“What about you?” she wondered.
“I work on my family’s farm,” I replied. “My brothers and sisters and I are the third generation of farmers on that land.”
“Sounds like a lot of work.”
I shrugged. “It is, but I’m used to it. Besides, it’s not like I’m shaping the minds of America’s future like you are,” I offered.
There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation on her part when she shot back, “No, but you’re feeding their bellies. It’s hard to learn when you’re hungry.”
I hadn’t ever looked at it like that. Obviously, I knew that the work we did on our farm was important in making sure our community had good, quality food to eat. But hearing Adele stress the importance of having not just someone there to teach the kids but also feed them felt good.
“I guess you’re right,” I agreed.
Adele looked around at our surroundings. I was content to just watch her as she did that because well, she was very nice to look at.
After some time passed, she brought her eyes back to mine. “So, what do you think we should do?” she asked.
Tipping my head to the side, I replied, “What should we do about what?”
“Well, I’m assuming Anna wants this photo session to go well,” she started. “And you’ve got a bet to win with your brothers.”
“Right?”
“I’m the kind of girl who always likes to help people. That’s precisely the reason why my friend signed me up for this. She thinks that I’m always so busy helping others that I don’t do anything for myself,” she clarified. “So, I’m asking if you know what we need to do to make it so that I can feel like I’ve helped not only Anna but you, too.”
I looked away and thought for a moment. There were a million answers I could give to her; yet, there was only one that seemed best.
“For this shoot, we should do our best to pretend we’re in a relationship and madly in love,” I declared.
She nodded and asked, “You know what that means, right?”
I shook my head.
“You’re going to have to make me laugh, and you’re probably going to have to kiss me,” she said.
If I woke up from this dream right now, I wasn’t going to be happy. It was getting better by the minute.
“Laughing and kissing,” I semi-repeated. “None of the other dares I’ve ever been given have resulted in that. I’m feeling a bit lucky now.”
A bright, shining smile lit up Adele’s face. Seeing it, I had to struggle to remind myself to keep breathing.
Not even a minute later, Anna returned. “How are we feeling?” she asked. “Do we have enough of a comfortable vibe going that we can get started with some staged shots?”
“Great,” Adele replied.
“Absolutely,” I responded at the same time.
Anna grinned.
“Awesome. Alright, since we’ve got this amazing backdrop over there, I just want to grab some shots of the two of you from behind. Basically, I’ll just want your back to me. You guys do whatever feels best. If you’re not comfortable with any of my cues, just say so and we’ll try something else.”
At Anna’s request, I stood from the blanket and held a hand out to Adele to help her up. We moved to the edge of the bluff and stared out at the view.
“It’s gorgeous here,” Adele said.
I reached my hand out, linked my fingers with hers, and looked at her as I agreed, “Yeah, it is.”
Adele turned her head in my direction and smiled brightly at me. “You’re being sweet,” she said softly.
“Just telling the truth,” I assured her.
The two of us directed our attention back out to the view. The leaves on the trees that covered the rolling hills and jagged mountains in the distance had started to change. It wasn’t something that I typically got caught up in, but I could imagine that it’d make for great pictures.
After a few moments passed, I warned Adele, “I’m going to help Anna out here and put my arm around you.”
Adele giggled. “Okay.”
It was so nice to hear the change in her from the moment we were first introduced until now. I liked knowing that she had been justifiably cautious when she arrived but was now quickly loosening up.
I let go of Adele’s hand, lifted my arm, and curled it around her back to her opposite shoulder. Doing that left her with no choice but to shift her body closer to mine.
“Why are you laughing at me?” I asked.
She tipped her head back onto my arm, looked up at me, and replied, “I just thought it was funny that you blamed wanting to put your arm around me on your need to help Anna.”
“Would you have been alright with it if I hadn’t used that as my excuse?”
A devious grin spread across her face as she cocked her eyebrow. “You’ll never know.”
So she was beautiful, sweet, and playful.
This woman was getting better and better with each second that passed.
“Alright, I see how it is,” I responded.
Adele bit the corner of her bottom lip nervously.
My eyes dropped to it briefly. If she continued to do things like this, I was going to find myself having a hard time getting through this photo shoot without wanting to rip her clothes off her sweet little body.
“Can you turn and face one another?” Anna called out.
Adele was visibly startled, but quickly recovered and turned in my arms. Her hands slid up my chest and over my shoulders.
“Okay, Adele, can you take a half a step closer to Riggs?” Anna called out.
Adele did as she was asked, but we ended up even closer than that half a step because I took one toward her as well.
“Riggs, can you drop your right hand to Adele’s hip?”
Yes. Yes, I could definitely do that.
My hand fell to her hip as I cocked an eyebrow at her. “My, my, how the tables have turned,” I teased quietly.
Adele threw her head back laughing. I couldn’t help but watch, completely riveted to just how beautiful she looked and sounded.
Some time passed before Anna moved closer and shared, “You two are naturals.”
“We’re dedicated to your cause,” Adele revealed.
“Whatever it is, I love it.”
For the next hour, Adele and I followed Anna’s instructions as she took what felt like a million photos of us. As time went on, we grew more and more comfortable with one another and eventually got to a point where Anna no longer needed to tell us what to do. Adele and I just seemed to figure it out on our own as we went along. Through it all, there was a ton of laughter and playfulness between us. Most of all, there was explosive chemistry. I didn’t know anything about photography, but I believed that our connection would only make the pictures that much better.
Throughout the shoot, there had been several instances where I’d gotten extraordinarily close to kissing Adele but hadn’t actually done it. Just as I was ready to lean that half an inch closer to her lips to kiss her, Anna would say something, and I’d miss the shot.
“We’ve done a lot of sweet and playful shots,” Anna started. “I’d really love to get a few that are a bit more intimate. Are you both cool with that?”