"We'd like to meet you in person and discuss the work. Please come to our home for an informal discussion, with no obligation to take things further. Our studio is in our apartment at…"
Once inside, I discovered the sumptuous interior of the building, and that was just in the communal hallways.
When Simon didn't know what to say, his brother stepped in and saved the moment politely drawing me deeper into the cavernous living space.
While the young man, Decker, chatted about the art on the wall that he and his brothers had done, I could barely focus on his words. I gazed around the spacious home in awe.
Natural light flooded the room. Decker had led me on to a raised walkway on one side of the living room.
At any moment I expected a wealthy older man to step out because how could a group of students afford the rent on a place like this? And what students would live this way? In a fancy building with framed modern art on the walls and fresh flowers in a vase. The kitchen space was bigger than some homes. It had granite worktop and gadgets I didn’t even recognize.
Despite the intimidating appearance of the two young men who looked like young tattooed hoodlums, I didn’t feel apprehensive about being alone with them. I noticed how nicely they spoke and their friendly, polite manners. For all the street gangland look, these were clearly well-bred young men. And perhaps, wealthy too.
Fortunately, Decker talked so I could simply listen and take in all around me. When we heard the front door, he stopped talking, and we both turned.
CEDRIC
"Hi, I'm Cedric." I strode into the apartments with my eyes fixed on our curvaceous guest.
As she stood sideways on to me, I could fully appreciate her plump round breasts, high and full, a look I associate with padded bras. Her stomach was also slightly rounded, not cinched like a size zero, Barbie caricature.
She turned to face me, and her hand reached out to clasp mine. As we shook hands her round face shone with a sincere smile, dimples dented her soft cheeks. Her skin was perfectly clear, and she wore little makeup. "I'm Karen, pleased to meet you."
"And you." I was enchanted but didn't say it.
With her altogether womanly figure and innocent face, she was exactly what I wanted.
"I'd better leave you guys alone; I know you've got work to discuss." Decker backed away from Karen. "It has been lovely to meet you, Karen, I hope I'll see you again." And he headed straight for the door.
We might be triplets and share some DNA, but we are not identical and don't share a brain, unfortunately, because I'd like to know what Simon thought about this woman. I thought she was perfect, and I hoped he did too.
"Has Simon told you anything about our project?" I asked.
Simon lightly tapped the kitchen table behind me where we had interviewed the previous ladies. He coughed, and said, "Not yet. While we waited for you, Decker introduced her to some of our high school artwork."
I could imagine Decker taking control of the situation. Simon may have been a little socially awkward, but when it came to his photography, he was mature and professional. He was a competent adult when it came to things that mattered. I'm sure he could handle the interview perfectly well on its own. Just because he lacked Decker's natural charisma, our brother didn’t have to take over.
"Have you done any modeling before, Karen?" Simon asked.
"No, not really." As she shook her head, she continued to smile, but her eyes showed concern at the question.
"That doesn't matter," I reassured her. "Experience isn't necessary. It's just that then you'd know what you might be letting yourself in for. It sounds glamorous, but it can be boring and tiring."
Simon pushed some papers across the table toward her. "We'll give you these to sign. I want you to take them away and read them so that you've got time to think about what you are signing. They're model release forms, the standard wording but essentially it gives us the right to use the photographs for commercial purposes."
We'd not given model release forms to the previous candidates, so the very fact Simon brought this up told me we were of like mind, we both wanted this lady as the model.
"Primarily, we're focused on our Master of Arts program at the University. These forms also allow us to display the images in exhibitions, showing them to our tutors, and use them as part of our coursework. It also gives us the right to sell them," I explained.
"I understand." She picked up the papers. "You wanted a life model, and the advert mentioned erotic photos. How erotic?"
Unsure how to answer this question, I shifted the weight from one foot to another. I didn't have an answer.
Simon was nervous too, I could tell.
He didn't make eye contact with her but stared at his computer. "We haven't got a set list of images that we want to take. We felt it was important to find a model and work with them to create something unique and beautiful. It has to be the right pose for the model." Simon opened up his laptop. "I can show you some work that inspires us, but our aim isn't to copy these images." His gaze fell to his screen as he started tapping on the keyboard.
I wasn't sure what he intended to show her, or if it would be helpful.
"Karen, what we have in mind is to create beautiful art, not porn. Although, it may be hard to define exactly where to draw the line between the two."
"I'm not against porn, but I'm sure I can't see myself in it."
I could. My mind was already going there.
Hearing her say those words shouldn't have affected me the way it did.
Jeez, Cedric, get a grip!
I wasn't prepared to have a conversation like that with such a sexy looking woman within minutes of meeting her. I swear my heart started to race, and blood headed south. I couldn't let my body react like that if we were going to take this further.
If you decide to take up the job, it will be nude and partially clothed scenes that you are comfortable with. If you feel embarrassed or self-conscious or ashamed, that will come across in the photographs so we will aim to put you at ease and we are looking for a woman who is comfortable in her skin."
While I talked, Simon had found the images he'd been looking for and began to flick through them.
Karen stared intently at the screen, and it was impossible to read on her face what she thought. "When shall we get started?" she asked.
Simon glanced at me before replying. "I want to give you time to think it over and read through the paperwork before you sign it. But if you're available, we can start tomorrow."
CHAPTER THREE
SIMON
Cedric’s critical eye scanned over my face before he repositioned the gold reflector. He turned it a fraction of a degree and moved it less than an inch. "I know we’ll reposition things when she’s here, but it’s good to have a plan. We don’t want her to think we don’t know what we’re doing."
I rubbed my chin and looked around at all the equipment we’d set up: everything we owed. "If we’re living by the motto ‘fake it until you make it’ we were definitely looking like we’d made it with our very own fully equipped studio."
"What is your plan today?" Decker moved in front of me, his camera pointing at my face. He didn’t usually speak much when the camera was rolling, except to ask direct questions. He said he wanted to record a fly-on-the-wall documentary not direct the action.
"She’s a complete novice so, I think, if she turns up, we’ll probably stick to covered up shots today. Starting with her face, shoulders possibly some cleavage. It will give her a taste of modeling and give her a chance to get used to us."
"If she turns up?" Decker questioned.
"It’s one thing to turn up to an informal interview; it’s quite another to turn up for the job. Model’s not turning up are the bane of an art student’s life."
As an art student himself, Decker already knew that, I was telling the final audience at the other end of the camera.
Cedric finally seemed to have finished fiddling with all the reflectors; he walked
over to the kitchen table. "The big question is, how long do we give her before we decide she’s not late, she’s actually a no-show and then start packing all this kit away?"
I got up out of the chair that we’d placed center stage for our model and went to join him in the kitchen.
Exactly when she was due to arrive, Cedric had his answer.
Much as I’m sure Decker would have liked to continue to film us while we worked on our first photo shoot with her, as soon as she buzzed on the intercom from the ground floor he shot out of the door. He was too considerate to stick around even though he lived here; it wouldn’t be fair on Karen having an extra man in the place who wasn’t part of the project.
Waiting for her to reach our apartment seemed to take forever as if time had slowed down, or she'd gotten lost on the way up, or taken the stairs instead of the elevator. Nevertheless, eventually the tiny knock came, and Cedric swung open the door.
For a few seconds, I thought I saw surprise as she registered how our living space had been transformed into a professional studio with a backdrop, lights, and cameras ready on tripods.
We may have surprised her, what she did after a cursory greeting surprised us.
She stepped toward our studio, she dropped her bag, and her hands went to the feature zipper at the front of her dress. One swift swipe and front gaped open. She shrugged the dress from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor where she stepped out of it, and her hands reached for the clasp of her bra on her back.
I remained frozen on the spot, my mouth gaping open like a fool, as she dropped her underwear on top of her dress and kicked off her shoes. I didn't want to behave like a man who'd never seen a naked woman before, but honestly, I'd never seen a woman undress like that just a few feet away from me. And she wasn't any woman; she looked beautiful.
In a flash, Cedric stood beside her. He blanketed her in a sheer, white cotton shawl that we'd already discussed using.
"We thought we'd start with portrait shots. If you'd like to sit over here." At least he the ability to act professionally as he led her to the chair that I'd been sitting on.
I followed the two of them, still unable to think of anything to say. A calm, detached professionalism swept over me when I picked up my camera, and my mindset shifted when I looked at her through that lens.
Sweet innocence and contrasting mature, knowing looks were both evident in her face, while her enticing, curvaceous body was only just hidden. The fabric draped suggestively around her curves. I had no doubt these pictures would be stunning once we positioned the material correctly.
As she sat, Cedric went to adjust the lighting.
"Okay. I thought you wanted nude and erotic." She picked at the white veil that completely covered her torso. "Why are you covering me with this blanket?"
"It's your first time modeling we thought you might be more comfortable if you weren't completely exposed, not straight away. And when you were here before we saw a pure natural quality to your face, we thought this white sheet might help capture that," I answered.
I put the camera down and stepped closer to her. "Do you mind?" I asked as I approached, indicating I wanted to rearrange the cotton draped over her.
"Not at all. Do what you have to," she said.
I tweaked the fabric until it fell from her shoulders and sat about her frame in a most flattering way and hinted at rather than hid her shape.
I picked up my camera and began to snap, only vaguely aware of Cedric doing the same.
For more than an hour, we made suggestions for new positions, some very slight requiring a tilt of the head or the raising of a shoulder. Karen was a natural. She moved instinctively and, from what I could tell, she was a gift to the camera.
Thoughts of her as nude and erotic had earlier threatened to undo this photo shoot; I was inexperienced and unprepared for an erotic encounter with a woman I didn't know. But when the session got underway, my mind went to a place where it felt more at home. The session was work, and we created art from her natural beauty.
"Tell us about yourself," Cedric suggested.
I caught the subtle changes in her face as she thought about it. Surprise. Confusion.
"What do you want to know?" she asked.
"Whatever you're happy to tell us. If you are talking and thinking about what you're saying, your facial expressions will change."
"Oh, I see."
Understanding dawning in her mind brought new changes. Wider eyes. Higher brows. I couldn't wait to compare the pictures later.
"Think about nothing that's going to make you sad or angry, not today. What about your family? Do you have brothers and sisters?"
Good question, Cedric. She apparently found it easy to focus on that subject and it brought a smile to her face.
"That's complicated. I've two sisters that I grew up with. My parents split up years ago. They're on good terms with each other though, and my dad remarried. I have two half sisters there. And my mum has just remarried too."
Brilliant.
Brilliant images were snapped by my camera as she relaxed and spoke with warmth about her family. That warmth seemed to radiate from her, and I hoped the camera captured it.
"Up until now, I've had four sisters. And you won't believe this. Now I also have five brothers, stepbrothers, of course, but I've never met them."
"You didn't meet them at the wedding?" I wanted to keep the conversation going as her animated expressions were wonderful.
"No, crazy, right?"
I lowered my camera. "Didn't you go to the wedding?" I found that hard to understand as she talked about these people with such warmth.
"Neither. Both?" She giggled. Cedric caught it. I picked up my camera determined not to miss anything else. "I've only met the new husband a couple of times, before they married. I'd been so tied up with my own life that I didn't pay much attention to my mom's love life. I didn't realize him, and my mom were getting that close. Out of the blue, just days ago she called to tell me she's on her honeymoon after a secret wedding in Vegas. No guests. No one knew."
"Wow. Was that a shock?"
"At first it was, but mom lives on her own. If that's how she wants to get married, who am I to judge. She said they didn't want a big wedding. They wanted it to just be about them as they'd both been married before and both had grown-up kids. And now I have five stepbrothers that I've never met."
CHAPTER FOUR
CEDRIC
In between her buzzing up to our apartment from the ground floor and coming in our door, I'd guess she had time to walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator and to visit our neighbors. It seemed to take forever, and in the future, I'm going to time it.
While she was missing in action, I sensed Simon's anxiety increasing. Or perhaps I projected my own unease on to him. His fretting was partly due to his nature, the way he wants everything to be perfect. Whenever he has a few free minutes, he'll worry about all the things that aren't perfect or are out of his control.
For Simon, the prospect of photographing a nude woman in his home must be intimidating when he's so inexperienced with women.
Not that I've had bags of experience either. I've more than Simon and not as much as Decker. No man outside the porn industry could've had as many women as Decker. Unlike Simon, I'm not a virgin, but most of my practical experience has been through sharing women with my brother. Of us three triplets, Decker is the chick-magnet. Luckily he's generous with his women, and it seems that a lot of women are into the fantasy of sex with two brothers at once.
I can't imagine what it is like to be Simon and see a beautiful woman up close but never have touched one, intimately. It wasn't the sort of thing he told people, but we brothers were close. We knew.
What he said about wanting to feel a connection with someone special, I could understand that, and I wanted it too.
Waiting made me feel nervous too. Something about Karen unnerved me: her beauty, her confidence, I'm not exactly sure what. She affected me
as no other woman had.
At the end of yesterday's photography session, she hastily dressed and left just like anyone does at the end of a shift at work. As if she wasn't naked in front of us, of course, we're gentlemen, we averted our eyes.
I wanted to ask her to stay for a drink, grab some food, anything to extend our time together and get to know each other better. We'd talked while we worked, but I didn't know whether she had a boyfriend to meet up with later, or maybe even a girlfriend. We knew too little about her. I wanted to get to know her much better. I just wasn't sure how to handle the etiquette without coming across as a sleazeball and overstepping our boundaries.
Decker would have asked her out on a date, I'm sure of it. And it wouldn't have seemed weird, inappropriate, or creepy however he'd done it. Give him a couple of days, and he would've charmed his way into her bed and without any negative repercussions. They would have stayed friends, and it would all be okay.
I don't know how he does it because I only see boundaries that shouldn't be crossed.
When she arrived for the second photography session, after nodding and whispering a hushed hello, Karen undressed hastily, dropping her clothes on the floor just as she had the day before.
Having shut the door, Simon stood dazed just as he had the day before.
I grabbed the white shawl again.
She looked at it and then up at my face. "Will we needed that again today? I thought you guys wanted nude and erotic pictures."
"We do. When you're ready." I extended my hand, offering the shawl.
She ignored the gesture, and I watched the cute rear view as she strutted into the middle of our home studio.
No chair waited for her today, so she stopped atop the white paper that lined the floor. "Well, I'm nude and ready for the erotic photography whenever you are."
She turned slowly to face us, and I wish I were holding my camera already to capture that curvaceous silhouette as she swiveled.
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