The Life (15 page)

When Viviana still didn’t respond, Anton shook his head and left her side. He gave a quick word to Rory, and both the bull and her husband disappeared back inside the lodge, leaving her alone with the photographer.

The woman cleared her throat and offered a wave as walked over to meet Viviana. “Hi, I’m Scarlett. It’s Viviana, right?”

Viviana offered her a tentative smile, but it didn’t ring true. “Or Vine, either one will work. I’m really sorry he dragged you all the way out here for nothing.”

Scarlett shrugged, keeping her face passive. “Maybe not for nothing. Can we chat frankly for a moment?” Viviana conceded with a nod. Scarlett leaned against the railing and looked out at the lake. “A lot of women freak out about maternity shots, especially if they’re in their final months. Things don’t look like they used to, they feel like crap, they’re nervous about being naked, or whatever else. All valid excuses, and I can usually calm the fears or edit the photo a little to boost a woman’s confidence. Can I ask what your excuses are?”

“Pardon?”
Viviana asked, shocked at the brazenness in the question. “I’m—”

“You’re quite beautiful,” Scarlett interrupted, turning back on Viviana with an appraising stare. “Stunning, actually, and it’s not a big surprise why your husband would want to have this time in your life and marriage memorialized for you both. Your skin is clear, your eyes are bright, you don’t look the least bit tired, and your body is extremely fit for being nearly eight months pregnant.
Tall, shapely, and model worthy. Trust that I’ve had the amazing opportunity to photograph many beautiful women before, pregnant or not, so I have some instinct about natural beauty.”

Stunned, Viviana didn’t know how to respond. “Why?”

“Why, what?”

“Why women?
Anton mentioned you preferred taking photographs of women or couples.”

Scarlett
smiled, the sight bright and genuine. “Women are beautiful at all stages of their life. They are grace in motion—magnificence in curves and color. I enjoy photographing women because they deserve to see their honest beauty, however it is that I manage to catch it.”

“And couples?” Viviana asked.

“Isn’t that one obvious?”

“I’m not the photographer.”

“True.” Scarlett laughed breezily. “Beyond the career title, I’m an artist. What I want most in life is to capture things that capture me. Affection, for one. Your husband was correct, to a point. I do prefer women
and
couples, but not just any couple.
Specific
couples. The ones your eyes are drawn to because they don’t notice the world around them when they’re near one another. The lovers who need to touch or they’re not complete.”

“The ones in love.”

“Exactly.” Scarlett smiled once more, lifting her shoulders beneath the cashmere cardigan she wore. She seemed pleased Viviana caught on so quickly. “I would be honored to capture yours, Vine, if you’ll let me.”

It was only then that Viviana noticed Anton had come back to the front door, resting against the entrance with his arms crossed and waiting patiently. She understood why he wanted her to do the photographs, and Viviana had the distinct feeling if she didn’t take Scarlett up on her offer, she would surely regret it.

Also, it was a pretty amazing gift Anton had given her. It couldn’t have been easy for him to set it up without her knowing, not to mention the expense. She had to admit it had her heart swelling, though her nerves were growing. She suddenly wanted to thank him for the surprise, despite her earlier hesitance.

With her decision made, Viviana nodded her agreement. “Did you have a spot in mind, Anton?”

“Of course, baby.”

*

Viviana sighed when Anton’s lips ghosted along the curve in her neck. The tips of her hair dipped into the water of the small creek that eventually led to the lake a half a mile away. She wore nothing but a pair of white lace boy-shorts and with her legs drawn up tight to his side, it probably appeared as if Anton was wearing nothing at all, though he did have boxer-briefs on.

Anton was kneeling between Viviana’s opened legs, and his chest pressed to hers, effectively covering the nakedness of her breasts. One of his hands held the small of her back while the other was splayed wide open to the side of her stomach. With a simple sweep of his thumb over her hyperaware flesh, Viviana’s desire waged an internal war, and love flooded.

It was intimate and sensual.

The faint click of a shutter in the background barely registered to her ears.

While Viviana’s private shoot was done without Anton’s presence, the photos being something she wanted to share privately with him, their couple session was almost as easy as breathing. Scarlett didn’t say much. She simply allowed the pair to do what they wanted, to move how they felt comfortable, and to let their natural connection and love shine through.

Apparently, it did just that.

Lifting his head to stare at her, Anton watched her through the honest emotions flickering behind his eyes. Viviana leaned up just enough to press her lips to the underside of his chin, raising her right hand from the ground to cover the one still opened to touch over the squirming movement coming from inside her midsection.

Another click of the shutter echoed in the quiet space.

Anton didn’t seem to mind the woman just feet away with her gaze trained on them through the lens of a camera. Neither did Viviana, really. Even with the other presence, their need to have closeness wasn’t in any way impacted. If anything, Viviana found she wanted these moments captured in still-life.

The perfection of them at one moment in time frozen forever.

“Thank you for doing this,” she whispered into Anton’s ear.

The feeling of his mouth curving a smile against her jaw as he ran his hand up the length of her spine had her own grin building. “I love you, Viviana.
So, so much. There’s not a thing I wouldn’t do to show you, baby.”

Viviana suddenly felt choked by the emotions rolling around in her heart and soul. The sentiments only seemed to swell as air caught in her throat and Anton brushed his nose along the line of her cheekbone before lifting himself slightly away from her form. Viviana was quick to use her arm to cover her breasts as he laid the softest kiss to the spot above her navel.

Viviana didn’t hear the click of the shutter that time, but that could have been because her thundering heartbeat overtook all other noise. Laying another kiss a little higher down to her skin, and then another, Anton came to a stop just below where her arm was still covering for the sake of modesty. He looked up from her body, his lips still resting on her flesh, and their stares met. Behind his gaze there was a sure clarity of worship shining brightly back.

Good God, she was so in love with this man. The feeling was growing stronger by the second. Viviana didn’t realize her vision had blurred with unshed tears until she felt the wetness slide down her cheek.

The camera’s shutter clicked down one last time.

Chapter Eleven

Anton swiped his thumbs under his wife’s eye to wipe away the silent flood of tears she couldn’t seem to stop. His rules about Viviana and tears were pretty simple: if she was crying, someone had made her do it, and it wouldn’t end well.

This was not at all the same. It wasn’t so simple.

Anton made her cry … and it was for a good thing.

At least he thought it was.

Sometimes being a man who made it his job to hide emotional vulnerabilities was a double-edged sword. What Anton didn’t understand from his own self, he could usually look to Viviana for an explanation. She was so reflective of him and their passionate waves together. Unfortunately, he knew exactly what he was feeling and why;
love, contentedness, desire, and worry. Those things always seemed to revolve in his insides where Viviana was concerned.

So, why the tears?

Anton didn’t like to see Viviana cry; tried like hell to keep her from doing so, no matter the cost. While he was terribly happy his gift of the impromptu maternity shoot had gone off so well with her, he was also horribly confused over her reaction at the end.

Mind fuck fit the bill pretty damned well.

Clearing his throat, Anton pulled Viviana into his embrace, hoping it’d quell her crying. Her hands fisted into the T-shirt he previously pulled on after Scarlett had said she got the shots she wanted. Viviana, on the other hand, still wore very little, though he had managed to pull the button down over her shaking shoulders.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

Viviana shook her head frantically, staring up with wide, brown eyes brimming with shimmering wetness. “Oh, no.
No
, you did so well. So good. I just realized … It was really overwhelming, and I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cry. Please don’t think badly. It’s nothing like that.”

Her words only served to confuse Anton further. “But—”

“Thank you for allowing me to photograph you,” Scarlett said quietly, keeping a respectable distance from the embracing couple. She’d been silent while she packed equipment, and Anton was grateful for her extending them privacy. “Especially together. It was incredibly touching to witness, and I believe your child is very lucky to be born to such an amazing set of parents who are so clearly in love.”

Wiping away the remaining streaks from her cheeks, Viviana took a breath and moved just enough to regard the photographer. “Thank you for coming, even with Anton’s demands about transportation and all that ridiculousness.”

He snorted above his wife’s head. “You know why I did that, baby.”

“Still ridiculous,” Viviana said.

Scarlett smiled, obviously amused by the exchange. “Believe it or not, but his request is not the oddest I’ve had. I was more than happy to accommodate it, though, and I’m pleased that I did. This shoot is one of the most emotional I’ve been allowed to participate in. Your reaction isn’t so unusual or uncommon—not with the couples I photograph—but I’ve never been able to catch it before. It usually happens when the session is over, or I am gone, and by then the moment is lost. Thank
you
for giving me that.”

“The pictures,” Anton said, surprised to find his voice was gruff from something unknown clanging around in his insides. He didn’t want to be rude, but the moments shared between him and Viviana on camera were not for public display.

The photographer seemed to understand what Anton was implying without him even needing to spell it out. “You will have full rights to all the photographs when I’m finished. Some people don’t mind displaying their intimacy while others find it very hard and too private. Either way, I respect and understand. I will keep the negatives and put them in a safe place for my own collection. With your permission, I would love to keep one for private display in my studio.”

“Which one?”
Anton asked.

Scarlett shrugged one shoulder. “I think you know which one.”

The final one
, he thought. The one with a single, silvery tear slipping down over the high cheekbone of his wife while their gazes were locked. Anton had been so confused about the tear, the way Viviana’s face had relaxed with the weight of some strange realization as the air seemed to freeze around them. Regarding him honestly, holding him with those eyes of hers that always reflected the beauty of an old soul, and humming with sweetened, untarnished love that always dripped over his being like liquid silk, that photo was sure to be beautiful.

And entirely terrifying
, Anton added silently.

It would, in effect, be a very open showcase of
them
.

Anton had never allowed anyone that private access to the love he had for Viviana.

So yes, it frightened him.

“I think any photo would be fine, right?” Viviana asked, staring up at him.

Anton didn’t know how to respond. He knew his wife didn’t see their love and devotion the same way he did—something untouchable and untainted that needed to be constantly protected and coveted from the outside world. She didn’t mind sharing it openly.

“Fine,” he repeated with a smile.

“Thank you,” Scarlett replied, winking at Viviana.

Raising
up on her toes, Viviana kissed Anton soundly before allowing him to help her pull her arms through the sleeves in the shirt and button up the front. The gentle movements of his son beneath his palms had Anton’s heart singing with a divine rhythm beating thoroughly from pure affection alone. He so loved feeling the child, knowing he helped create that innocent little life just waiting to be born.

“Yeah, we’re nearly done,
Demyan.”

“Shush your mouth. That’d be all we need is to go home and find out everybody somehow knows his name, Anton.”

Scarlett, already making the slow trek back to the lodge with her small bit of equipment, didn’t seem to hear Anton’s slip of his son’s name.

“All is good,” he murmured. “Besides, I was thinking about having it inked on my wrist when we went back.”

“But people might
see
.”

“Probably not,” Anton said with a wiry grin. “I tend to keep my arms covered up pretty well.”

“Not when you work out.”

Ah, she had a point there. “Never mind, we’ll talk about it later. For now, I have one more surprise for my wife.”

“Oh?” she asked, voice lighting up with curiosity and amusement. “You don’t have to give me anything.”

“Yes, I do.” Anton placed a quick peck to Viviana’s mouth to quiet her up and keep her from arguing further. “Do you know a lot of men give their wives something when the baby is born?
A gift for a gift, kind of thing?”

“Sure, but—”

“This is mine to you, Vine. You’re not going to want jewelry or some fancy new car to show off. I know that … I know
you
,” he added, enjoying the sight of her smile growing. “The only thing we really need is to be together. Yes, having you here helps if that sit down happens, and it’s a nice break for us both before the baby comes, but it’s still all for you. Quiet, love, breakfast in bed, and flowers on the floor in the morning. When do I ever get to do that stuff for you, really?”

Viviana didn’t seem to know what to say. Anton wasn’t exactly a romantic man, but his wife didn’t have a great deal of romantic notions, either. They simply didn’t need to because they hadn’t ever found a time when those things were needed to keep their feelings and desires alive between them. So, when he did get to bring her home flowers, or take her away like he had, it left a profound effect on them both. It happened not because feelings were fading, but because they wouldn’t ever let them.

Sighing, Anton reached up to cup Viviana’s cheek, swiping away a bit of moisture still left on her pretty skin. “Maybe this was the solution to a problem I was looking for. Trying to figure out why on earth this woman I love so much would keep things hidden that she knew were important to me; hating it when my wife felt she was undesirable and wouldn’t want to be loved; fighting with you. That’s not us, and I wanted to show you
us
again, baby.

“I didn’t have it planned, nor did I provoke you into an argument the night I brought you here, but that was the moment I figured it out,” Anton said with a shrug. “There was something going so wrong. We were linking up here and there but we weren’t connecting. It fucking sucked like nothing else and it was screwing me up something awful. You told me to say something, remember?”

Viviana swallowed roughly, but nodded all the same. “Yeah.”

“I don’t say things—I
do
. I can tell you a million and one times a day that I love you but it’s not going to be the same as when you let me show you.”

“Okay.”

Anton bit the inside of his cheek, surveying the expression his wife sported with clearer eyes. That look falling over her pretty face like a curtain dropping to hide the darkness from clouding up a window was the same one Scarlett had captured on her final shot. It was their vulnerability, her weakness, a strength he could understand, and above all else, a final wholeness.

Connection.

Love
.

The realization of why Viviana had started shedding those tears suddenly made a great deal of more sense to Anton. Lust and desire were obvious human needs, things people who cared for each other in a romantic sense would always share. Viviana and Anton didn’t have a problem mingling with those things together, despite the brief pauses from the pregnancy. Attraction ignited between the two like a flame to gasoline, and he was content to feed those flames every damned day of their life.

Love, however, could be found over and over again.

“That was it, wasn’t it?” Anton asked gently. “Why you started with the crying, because you love me.”

“Yeah.” Viviana sniffed a quiet laugh, dropping her eyes out of sight. “Odd, right? I’ve always loved you, it’s not something I should be surprised about. It shouldn’t take the air right out of my chest, or knock me out of my mind. I
know
I’m in love with you, so
why
?”

Anton really didn’t have an answer for that; Viviana didn’t seem to mind, though. Instead of speaking, he was graced with the memory of the first time he realized that he too had been so in love with his girl. A girl he always knew he loved, but the shock-and-awe factor of the weight coming down on his heart had still been oh so dumbfounding.

“It’s good to be reminded,” Viviana told him, her hand coming to splay open to Anton’s middle. “So thank you, again, for reminding me.”

Anton grinned, taking in her life and love. “Anytime, baby.”

*

Viviana was lost in the sight of flickering lights dancing along the mouth of the trail as they came to the edge of the forest. From the lake’s small dock to the front steps of the lodge, tiny tea lights had been randomly placed and lit. Some were in bunches on the sides of the stairs, others lined down the pathway, and a few were scattered in the grass and gravel. With not a lick of wind in the area, they all burned bright and beautiful.

Daylight was beginning to dim, so the lambent, yellow glow of tiny flames gave the area a particularly romantic and peaceful quality, even more so than what its natural ambiance held. A quiet hum of the Americana blues music Viviana loved wafted from inside the lodge.

The music purring into the air was nothing like that. Sounding as emotional as she did sinful, the female’s melodic tenor sang of earlier years, of seeing beauty in the backdrop, and of finding love in the dangers of life. The melody crawled over the area like
a thick, slow moving fog intent on covering every inch it could reach with its passion and soul. The not so hidden meaning of the lyrics resonating straight to Viviana’s heart.

The artist currently singing was a particular favorite of Viviana’s. She had no doubt Anton knew it, too. After all, he said it first: he
knew
her.

Following the still flickering candles with her blurred, watery gaze, Viviana was quick to notice the lights in the lodge had been dimmed and smoke puffed from the chimney for the first time since they arrived. It wasn’t cold enough for them to need to use it, but she distinctly remembered asking her husband if it would be safe to use it one night, maybe. Anton hadn’t given her a real reply.

Now, she knew why.

Even the forest seemed to hold its life at bay as Viviana blinked at the spectacle before her, disbelief and wonder coloring up the love and happiness she was already feeling. She was struck speechless. Starry-eyed and overcome, she tried to speak, but couldn’t.

Anton fingered the collar of his shirt she wore, saying nothing and letting the amazement seep in a little further into her blood and bones. How on earth did he find time for this? There had to be at least three hundred tea lights glowing. And where were the other three people who had just been here, anyway?

Seemingly reading her mind, Anton finally gave her some clarity. “Scarlett has two early morning sessions booked in New York tomorrow, so I asked the guys to make sure she arrived back in plenty of time to get some decent rest.”