A Man on an Island Ch. 01

He thought he knew what she had in mind and did his best.

Emma looked up from the viewfinder, "Jesus ..."

She ducked back to grab the shot.

Emma tried to imitate his earlier tone. "I don't have rippling muscles", she said rolling her eyes, "You need to book an eye exam. What the hell do you call that, Cale?"

She chuckled, "Honestly..."

"Ok, now Cale," she looked around for something a bit heavy and grabbed her gear bag to bring it to him, "pick that up with one hand and hold it for a second. "Oh yeah, perfect."

They decided on pizza for dinner instead, after Cale signed another release for her. "Who are they?" Emma asked. He looked at her quizzically as he buttoned up his shirt.

"The girl on your arm, and the one on your chest, "she said, "They must have some significance to be important enough to rate being there."

Cale shrugged, "The one on my arm is just artwork that I liked and asked my guy to do. The one on my chest is the same, nobody that exists in real life, but that one has some significance to me, though I don't know if you'd understand it."

Emma reached over and undid the buttons again. He hadn't tucked the shirt back in, so when she had the buttons undone, she opened the shirt wide to look. There was a nude woman with her back to the viewer, and there were bloody grooves from her fingernails in several places around her, as though she had torn into his chest and she was tearing new ones with a half-look over her shoulder. "I'm not sure, "she said.

"The wounds are over my heart, "he said, "Any husband and father would understand."

Emma looked up at his face, "And you are both, I assume."

"No and yes, "he said, "in that order. I was married once a long time ago. She got tired of me pretty quick, but not quick enough, I guess. We had a daughter."

Emma opened his shirt again, "I get it now. That's a pretty powerful indictment."

Cale shook his head, "It's not supposed to be an indictment. It's more of an acknowledgement of the role. I don't really care if my ex-wife is dead or alive anymore. The pain of that wore out a long time ago. After making a lot of legal noise, I was allowed strict visitation rights to my girl. Of course, her mother did her best to poison the relationship, but I always tried as hard as I could, and I think Samantha knows it somewhere inside her.

I always made time go to any school events that I could find out about, and made time for her on the rare occasions when I'd get a chance to talk to her. Now that she's all grown up, I don't have to pay anymore, but she still texts me to give me tiny glimpses of her life -- and she's usually also asking for money at the same time. I'm struggling with it. I'm pretty sure that the first time that I say 'no', will be the end of that relationship, too." He pointed to his chest, "So these wounds are about all I have."

Emma looked at him. His haunted look was there on his face again. Now that she had some insight, she felt some of his sadness as well, "You should ask to meet her alone. You know, maybe try to clarify the relationship, clear the air -- find out where you stand. Then you'd know."

He shook his head, "I've thought about it often, Emma. I'd love to do that, but I don't dare." He looked down for a moment, and it was too much for her. She stood up and stepped over to him, before hugging his head to her chest. "If there's anything I can do to help with it Cale, I'd want to know about it, ok?" He nodded just as the doorbell rang.

As they ate, Emma tried to clarify what she wanted from the homestead shoot, as she'd come to call it, "Ok, imagine that you've just gotten the property that the old place is on, and you've decided to fix it up to live in. You'd be doing a ton of physical work around the place, right?"

He nodded, and she went on, "So, let's also assume that you had this woman who loves you, and she's looking out the window, or she's on her way out to hand you a drink. I want to get shots of the things that she'd see -- her gorgeous man working. I'd want to reach female viewers who could picture it automatically as though each of them was that woman, and she'd say "Yeah. And he's mine." The shots will stand on their own as I see them, but for those viewers, I'm aiming at that look -- that significance."

Cale smiled, "I think you're aiming at a pretty small audience, but I get it."

"You'd be surprised, Cale."

He watched as she edited a few of the ones that they'd just done, and she posted them to her gallery on only one site. Within minutes, she had very favourable comments, and Emma turned to him with a grin, "And it's been only ten minutes."

He was amazed. She smiled at him, "It doesn't matter what, a woman's heart is still a woman's heart. I don't think that there are that many who wouldn't get the romantic idea. The romance of it should still get across."

Over the next few days, they planned the shoot and what to bring.

--------------------

A week later, they were at the old homestead as the sun rose to light the little plain. Cale had a few tools and implements in the truck, and he looked at the tall grass. "I should have thought of it, Emma. This grass has to go. It'll get in the way."

He found an old scythe, and took it to his truck. He reached in, and came out with a file. Emma grabbed some shots of him sharpening the ancient blade. "I just hope the handle stands up to this, "he said.

In twenty minutes, he was sweating. He took off his shirt as he continued to clear the tall grass. "All right! "Emma crowed.

Cale almost fell over laughing, but he was game and kept at it. Emma went nuts with her camera, asking him to hold a pose now and then, and sometimes just shooting. He stopped for a smoke, and she still went on shooting. She stopped, and ran to the stream, returning with her travel mug full of water to wet him carefully. He winced at the coldness of it, but he stood it with a rueful smile. Ten minutes later, he said that he had to pee, and Emma watched as he walked off a little ways.

"Stop!" she shouted, as she ran to him.

"What do you mean, 'stop'?" he asked.

When she reached him, she reached around to undo the button on his jeans, "Just hold still, and hold your pee, "she said as she tugged his pants down a tiny bit lower on his hips before stepping back away from him. "Ok," she said, "Go for it."

He was incredulous. "Go for what?" he asked, "I don't really want pictures of me relieving my bladder on any website, Emma."

"I'm not going to do that," Emma replied, "I just want it to be clear that the guy's taking a minute here for this. The woman would know anyway, and it wouldn't bother her. Just pee, Cale, before you break something."

Cale rolled his eyes, but by then he was past feeling shy since he now really had to go. Emma grabbed as many shots as she could. Cale just managed to keep his expression neutral as she stepped to where she could see his front. "Do your pants up really slowly, "Emma said, "I need to get shots from both sides of you here." She ran back and forth as he complied. When she was done, he turned to her.

"What the hell was that, Emma? You must have taken thirty shots of me having a piss."

She shrugged, "Wouldn't your woman see you do that if she were here? I thought real men had to pee every once in a while."

He was exasperated, but had no reply.

As she worked, Emma had new ideas for shots constantly. She got shots of him hammering, using a pickaxe, some with an adze while standing on an old beam as if he were squaring it -- everything that she could think of. Suddenly she stopped. Cale turned to her, "What's wrong?"

"I just had some really great ideas, but I'd need another model, a woman. I had some thoughts about her coming to you to get you to stop for a while."

He cocked his head, "How do you mean?"

She smiled shyly, "Well, if I was that mystery woman, watching her man work, I know that I'd get a few slightly naughty ideas. Since this place is a bit remote, I think she'd maybe want a little loving from you. I wasn't thinking of porn, necessarily, but I'd like to give the impression that she'd talked you into stopping for a little while for a bit of fun out here."

She looked down at herself, "Crap, I should have brought a dress along. I could get a couple of you lying down, just partly in the frame, with my own legs showing lying next to you."

Cale stared at Emma as she undid her own jeans and began to pull them off, "Emma, this grass that I've cut down isn't just grass. There were a few pretty stiff stalks here. If you want us to lie down, it might get uncomfortable pretty quickly."

"That's ok, Cale, "she replied, "I've only got you and this place for today, and there's no time for anything else. The more I think of those shots, the more I want them. Are you ok with this?"

He stood looking at her, naked from the waist down, "How could I not be? You're beautiful. It's gonna be a bit of uncomfortable for me, but ..."

She grinned at him, "It's all in the name of art, Cale." She giggled as he pulled off his pants.

"I keep trying to tell myself that," he muttered.

She found a spot to lie down, and as he got next to her, she urged him right against her, "Pretend that we're married or whatever, and we're still so much in love with each other. You know we'd be right up against each other, it wouldn't be a thought to us then."

"Emma, "he said, "it's all well and good that this is a simulation for you so that you can get your shots, but my equipment doesn't understand the concept of your being my friend or that you have no interest in it. All it knows is that there's a naked woman against me, and -- "

Emma saw the problem. "Yeah, um ..." she rolled over a bit to be able to get her leg over him in just the spot to hide his hardness, while still leaving no doubt in the viewfinder. She took several shots. As she shifted, her thigh brushed his penis, and he groaned involuntarily.

Cale was mortified, "Sorry, Emma."

She looked at him, "I'm sorry to do this to you, Cale. I know that you're attracted to me. Can you just put up with it for a little longer? I'm really not being evil here, I know that this must be tough for you." She kissed him quickly to express her thanks.

He groaned again, "Part of me wants to ask you not to do that again, and part of me wants to beg you to never stop."

Emma did her best to position them in some tasteful poses that would give the impression of a pair of people who were no longer really young, but had loved each other for a long time, and who were still deeply in love. She knew that she was probably going to have to discard a ton of these, but she was hopeful that there would be a couple that would make this all worthwhile.

Then she thought about it. She was enjoying this with him. She knew he would have wanted more, but that was out of the question. And she made sure to keep it out of the question in her own mind.

Finally, she used the hood of the truck to hold her camera. She took off her top. "This ought to cool you down some. Now, I want to get one of me with my head against your chest, or collarbone, it looks like it's going to be. I'll hold onto you, and you embrace me. I don't want much of our faces in this, just edges and sides, and closed eyes are a must, ok?"

He was perplexed, "Emma, what ought to cool me down?"

She snorted with a self-depreciating laugh, "Look, Cale. I don't have any tits. I just never grew any. You have more than I do." She set the camera's timer and stepped back to hold onto him.

Cale looked down at the top of her head, "Emma, "he whispered, "I'm in love with your breasts. This really doesn't make it any easier at all." Her eyes opened, and the camera shutter tripped. She let go of him to reset it, "What do you mean?"

Cale shook his head, "I don't know if I'm different or what, since I haven't made a study of asking. I look at the whole package, not just parts. I look at how everything fits together. Emma, they're perfect on you. You're gorgeous."

She studied his face. There was no lie there that she could discern. She came back to hold him again, and they held it until the shutter tripped. She looked up at him, "I believe that you mean that, Cale." She kissed his lips quickly, "Thank you for that."

Cale chuckled, "Nothin' to it, Em. It's the truth."

They tried several variations on the theme before she asked him to lift her onto the hood. "It's pretty warm up here, "she said as she hit the shutter to see if the angle would work, "Now let's try one where you're kissing the inside of my leg, just above my knee. Remember, we've been lovers for a long, long time, so try to give a look of familiarity."

Cale looked down, "You're killing me here, you know that? Move forward, Emma. As it is, I'll have to have the fender against my Adam's apple. That wouldn't be natural for this couple. She'd know it, and would move forward, since she's going to be at least a little hopeful that he'll work upward on her legs, right? And lean back a bit onto your hands."

Emma nodded, seeing that he was right. He leaned in and kissed her leg, and then began to lick it. Emma reset the camera timer, wanting to get this aspect as well. When the shutter had tripped, she was about to get off, but Cale turned his head to face her, and moving his head forward, he blew a gentle stream of air at her. Emma sighed, and he gently lifted her legs a bit before closing the distance to plant a light kiss on her mound. He didn't move away afterward, waiting for her to swat his head away.

Emma looked down, "No Cale, please don't." She watched his eyes look up at her sadly, and then she felt just the tip of his tongue enter her only a little for one soft lick before he pulled away to look back to the old farmhouse.

"I'm sorry, Emma. I just wanted to tell you something, that's all."

He felt her hand on his shoulder, and turned around. Her head was right there. "It's alright Cale, I know how you feel, and I also know that it makes this even harder for you. Thank you for what you did." She smiled.

He felt a bit better, "You know that the only line that will work here is for me to say 'what are friends for', right?"

She grinned shyly at him, "Come here." Emma lifted herself to scoot forward, closer to the edge.

"This might be one of the worst for you, but I think our couple would do this naturally. Step close to me, and put your cheek against my nipple, looking that way, but close your eyes, and I'll hold you." She spread her legs to let him get as close as he needed.

Cale exhaled, "Emma ... Christ."

They tried it once for fit, and then she needed three tries to get one that she liked.

"Ow." Cale said softly.

"What, Cale?"

He sighed , "I think I've just found a bit of rust under the wheel well here."

She was confused, "What? How ...?" She peeked down, "Oh... Ok, only one more. I'm so sorry, Cale. You're being such a good sport for doing this."

That third shot was better than what she'd hoped t o get. Even looking at the display on the hood of the truck in sunlight caught her breath.

She jumped down from the fender, "I just had another brain wave."

She had another of her ideas and, asking him to sit leaning back a bit and with a lot of jumping up to reset the camera timer, she managed one shot that knocked even her socks off. He was leaning back a little and she was lying on her front with her top half on him. They looked to be in an intimate conversation -- and yet not quite so intimate at the same time.

The whole thing really gave off such a feeling of a long-lasting love. Though there was none of it in the shot, what the viewer was left with was the solid impression that she'd either just fellated him or was about to, and they looked so in love without any sappiness or stupidity coming through at all.

"Drop the tailgate, I have one last idea, and then we'd better pack this in."

She set the camera on the tailgate, "Stand there, and face away from me." She walked around the camera as much as she could to see into the display, "Ok, this'll work. The angle won't let the viewer see, but will leave no doubt. Let's get our pants back on and come back here."

After Emma got him placed and checked the view from the camera, she stepped in front of him, and opened his jeans to pull them down. "Stand here, and don't move a muscle." She went to set the camera timer.

"What's moving isn't exactly a muscle. What the hell now?" he asked.

"Hold still now." she said as she ran back to him. "Just bear with me here, "she said softly as she dropped quickly to her knees, "Put your hands on my head as tenderly as you can and look down to the side with your eyes open or closed, it's up to you."

He touched her head, and then she clasped his buns softly and pressed her face to his manhood until the camera clicked. He opened his eyes and looked at her as he enjoyed the feel of her warm breath on him.

Emma hadn't moved. She stayed on her knees before him for over a minute. "Emma?"

He gasped as he felt her soft kiss against him. His penis swelled instantly, and she took it in her hand and leaned back to look at it for a few seconds before she kissed the head of it, and left it with a soft lick.

Standing up, she smiled at him, "I think I owed you that. Besides, I've never held one because I wanted to before."

Cale put his arms around her and kissed her full on the lips, being careful to kiss her softly. He hugged her to him, "Thank you, Emma. That was really nice." He made sure to hold her for only a few seconds longer before he suggested that they pack up. Emma readily agreed.

After getting everything packed away, they looked around for anything that they might have left behind. As they turned for the truck, Cale put his arm around her shoulders, "How about us two friends and pretend long-time lovers head into town, and I'll get us some lunch?"

She slipped her arm around his waist, "I'd like that very much."

"I'm going to be editing the shots from today for over a week. I've never taken so many in one shoot before. I'm so glad I brought all of my extra batteries and memory cards now."

After lunch in the village, they headed back onto the road for home, and Cale was surprised to find that she took his hand suddenly. He didn't say anything; he just gave Emma a quick look and a warm smile. He found that part of him was a little sad, and part was very happy.

It wasn't the relationship that he'd have wanted to have with Emma if he could have his wish, but it felt like a solid friendship to him now, and more, since they'd been a little bit intimate, and he was happy if it never went farther than that, as long as it stayed for a long while.

Emma was deep in thought. Her mind was bouncing between the hundreds of good shots that she'd gotten -- and she just knew that in that number there would be a lot of great ones. But there was something that kept jarring her thoughts every so often, and she knew what it was.

She was really, really getting into Cale. To her, he had seemed like another rock on the beach at first. But he sure was different, especially to a woman who normally didn't give much thought to men. She'd found that once she'd turned over that rock, and seen so many details underneath, she'd noticed another small stone under that, and it too held wonders underneath it. She wondered how many layers there were to him.

They got back to her apartment and he helped her unload. "Hey, can I hang around while you do your photographer thing? I'll order pizza. I won't get in your way; I'd just like to look over your shoulder now and then. I won't even say a word about the pix."

Emma had kind of hoped that he'd just go home, since she already felt a bit confused. But he put on such a little kid look that she found that there was no denying him, "I'll hold you to that, Cale. I can get pretty snippy while I'm going over things."