“Wow, that was cold. What did Austin say?”
“He just laughed. He told me you’d be nuts to go there. He said you need to look at a school that has a chance at a national championship.”
“Are you really that good?” Clare asked.
“Good question. The short answer is not right now. I have potential, but so do a lot of other guys. It all depends on if I continue to develop. I’m going to some quarterback camps this summer. That’ll give everyone a better idea where I fall skills-wise. It’s hard to compare players because competition varies so much. At the camps, everyone’s on equal footing. Bo Harrington, the coach that was hired to teach me the position, thinks I have a huge upside. He’s worked with a lot of good players, and he thinks I can be one as well.”
TODAY WAS STRICTLY a photo shoot. Rafael had rented a nice house and we started out in the kitchen. The setup was Kara was wearing my dress shirt and I was in dress pants with no shirt. We did some action shots where we goofed around. I quickly found out that Kara was going commando this morning when I raised the shirt to pinch her bottom. I heard the camera go off with three quick shots.
I spun around and went for Kim, who was taking the pictures.
“Nope, not happening! I want to see the last three shots, and if they’re not appropriate we’re deleting them now.”
Rafael came from the background to save Kim. She wasn’t panicking; we had worked together before, and she knew I was just looking out for Kara’s best interests.
“Okay, everyone calm down. Kim, plug the camera in so we can see the shots before we go any further.”
As Kim set up, Kara came over and gave me a kiss on my cheek.
“Thanks. They usually bully me into stuff like this.”
Clare and Kendal joined us. Kim brought the three pictures up side-by-side on the big screen monitor. The first one showed just a hint of Kara’s superior derrière. The second went from PG-13 to R rated. My arm blocked the view of her front. The last picture showed too much. From my limited experience, I could tell that the first two shots were good. I could tell Rafael was excited and trying to hide it.
“Kim, delete the last picture,” Rafael said without our intervention.
He turned to Kara and me. He gathered himself before he spoke.
“These two shots are what we dream of.” He turned to the monitor. “Kara, your expression is perfect. We can use both pictures, depending on the magazine; the first shot in the mass market, and the second in the more artsy publications.”
He pointed to my arm in the second.
“We got lucky here. If your arm had been just a little off, we’d have serious Photoshopping to do to cover things up. I hate doing that because I feel it’s dishonest. Also working for us is that you can’t see David’s face. This allows every guy to fantasize it’s him in the shot.”
I could see everyone was smiling, so I had no objections to the two shots. We went back to finish the shoot.
At lunchtime, Clare, Kendal, Rafael and Kim all went in to review the photos so far. Kara and I went to where they had set up for lunch. We heard arguing and I just smiled. Kara was curious.
“What’s going on?”
“I think Kim just found out I own the resale rights to all the pictures,” I said, as Kara’s eyes got big.
“You what? I thought the photographer always got those,” Kara said.
“Everything’s negotiable. I take a smaller fee on most shoots so I can control the photos later. I don’t want to get blackmailed with photos when I get older. I would suggest you start doing that because you don’t need some slimeball hitting you up when you’re as big a star as Adrienne in a couple of years,” I said, offering her advice.
“Crap, and here I thought I was supposed to be showing you the ropes. Can you get me the correct verbiage so I can add it to all my future contracts?” Kara asked.
“Talk to Kendal. She can give you the clauses. While you’re at it, talk to her about reselling your photos. We sell mine through a couple of outlets for good money. We just cut a deal with an Internet company that sells pictures. I give them the ones that my high-end buyers don’t want.”
“When did you become the little entrepreneur? I wouldn’t have ever thought of that,” Kara teased me.
“I actually kind of just got lucky. I met some people through Tami. You know what they say, ‘It’s not what you know but who you know.’”
Kara came over, climbed into my lap, and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
“Well, big boy, you and I know each other. I want to do more work with you.”
“I’d really enjoy that,” I whispered in her ear.
I found I meant it. Kara was easy to work with, and we looked great together on camera.
After lunch, I could feel Kara relax when she stopped worrying about pictures of her leaking to the tabloids. The afternoon consisted of more product-oriented shots. This meant taking the same photo ten times with a different set of jewelry each time. They even had me wearing the stuff. I had refused to get my ear pierced, so they had me wear a diamond earring with a magnet on the back. That thing was uncomfortable. They also had me wearing different watches and rings.
Some of the jewelry was pricey. I knew because there were suddenly armed guards on the set. They had me wear an earring that had a huge diamond on it. Kara came out in a robe wearing a necklace that must have been worth more than most people make in a lifetime. Rafael set the shot. He used his body to block everyone’s view until we got set. He had me face Kara so that my shoulder covered one breast.
“Are you okay if David touches your breast to hide your nipple?” Rafael asked.
Kara just smiled, and I let Rafael position me.
“Would it be better if her nipples were hard?” I asked with an innocent expression.
Kara and Rafael both glared at me. I shrugged.
“Just trying to help out.”
Rafael told us that this was the last group of photos. When I was sure that Kim had what she needed, I licked Kara’s neck and nipped her ear. She shuddered, and Rafael didn’t have us stop, so I ramped up the teasing. I moved my hand to cup Kara’s breast and kissed her jaw. I was careful not to block the necklace. I dropped my head and took her other nipple into my mouth. Kara hissed.
“What the hell, David? Are you going to do me right here?”
I moved my hand back to where Rafael had put it before and I looked into Kara’s eyes. I could smell her arousal and I smirked.
“Cut! Damn, that was hot. Kim, I hope you got that,” Rafael said.
“I think so. Let’s put it up on the monitor and see,” Kim offered.
Kara was given her robe and everyone gathered around the monitor. Rafael was excited again. Kara had an expression of pure lust with her blue-gray eyes boring into me. My smirk didn’t look too bad. It looked like I was having fun, and she wanted me badly. The necklace was perfectly framed with my body and her matching earrings were on display.
Rafael pumped his fist.
“YES! Kara, you’re magnificent. This shot will have you in demand for the next ten years.”
“I’ll give you $25,000 for the rights to today’s shoot,” Kim blurted out.
My first thought was ‘Hell no’ but then I thought about my immediate needs for cash for my mom’s treatments. Kara saw I was considering it, and she put her hand on my arm to get my attention; she shook her head ‘no.’
“Sorry, Kim. Kara wants me to keep the resale rights.”
I was glad that I did because the shots leading up to the money shot were nearly as good. I could market some of these right away. My agreement with the diamond company precluded me using any shots that were in their print ads while they were still running them. I was afraid this last shot would be in their ads for quite a while.