JENNIE

My mother can't see this right now and that's a really good thing. She would freak. I'd made it to Mino's show tonight because I told him I'd be here and I know how important it is for him. It's important for me too. I only want the best for my friend just like he does for me. In the past three years Mino has been right there to console me, drink with me, commiserate with me, and even to help me pay my rent upon occasion by giving me work. Well, that and the fact he shot the photograph on the canvas I'm staring at right now. And it's a picture of my nude body.

Posing as a nude model isn't something I dreamed of doing for my life's work or anything, but it is a way to make some extra money in between student loans. And lately I'd been getting offers from other photographers. Mino said to be prepared for more interest too, because of this show tonight. People will inquire about the model. It's a given, Jennie. That's my Mino, always the optimist.

I sipped my champagne and studied the really huge image hanging on the gallery wall. Mino had talent. For a child of Somali refugees who started with less than nothing in the UK, he knew how to configure a picture. He'd posed me on my back with my head turned to the side, my arm over my breasts and my hand flared between my legs. He'd wanted my hair splayed out and my pussy covered. I'd worn a string thong for the shot but you couldn't see it. Nothing showed that would classify my image as porn. The proper term is artistic nude photography anyway. My stuff was shot tastefully or I didn't do it. Well, I certainly hoped my pictures didn't get onto any porn sites, but who could know for sure these days. I didn't do porn. I hardly did sex.

"There's my girl!" Mino's big arms wrapped around my shoulders and he rested his chin on top of my head. "It's smashing isn't it? And you have the most beautiful feet of any woman on the planet."

"Everything you do looks good, Mino, even my feet." I turned around and faced him. "So, you sell anything yet? Let me rephrase. How many have you sold?"

"Three so far and I think this one's going very soon." Mino winked. "Don't be obvious but see the tall cutie in the grey suit, black hair, speaking with Carole Andersen? She's inquired. Seems she's quite taken by your gorgeous naked self. Probably going to go for a good palm session soon as she can get the canvas all to herself. How's that make you feel, Jennie luv? Some rich toff pulling her pud to the sight of your unearthly beauty."

"Shut up." I rolled my eyes at him. "That's just nasty. Don't tell me things like that or I'll have to stop taking jobs." I tilted my head and shook it. "It's a damn good thing I love you, Mino Song." Mino could say the crassest thing and manage to make it come out proper and refined. Must be his British accent. Hell, even Ozzy Osbourne sounded proper at times thanks to that accent.

"It's true though," Mino said, placing a kiss on my cheek, "and you know it. That chap hasn't stopped eyeballing you since you glided in here."

I gaped at Mino. "Good to know, thank you, Mino, for the update. And I don't glide!"

He grinned at me in that wicked, boyish way of his. "Believe me, if she was I would've offered to blow him in the back room by now. She's off the charts hot."

"You're going to hell, you know that don't you?" I looked over casually and checked out the buyer. Mino was right about her; she oozed hotness from the leather soles of her Ferragamos to the tips of her wavy dark hair. About six foot three, confident, rich. I couldn't tell about her eyes because she was talking to the owner of the gallery. About my picture maybe? Hard to say, but didn't matter anyway. Even if she did buy it, I'd never see her again.

"I'm right huh?" Mino saw me looking and nudged me in the ribs.

"About the jerking off? No possible way, Mino!" I shook my head slowly. "She's way too beautiful to have to resort to her hand for an orgasm."

And then that beautiful one turned and looked at me. Her eyes burned across the room almost as if she'd heard what I'd just said to Mino. But that was impossible. Wasn't it? She kept staring and I finally had to look down. There was no way I could compete with the level of intensity, or whatever the hell was coming at me from where she stood. The urge to flee kicked in immediately. Safety first.

I gulped another swig from my champagne and drained it. "I need to go now. And the show is brilliant." I hugged my friend. "And you will be famous the world over," I told him, grinning. "In about fifty more years!"

Mino laughed behind me as I headed for the door. "Call me, my lovely!"

I waved a hand without turning and stepped out. The street was busy for London on a weeknight. The upcoming Olympic Games had turned the city into an absolute cluster of humanity though. It could be years before I got a cab. Should I risk the walk to the closest Underground station? I glanced down at my heels which looked great paired with my dress, but were seriously lacking in the walking comfort department. And if I took the Tube, I'd still have to hoof it another couple blocks to my flat in the dark. Mom would say no of course. But then again, Mom was not here in London. Mom was home in San Francisco where I didn't want to be. Screw this. I started walking.

"It's a very bad idea, Jennie. Don't risk it. Let me give you a ride."

I froze on the street. I knew who spoke to me without ever hearing her voice before. I turned slowly to face the same eyes that had burned me back at the gallery. "I don't know you at all," I told her.

She smiled, her lip turning up more. She pointed to her car at the curb, a sleek black Range Rover HSE. The kind that only Brits with money can ever afford. Not that she didn't reek of money before, but she was way out of my league.

I swallowed hard in my throat. Those eyes of her were brown, very brown and deep. "Yet you call me by name and—and expect me to get in a car with you? Are you crazy?"

She walked toward me and extended her hand. "Lisa Manoban."

I stared at her hand, so finely elegant with the white cuff framing the grey sleeve of her designer jacket. "How do you even know my name?"

"I just bought a work entitled Jennie's Repose from the Andersen Gallery for a nice sum not fifteen minutes ago. And I'm fairly sure I'm not mentally impaired. Sounds more PC than crazy don't you think?" She kept her hand out.

I met her hand and she took mine. Oh did she ever. Or maybe I'd lost my mind shaking hands with the stranger who'd just purchased a huge canvas of my naked body. Lisa possessed a firm grip. And hot too. Had I imagined she pulled me a little closer toward her? Or maybe I was the crazy one, because my feet hadn't moved an inch. Those brown eyes were nearer to me than they were a moment ago though, and I could smell her cologne. Something so gawd awfully delicious it was sinful to smell that good and be human.

"Jennie Kim," I said.

She let go of my hand. "And now we know each other," she said, pointing first at me and then to herself, "Jennie, Lisa." She motioned with her head toward her Rover. "Now will you let me take you home?"

I swallowed again. "Why do you care so much?"

"Because I don't want anything to happen to you? Because those heels look lovely at the end of your legs but will be hell to walk in? Because it's dangerous for a woman alone at night in the city?" Her eyes flicked over me. "Especially one as beautiful as you." That mouth of her turned up just slightly on the one side again. "So many reasons, Miss Kim."

"What if you're not safe?" she raised an eyebrow at me. "I still don't know you or anything about you, or if Lisa Manoban is your real name." Did she just give me a look?

"You have a point in that. And it's one I can rectify easily." She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a drivers license with the name, Lalisa Pranpriya Manoban clearly printed. She handed me a business card with the same name and Manoban Security International, Ltd. engraved on the cream cardstock. "You may keep that." She grinned again. "I'm very busy at my job, Miss Kim. I have absolutely no time for a hobby as a serial killer, I promise you."

I laughed. "Good one, Ms. Manoban." I put her card in my purse. "All right. You can give me a ride." Her brow shot up again, and I got the sideways grin again too.

I winced inwardly at the double entendre for 'ride' and tried to focus on how uncomfortable my shoes really would be for walking to the Tube station and that it was a good idea to let her drive me.

She pressed her hand to the bottom of my back and led me to the curb. "In you go." Lisa got me settled and then walked around to the street side and slid behind the wheel, smooth as a panther. She looked at me and tilted her head. "And where does Miss Kim live?"

"Nelson Square in Southwark."

She frowned but then turned her face away and pulled out into traffic. "You are foreigner."

What, she didn't like foreigners? "I am here on scholarship at the University of London. Graduate program," I tacked on, wondering why I felt the need to tell her anything at all about myself.

"And the modeling?"

The second she asked the question the sexual tension thickened. I paused before answering. I knew exactly what she was doing—imagining me in my picture. Naked. And as weird as it felt, I opened my mouth and told her. "Um, I—I posed for my friend, the photographer, Mino Song. He asked and it helps pay the bills, you know?"

"Not really, but I love the portrait of you, Miss Kim." She kept her eyes on the road.

I felt myself stiffen at her comment. Who in the hell was she to judge what I do to support myself?

"Well, my own personal international corporation never came through like yours did, Ms. Manoban. I resorted to modeling. I like sleeping in a bed as opposed to a park bench. And heat. The winters here suck!" Even I could hear the snark in my voice.

"In my experience I've found many things here that suck." She turned and gave me an expert brown-eyed stare.

How she'd said 'suck' got my blood tingling in a way that left no doubts about my skills in fantasy being sound. I might not get a ton of practical experience between the sheets, but my fantasies don't suffer one iota from lack of use.

"Well we agree on something then." I brought my fingers to my forehead and rubbed. The image of Lisa's cock and the word 'suck' in the same little space in my brain was a little much at the moment.

"Headache?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

We slowed for a stoplight and she looked over at me, her eyes traveling from my lap back up to my face in a slow, measured pace. "Merely a guess. No dinner, just the champagne you gulped back at the gallery, and now it's late and your body is putting up a protest." She lifted her eyebrow yet again. "How'd I do?"

I swallowed hard, desperately wishing for water. Bingo, Ms. Manoban. You read me like a cheap comic book. Whoever you are, you're good.

"I just need two aspirin and some water and I'll be fine."

She shook her head at me. "When did you last eat some food, Jennie?"

"So we're back to first names again?"

She gave me a tolerant look but I could tell she was pissed.

"I had a late breakfast, okay? I'll make something when I get home." I looked out the window. The light must have changed because we started moving again. The only sounds were of her body shifting as she turned the corner. And it was way too sexy of a sound to keep my eyes averted for long. I chanced a peek. In profile, Lisa had a rather prominent nose but on her it didn't matter, she was still beautiful.

Ignoring me now, acting as if I wasn't sitting two feet from her, she efficiently drove us. Lisa seemed to know her way around London because she didn't ask me for directions once. I could still smell her though, and the scent did things to my head. I really needed to get out of this car.

She made a rude noise and pulled into a strip mall. "Stay here; I'll be just a minute." Her voice sounded a little edgy. A lot more than a little, actually. Everything was edgy with her. And commanding. Like she told you what to do and you didn't dare argue.

The warmth of the car and the coziness of the leather seat felt nice underneath the thin skirt I'd worn tonight. Lisa was right about one thing, I would have died on my walk to the Tube. Here I sat in the car of a virtual stranger, who'd seen me naked, bullied me into taking a ride, and now coming out of the convenience store with a bag in her hand and a grim look on her face. This whole situation was weirder than weird.

"What did you need to get in the store—"

She shoved a bottle of water into my hand and opened a single packet of Advil. I took both without a word. She watched me gulp down the pills. The water was gone in under a minute. She set a protein bar on my knee.

"Now eat it." Her voice had that don't-fuck-with-me tone again. "Please," she added.

I sighed and opened the white chocolate Power Bar. The crinkle of the wrapper filled the silence in the car. I took a bite and chewed slowly. It tasted divine. I had needed what she'd brought me. Desperately.

"Thank you," I whispered, feeling suddenly emotional, the urge to cry bubbling up fiercely. I held it down as best I could. I kept my head down too.

"My pleasure," she said softly, "everyone needs the basics, Jennie. Food, water…a bed."

A bed. The sexual tension was back, or maybe it never left. Lisa seemed blessed with the talent to make the most innocent word sound like hot, sweaty, mind-blowing sex you remembered for a long, long time. She sat beside me and didn't back the car out until I'd finished the last of the protein bar.

"What's your actual street address?" she asked.

"41 Franklin Crossing."

Lisa took us out of the strip mall lot and headed back onto the street, bringing me closer to my flat with every revolution of the tires. I leaned into the soft leather and closed my eyes. My phone vibrated in my purse. I fished it out and saw there'd been a text from Mino.

Mino Song: u home ok?

end text message

I shot back a quick 'yup' and closed my eyes again. I could feel my headache begin to slip away. I felt more relaxed than I'd been in hours. Exhaustion wore out I suppose, because I would have never allowed myself the indulgence of falling asleep in Lisa Manoban's car if I could possibly help it.