After breakfast Tiffany was back to the racing sim rig, Mom just shaking her head as Tiffany disappeared from sight.

“You’ve created a monster, Lee,” Mom said.

“I don’t see any real harm in it,” I replied with a shrug. “Worse comes to worst, she gets a pretty serious handle on how to drive before she’s old enough for real driving lessons.”

“Yeah, but drive like what? Or maybe I should ask, drive like who?” Mom countered.

"Hey, I'm a good driver," I objected.

“I’m sure you are,” Mom agreed. “You've always been good at everything you ever tried. I just don’t want Tiff to spend all her time in front of a video game screen, that’s all.”

Helping myself to another piece of tomato toast with avo, I told Mom about the girl I’d met at my last track day. “This girl Maddie, I don’t really know her whole family situation, but her mom supports her racing career. She drives the RV, and does all Maddie’s support. I don’t know about where the dad fits into the picture, or if he even does at all.”

I took another piece of toast from the plate and continued. “She’s just fifteen years old now and doesn’t have a driver’s license yet, but she’s pretty fast around a racetrack in her Mitsubishi. I guess she used to race go-karts when she was younger.”

“What does this have to do with Tiffany and her spending too much time on video games?” Mom asked, putting two more pieces of tomato toast on my plate.

“Thanks. I’d bet Maddie doesn’t spend too much time on video games,” I replied. “She’s too busy actually doing things out in the real world for that.”

“Are you suggesting that I should encourage Tiffany to take up actual racing?” Mom asked, just to clarify.

“I dunno… Maybe? My point was more general, which is that if Tiffany has something she’s passionate about that doesn’t involve screen time, it won’t ever become an issue, right?”

“Well, of course,” Mom agreed. “The trick is figuring out where that passion lies.”

“Maybe it is car racing,” I said with a shrug. “Maybe it’s just the excitement of something new, something ostensibly ‘adult’ that has her hooked on the sim right now. Who knows? But whatever it winds up being, encourage it.” Thinking a moment, I had an idea. “We could find out today if racing actually is her thing, or if it’s just fun because she’s getting to play a video game. Ange took me to an indoor kart racing place, and they had smaller karts for kids. I could take her there to try it out, and if she’s really into it, we’ll know.”

“You mean just the two of you?”

“Well, I mean, if you want to come and watch, or maybe race a kart yourself, that would be cool,” I said.

“Will Emmy and Angela be here?” Mom asked.

“I don’t think they have any plans, but I don’t know. They’re both still in bed- want me to find out for you?”

“Sure,” Mom said. “Maybe I can spend the day with the two of them while you’re go-kart racing with Tiff.”

Emmy and Angela weren’t sleeping when I went to ask, but they were still in bed. Emmy was face down, enjoying Angela’s touch. Angela was on her side, propped up on one arm while she gently stroked Emmy’s naked back and thighs in long, soft caresses. Every so often she would lean down and kiss the bare skin on Emmy’s shoulder, along her spine, or on her little Venus dimples. It wasn’t sex, really, but it was as sexy as hell to see the two of them enjoying each other like that.

“Hey, Leah, come back to bed,” Angela said, and I have to say that the urge was indeed very strong.

I sat down on the bed and leaned over and captured Angela’s lips for a sweet, sensual kiss as I ran my fingertips along Emmy’s smooth, velvety black skin. “I’d love to,” I said. “But I just committed to taking Tiff out for the day. We’re gonna go to that indoor kart track you took me to.”

“That’s nice. Just the two of you?” Angela asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “But hey, I need you to do me a favor.”

“Sure, anything,” Angela said as I leaned in to give her another kiss.

“I didn’t get a chance to kiss every square inch of Emmy’s body this morning. Think you could do that for me?”

The look of surprise on Angela’s face was quickly followed by a smile. “Yes, I think I can definitely do that. Just because you asked so nicely, you know.”

I leaned down and kissed Emmy, who was smiling in a pleased sort of way. “You guys have fun today,” I said.

“The day is already starting out very well, and it seems as if will get even better soon,” Emmy said dreamily.

Since Tiffany was young and just barely met the height requirements, she had to go through the ‘Karting for complete idiots’ class before they would let her out on the track. To my surprise, she was an avid student and paid attention, asked good questions, and generally took the instruction with good grace.

Finally let loose, she proved to be a quick study and within a few laps had the thing pretty much figured out. Corner exits continued to be a problem for her, though, as she kept breaking traction by slamming the accelerator down too hard and fast at the apex.

Still, she was holding her own against much older kids and managed to qualify for the junior race that evening, in which she took third out of four.

Wearing her little bronze medal proudly, Tiffany walked with her head held high when we finally left at nearly nine o’clock.

“Third place doesn’t sound that great,” she explained to Mom when we got back to the house. “But the boys that beat me have been doing it much longer. You could tell they had a lot of experience, but it was my first day,” Tiffany said.

“So you had fun?” Mom asked, completely unnecessarily.

“It was totally awesome!” Tiffany replied, helping herself to some of the chicken salad that Mom offered her for a late dinner. “Like, one hundred and ten per cent awesome. Seriously, the best.”

Mom raised her eyebrows at me as if to say, “Now look what you’ve done,” and I could only shrug helplessly.

Angela and Emmy had gone to bed early, but when I entered the bedroom as silently as I could I found Emmy still awake.

“Take a bath with me to help me fall asleep?” she whispered.

“Sounds good to me,” I whispered back.

Relaxing in the tub with Emmy laying back against me, I asked her why she was having trouble sleeping.

“I do not know,” Emmy sighed. “My mind would simply not stop. I was thinking about our new album, about having a baby, about Angela having a baby, about the foundation and how that should be set up… Too many things to even recount,” Emmy said with a sigh.

I kissed the top of her head and hugged her tightly. “I can’t help you with the album, but you know I’m always ready to help you make a baby.”

Emmy’s sparkling laugh let me know that I’d helped lift her mood a bit. “I am so very in love with you, Leah,” she said, taking my hand in hers. “I still wonder how I became so very fortunate to have ever met you. How I ever managed to capture your love is still a mystery to me.”

“Not to me,” I replied, kissing behind her ear. “I understand it perfectly.”

“Was it because of this?” Emmy asked, taking my hand and using it to cup her vaj.

“I certainly do love that,” I said, stroking the soft flesh under my hand. “But it’s other things, too.”

“These other things?” Emmy asked teasingly, placing my other hand on her breast.

“I love those, too,” I said, kissing her neck as she tilted her head to give me access. “But honestly, I fell in love with you even before we ever made love for the first time. I fell in love with you because of your smile, your playfulness, your pretty little laugh. I fell for your sense of humor, and your amazing musical ability. You’re very easy to love, Em. Very easy.”

Emmy held my hands tighter against her body in a sort of hug. “Do you know why I fell in love with you?” she asked.

“My sparkling wit?”

“That is it exactly!” Emmy said with a laugh. “That, and your amazingly long legs. They are so…”

“Long?”

“Yes, very long. The longest. But also very defined, and lovely.”

“Lovely?” I asked, unsure I’d heard right. I don’t think anyone had ever used that exact word to describe my legs before.

“Yes, lovely. I love them, therefore by definition they are lovely,” Emmy declared. “I love the way they look. I love to touch them and feel the muscles. I love the feel of the soft skin on either side of my face when I am between them-“

“You really have sex on your mind tonight, don’t you?” I asked, interrupting.

“I do,” she admitted. “I have been in a mood all day.”

“Angela wasn’t enough for you this morning?” I teased, giving her vaj another squeeze.

“Making love with Angela is fantastic. She is sweet, tender, and very caring. But sometimes I need a beast. I need you to take me, to throw me down on the bed and use me until I cannot even feel my legs or move a single muscle. I need you, Leah, to fuck me senseless.”

Surprised to hear her use such language, I let out a little laugh.

“It is true!” Emmy said. “Sometimes I see this look in your eyes- it is a look of desire, and I know that it is me that you lust after. Me, I am the one who inflames you and turns you into a beast, raging with hunger. This… wild love, I need it. I need to know that you need me, that you want me and must have me.”

“I do need you, Em,” I said. “I need you very much.” I held her tight, crushing her slender body against mine. “I’ll always need you.”

We stayed like that for a while, enjoying the contact.

“This morning, when Angela and I made love,” Emmy said, breaking the comfortable silence. “I called you a beast, and Angela said that she did not know what I meant. I felt… proud? No, not proud,” Emmy said, searching for the right word. “I felt special, that you had not shown that aspect of yourself to her, that you reserved it for me. Afterwards, when I thought about it, I felt a little bit sad for her, to be denied such passion. I do not know if she would even enjoy being taken that way, as I do, but to know that she has never even had the experience…”

“Are you saying that you want me to go into beast mode with Angela?” I asked, confused.

“I do not know,” Emmy confessed. “I am conflicted. I do, but I also wish it to be special just between the two of us. I have been trying to not be jealous, and I do love Angela, I truly do, but sometimes I want you just for myself. It is not fair, I know,” Emmy said, sounding guilty. “There are times when I see you two together and it makes me very happy. It warms my heart to see the way you care for each other. I love you both and want you both to be as happy as possible, but sometimes… it is hard for me, knowing that another is making you smile. But those moments of jealousy- they are few, and greatly overshadowed by the pleasure I feel knowing that Angela loves you and you love her, and you are both my lovers as well. I am very… ‘happy’ is not exactly the right word, but I cannot think of any better word,” Emmy said. “I am very happy with our ménage a trois. Angela has made our lives better, and I feel fortunate every day that she came into our lives.”

“I have to admit that I’ve had pretty similar feelings,” I confessed. “I love her, and I’m grateful her old boyfriend got arrested. It didn’t seem like it at the time, but that was a huge stroke of luck as far as I’m concerned. I love Ange a lot, but you know what?” I asked. “Not even the tiniest part of that love comes at your expense. I don’t love you even slightly less because I love her. I’d thought my heart was bursting with love for you and there wasn’t any more room in there, but I was wrong. I don’t love you any less than I ever did, but at the same time I love her a lot, too.”

Emmy sat up, pulling herself from my grasp. She turned around and sat between my legs facing me, her knees on either side of my waist.

“I will not always be here for you,” she said, holding my head in her hands. “I may only have a few more years. Promise me that you and Angela will marry and that you will love her when I cannot be with you.”

Taking a deep breath, I broached the subject that had started a number of arguments in the past. “Em,” I said. “Medicine has advanced-”

She shushed me by putting a finger on my lips. “This is not a thing that must be cured, like pneumonia or a flu, or something. Me being moon-kissed is a blessing, not a curse.”

“But-”

“I did not choose to be moon-kissed, Leah, but if I had been given the choice, it is what I would have chosen. It is a great gift, the greatest I could have possibly ever received.”

“But Em-”

“No buts. If I had not been moon-kissed, I would never have come to America, you and I would never have met, and never would have fallen in love. If I had not been moon-kissed, I would have led a quiet life in France, tending to the family businesses. It might not have been a bad life, but it would not be this one.”

“Em, that all may be true, but none of that is a reason to avoid seeking medical help,” I finally got out. “I still don’t really understand the whole thing, the cultural implications or whatever, but seriously, I want you to grow old with me. I want you to see our baby girl grow up. I want to see you holding our grandchildren in your arms. I’ll admit I’m greedy- I want you forever, not just a few more years,” I said, barely holding back the tears.

“Oh, Leah, I do want these things, too, but I know that I simply cannot have them. No moon kissed have ever lived to old age.”

“Be the first, Em. Be the first,” I begged.

“I do not think that it is so simple as that,” Emmy said, showing the very first crack in her resistance to the idea of medical help.

“Please consider the possibility, that’s all I ask,” I said, pulling into my arms and holding her tight. “I love you and I’m not ready to give you up.”

Emmy returned my embrace, the two of us holding on to each other as if our lives depended on it.

As we toweled each other off, Emmy asked if I had any plans for the next morning.

“Say goodbye to Mom and Tiff, but that’s about it,” I replied as Emmy started brushing my hair.

“One of the things that I was worried about and would not let me sleep is that Angela has a photo shoot very early tomorrow morning. She had expressed some concern about the photographer. She said that he is very widely published, but he has a reputation among the models. The say that he is a bit too hands-on, and has pressured some models into doing things that made them very uncomfortable.”

“And you’d like me to go with her as a sort of chaperone?”

“I do not think I would be very intimidating,” Emmy said. “Otherwise I would go.”

“Did Angela ask for a chaperone?”

“No, she did not,” Emmy admitted. “But I do think she is a bit nervous about this shoot. It could be very beneficial for her career, so she feels she needs to seize this opportunity to work with this man, but his reputation worries her.”

“His reputation as a sleazeball,” I said. “Alright, I’ll do it, but I don’t want Ange to think I’m babysitting her. She is a grown woman and capable of navigating life on her own, and I don’t want her to think that I believe otherwise. I’m gonna ask her if I can go because I’ve never seen a professional photo shoot before.”

“When your team posed for those calendar photos- that was a professional photo studio,” Emmy objected.

“I’m not gonna mention that.”

When I felt Angela slide quietly out of bed at four in the morning I slipped out and followed her to the bathroom.

“What’s up?” I asked, rubbing my eyes. “I thought you were getting up to work out, but it’s only,” I said, glancing at my watch as I yawned, “four in the morning. Why so early?”

“I have a shoot and we need to be set up for the morning light,” Angela said, starting the shower.

“The golden hour, right?” I asked, following her into the enclosure. I poured some shampoo into my hand and indicated Angela should turn around. When she did, I worked her hair into a lather.

“Yeah,” Angela agreed, enjoying the feeling of my fingers on her scalp. “It’s a beach shoot, and the only way to avoid crowds here in LA is to shoot at dawn.”

“It’s gonna be freezing!” I objected.

“Yeah it is,” Angela agreed. “I just hope I don’t have to go in the water.”

“You know, I’ve never seen how these things go. Would it be cool if I tagged along and watched? I could, I dunno, maybe have a warm robe and some hot coffee for you between takes, or whatever they call them.”

“That’s usually the PA’s job, but I’d love it if you would come and keep me company,” Angela said, reaching up to give me a soapy kiss.

We took Angela’s little Z4 to Santa Monica, pulling up next to the photographer’s van as he and his assistants unloaded equipment. Angela introduced me to the photographer and the makeup artist as her significant other, and after that everybody just ignored me as they got set up. I watched as the makeup artist set up a director’s chair and some lights. As soon as the van was empty of camera gear, tripods and lights and all, she ushered Angela into the van and shut the doors. A minute or two later Angela came out wearing a big, fluffy robe and a pair of Crocs. She sat down in the chair so the makeup artist could do her work, which she did quickly and efficiently.

Honestly, I thought that Angela did a better job on her own makeup, but I could see how it might need to be a bit exaggerated for a photo shoot.

One of the photographer’s assistants came to fetch Angela, so we all walked out onto the sand where the gear was all set up.

Every now and then the makeup artist was called over to re-oil Angela’s skin, touch up her eyeliner or lipstick, or something like that, but mostly it was rushing back to the van for a different swimsuit for a new set of shots.

The whole thing seemed like an odd mix of taking time to get things just right but rushing to get as much as possible done during the limited time window. Finally the photographer declared, “That’s it- we’ve lost the light,” and signaled to pack up.

Angela went back to the van to change into warm clothes while I stood around with the makeup artist.

“So- you two a thing?” she asked, pointing back and forth between me and the van, presumably meaning Angela.

“Yeah, we’re in a committed relationship,” I agreed.

She looked me up and down, making it clear she was silently commenting on my height. “Like the old saying goes, you’re a tall drink of water.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

Just then Angela emerged from the van in her sweats. I poured a cup of coffee from the thermos I’d been holding all morning, which she took gratefully.

“Thanks, baby,” Angela said, going up on her tiptoes for a kiss.

“Your lips are cold!” I exclaimed, surprised. “Let’s get you into the car-I’ll turn up the heater.”

“Don’t forget- the studio at three this afternoon,” one of the PAs said as we climbed into the BMW.

I started the car and turned the heater all the way up as soon as it started putting out warm air.

“I am so happy he didn’t want any shots actually in the water,” Angela said, her teeth chattering a bit as the cold really started to hit her. “It wasn’t so bad, just, you know, being almost naked at the crack of dawn the week after Christmas on the beach, but a couple of times waves washed over my feet and the water was freezing!”

“I guess I really didn’t understand how much work it actually is on one of these shoots,” I said.

“When you took pictures of me back at the condo, did it seem really easy?” Angela asked.

“Well, no, that was a lot of work just to get a few decent pictures,” I admitted. “But that was mostly because I had no idea what I was doing.”

“No, it was because we cared about the results,” Angela corrected as I pulled the little convertible out of the beach parking lot. “Anybody can snap a selfie, or whatever, but most of those aren't worth the time it takes to even look at them. It takes planning, an understanding of composition, and a willingness to put in the effort to get it just right. This photographer? A lot of models don’t like him, and for good reason, but everybody, and I mean everybody in the industry, knows that he can make an average model look great and a great model look their best.”

“Why don’t models like him?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

“He has a reputation for taking advantage of inexperienced girls,” Angela replied, distaste in her voice.