not anymore. He’s too young for me. Maybe you met him,” she’d added. “He works at the drugstore.”

Falch remembered the boy—thin, with pimples on his face. He would be no problem at all.

And then one day, when the curves of her breasts and belly and thighs filled him with a desire he couldn’t suppress, he knew that the time had come. “Saralee,” he said, “I think we ought to try something a little bit different. Unless you’d rather not.”

She looked at him. “Nudes? Is that what you mean, Jake?”

“Well…”

“I think that would be nice,” she said, smiling sweetly. “I mean, all the top models did nude shots first, didn’t they?”

He nodded, breathing heavily. “I’d love to,” she said. “But we can’t do that here, Jake. Somebody might see, and besides, there’s a law against it.”

“Maybe at my room, in the hotel.”

“Wait,” she said. “I have a better idea. How about my house?”

He stared at her incredulously. “Your house? But your folks…”

“They’re out of town for the weekend. Could you come up about nine?”

It was better than he’d dared to hope for. The clerk might be nosy at the hotel, and if she got rough it might be noisy. But at her house there’d be no worries. “Nine,” he said. “I’ll be there.”

He was there early, and when she stood nude before him he felt that he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. There was not a hint of shyness about her, just pride and pleasure in her own loveliness. He began taking pictures.

After he’d shot a roll of film, he took a pint of whiskey from his camera bag. “This calls for a celebration,” he explained. “Your first nude shots. We have to have a few drinks.”

She protested weakly that she had never had whiskey before, but gave in without much argument. They had a drink each, then shot another roll, and then had another round of drinks.

It was easy to see that she was unaccustomed to alcohol. A glow came into her cheeks and her eyes became even brighter than usual. They went on drinking and taking pictures, and he knew that he was almost ready to take her.

When he posed her, he let his hands linger longer than necessary upon her smooth skin, and he felt the heat building up within her. She breathed faster, deeper. It was time.

He said nothing; he didn’t have to. He set down the camera, switched off the lights, and took her by the hand. His right arm encircled her waist, his hand stroking the soft flesh of her belly. He led her down the hall, to the darkened bedroom, and disrobed swiftly. His hands raced over her body, he pressed a long hard kiss upon her lips, and then he took her.

When the morning sunlight filtered through the venetian blinds, Falch rolled over and swore softly. His mind filled with memories of the night and he chuckled to himself. God, she had been good! Fresh and new and hot as a stove. And she had enjoyed it as much as he had.

He turned over to look at her, but the bed was empty. Must be cooking up some breakfast, he thought, chuckling. Breakfast in bed.

It had taken a lot of hard work, but you didn’t get things like that easily. And she had been worth it. He had a good life to look forward to now, with no more fooling around. He’d have her whenever he wanted.

“Saralee!” he called. “Saralee!”

Seconds later the door opened. But it was not Saralee. It was a boy.

“Who the hell are you?” Falch demanded. Then he took a closer look, and he recognized him. It was Tom Larson, the boy from the drugstore.

The boy smiled, and it was a smile very much like Falch’s. “Shut up,” he said. “You just keep quiet there, Mr. Falch.”

Falch gaped at him, unable to utter a sound.

“Got a surprise for you,” said Tom. He reached into a pocket of his jeans and pulled out a picture, passing it to Falch.

Falch stared at the picture and his mouth fell open. “Got lots more like that,” the boy said. “Took ’em last night, a whole mess of pictures. They’re going to cost you, Mr. Falch.”

The boy tapped the picture significantly. “Nice and clear, huh? Saralee’s a good little model, Mr. Falch. And only seventeen, too. A nice respectable girl like that, it’s going to cost you plenty. They’re rough on guys like you in this state.”

He pulled the picture from