress clothes gone. She had no idea he was hiding a body like that underneath. He was lean, but cut. Though not overly muscular, there was beautiful definition under the plain white cotton.
    Feeling suddenly warmer than she should have been, she flapped the overwrapped neckline of her robe and took another hasty swallow of bubbly.
    Sean walked over to her and plucked at the drooping shoulder hanging down her arm. “You look pretty cute in my robe.”
    “It’s a bit large.”
    Reaching around her, he picked up his glass and tapped it against hers again. “Then take it off.” His brows arched over his challenging eyes.
    “Easy for you to say. Not so easy for me to do.”
    “Drink up.”
    She emptied her glass once more then, setting it down, untied the belt at her waist. The change in his face when she dropped the robe was both gratifying and worrisome. Gratifying because her fragile ego had never needed this kind of compliment more. Worrisome because she was afraid of how quickly things could spiral out of hand between them if they weren’t careful. The attraction between them loomed large enough to take up this entire space.
    “You’re beautiful.” He set down his glass and picked up the camera sitting on the table. “May I?” Without waiting for permission, he reached behind her and removed the clip holding her hair up. “I want it down. Give your head a shake for me. Let your hair swing loose.”
    With her arms crossed modestly over her breasts, she shook her hair out for him.
    His smile deepened. “Better. Come on over.”
    He had her sit on the long swath of white fabric that curved gently from floor to ceiling. He knew what he wanted and reached out to fuss with her hair, move her arm, and tip her chin.
    “Relax your toes.” Crouched down to her height, he studied her through the camera, moving slowly, carefully in front of her then around her. “Look down to my right. Good. Now slowly open your eyes and look straight at me. Beautiful.”
    Laughing softly, she bit her lower lip. He liked it.
    “Oh yeah, do that again… Very nice. You’re a natural.”
    Allowing her to relax, he got up while she rolled her shoulders and neck. Sean came back with their glasses.
    “Not that you need this, but we have a bottle to finish.”
    Laughing, she took her glass from him, sipping it down. “Now what?”
    He sank to his haunches once more. With his free hand he smoothed her hair back on one side, studying her with a tender expression in his eyes. “I’d like to do some portraits, but since you’re down here, let’s have you lie back.”
    “Lie back? Open?” Her panic came through loud and clear.
    “You’ll be covering yourself.”
    “I could put on my dress,” she offered.
    “I’d rather you didn’t.” He plucked the empty glass out of her hand.
    “I figured you’d say that,” she muttered.
    She heard him chuckle as he put their glasses aside and grabbed his camera again.
    Coming back, he gestured. “Spin around, head on my left, legs to