Submission

Chapter 45

 Lorelei was quiet as she stood behind Mateo. She had been expecting it to be a room full of people, but instead, it was just her, Jody, Mateo, and a stylist named Ivy. Jody was wearing red lacey lingerie that was hidden under a silk robe. She had a black collar around her throat. Her dark hair was in big curls and pinned up. She did multiple poses in front of a white background under multiple lights.

Jody finished posing and ran toward Mateo. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. Lorelei followed them to where Mateo's laptop was set up on a table. They looked through all the photos that Mateo took. Jody turned to look at Lorelei with a wide smile.

"Your turn," she said.

"Excuse me?" Lorelei asked.

"Trust me, you'll love it."

Lorelei laughed and shook her head.

"No," she said, "No way."

Jody stuck her lip out in a pout. Lorelei shook her head again. There was no way that she was getting in front of that camera.

"Come on," Jody said. "It will be for Jesse. Give him something sexy for when he gets out of jail."

Jail.

Lorelei hated hearing that word. It caused her chest to ache even more. She would cry, but she did not think that she had any more tears left.

"Jesse and I don't send photos," Lorelei said.

"Trust me," Jody said. "He loves photos."

Lorelei tried her best not to cringe. She did not want to think about Jesse's phone having been full of seductive photos of Jody. She took another look at Jody and was intimidated by her looks and perfect figure. She knew that if she did pose, her photos would never come out as good as Jody's pictures.

She had to think of an excuse to get out of this.

"I have nothing to wear," she said.

Lorelei pulled on the neckline of her sweater.

"I'm prepared," Jody said. "I brought a couple of outfits."

"We aren't the same size," Lorelei said.

"Lexi bought them and never wore them."

"My hair is a mess and I didn't bring any make-up."

"That's why Ivy is still here."

Lorelei let out a huff of breath. Getting out of this was harder than she anticipated. Jody's pout had turned into a smile. Her hands were clasped in front of her chest.

"Please," she said. "Jesse will love it."

"I don't do porn," Lorelei said.

"It's not porn," Mateo said. "It's boudoir."

He was leaning against the table and smirking. Lorelei chewed on her lip.

"What's the difference?" Lorelei asked.

"Porn degrades women," Mateo said. "This is empowering."

Lorelei crossed her arms. Her eyes darted over to the white background. She felt like she was the reason that Jesse was in jail. If she had told Jesse that Bryan was a cop, he may have never punched him. Maybe if she stayed by his side, her encounter with Bryan would have never happened at all. She thought that this could be a way to apologize, especially if he loved photos. It was an apology he would not get until she recognized Jesse as the Jesse that she had fallen in love with.

"One photo," Lorelei said. "That's it."

Jody squealed and clapped her hands.

"Then we better make it a good one," she said.

Jody dragged Lorelei over to the mirror. Lorelei sat down and Ivy brushed her hair. She wondered how Ivy would manage to hide the bags under her eyes.

Jody disappeared for a few minutes before coming back. Ivy was putting curls into Lorelei's hair.

"You have two choices," Jody said.

She held out two sets of lingerie. Lorelei's eyes went wide. They were skimpier than she hoped they would be.

"These are my options?" she asked.

"Yes," Jody said. "Now, pick one."

The set in her left hand was purple and black. The lingerie in her right hand was yellow and red. Lorelei almost laughed when she looked at it. Those were the safe words Jesse had taught her.

"The one on the right," Lorelei said.

"I'm surprised," Jody said. "I had you as a black lace kind of girl."

Lorelei's heart pounded as Ivy finished curling her hair and doing her make-up. Jody stayed beside them, jabbering about how much fun Lorelei would have posing. Lorelei bit on the inside of her cheeks and focused on her breathing to try and calm her racing heart.

Jody handed her the lingerie and ushered Lorelei over to a partition to change behind. Her hands were shaky as she put on the revealing outfit. She looked down at herself and shook her head. She poked her head out from behind the partition.

"I can't do this," Lorelei said. "I'm uncomfortable showing this much skin."

Jody undid her robe and slid it down her arms.

"Wear this," she said, handing the robe over to Lorelei.

Lorelei's hand reached out, but she hesitated and did not grab the robe. Jody gave her a soft smile.

"It's okay to be nervous," she said. "I almost threw up before my first shoot. Trust me, you'll have a lot of fun. If you don't want to do this, you don't have to."

Lorelei squeezed her eyes shut. She imagined Jesse smiling when he saw her picture. He may even get hard from the sight, and that thought turned Lorelei on.

"Just one picture," Jody said. "You can do this."

Lorelei let go of the breath that she had been holding onto. She took the robe out from Jody's hands. She slipped it on. The silky material was soft against her skin. Jody was much shorter than Lorelei, so the robe still exposed the bottom of her ass. She gained a bit of confidence when she loosely did up the belt to hide her stomach.

She stepped around the partition and Jody was standing there. She clapped her hands when she saw Lorelei. She grabbed Lorelei's wrist and pulled her over to the white background.

Mateo had his camera in his hands and smirked when he saw Lorelei. It made her feel uneasy, so she averted his gaze. She touched the chain around her neck and it made her think of Jesse. She was doing this for him.

She was mad at him, but she could not deny her feelings. She loved him and felt comforted by him. She tried to remind herself that he was trying to protect her. He saw Bryan kissing her and tried to save her. She wished that all he did was pull Bryan off of her. If he never threw that punch he wouldn't be locked up in a cell.

"Kitten, help Lorelei out," Mateo said.

Jody positioned Lorelei's body into what Lorelei assumed was a sultry pose but she felt ridiculous. She was glad that she agreed to only one picture. Jody rearranged Lorelei's hair so that it fell perfectly over her shoulder. Lorelei held the pose as Jody took a step behind Mateo. She winked.

"Only one," Lorelei said.

"Only one," Mateo repeated. "Ready?"

Lorelei gave her head a slight nod, afraid to ruin the pose that Jody had put her in. Mateo held the camera up to his eye. There was a click and a flash. Lorelei stood straight and stepped forward.

"Wait," Mateo said. "That came out really good. Are you sure you don't want to do more?"

"Positive," Lorelei said.

"But you could -" Mateo started.

"Sweetheart," Jody cut him off. "We promised her only one."

Lorelei nodded before hurrying back behind the partition to put on her jeans and sweater.

She really hoped that Jody would not make her regret doing that.