Page 24 of Hard Wood Daddy

What if I need to take Frida to see the vet? Or if I run out of money for food? What if I have to go asking Rutger for help, and I hear that same tone of disgust from him too?

He can’t know I’m a leech. I can’t lose him like that.

Better to earn my keep.

I make one last effort to get Lindsay and Phil to retract the offer. I wheedle. “I know you’ve got more nude models. Phil, didn’t you do it once?”

“Sure,” he says. “But there’s only a few of us. Me, Gerry, Shelley. We do what we can but…” He shrugs, and I think about them modeling. Phil is kind of short and stocky, Gerry’s older and wiry, like he’s made from beef jerky. Shelley’s pretty, but thin with tiny boobs and no butt. Apparently, that doesn’t make for such great studying. “You’re not like anyone else,” he says. “We could learn so much getting a chance to draw you.”

“You’ve got an amazing, unique figure,” Lindsay agrees. She clasps her hands together in a begging pose, with a grin. “Please get naked? I’ll even attend the session myself. It’s in my own time, so the university won’t care.”

I can feel this is a pivotal moment. I want to say no. Ishouldsay no. At the very least, I should check with the man who just gave me an orgasm with his mouth whether he’s comfortable with the idea.

But…

Well, as Lindsay begs, and Phil makes encouraging eyes at me, I’m more aware that I’m a fake than ever. The real Francesca is out there somewhere, and maybe she just got the wrong dayto start or something. I kind of hope that’s the case, or that she changed her mind, because otherwise where is she?

This whole gig is a house of cards, and if I make any sudden movements my curvy ass is likely to knock the table and send the whole thing crashing to the floor.

If I was really a model, who apparently sent photographs of my Rubenesque figure as some sort of audition, would I really be so bashful about baring everything for a few hours’ actual paid work?

No, I would not. And the truth is, I need to save up as much money as I can before someone figures out I’m not who I’m claiming to be.

“Yeah, okay,” I say.

A huge crash from outside interrupts the conversation.

We bolt out the door to find another tree has fallen over.

A big one.

This one didn’t land on anything, but the roots stick up in the air taller than the light post it almost took out. They’re like mangled, bony arms. A mess of dead branches are strewn around the area by the pond where they usually do plein air.

About forty of the retreat goers stand around in little clusters looking and pointing and shaking their heads. I’m the only one looking into the forest beyond, looking for a sign of what I expect to find: Rutger, furious, shoving the tree over with bare hands, with the power of his rage whistling like steam out of his ears.

A flash of his massive form retreats into the forest with a long shadow cast onto the surrounding trees where the sun breaks through their branches.

I don’t like people looking at what’s mine.

My heart thrills in the back of my throat.

“Everyone okay?” Lindsay scans the little groups on a pinched-lipped exhale. “We’ll get this tree removed quick as possible. I’ll get Rutger to cut it up and haul it away.” She turnsto me with a lighter smile and a tick of her cheek upward. “So, you’re in, Tess? You’ll do the nude class?”

“Sure.” I nod, scratching my cheek, hoping I’m not going to get anyone killed by taking my clothes off. “I’ll do it.”

Chapter 6

Rutger

I’m running out of time.

I stand in my cabin, staring at the lease on my table, willing myself to be able to read it. Not just the names. The whole thing.

Some “development company” has been knocking. They say they’re going to cut down all the trees and build tall buildings. Things I swore to my grandparents that I would never let anybody do. But I don’t know how to stop them. Apparently, I can either sell them my land and have enough money to live comfortably the rest of my life, or they can just take it through the courts somehow.

Taxes, they say. Always the damn taxes.

I went with my grandfather many times to the building in town with the big columns and the musty smell.

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