Page 20 of Picture Us

But as she moved past Drew and into the loft, Rose could have sworn she felt Drew’s eyes scan down her body, checking out her ass in the corduroy pants. And she couldn’t blame them; her ass looked fantastic.

As she set her bag down on the spotless work table, Rose flattened the flyaways she knew were frizzing at the top of her scalp.

Drew closed the door and looked at the cup in their hand. “I didn’t know you went to C&B.”

“I don’t.” Rose almost confessed the truth but settled for, “But I had a feeling you’d complain about Starbucks.”

“Gotta support local.” Drew cleared their throat as they sat across the table from Rose.

Rose ran her finger along the cardboard sleeve of her coffee cup. “Thanks for answering my email by the way. Ellen and Fin were happy to have some more pictures to select from.”

Drew nodded. “Yeah of course. We still have a long way to go.”

“Sure do.” Rose swallowed the lump that appeared in her throat when she looked in Drew’s golden eyes. The sunlight in the loft did them a lot of favors, accentuating… their sharp jaw… their plump lips… all of their features, really.

Slapping a hand on the table and making Rose jump, Drew asked, “Have you ever worked with film before?”

Rose shook her head, trying to slow her breathing and stop her eyes from wandering further than they already had.

“Cool,” Drew jolted out of their chair, “Let’s go into the dark room and get to work.”

Rose took a sip of her coffee, checking the time as she got up.

Drew narrowed their eyes at Rose. “I hope you don’t have other plans. It takes longer than Photoshop.”

Rolling her eyes, Rose groaned. “Do you even know how to run Photoshop on your computer, grandpa?” She gritted her teeth and stared back at Drew. “Besides, I like a challenge.”

A light chuckle rumbled from Drew’s throat as they walked to the curtain on the far side of the loft. Rose followed after them, trying not to look like she was rushing.

But the truth was, she was desperate to be as close to Drew as she could get.

Drew stood in front of the large machine against the wall of the dark room. They explained it was called an enlarger and was what projected a negative into a positive image that could be printed – with light – onto light sensitive paper.

“So, then you’ll want to place the photo paper directly underneath the image the enlarger projects down.” Drew slid a negative into a black clamp with a small rectangular hole at its center, then placed it delicately inside the enlarger.

Rose watched their every motion, carefully making note of how the machine worked. And not at all how Drew’s fingers moved or what they’d feel like inside Rose’s —

She shook her head as she moved a few feet away to a drawer where the photo paper was kept. As she lifted out the light-tight box, Drew lifted a finger. “Hold on. You’ve gotta make sure the image is aligned and focused first.”

Rose lowered her head and eyed Drew. “So… you have to reshoot the photo?”

Drew looked up from their work, a slight smirk lurking at the corner of their mouth. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Sounds like a lot of extra work.” It was easier for Rose to hide her blush here; the dim, red light provided easy cover for the pink in her cheeks.

With a flick of their hand, Drew summoned Rose closer. “Here, try to focus it and align the image with the photo clamp.”

Rose cleared her throat as she got closer to Drew, their cologne from the night before still lingering on their skin. Her throat tightened at the now familiar smell.. She squeezed her body between Drew and the enlarger, her ass grazing their hips as she moved past.

Drew leaned against the wall next to the enlarger, but didn’t step back.

Flipping the light switch at the base of the machine, Rose started focusing the image, using the small dials to adjust it into a crisp project on the photo clamp. She could feel Drew’s eyes on her, like an animal stalking its prey.

Or maybe they think I’m going to break their machine, Rose tried to convince herself. But unless she was hallucinating, Drew was clearly drawn to her. The same way she, despite how rude and ill-mannered they were, was drawn to Drew.

A part of her hoped she was wrong. If Drew dared look at her like they wanted to fuck her, she knew she wouldn’t be able to resist. But Rose also couldn’t deny that her clit was throbbing at the thought of Drew pushing her against the wall in the dark room and fucking her like she’d never been fucked before.

Just as Rose’s mind was getting carried away, the shot of Fin’s shocked face as Ellen proposed came into focus.

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