Blurred Lines Ch. 02

But I did nothing except watch them leave together. Truthfully, I hoped she would at least turn around and look at me but she didn't.

I think that was what hurt the most.

**

The rest of my day thankfully remained relatively slow and uneventful. I had just finished doing laundry, and was walking back to my apartment when I felt the cold metal of the barrel of a gun against the back of my head. "Don't make any sudden movements," the deep masculine voice warned from behind me.

I instantly froze and a sudden chill ran down my spine. "Take it easy, alright? You don't wanna do this," I stated calmly.

"Don't talk," he warned. "Someone could be watching."

Why did that voice sound so familiar? "Who are you and what do you want from me?" I asked.

He ignored my question, "Keep walking towards your front door like everything's normal."

I followed his orders and walked the remaining few feet to my apartment but stopped at the threshold. He nudged the gun against the back of my head, "Unlock it and go inside."

"No because if I go in there, I'm not coming back out alive," I argued.

His voice softened, "Just open the door, I promise I won't hurt you."

With shaky hands, I pushed the key into the lock and unlocked it so that we could both step inside. "Put the laundry basket down and kick it away from you," he commanded. "Now turn around and get a good look at me. I want you to remember this exact moment."

I turned around slowly and was completely unprepared and astonished to see who my kidnapper was. It was Mason's longtime friend Rico. He laughed as my fist slugged him hard in one of his broad shoulders. "Fucking asshole! You scared the living shit out of me."

He grinned and put his gun back in his holster, "Sorry about that but I had to be careful just in case someone was watching your place."

I sat down on my couch, adrenaline still running through my veins. "Let me guess, Mason sent you down here to look after me?"

"Like you even have to ask," he answered as he shut the blinds and closed the curtains. "He's really concerned. So it was either him come here or me."

"What if they catch us together?" I asked. "How am I going to explain you?"

He took a seat at the other end of my couch and dropped his duffel bag on the floor. "Just say that I'm a friend or cousin who came to visit. They'll never know the truth."

"I guess there's no use in arguing so I won't even try."

"You got that right," he agreed. "Mason tells me that you've really stumbled onto something and could use my help. Care to fill me in on everything?"

I wasted no time in giving him the cliff notes version of everything that had happened since I'd moved to town and befriended Vanessa.

"You mentioned that Cecilia's father was in debt, any chance he's involved?" Rico asked.

"I didn't think so at first, considering him and his wife are two of the nicest people that you'll ever meet. But after Mason told me about his business partners' murder, I'd say that there's definitely a possibility that he's somehow involved."

"Well think about it," he argued. "Her father is in debt, drug money even though it's dirty is easy money. And who better to push your product for you than your own daughter?"

I stood up in frustration, "That's too simple though. We need to think outside of the box because whoever this bastard is, he's good and he has connections. We need to find a way to gain access to their computers or even their cell phones."

"If you're serious about that, I might have an idea," he proposed and pulled out a USB flash drive from his bag. "This little baby right here will give us complete access to all their emails and computer files."

"What is it?" I asked hesitantly.

"It's a Trojan, corrupted JPEG file that a friend of a friend of mine developed," he went on to explain. "Insert it into the USB port of their laptop, desktop or whatever and Voilà. Instant access just like that."

"Very sneaky," I concurred. "But how in the hell am I going to talk them into letting me use their computers."

Rico thought for a minute then smiled, "Have you already shown them the proofs from their photo shoot? Because if you haven't, I can embed it into one of the pictures."

"You can actually do that?"

He smiled, "Babygirl I can do anything. I'm not only good looking and good in bed but I'm also kind of smart too."

"Has anyone ever told you that you kind of have a big ego?"

"Of course," he replied grinning. "My ex-boyfriend used to tell me that all the time. But then again, that wasn't the only big thing he told me I had. Anyways, has C.C. taken you up on your offer to shoot for her? This would be the perfect opportunity."

Without hesitation, I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. "Hey you, change of plans for tonight. How would you feel about a sexy photo shoot instead?"

**

She and I were near the end of her photo shoot when she stepped away to go to the bathroom to change into the last piece of lingerie. She'd been in there for a while and I was getting restless. I checked my watch again and yelled towards the bathroom that she was changing in, "You've been in there for like thirty minutes. Do you need me to help you get dressed?"

"It's only been ten minutes and I almost have it on!" she shouted back through the door. "And this is the last one so hold your horses."

"Yeah yeah, I better get dinner out of this like you promised," I replied going back over the previous shots of her that I'd taken with my camera. "I want a full course meal with dessert! Preferably strawberry cheesecake!"

The door finally opened and she emerged wearing this red, sexy, silky looking robe. She did a complete twirl before strolling over to me, "How do I look?"

"Hot," I responded telling her the truth. "Very fucking hot."

"I have an idea if you're up for it," she stated. "My favorite movie of all time is Titanic, and I've always wanted to reenact a certain scene from it."

My lips curved into a smile, "Which scene? Do I get to fuck you in the back of a car?"

"If you're lucky," she replied and tossed a dime at me. "But as a paying customer, I expect to get what I want." Without saying a word, she began to undo the knot on her robe before untying the sash. Her eyes never left mine as she shimmied the thin red garment off her shoulders to reveal her matching red silk teddy underneath, "I want you to photograph me like one of your French girls," she replied seductively touching the material. "Wearing this."

"Alright," I replied doing my best Leonardo DiCaprio impression.

"Wearing only this," she stated and then to my surprise, she then slowly pulled down each strap of the teddy before sliding it down the rest of her body. She stepped out of it and stood before me naked and proud, wearing only a pair of black high heels.

I sucked in a deep breath, feeling a little hot under the collar all of a sudden. "Over on the bed. . .the couch," I replied correcting myself. "Lie down."

She took her place on the couch and recreated the same pose as Kate Winslet's character Rose had in the movie. "Is this okay?" she asked and I nodded, snapping the first picture of her naked body.

"It's perfect. Now tilt your head to the right a little bit," I instructed. "And keep your eyes on me." Her eyes followed me around the room as I moved around trying to get various shots of her from different angles.

"Do you like what you see?" she questioned holding my gaze.

"It's beautiful, but maybe you could show me some more?" I suggested.

She placed her left index finger inside her mouth and sucked on it. Getting it nice and wet before touching her exposed nipple. She rolled it between her fingers and pinched it, while she bit down on her lip, "You should so be doing this for me."

I snapped another picture, "But I'm really enjoying the show."

"What do you want me to do next?" she asked breathlessly waiting for my command.

"Show me your pussy," I ordered moving closer to her.

Like a good girl, she obeyed my command and rested her left leg on the couch cushion while her right foot was firmly planted on the floor. Even from where I stood, her pussy lips were easily visible and swollen. "Are you wet?" I asked.

Using one hand, she parted her puffy lips open exposing herself to me and the heavy aroma of her arousal filled the large room. "Drenched," she confessed with a whisper. "Why don't you touch it for me?"

I stood above her and slowly ran my hand down her knee along her inner thigh, "Why don't you do it for me? Let me see you come."

Needing no other encouragement, she slipped three fingers inside and plunged them into her cunt. She closed her eyes as her long digits eagerly thrust in and out, her chest rapidly rising and falling with each thrust. The only sounds in the room were our mutual heavy breathing and the shutter sound that came from my camera as I photographed her.

She moved to a sitting position on the couch and once again opened her legs wide so that I could really get a close up view of everything she was offering me. She motioned for me to come join her, "Come see how I taste."

As horny and tempted as I was to join in, I knew without a doubt that my sleeping with C.C. would only complicate things ever more than they were already. I needed to put a halt to this before things spun out of my control. I cleared my throat and put my camera down, "Maybe we should finish this upstairs?"

C.C. laughed and reached for her robe, "You didn't even let me finish."

"No because if you kept that up, we weren't going to make it to dinner and I've been looking forward to this meal all day long."

She wrapped her arms around my neck, "How about I run upstairs and take a quick shower, and then I can get started on that dinner I promised you? What do you have a taste for?"

I looked at her from head to toe, "After what you just did? I have a taste for something that's not on the menu."

There was a knock at her door and she excused herself to answer it while I packed my equipment up. By the time I had everything packed, she still had yet to return. So I went to see what the holdup was and found her talking at her front door, in a low voice with a man who was wearing a dark suit. He saw me lurking and she turned around to introduce me. "Natalie this is Diego. Diego this is Natalie Martin, she's a really good friend of mine."

I nodded an acknowledgement to him but made no move to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you," I lied.

"Likewise," he told me though his narrow eyes indicated otherwise.

"I have some stuff to take care of so it looks like we're gonna have to cut our date short again. I'm really sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, I understand." I kissed her in front of the guy and allowed my tongue to briefly linger in her mouth. "Call me later?"

Her friend in the suit, eyed me and I resisted the urge to shudder in disgust. "You know you look really familiar. Have I seen you somewhere?"

"I doubt it, I just moved here."

"Maybe you've seen some of her work?" C.C. suggested. "Natalie's a phenomenal photographer."

He said nothing, but continued to eye me suspiciously, "Photographer, huh? That must be it."

By the time I got back to my apartment, Rico was sitting on my couch with his laptop in front of him. He laughed as I flashed him the SD card from my camera, "Damn, girl. These ladies just can't say no to you, can they?"

I grabbed a pillow from the couch and popped him upside his head, "Just shut up and do your thing."

He inserted my SD card into his own laptop and started sorting through the pictures from my photo shoots with C.C. and Vanessa's family. He shook his head at some of the more risqué ones of Cecilia, "Damn girl, she was all but throwing it at you if these pictures are any indication."

"Well she can throw it someone else's way because I'm not interested."

He laughed and continued to sort through the files. He paused at one of my pictures of the kids together. Cameron had his arm wrapped around Sophie and their baby sister sat between them on the living room couch. "Cute kids," he commented.

"Yeah," I smiled. "They're pretty amazing."

Rico paused and slowly looked at me with a funny expression on his face. "Amazing?"

"What?" I asked with a deep scowl. "They're adorable and funny as all hell once you spend some time with them."

He laughed and shook his head, "Since when the hell did you become all mushy over kids?"

"I'm not mushy," I countered back. "I just don't want anything bad to happen to them. They're really sweet kids."

He turned back to his laptop and went back to work, "Have you thought about what's going to happen when it's all over? Or what you'll do if it turns out that she's involved in whatever they're doing?"

"I have and I can't stop thinking about that," I admitted.

"What do you think is going to happen when she finds out the truth about what you're doing? This thing between you two is a recipe for disaster. I just don't want you to going into this with your hopes up."

"I know," I told him affectionately kissing him on the cheek. "I appreciate your concern but I have things under control."

He handed me the flash drive with the Trojan file on it, "If you say so. It's all ready to go, go do your thing."

**

"I thought we agreed to stay away from one another?" Vanessa asked as she tentatively opened her front door to me.

I flashed her the USB flash drive as a peace offering. "I know but I thought you might want to see how your pictures came out."

Her voice softened. "How did they turn out?"

"See for yourself," I told her walking inside. "Got a laptop or computer I can use?"

"Yeah there's one in Jay's office that we can use," She walked a few feet down the hallway and led me inside the room that I'd saw him and C.C. talking in. She turned on the light and I looked around trying not to appear overly interested.

I studied his business degree that hung on the wall, "Jay went to Rutgers?"

She nodded and sat down in his swivel chair and logged into his MacBook while I closed the door. "He was my RA," she explained.

"What's your degree in?"

"Childhood Studies but I never got to finish it."

"You should go back," I told her sincerely. "You owe it to yourself."

She shook her head. "I wouldn't even know where to start. I'd feel so old sitting in a lecture hall with all those eighteen and nineteen year olds."

"You make it sound like you're a middle aged divorcee with grandchildren."

"Well it isn't far from the truth," she answered. "I'm a mother of three."

"An extremely hot mother of three," I chipped in. "You're a MILF."

She laughed out loud and gave me a big smile. "You're only saying that because we had sex."

I perched my hip against the desk. "Amazing, mind-blowing, life changing sex. Sex that I haven't been able to stop thinking about it."

"Natalie-"

I held my hands up in mock surrender, "I'm sorry, that was out of line. It won't happen again."

"I know it won't because I meant what I said," she insisted. "After tonight, I can't see you again. I am extremely attracted to you but I have my family to think about. I just got carried away."

"I think we both got carried away," I acknowledged. "By the way, the file you're looking for is under Westbrook Photo Shoot."

She found the folder and clicked through the pictures of her family. "Wow, these look amazing," she murmured. "You did an outstanding job."

"It wasn't all my doing," I argued. "Your family is beautiful."

"But you really have a knack for this," she stressed. "The pictures are stunning, and the kids look so happy."

I pointed to a solo picture of her and Jay. "So do you and your husband."

"We are happy," she clicked out of the folder and her eyes momentarily squinted at the screen. "Why do you also have a folder with C.C.'s name on it?"

Shit! I'd completely forgotten that Rico had put her photos on the flash drive also. "Those are just the pictures from her photo shoot. She's trying to find some modeling gigs."

"Mind if I take a look?" she didn't wait for my response and proceeded to double click on the folder. She specifically clicked through the last ones that consisted of C.C. stripping off her lingerie and masturbating for me. I watched her smile slowly disappear as she deliberately and angrily tapped the mouse pad to click through each one, "Is that something you do with all your single female clients?" she asked with her back to me. "Never mind, don't answer that. I don't even wanna know."

I reached over her shoulder and clicked out of the folder for her, "Those weren't my idea, it just happened that way."

Her eyes narrowed, "Do I really look that stupid to you?"

"Nothing else happened between us, I took those pictures for her and then I left. I have no reason to lie to you."

"Just don't say anything else," she stood up to leave but I grabbed her arm before she could jerk it away. She held up her hand, "Look, you don't owe me any explanation. I don't even know why I asked."

"Jealous, perhaps?"

She looked at me sharply, "Not at all. You're free to do what you want."

"Is that really how you feel?" I questioned searching for the truth in her eyes. "You told me last night that you hated the idea of me being with any other woman except you."

"Do what you want to. It doesn't matter to me."

"But that's not what you said last night," I quipped. "And it matters to me because the only woman I want is you. Why can't you understand that?"

Her eyes refused to meet mine, "Because we can't allow what happened to happen again. I don't know what possessed me to come to your apartment last night but it was a mistake."

"What happened to no regrets?"

"I don't regret it because last night you made me feel something that I don't think I've ever felt before, but that doesn't change anything."

"I know."

She took a few steps back to distance herself from me. "My family is still the most important thing to me. I don't want to hurt them."

I advanced towards her, "I know."

"We can't be together again," she reiterated. "Last night was a one-time only thing."

"I totally agree."

She continued walking backwards until her body was trapped between my own body and the wooden desk. She swallowed and looked away from me, "Despite what happened between us last night, I still love him."

I gently caressed her face, "You mentioned that already."

She reacted by gently pushing against my chest and attempting to step around me but I stayed in my spot. "C-can you back up a little b-bit?"

"Why?" I asked in a quiet voice. "You don't want me near you?"

"You're just too close," she admitted.

I rested my hands on either side of the desk and leaned my forehead against hers. I had the strongest urge to rip her clothes off right then and there, and make sweet love to her on his desk, but I did not want to disrespect their house any more than I had already. I repeatedly told myself that I'd respect her wishes and stay away from her for the time being. But like a moth to a flame, I was so drawn to her. In less than 24 hours, she'd explicitly told me to stay away from her, but yet here I was. I framed her face with my hands, "Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" I asked in a soft voice. "And I don't just mean physically."

She licked her lips nervously. "Natalie-"

Big mistake. That burning sensation between my legs was getting more and more intense and I felt my body slowly begin to succumb to my desire. I brushed my lips gently over hers, "Bésame porfavor."(Kiss me please)

She shook her head slowly and I could tell from the desperate look in her eyes that she wanted it but she was holding back. She was willingly herself to hold back from me. "I can't," she whispered.

"Then just forgive me."