Picture Perfect Read Free

course, of course, but how would you -- both of you -- like to earn an extra thousand today on top of the five hundred dollar modeling fee?” She looked between the two of us, an excited expression on her face. “I can see it now -- light and dark, slender and muscular -- a study in contrasts. The two of you would be perfect together -- just exactly what we need.”

    “I really don’t have any experience --” Kurt started, but I sidled up beside him and elbowed him fiercely in the ribs. “Ouch!” He frowned at me, and I smiled sweetly back.

    “We’ll take it,” I said. The money was suddenly secondary -- this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to work with an acknowledged genius in my field, and I was not going to pass it up.

    “Perfect!” Lisa was really excited now. “We won’t have to reschedule. Wonderful -- follow me, we don’t have a moment to lose.”

    “I’m not really up for this,” Kurt grumbled under his breath as we headed into the big echoing space inside the warehouse. There were some screens set up in one corner and a set surrounded by lights on tripods at the far end. A few technicians were fiddling with the equipment, but all in all, it was a pretty empty set as far as I could see.

    “For fifteen hundred dollars, you can fake it,” I told him. “Don’t blow this for me, Kurt. That’s Lisa McKenzie . I may never get a chance like this again. No, I know I’ll never get a chance like this again.”

    “She’s that famous, huh?” He looked at the back of Lisa’s messy ponytail with grudging respect.

    “She’s a genius,” I said. “Most models would give their left arm to work with her.”

    “Fine.” He sighed. “But she better not ask me to wear anything weird.”

    “Don’t worry; I’m sure she’ll ask you nicely if they want you to take off your clothes,” I said, laughing at the worried look on his face. Before he had a chance to reply, a tech was handing us both some paperwork and pens.

    “Now here are the contracts -- pretty standard, really,” Lisa said briskly. “Just sign in triplicate and initial at the bottom, and we’ll get you to wardrobe.”

    Kurt wanted to read over the whole damn thing, but I could see that Lisa was in a hurry so I nudged him impatiently. “Hurry up and let’s get going -- I’ve signed a hundred of these, and they’re all the same.”

    “Fine. Don’t blame me if we’re signing our lives away,” he growled. With a sigh of irritation, he initialed and handed the paperwork to the waiting tech.

    Lisa nodded and smiled. “Come with me.”

    We followed her behind the folding screens where two fluffy terrycloth robes hung from a coat rack. I looked around, wondering where the costumes they wanted us to wear were, but there was nothing but the robes to be seen.

    “All right, Kurt, Melanie,” Lisa said, smiling at us both. “I want you out of your clothes, into the robes, and out on the set in five. We’re going to start with some more general placement shots, but we have a lot to get through today and I’m hoping to get some close-up work done too.”

    Kurt and I looked at each other. “Uh, out of our clothes?” he asked uncertainly. “As in, all of our clothes?”

    She nodded. “Of course.”

    He shifted uneasily. “Well, but don’t you have something else you want us to put on instead? Some kind of costume?”

    Lisa began to look annoyed. “No -- just the robes. Put them on and come out as I asked, please.” The last please sounded forced, and it was obvious that she was getting irritated.

    “We’ll be there,” I chirped, giving her my most winning smile. Kurt opened his mouth to protest, and I shook my head at him. The minute she left, though, he had plenty to say.

    “Mel, what the hell is this about? You said it was just an exercise book.”

    “It is -- I think.”

    “You think?” He frowned. “Well, what if you think wrong? And why do they want us naked except for those robes?”

    “I don’t