Free Femme Fatale by Cindy Dees

of her head. She’d sunk to her neck in the water, again, and was flapping her hands back and forth frantically to keep the water around her breasts moving briskly. Obscuring the view, she hoped. She was such a gigantic chicken!
    “What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.
    “The vast majority of porn films aren’t sexy. They’re fake. And just nasty. If you’re going to rock your love scene, porn won’t cut it for research. And no male prostitutes for you—too much risk of an STD.”
    A slow smile spread across her face.
    “Don’t smile at me like I’m some knight in shining armor,” he ordered. “I already told you once I’m not that guy. I have a few conditions for this research project of yours if I’m going to participate.”
    She nodded solemnly. “Name your terms.”
    “This has to be just business. Nothing personal.”
    “Sex is pretty personal, Blake.”
    “I mean no emotional involvement. Friends with benefits. Not a whole relationship with commitment and fights and emotional drama. You don’t need any of those, and neither do I.”
    He was right, of course. But a little piece of her heart rebelled at ruling out a real relationship with him. Still, she was the one who’d propositioned him. This was an educational exchange. Not true love. “Anything else?” she asked.
    “One more thing—it has to stay strictly secret between us. Nobody, and I mean nobody , can find out about this.”
    That suited her just fine. The last thing she needed was for anyone to find out she was taking sex lessons from a consultant on her film. “Deal.”
    The night sky and the stars and glow of the pool stood silent sentinel around them, disturbed only by the faint whapping of the pool filter door swinging back and forth.
    “Do you have any idea how naturally beautiful you are?” he asked quietly. “Not too many women look so good with no make-up and wet hair.”
    She smiled. It was sweet of him to say something nice to her. “You don’t have to go to all the trouble of romancing me, Blake. If you want to skip the whole foreplay thing and get straight to the sex, that’s okay with me.”
    He shoved back from the wall, drenching her in water. She came up coughing and batting water out of her eyes.
    “What the hell was that?” she demanded.
    “That was me reconsidering this whole thing,” he snapped. “I’m not a gigolo, and you’re not some cheap slut. If that’s what you expect from great sex then maybe you are better off watching your porn films.”
    She gulped, panicked. “Please, Blake. I’m sorry. I already told you I don’t know what I’m doing. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”
    He sighed and glided close once more. He pushed the hair off her face gently. “How about you let me be in charge and call the shots, then?”
    She nodded, afraid to say something stupid and screw things up.
    “Relax, Liv. We’ve got all the time in the world, and I’m not going to leap on you and ravish you.” He reached out with both hands to massage her shoulders, his thumbs digging into just the right spot to make her groan with pleasure. “What time’s your call tomorrow?”
    “Late afternoon. We’re night shooting.”
    “Perfect.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “Because you’re not going to get much sleep tonight, darlin’.”
    She gasped as her blood fired like a gunshot through her veins. His arms went around her, one across her shoulders and one scooping down under her knees. He cradled her in his arms and waded across the chest-deep pool to the wide steps. He carried her out of the water and they dripped across the patio.
    “You’re cold,” he murmured.
    Was he kidding? She was burning up in his arms. She was so elated this was going to happen, that she was going to find out what it was like to have decent sex with someone who knew what he was doing, she could hardly keep from squee-ing aloud. To heck with research. She wanted him .
    “Into the shower with you,” he announced. “I don’t