Lose Yourself (The Desires Unlocked Trilogy Part Two) by Evie Blake

doesn’t sound how she looks: a vision from nineteen-fifties Hollywood. ‘I’ve heard so much about you,’ she says, fluttering her false eyelashes. ‘I love your pictures.’
    ‘Thank you,’ Valentina mutters, wondering what kind of pictures Anita might take.
    ‘Anita is one of the most popular burlesque performers in London,’ Kirsti explains to Valentina.
    ‘I’m not a proper photographer, like you are,’ Anita says to Valentina. ‘I am just dabbling. I can’t believe that my work got picked.’
    ‘Well, you are a star in your own right, now, aren’t you, Anita? Of course there will be interest in your artwork, particularly considering your heritage,’ Kirsti flatters the blonde bombshell.
    Valentina wonders what Kirsti Shaw could mean. What is the burlesque performer’s heritage?
    ‘I really didn’t think so, but my boyfriend persuaded me I should send in the pictures – and particularly the video,’ says Anita.
    ‘Yes, it is quite remarkable footage,’ Kirsti says. ‘Not just historically fascinating, but incredibly erotic as well.’
    Anita turns to Valentina. ‘I should explain,’ she tells her. ‘My grandfather was an art dealer who specialised in erotica. He has these very early erotic films shot in Paris in the late forties. I’ve incorporated them into an artwork.’
    ‘It is quite something,’ Kirsti tells Valentina. ‘We haven’t got it up and running yet, but would you like to take a look at Kirsti’s photos?’
    ‘I’d be so thrilled to get your feedback,’ Anita adds. ‘I am a great fan of your work.’
    ‘Sure.’ Valentina nods, feeling a little overwhelmed by the two women.
    Anita leads her over to the far side of the gallery, to the long work table with framed photographs spread along it.
    ‘We were just taking a look at them,’ Kirsti says, ‘trying to decide where to hang them.’
    Valentina looks down at Anita’s pictures. All of them are self-portraits, and Valentina has to admit that they are stunning. The first shot is of Anita lying on her side, wearing a purple dress with thigh-high black lace-up boots and black, lacy stockings. Her blond hair is down and her lips are plum to match the dress. Just a corner of a bare buttock is visible in the shot. In the second picture, Anita is all in black. It is a close-up and she is looking into the mirror, holding the camera, with an oriental parasol half covering her face. Only the very tops of her breasts are visible, the hard nipples pushing through the slits of a latex S&M outfit. The third picture shows Anita’s whole body reflected in a mirror as she lies against a pile of white silk cushions. Her feet, in a pair of kitten-heeled pearly mules, are together, soles pressed against a mirror, her legs are bent at the knees so that they open outwards and the rest of her naked body is reflected in the mirror: her bare breasts, her pursed lips as she closes her left eye to take the picture. Despite the fact her legs are spread, she is not completely exposed as a lilac chiffon scarf trails between them concealing her sex.
    ‘That’s my favourite,’ Anita says, as Valentina picks it up to examine it. ‘I think it’s a little more subtle than the others.’
    The last three pictures are even more graphic. One is of Anita, naked, lit up by three arc lights, spaced in a triangle around her. She is on her knees and turning the camera around to take a picture. Her hair falls over her face like a blond veil but, even so, you can see her parted lips, her closed eyes.
    In another black and white composition she is on her back on swathes of black silk, looking up at a mirror, her fishnet-stockinged legs crossed; just visible are the parted lips of her labia.
    ‘Oh, this has to be my favourite,’ says Kirsti, picking up the last picture, much to Valentina’s surprise. Obviously the American is not as demure as she looks. To say the shot is confrontational would be an understatement. Anita is lying on her back, her legs