“Is that what it looks like? It looks just like a black and white television. I thought it would be like looking into the lens of an ordinary camera,” she exclaimed.
“If you’re shooting film it is, but with videotape, you can see exactly how it’s going to look on a television screen, except for the color. That’s why you need a white balance.” He cleared his throat loudly and got an elbow in his ribs. “What do you see? Tell me which way to move it.”
“Well,” she hesitated. All she could see was a blurry image of the tree a few feet in front of them. “It’s out of focus,” she admitted.
“Say when,” he said close to her ear. “I’ll try to focus for you.”
She watched as the trunk of the tree gradually became clearer, until she could see the patterned detail of the bark. “When!” she cried excitedly.
“Now which way do you want to go? Left? Right? Up or down?”
“Up a little, more into the branches.” He took a half-step closer to adjust the camera and she felt his warm, hard chest against her back. His arm rested on her shoulder as he reached in front of her to maneuver the dials around the lens. Her heartbeat quickened.
“Now to the left,” she said breathlessly. “Keep going. Wait! Right there. There’s something… it’s a spider and… oh, the web is huge. It spreads from limb to limb. He’s so busy at work. Oh, Erik, can you move closer, I mean, make him bigger?”
He chuckled and she felt his breath stirring the hair at the back of her neck. “Sure. But I’ll have to roll focus again. Can you see him better now?”
“Yesss! There! Now focus again. Perfect. He’s perfect.”
“Would you like to record an afternoon in the life of a spider?”
“Aren’t we?”
“No, I have to press the record button.”
“Would you mind?”
“Of course not.”
Once they began recording, she expected him to return his left hand, but he didn’t. Instead, he laid it on the rock so that she was pressed between the hard, cool surface of the boulder and the warm vibrancy of his body. It would be hard to discern which was the stronger and more impregnable.
“How’s he doing?” he whispered in her ear. For a moment, she thought she felt the brush of his mustache against her lobe.
“Fine. He’s beautiful.” She could feel his knees against the backs of her thighs and unconsciously adjusted her legs to those muscular columns.
“Your hair smells like honeysuckle,” Erik murmured. This time, there was no mistaking that his lips were moving against her ear. His hips shifted and Kathleen realized that it was only the tight spandex of her bikini bottom and his cotton swim trunks that separated his virility from the soft curve of her buttocks.
“Erik,” she said hoarsely.
“Hmm?” His nose was investigating the area behind her ear.
“I think… I’ve… the spider… We’d better stop now.” She didn’t know for sure if she was talking about stopping the videotaping or the forced proximity of their bodies that was quickly becoming an embrace.
He sighed. “Okay.” He clicked off the camera and the tiny monitor in the eyepiece turned gray again. He stepped away from her, and when she felt it was safe, she composed her features and faced him. Unable as yet to meet his eyes, she spoke to the ground. “Thank you. It was wonderful.”
“Was it?” His voice was ragged but intuitive, demanding of her an honest answer. She lifted her eyes quickly, and was instantly impaled by the sharpness of his. Her green eyes were held mesmerized until his slid down her face and rested on her trembling lips. Then they moved up again to search the inner turbulence that shone from her eyes.
“Kathy. Kathy.”
The small, quiet voice finally penetrated the desire-clouded perimeter of her brain. She backed away from Erik and looked down distractedly at Jaimie.
“Kathy?” he asked uncertainly. “My feet are getting pruney.”
Kathleen clasped her hands to flaming cheeks and glanced hurriedly at her watch. “Oh, my God! It’s five-fifteen.”
Erik started laughing at her, but she ignored him and ran to the riverbank, reached for her whistle, which had been shed along with her clothes, and blew it loudly.
“Hurry, hurry, kids. We’re late. Get into your shoes and line up quickly.”