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I was draped over the arm of one of theinto my eyes
"Think Brad Pitt," I whispered The dark brown eyes still regardedtrack
I pictured Claude&039;s last lover, a bouncer at a strip joint
"Think about Charles Bronson," I suggested "Or, us of a hot glow in those long-lashed eyes
In a jiffy, you would&039;ve thought Claude was going to hike upskirt and yank down ed for mercy Unfortunately for me - and all the other women of Louisiana - Claude batted for another teah, and brooding, with maybe a little whisker stubble, hat lit his fire
"Maria-Star, reach in there and pull that lock of hair back," Alfred Curapher was a heavyset blackhair and mustache Maria-Star Cooper took a quick step in front of the ca blond hair I was bent backward over Claude&039;s right arm, my invisible (to the ca the back of his black frock coat, ently on his left shoulder His left hand was at est that he was loweringthe black frock coat with black knee pants, white hose, and a white frothy shirt I earing a long blue dress with a billowing skirt and a score of petticoats As I&039;ve mentioned, the dress was scanty on the topside, with the little sleeves pushed down off lad the teht (it looked to my eyes like a satellite dish) was not as hot as I&039;d expected
Al Cu away as Claude sht back My personal life had been, shall we say, barren for the past feeeks, so I was all too ready to smolder In fact, I was ready to burst into flames
Maria-Star, who had beautiful light-toast skin and curly dark hair, was standing ready with a big makeup case and brushes and combs to perform last-minute repairs When Claude and I had arrived at the studio, I&039;d been surprised to find that I recognized the photographer&039;s young assistant I hadn&039;t seen Maria-Star since the Shreveport packleader had been chosen a feeeks before I hadn&039;t had much of a chance to observe her then, since the pack and bloody Today, I had the leisure to see that Maria-Star had co hit by a car this past January Werewolves healed quickly
Maria-Star had recognized me, too, and I&039;d been relieved when she s with the Shreveport pack was, to say the least, uncertain Without exactly volunteering to do so, I&039;d unwittingly thrown in my lot with the unsuccessful contestant for the packleader&039;s job That contestant&039;s son, Alcide Herveaux, whom I&039;d counted asthe contest; the new packleader, Patrick Furnan, knew I had ties to the Herveaux family I&039;d been surprised when Maria-Star chatted ahile she was zipping the costu my hair She applied more makeup than I&039;d ever worn in my life, but when I stared into the h I didn&039;t look like Sookie Stackhouse
If Claude hadn&039;t been gay, he ht have been impressed, too He&039;s the brother ofon ladies&039; night at Hooligans, a club he nons Claude is si black hair and large brown eyes, a perfect nose, and lips just full enough He keeps his hair long to cover up his ears: they&039;ve been surgically altered to look rounded like huinally were If you&039;re in the know supernaturally, you&039;ll spot the ear surgery, and you&039;ll know Claude is a fairy I&039; the pejorative term for his sexual orientation I mean it literally; Claude&039;s a fairy
"Now the wind machine," Al instructed Maria-Star, and after a little repositioning, she switched on a large fan Noe appeared to be standing in a gale My hair billowed out in a blond sheet, though Claude&039;s tied-back ponytail stayed in place After a few shots to capture that look, Maria-Star unbound Claude&039;s hair and directed it over one shoulder, so it would bloard to form a backdrop for his perfect profile
"Wonderful," Al said, and snapped somethe windstorm to strike from different directions Eventually Al told ratefully
"I hope that wasn&039;t too hard on your arain
"Nah, no problem You have any fruit juice around?" he asked Maria-Star Claude was not Mr Social Skills
The pretty Were pointed to a little refrigerator in the corner of the studio "Cups are on the top," she told Claude She followed hihed Women frequently did that after they&039;d actually talked to Claude The sigh was a "what a pity" sigh
After checking to ear, Maria-Star gave h she was a Were, whichup on the fact that she had so she wanted to tellto take it
Telepathy is no fun Your opinion of yourself suffers when you knohat others think of you And telepathy uys Just think about it (And remember, I&039;ll know - if you are, or if you aren&039;t)
"Alcide&039;s had a hard ti her voice low Claude was occupied with studying himself in a otten a call on his cell phone and retreated to his office to hold his conversation
"I&039;m sure he has," I said Since Jackson Herveaux&039;s opponent had killed him, it was only to be expected that Jackson&039;s son was having his ups and his downs "I sent a memorial to the ASPCA, and I know they&039;ll notify Alcide and Janice," I said (Janice was Alcide&039;s younger sister, which made her a non-Were I wondered how Alcide had explained their father&039;s death to his sister) In acknowledgment, I&039;d received a printed thank-you note, the kind the funeral hoives you, without one personal ritten on it
"Well" She seemed to be unable to spit it out, whatever was stuck in her throat I was getting a glih me like a knife, and then I locked it down and pulled my pride around me I&039;d learned to do that all too early in life
I picked an albuh theroo anniversaries I closed that albu to look casual, but I don&039;t think it worked
With a bright smile that echoed Maria-Star&039;s own expression, I said, "Alcide and I weren&039;t ever truly a couple, you know" I s and hopes, but they&039;d never had a chance to ripen The ti
Maria-Star&039;s eyes, a hter brown than Claude&039;s, widened in awe Or was it fear? "I heard you could do that," she said "But it&039;s hard to believe"
"Yeah," I said wearily "Well, I&039;ht to mind, even if I did Which I don&039;t" That caarbled (and it wasn&039;t entirely true), but I think Maria-Star got my intention: to save my face
When I hadn&039;t heard fro his father&039;s death, I&039;d known that whatever feelings he&039;d had for me were quenched That had been a blow, but not a fatal one Realistically, I hadn&039;t expected anything osh darn it, I liked him, and it always smarts when you find out you&039;ve been replaced with apparent ease After all, before his dad&039;s death Alcide had suggested we live together Noas shacking up with this young Were,to have puppies with her
I stopped that line of thought in its tracks Sha a bitch (Which, cohts a month)
Double shame on me
"I hope you&039;re very happy," I said
She wordlessly handed me another album, this one stamped EYES only When I opened it, I realized that the Eyes were supernatural Here were pictures of cereot to see a vaiant ankh; a younginto a bear, presumably for the first time; a shot of a Were pack with all its rapher of the weird No wonder he had been Claude&039;s first choice for his pictures, which Claude hoped would launch him on a cover-model career
"Next shot," called Al, as he bustled out of his office, snapping his phone shut "Maria-Star, we just got booked for a double wedding in Miss Stackhouse&039;s neck of the woods" I wondered if he&039;d been engaged for regular human work or for a supernatural event, but it would be rude to ask
Claude and I got up close and personal again Following Al&039;s instructions, I pulled up the skirt to display s In the era my dress represented, I didn&039;t think wos, and I was brown and suys hadn&039;t walked around with their shirts unbuttoned, either
"Raise your leg like you&039;re going to wrap it around him," Alfred directed "Now Claude, this is your chance to shine Look like you&039;re going to pull your pants off at any second We want the readers to pant when they look at you!"
Claude&039;s portfolio of shots would be used when he entered the Mr Romance competition, orchestrated each year by Roazine
When he&039;d shared his aathered they&039;d met at a party), Al had advised Claude to have some pictures made with the sort of woman that often appeared on the cover of romance novels; he&039;d told the fairy that Claude&039;s dark looks would be set off by a blue-eyed blonde I happened to be the only boso to help him for free Of course, Claude knew some strippers ould have done it, but they expected to be paid With his usual tact, Claude had told rapher&039;s studio Claude could have kept these details to hi out my friend&039;s brother - but in typical Claude fashion, he shared
"Okay, Claude, now off with the shirt," Alfred called
Claude was used to being asked to take off his clothes He had a broad, hairless chest with impressive musculature, so he looked very nice indeed without his shirt I was un," Alfred reminded me, and I told myself that this was a job Al and Maria-Star were certainly professional and iet cooler than Claude But I wasn&039;t used to pulling my skirt up in front of people, and it felt pretty personal towhen I wore shorts and never raised a blush, so skirt was a little more loaded with sexuality I clenchedit at intervals so it would stay in position
"Miss Stackhouse, you have to look like you&039;re enjoying this," Al said He peered at me from around his camera, his forehead creased in a definitely unhappy way
I tried not to sulk I&039;d told Claude I&039;d do hily I raised h was parallel with the floor, and pointed raceful position I put both hands on Claude&039;s naked shoulders and looked up at him His skin felt war
"You look bored, Miss Stackhouse," Alfred said "You&039;re supposed to look like you want to jump his bones Maria-Star, make her look more more" Maria darted over to push the little puff sleeves farther down lad the bodice was tight
The fact of the , and I still wouldn&039;t want hirumpy and he had bad manners Even if he&039;d been hetero, he wouldn&039;t have been my cup of tea - after I&039;d had ten minutes&039; conversation with him
Like Claude earlier, I&039;d have to resort to fantasy
I thought of Bill the vampire, er Bill was dating another woman, had been for a feeeks
Okay, what about Eric, Bill&039;s boss, the for? Eric the vampire had shared my house and er Eric knew a secret I wanted to keep hidden for the rest of h, since he&039;d had amnesia when he&039;d stayed at my place, he wasn&039;t aware it was in his memory somewhere
A few other faces popped into my mind - my boss, Sao there, thinking about your boss naked is bad Okay, Alcide Herveaux? Nope, that was a no-go, especially since I was in the coirlfriend Okay, I was clean out of fantasy material and would have to fall back on one of my old fictional favorites
But movie stars seemed bland after the supernatural world I&039;d inhabited since Bill came into Merlotte&039;s The last reh, had involvedBut even under the circus deep inside me twitch I remembered how Quinn&039;s bald head had moved while he cleanedwar
"That&039;ll do," Alfred said, and began snapping away Claude put his hand on in to treain, a ive it some support That helped considerably, but it wasn&039;t a bit erotic
"Now some bed shots," Al said, just when I&039;d decided I couldn&039;t stand it any more
"No," Claude and I said in chorus