Read Online Clifftop Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Cassidy Browning - Free Book Online Page B

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    Allie found herself feeling a little embarrassed by his prudishness, even though she had felt similarly herself. His scowl made her want to sit down next to Jane and be supportive. She discovered that she was actually feeling envious of the older woman for being unashamed to show them the images of her body. Allie couldn’t imagine doing it herself. She had been squeamish about looking at her own pictures even when she had been young and thin. Now she looked down at herself. She wasn’t fat, exactly, but she was much curvier than she had been at eighteen. Maybe in the fifties she would have been considered attractive, she thought glumly. Now any woman over a size two was conditioned to think of themselves as overweight. It was a shame, but that was reality.
    Brad seemed to be asking Charlie about some technical aspect of the pictures when Allie heard the screen door close and footsteps come toward them through the kitchen. Her first feeling was a sense of relief. Karl was coming in. Maybe now they could change the subject and she could start dinner. She would happily feed all of them if they would just stop talking about erotic photography.
    “Isn’t that the same technique you used with Allie’s pictures?” Jane asked suddenly.
    The world stopped. Allie had just looked up to see Karl standing in the doorway. Jane’s words didn’t register in Allie’s brain for a second, until she saw the look of surprise on Karl’s face, suddenly riveted on the group huddled around the camera.
    Charlie had been opening his mouth to say something, but stopped, although he didn’t close his mouth. His eyes were on Brad, who was moving in slow motion to transfer his gaze from Charlie to Jane.
    Nobody spoke for a few seconds. Allie’s chest tightened, and she didn’t seem to be able to draw a breath. She simply stared at Brad, waiting for him to ask the inevitable question. Her brain buzzed frantically, trying to think of a way to make Jane’s comment apply to anything other than what it was obviously about.
    Jane had slapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and horrified, turned up to him. There was no way that wasn’t going to look suspicious, Allie thought. Even if she had been able to come up with some other explanation, Jane’s reaction made it very clear what she’d meant.
    With Jane’s action, everyone unfroze. Brad blinked at her then turned to Allie. “Your pictures?” he asked calmly, as if he had expected all along to find out that his girlfriend had been a Playboy Bunny.
    Allie gaped at him, completely at a loss. Her mouth opened, but no words would come out. They stared at each other until Charlie walked over to Brad and put a hand on his shoulder.
    “I understand that this is coming as a shock to you—” Charlie had begun when Brad spun around and punched him solidly in the nose. The photographer went stumbling backward, one hand instinctively going to his face, the other reaching behind to catch himself.
    He hit the wall and slid down it, blood beginning to ooze from under his fingers. Allie turned and ran for a rag, vaguely aware of Karl moving out of her way as she flew past him into the kitchen.
    When she came back with a bag of ice and a couple of dishcloths, Charlie was sitting at the table, his head tilted back and a blood-covered handkerchief over part of his face. Jane was cooing over him like a mother hen. There was no sign of Brad or Karl.
    “Guess he didn’t take that so well,” Charlie said lightly, exchanging his soaked handkerchief for her dishtowel. “Thanks.”
    “Where did they go?” Allie asked, wrapping the other towel around the ice bag and offering it to the wounded man.
    Jane answered her, fluttering around Charlie but not actually doing anything to help. “Brad said he was going out for a walk, and Karl went after him. He said something about talking some sense into him. Allie, I’m so sorry. I can’t tell you how terrible I feel about this. After I was the one who