From Black Rooms by Stephen Woodworth Read Free Book Online

work well together despite--
    "A mirror." Munch stood with Natalie's arms held out from her torso, as if they were drenched in muck that he did not want to smear on the man's dress shirt she wore.
    "G ive me a mirror."
    If she had had control of her lungs, Natalie would have sighed. Monsieur Munch, I real y don't think-"A mirror! Now!" Her voice grew shril with his eagerness, his dread.
    Natalie weighed her options. She had deliberately avoided including any reflective surfaces when
    outfitting the makeshift studio, in hopes that she could delay the shock her gender might have on the artist. To fetch the mirror Munch demanded, she would have to permit him to leave the locked garage. If Dad and Cal ie came home while the crazy Norwegian was wandering the house in her body...
    It's still early yet, she told herself even though it was actual y quite late. Natalie knew that if she alienated Munch he might refuse to col aborate with her, and she couldn't afford to lose this commission.
    All right, monsieur, she said in French. Please do as I say...
    She instructed Munch on how to find the dead-bolt key, which she'd hidden beneath a coffee can fil ed with paintbrushes on the workbench. When he'd unlocked the door, Natalie guided him out of the garage and up the condo's stairs to the master bedroom, which had a ful -length mirror mounted on the closet door. She hoped that being upstairs might also give her a couple of minutes to get rid of the painter if she heard her father and daughter come through the front door.
    As part of her effort to minimize the impact of her appearance, Natalie had dressed androgynously in an untucked white business shirt she'd borrowed from her dad and a pair of baggy gray slacks. Although she'd switched back to her shoulder-length, dusty-blond wig--the one she always wore at home, because it was the closest to her natural color--she'd tied it back into a bun to make it feel less feminine. But judging from Edvard Munch's husky breathing as he switched on the bedroom light and advanced toward her reflection, she might as wel have been wearing a French maid outfit. It occurred to Natalie that, since he'd only been permitted to work with male Violets, she was probably the first live woman he'd seen since his passing. Oh, swell, she thought. He's gonna lose it.
    In the mirror, Natalie saw her eyes and mouth widen with his fascination. Her hands trembled as he raised them to the level of her chest, the palms hovering a few inches away from her slight bosom as if held at bay by repulsive magnetic force. "P-pardon me,
    mademoisel e," he stammered. "M-may I...?" Her fingers quivered over the buttons of the shirt she wore.
    Natalie tensed. The last thing she wanted was a dead perv groping her to get his jol ies. The Lord is my shepherd, she began instinctively. I shall not want-- As his control began to slip, Munch raised her hands, struggling to speak with lips that were growing numb.
    "N-nno! Puh-puh-please...I m-mean no offense. I-I-I w-want to draw you."
    The promise of new artwork made Natalie break off the protective mantra. Wouldn't it be worth giving the crazy Norwegian a cheap thril just to get a picture out of him? It was fifty grand, after al .
    You're thinking with your pocketbook again, she groaned to herself, but resumed her spectator mantra. Her violet eyes became half-lidded as Edvard Munch watched in the silvered glass while he undid the shirt's top buttons with her thin fingers. Natalie had considered leaving her bra off because of its unmasculine
    constriction, but was glad she'd chosen to wear it, particularly when she heard the ragged sigh Munch exhaled as he exposed the cleft of her decol etage. Quivering, Munch grazed the swel of one breast with her fingertip, a demure gesture that triggered a flood of associations that nearly subsumed Natalie in their tide. She cowered with him in humiliation at the Parisian prostitute who laughed at the adolescent ineptitude of his lovemaking, shook with