A week later, after swearing on her favorite mirrorless camera to both Ford and Meridian that she would absolutely never have Meridian in Ford's bedroom for her photographs, Ford had begrudgingly consented to letting his cousin and his girlfriend use his guest bedroom for the photoshoot. The natural light in there was perfect.
Ford told Callie to text him when they were finished. He was going to hide out on the other side of the ranch just to avoid any possibility of ever seeing his cousin in any state of undress. Giggling at his utter disgust that morning, Callie continued to snap photos of the light in the bedroom in order to figure out where to best position the cameras for the shoot.
This was the first photoshoot she'd done in three years that wouldn't involve an animal who was more appalled by the entire experience than Callie always was. A knock sounded on the door right at ten o'clock. Callie told herself to chill out. She didn't need to gush to Meridian about how much she appreciated the opportunity to do this again.
Flinging open Ford's front door, she beamed. "Hey. Good. You're here. Are you excited? I'm excited," came out in rapid-fire succession. She clamped her mouth shut and grimaced. "Sorry. It's just been a long time since I've gotten to take pictures I really wanted to take, and I really appreciate this."
Meridian gave her a hesitant nod. "Maybe switch to decaf."
"Probably a good idea."
"Okay, so...how do I do this exactly? Ford's not here, right?" She walked into the kitchen scanning the house as she went.
"Nope. He said he was going down to Jace's house. Honestly, I don't really remember which one Jace is, but I know he's one of the cousins."
Laughing at that, Meridian rolled her eyes. "Yeah, the Holders are nothing if not fertile. I swear there are times I forget half of them, and they're my cousins."
Pleased that Meridian was already comfortable with her, Callie gestured to the guest bedroom. "Typically, when I do boudoir shots, I try to get an idea of what the model wants out of the pictures. If they're a gift for someone, I can tailor the photos for that purpose. If there's something specific you want to see, I'll make that happen."
Meridian considered that for a moment. "Can I do like a combo of things? I liked what you said about connecting women to their beauty, so I'd like to see how you do that. And then maybe a few I could use to make a few men drool. I wouldn't mind a few revenge kind of photos either." She gave Callie a smirk that she was certain Meridian used in the courtroom when she knew she'd won the case.
A revenge shoot wasn’t really Callie’s preference, but she’d make it work. "I can do all of that. Let's see what you packed to wear, and we can go from there." She gestured to the duffel bag in Meridian's hand.
Remembering everything Apio had taught her, Callie worked Meridian through several kinds of photos. They brought out the feathers and pearls, the black leather, and then a few that had an edge of vindictive to them. Meridian seemed pleased with what she saw on the screen of Callie's camera when she flipped back through a few.
When they were finishing up, Meridian smiled at Callie. "I know people are running their mouths about you and Ford, but honest to god I never thought I'd see the man smile again after Meritt dragged him down the aisle. Now, that's all he does. So, for what it's worth, thanks for making one of my favorite cousins happy again. And I'll adamantly deny it if you ever tell him I said that."
"I promise I'll never tell him, but thank you for saying that. I know it's been fast, but your family has been so great. I have no idea how anyone could hurt Ford the way Meritt did. I've never even spoken to her, and I really want to bitch-slap her. I'm normally anti-violence."
"Oh honey, trust me, slapping her would be the least of what I'd like to do to her. I was too young back when it was all happening to realize she was lying to him about the baby, but even when I was ten I knew she was fifty gallons of trouble in a ten-gallon drum."
"I think Meritt being trouble might be why he's so protective of me. Maybe he’s worried about her being mean or something."
Meridian gave her a genuine smile that stretched the width of her face. "That's not why he's so protective. His protectiveness is in his blood, but bitches don't change their stripes. For twenty years, he was constantly waiting to see what stunt she was going to pull next. That's probably a hard thing to quit doing. But you don't seem like the kind of woman who would ever hurt him. Just give him a chance to really get over all the shit she piled him in."
"I promise I'm not rushing him into anything. I'm happy just the way things are."
"Yeah, well, don't let him rush you into anything either. I swear that Holder brand he's got on his arm might as well be on his brain. Wanting to do the right thing even when it's wrong is how he got in deep with Meritt."
Once Meridian had gone, Callie got to work on her surprise for Ford. She moved the tripods and her camera remote to Ford's bedroom, stripped off her own clothes, and grabbed a quick shot of the smirk she was sporting. She wanted to prove to him how much she loved him, and this level of intimacy was even deeper than the amazing sex they shared. She knew he would see that in the photos.
Ford leaned down to stare into his open refrigerator. He grinned when Callie traced her hands over his ass and then pinched him. Standing, he raised an eyebrow and shook his head at her. "You're gonna get yourself into all kinds of trouble, sugar."
Unfettered delight glimmered in those gorgeous eyes of hers. "I'm hoping."
He slammed the refrigerator door shut. "I was going to offer to fix you supper, but something tells me you might be hungry for something else."
"I'm hungry for both. Plus, I have a surprise for you."
Wondering what she was up to, he took her hands and jerked her into his chest. "You don't need to get me surprises. I have you. I don't need anything else."
Her grin expanded against his chest. "I wanted to get you this. It didn't cost me money or anything. I promise. I am kinda hungry, though. Can we have supper and then I give you your surprise, and then if you like the surprise it might lead to other things?"
Assuming she'd gotten some kind of naughty lingerie to wear for him, Ford tried to think of the fastest possible thing he could make for them to eat. Cereal? No, that probably didn't count as real supper. Plus, he was starving. He had to figure out how to have some patience, but damn it felt like he'd spent more than half his life waiting on her. Now that she was here, all of his ability to wait for anything at all was gone. "Sure, baby. What do you want?"
"Will you make me one of those burgers you made the other night? Those were so good. I've been thinking about them for days."
Chuckling at that, he pulled a pack of meat out of the fridge and created patties like he was being paid by the burger. "How'd it go with Meridian today?" He sure as hell didn't want to hear about his cousin getting boudoir shots, but Callie had been buzzing most of the evening. She must've had fun taking them.
"It was so great to not be taking pictures of dogs in costumes."
"Come again?"
Callie giggled. "I like it when you say that to me in bed."
"I'll say it again later, but repeat what you just said. Something about dogs in costumes?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much what I did in LA. I used to take pictures of all of Derrick's mom's friends’ dogs in awful costumes that the dogs hated. It was terrible, but it paid okay. Plus, his mom wasn't a fan of me taking boudoir shoots. She was okay with me doing weddings as long as it was for the daughters and sons of her friends. I did one on my own, and she got all upset because she didn't like the aunt of the bride. There are all these weird rules out there about who you can talk to and be friends with. Tori only wanted me to be seen with the right people. It's like a whole different planet sometimes. But Meridian was great. I think she's trying to get back at some guy. She asked me to take a few photos she planned to use to make a point."
"Jack Decker," Ford supplied as he flipped the patties on his griddle.
Callie's eyes expanded with her excitement. "Ohhhh, who is Jack Decker?"
"The district attorney for Holder County. He beat her out for the seat, and she's still pissed."
"I thought she was the DA?"
"She's a deputy district attorney. Jack's several years older than her, and people around here get a little uneasy when they think our family holds too many county seats. But none of that matters to Meridian. Girl's got bigger balls than most of the rest of us combined, but never tell any of them I said that. She's a hellcat on fire most of the time. She needs to simmer down, but I'm sure as hell not going to tell her that."
Ford loved to watch Callie when she was fascinated. She did this adorable thing with her mouth where she kind of twisted it to one side, and her eyes held all of the wildfire he loved about her. "But even if she's mad at this Jack guy that doesn't mean she'd let him see the photos I took unless they've already slept together, don't you think?"
Trying not to shudder at that, he shrugged. "I do not keep up with all of Meridian's conquests. I don't ever even think about them. Keeping her out of trouble is Maddox and Canaan's job. But I've been in the room when she and Jack were both there. I've seen more than one prairie fire get away from the ranchers doing the burning, and all of those fires were more containable than the two of them. If they ever do get together, the whole damn state might go up in flames."
Callie seemed delighted with his assessment. "Meridian's hair does kind of look like fire."
"Yeah, well, God knew what he was doing, I s’pose. Girl got a double helping of stubborn and spiteful."
"Can I give you your present now?"
Just like always, his baby jumped to the next subject in a flash. Yet another thing he loved about her. That mind of hers was fascinating.
"I wish you would," he informed her as he laid the patties on the buns and started chopping onions.
She gnawed on that lip while she disappeared to his bedroom. He set the plates on the counter and located the spicy ketchup they both liked.
When she returned looking three parts terrified and one part ashamed, he abandoned their supper. "What's wrong, baby?" He eased the even stack of four by six paper from her hands. It took him a moment to realize they were pictures.
The first was a full-length shot of her standing by the window in his bedroom. She was wearing a sheer robe that showed far more than it concealed. His heart pounded out its adamant approval. "Damn," choked from his throat. "You're so fucking beautiful."
The next photo was her laid out on the bed completely naked. His cock swelled to a standing ovation, and his mouth went dry. "So goddamn beautiful," were the only words that he could produce. "I can't believe you did this for me." His eyes took in every square inch of her pale smooth skin. Those California tan lines were almost completely faded, but they created a stunning frame for her tits and her pussy.
"Do you like them?" she whispered.
"Like them?" He managed to take his eyes off of the photos and forced them to hers. "Baby, these are incredible. I love them. I love you." There weren't words. There weren't any words at all that could adequately describe what this meant to him. He was going to have to show her with his body. But something about the next photo—with her on her side and her right leg covering that wet haven that he needed to fit himself to—somehow managed to stop time. He swore the whole fucking world stopped spinning as his mind screeched to a halt somewhere between delight and panic.
If he hadn't been so incredibly addicted to her body, so intimately aware of her every curve and hollow, he never would've noticed how swollen her breasts appeared cast in the shadows of the dimly lit photos, or how her hips were just a little wider. Her soft sweet belly might've even been just a touch swollen as well. Maybe he was just imagining that part. Maybe he'd seen it in his mind's eye so many times, wished for it, prayed for it, that he was lost somewhere in that hunger. But her hips and her tits, there were definite differences there. He knew. He was staring at the evidence.
Glancing back at her, he debated how to proceed. Did she know? Surely if he knew, then she did. Maybe. Was this how she wanted to tell him? Callie, his sweet precious baby girl who never managed to keep things from anyone, couldn't possibly have kept this from him. Could she? She said everything that came into her head. He stared at her intently. If she wanted to tell him this, he needed her to say the words. "These are stunning, baby. How are you feeling?"
That question knitted her forehead. "I'm fine now. I was just kind of a little bit intimidated to show these to you because I've never done shots of myself. It's good that I did this though. It gives me a lot of empathy for my clients. It's a way bigger deal than I ever imagined it being. I was having a really good boob day, and still I was so judgey about my body. I wanted to give them to you, and I didn't want to all at the same time."
"So, you managed to connect your beauty to yourself this time." He set the photos on the counter and cradled her gently to his chest. She had no idea. My god. She didn't know, and he did. How often did that happen?
"Thank you for saying that." She squeezed him hard enough to make it difficult to breathe, but he sure as fuck wasn't complaining.
He planted a kiss on top of her head. All of the patience he'd been so certain he'd lost since he'd met her returned tenfold. He'd wait. He'd let her tell him whenever she realized it and was ready. His mind tallied out a list of things he needed to do before she finally understood what had happened. He needed to make a trip to Tulsa. He needed a ring. Part of him wanted her to have the ring before she realized that they were going to have a baby.
"Uh," he cleared his throat, "let's eat, okay? And then I'll show you how much I love this and just how much I love you."
She gave him a quick nod. "Perfect. I'm starving."