Chapter Two - Out of the Past

About one week before the events of Chapter One

The startling phone call had come in from her publicist just a few days before. "Why the hell didn't you tell me you had nude pictures floating around out there?" He had screamed into her ear.

"Well, hello to you too, Adam. Now that we've gotten the pleasantries out of the way, do you mind telling me what you are talking about?" Kassia shifted her cell phone to her other ear and continued sorting through the paint samples her decorator had sent her for her living room.

"Nudes! Of you! On the cover of The Enquirer." He shouted, not stopping to take a breath.

"That's ridiculous," she had scoffed. "I've never posed for nude pictures in my life..."

Kassia'svoice trailed off as her mind wandered back to a different time...

Kassia stirred lazily in her sleep and a satisfied smile came to her lips as she felt his lips brushing over her bare shoulder. She loved the feel of his rough morning stubble against her bare skin. Followed by the heat of his breath and the whisper kiss of his soft lips. She opened her eyes and turned to face him, allowing her lips to experience the same pleasure as the shoulder he had been kissing had just encountered.

"Did I wake you?" Danny teased, as their lips parted after a long, sexy kiss. She murmured something unintelligible and then buried her face in his neck, softly kissing her way down until she came to rest on his strong, broad chest. She happily laid her head against that chest and he stroked the long strands of her hair. Oh, the things she did to every one of his senses.

"I can't believe that we actually have an entire day off together. I don't have to be at the theater until six o'clock and you have no more boring case files to pour over." she finally said, smoothing her cheek against his skin. They had celebrated Danny's graduation from law school the night before and he promised to take at least one day off before he resumed studying for his bar exam. "It would be terrible to waste all of it...not that I consider this anything close to being a waste." She traced small circles in the smattering of hair on his chest as he mimicked her movements with the hand that had come to rest on the small of her back. "Shall we go riding? Maybe take a picnic out by the river?" She loved it when he took her for a ride on his motorcycle. She felt so alive. Just the two of them...the wind whipping through her hair, her arms wrapped tightly around him as they explored the beauty of New York City

"Actually, I have a different idea." Danny paused for a moment before continuing with, "I want to take your picture."

Kassia smiled and teased, "Should I dress up in one of those old timey Victorian dresses? With at least 8 layers of material and ten times as many little buttons." The next image that came into her head made her laugh out loud. "Or maybe as a wild woman of the amazon. I could tangle some leaves in my hair and wear one of those barely there animal skins..."

"I was thinking more along the lines of you not being dressed at all." His words were slow and quiet, but their intent was quite clear. "To inspire me while you're in L.A."

Her hand stilled on his chest and it took her a moment to look up at him. When she did, the question and uncertainty in her eyes was mixed with a certain excitement. It wasn't that she was afraid to pose for him. Or that she was ashamed of her body. She always felt so beautiful when she was with Danny, no matter what she was wearing. "I..."

It was if he sensed her hesitation and the reasons behind it. Danny's face immediately softened and he stroked her cheek. The look on his face and the tone in his voice as he said, "Trust me." eased any fears she may have had.

She was right to trust him. Posing for him made her feel more like a woman than she ever had before. When he stood above her on the bed to photograph her entangled in his sheets, she felt sexy and romantic. But that was nothing compared to the sex appeal that surged through her when she posed in one of Danny's shirts...and a funky fedora hat that had belonged to his father. The feel of his crisp cotton shirt against her bare skin and the musky scent of him did things to her that she thought only his touch could. He loved the way she smiled seductively at him and casually shook her hair back free of her face, her femininity a perfect contrast to the masculine outfit. With each pose, she released any inhibitions she may have had about posing nude.

He chuckled at her as she blew bubbles at him from the tub, breaking through the intense look on his face as he combined his two passions...photography and her. And he in turn sent erotic shivers down her spine when he brushed her hair off her shoulder and re-positioned her breast so that they were just barely covered by her forearms as she posed on the rug in front of his fireplace.

"You, my dear, are a natural. Are you sure you haven't done this before?" he asked, coming up behind her and sliding his hands around her waist as she stirred the pasta sauce she was cooking on the stove. He nuzzled his face into her hair, brushing it aside with his lips until they found their intended target...her neck. He loved the way she looked in his shirt.

"Kassia! The pictures! Where the hell did they come from?" Adam's booming voice dragged her back to the reality of the situation at hand.

"They were never supposed to be seen." She whispered. What the hell was going on? Her mind was racing.

Her relationship with Danny had been over for years. She had left Danny and New York a few weeks after their "photo session" to accept a small role in a blockbuster movie, with every intent on coming back when it was over. But fate had intervened. The director had been impressed by her work and mentioned her to Steven Spielberg, who was in the middle of casting for his new film. Spielberg called, Kassia accepted, and the rest of the story was the stuff Hollywood movies were made of. Kassia's beauty and talent, showcased in a Spielberg masterpiece, caused her to become an overnight sensation and the offers for film roles kept rolling in. She rose up through the acting ranks faster than anyone had imagined and became Hollywood's new "IT" girl. Because of her sudden fame, Kassia was constantly shuffling around from movie set to movie set and her trips home to New York, and Danny, became fewer and farther between. Feeling neglected, Danny finally walked away from their year long romance.

Despite their break-up, Kassia couldn't imagine that he harbored any hard feelings toward her. He knew when they met that her dream was to conquer Hollywood some day and that chance had suddenly fallen into her lap. He had said that he understood.

So, how could he have done this to her? They were the only two people in this world who knew those pictures existed. And he had been adamant about keeping their relationship a secret so that it wouldn't interfere with the integrity he was trying to build in his career with the F.B.I. She never dreamed that he would sell them to a tabloid. He wasn't like that.

Had she been so wrong about him? No. She couldn't have possibly been that wrong about him.

"Who took them?" Adam demanded and Kassia hesitated for a moment, not sure what to do. "Kassia, dammit! I can't fix this if you don't tell me the truth! Let me do my job!" He was really angry now, but Kassia was on the verge of tears. She had guarded her privacy so closely throughout her career and now he was telling her that she was half naked on the cover of a tabloid.

Her home phone began to ring at that moment and Kassia knew instantly that the publicity nightmare was about to begin. "Hang on, Adam. My other line is ringing."

She ran over to where the phone was ringing next to the sofa as he yelled into her ear, "Don't answer it! It's going to be the press. Don't you dare answer that phone before I get a chance to do some damage control." Kassia only half heard him as she looked down at the number that was flashing at her from her caller ID box.

"Adam, I have to take this call. I'll call you back."

TBC...