by Bridy McAvoy
The receptionist smiled at her, before half turning to speak to the man approaching from across the showroom.
“It’s okay, Magda, I heard. Good afternoon, Ms. Archibald. I’m Stan Winters. Charles has told me to look after you…”
He trailed off as he realized Joanne was staring at him quizzically.
“Is there a problem?”
“Stan Winters… Your son wouldn’t be Phil Winters, would he, by any chance? About my age?”
“Well… Yes.”
“You possibly don’t remember me, but I used to go out with Phil in High School.”
“You’re that Joanne… Of course, I remember you. How could I have forgotten you? That must be what, ten years ago?”
Joanne grinned at him.
“Something like that.”
“I remember now, you were in the hot tub, fooling around with Phil when I came home unexpectedly. Your bikini top lying on the deck…”
He stopped as she blushed a very bright red. Then he laughed out loud.
“Believe me, young lady, you were pretty then, but you’re gorgeous now. Let’s have a look and see if we can find a car to match that beauty. The new IS model would just suit your image perfectly, I think.”
Taking her arm he led her over toward the other side of the showroom. Looking back, Joanne saw the receptionist giggling helplessly. Her own face flamed again as she remembered that day Her amorous boyfriend, Phil Winters, had sweet-talked her out of both parts of her bikini, only for his father to return unexpectedly. She could remember the older man’s eyes taking in the view of her charms as she’d tried to cover up with her hands, having nothing else within reach. She shuddered at the memory, but also at the memory of how she’d actually felt that day – the rush of arousal running through her body at the thought of an older man looking at her that way.
“This is the body shape of the car that I think would suit you, Joanne. May I call you Joanne? The sportiness and luxury compliments a pretty woman like you. It’s also not too high a sill or slung low, if you’re wearing a short skirt. You don’t need to flash your clients that way.”
He paused for effect.
“Unless you want to, that is.”
* * * *
An hour later, they were seated in his office, just off the main showroom. In all the time she’d been there, Joanne hadn’t seen a single other customer or salesman; just the two of them and the receptionist.
“Is business always this slow?”
Stan Winters looked up and through the window behind her.
“Nah. Monday is always the slow day. I let the other guys take Mondays off because they have to work Saturday. One of them is on call, though, if we suddenly get busy. Now, about this car specification. We can do it… the metallic blue color, the plush leather seats, the leather trim on the dash, full surround sound and sat-nav, exactly as we’ve discussed…”
“I sense a but coming there…”
Joanne smiled brightly at him, playing the game along with him, subtle flirting, to match what he had been doing throughout their time together. His comment about the length of her skirt when she was getting in and out of a car had set off a naughty train of thought accompanied by the actions needed to put it into practice. For twenty minutes, as he’d showed her round the different models of car in the showroom, she’d allowed her skirt to slide higher and higher on her thighs as a way of teasing him. For Joanne, it was a game she played well and it was a perfect way to get him back for embarrassing her in front of the receptionist.
“I’m afraid so.”
“Well?”
“Charles has given me a budget here, and I’m afraid you’re spec comes out at over two thousand dollars more than his top figure.”
Joanne leaned back; she’d half expected this. The negotiation game over prices was something she excelled at, although normally she’d be doing the selling. She crossed her legs, noticing how his eyes were drawn toward the seemingly innocent, but actually deliberate, leg show the movement provided.
“I’m sure you can do a deal.”
Stan leaned back in his chair, amusement dancing in his eyes as he watched her. It was obvious to Joanne he was also in his element here, a playing field on which he rated star quarter-back.
“Even if I could, and I’m not saying I can, the bosses at head office would have my hide if I gave away that much on the deal.”
“Come off it, Mister Winters. Our company’s contract with you is worth a huge amount, and in this recession I’m sure you can find some room for margin.”
“Your business is important to us, I grant you, but not as much as you think. All of Charles Rigsby’s people drive a hard bargain, so there’s not a lot of margin in each sale.”
“Well, what about the servicing business, then. Surely, that’s worth a lot on top.”
Joanne crossed her legs the other way, noticing again how his eyes were drawn to the glimpse of her thigh this exposed.
“Of course, but Charles gets that near as dammit to cost. I’m sorry, young lady, much as I’d like to give you a superb deal, if for no other reason than for that show you gave me ten years ago, I would, but the best I can do is a thousand.”
Joanne knew he’d referred back to the hot tub incident simply to throw her off balance. A second later she ruefully had to accept that it had worked. Images of her running naked across the deck, attempting to retrieve her string bikini and dive into the small changing room next to the pool, flashed through her mind. The grinning boy in the hot tub and his equally grinning father, the man sitting opposite her now, stayed like after-images burnt onto her retina. She could still remember the enormous bulge in the older man’s pants, caused by her naked beauty as she’d sprinted for cover. She couldn’t prevent the blush rising to her cheeks once more. Joanne realized he was talking again.
“I suppose there’s one way we could consider this…”
* * * *
Joanne carefully parked her three year old Ford under a lamppost outside the Lexus showroom. For the umpteenth time that evening, she wondered how she’d allowed the older man to talk her into this. She carefully swung her legs out of the car, keeping her knees clamped together to avoid giving any passer-by a flash, especially given the rather short nature of her tight black mini skirt. Nevertheless, glancing down she could see the darker band at the top of her stockings. Pulling herself upright, she looked up at the huge expanse of the plate glass window, still lit, although the blinds were drawn. Carefully, she smoothed down her skirt and, after locking the car, checked her reflection in the wing mirror. The outfit was a variation on one of her business power-suits, simply with a shorter skirt substituted for the one she normally wore with the jacket. Her white blouse showed through the gap above the single button that fastened the jacket closed.
She shivered with either nerves or excitement – she wasn’t quite sure which – as she walked toward the doorway she’d exited, pretty much in shock, only hours earlier. Now, with darkness surrounding the pool of light that was the showroom, she felt a tension that was hard to explain. Although the night was warm, she shivered again; this time the flash of electric sensation from her erect nipples against the cotton of the crisp blouse confirmed the earlier shiver hadn’t been from nerves.
“God! What am I doing here!”
A moment later she realized she’d spoken out loud, and continued silently to herself.
You’re here cos you want that car.
A moment later the showroom door was opened from the inside, and a smiling Stan Winters waved her into the building before closing and locking the door behind her. She turned back to face him.
“I’m glad you decided to come tonight after all. I wondered if you’d back out.”
“We made a deal, and I’ll stick to my side of it.”
Stan looked at her, his head tilted to one side, a slow smile playing across his face.
“You don’t have to, you know. As far as I’m concerned, you can turn and walk away, the car will still be yo
urs. Anything that happens now will be of your own free will.”
She looked at him, unconsciously mirroring his smile with one of her own, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Are you saying that for the CCTV, Stan? We made a deal. I said I’m going to stick to it, see that you stick to your half too.”
“Oh, we will.”
“We?”
Joanne turned in confusion as another voice sounded from behind her. She’d expected Stan to be on his own tonight. Obviously, he had planned otherwise.
“This is Chris, one of my salesmen, and the silent one is Jeff. We’re all going to be shooting the photos, not just me.”
“That’s not quite the deal I agreed to, Stan.”
“Look, honey, this way we get the job done more quickly. We’ll each be shooting from a different angle. If I were on my own, I’d have to keep moving around, and that would take a lot more time. This way, we’ll be done by midnight.”
Having witnessed several professional photo-shoots as part of her job, she had to agree that what he was saying was logical. However, posing in front of two complete strangers, as well as the father of her first real boyfriend, wasn’t quite how she’d envisioned the evening.
“Now, shall we get started? As you can see, we’ve rigged the lights, and you appear to be dressed exactly as I asked you to. You look absolutely ravishing, sweetheart, absolutely ravishing.”
“You promised my face wouldn’t appear in any photograph on display outside of the back offices and workshop. Are all three of you bound by that promise?”
All three men nodded enthusiastically as they led her over toward the most brightly lit part of the showroom.
Seeing the Lexus SC, in the middle of the circle of lights, with its top down brought a giggle to Joanne’s lips.
“How did I know the first car would be a convertible?”
Stan laughed with her.
“Of course it is. We can capture so many more angles this way, and we’re not going to get in each other’s way.”
He opened the driver’s door for her.
“Please, take a seat behind the wheel. Don’t worry, we’re not going to start taking photos until everyone, including you, is ready.”
She admired the car. Its charcoal grey metallic paintwork gleamed in the reflected lights, the deep red leather interior oozing sensuality to her. Joanne licked her lips, shook her head to help her concentrate, and climbed as gracefully as possible into the driver’s seat. Instantly, she felt somewhat cramped. The seat was quite a long way forward, forcing her to keep her knees bent. Indeed, her knees weren’t even close to touching the seat, and the steering wheel was even resting on them. With her thighs elevated at this angle, her skirt slipped up slightly. Joanne knew immediately that this was a deliberate, devious ploy by Stan, and she reached for the seat adjuster to slide it back.
“Sorry, Joanne. It’s electric, not manual. Besides, we need the room immediately behind you so Chris can stand there for the overhead shots. You look incredible like that, by the way.”
With a sigh, she ceased fumbling with the non-reactive switch and checked her hair in the driver’s mirror. Noting a few stray strands out of place, she lifted her hands to smooth them back into place, eliciting a whistle from Jeff who was crouched off her left side, admiring the view. Joanne glanced down and realized her gesture had tightened the jacket at the button, below her breasts, accentuating and thrusting out her prominent features above it. She blushed and lowered her hands back to the wheel.
“Okay, Joanne. I’m going to shut the door, and then we’ll start. We want a few driving shots first, then Chris will climb in the back for some shots, then we’ll open the door and take some more of you climbing out. You ready?”
Biting her lip, Joanne nodded and they began to fire their digital cameras in rapid succession. Chris and Jeff remained silent, as Stan provided directions. Look left, look right, look back over your shoulder, extend your arm, now smile into the mirror, and now frown. The rapid fire kept up for several minutes and Joanne gradually relaxed, obeying the instructions, one after the other.
“Now, Chris.”
She felt the car rock as he climbed over the side of the car to stand in the floor well immediately behind her. She expected the other two to stop and watch what he was doing, but was surprised to see them continuing to take pictures, with their friend obviously in the shots.
Chris loomed over her, and she concentrated on looking straight ahead. Now it was Chris who started to give directions.
“Can you square your shoulders a bit, please, Joanne. Now, lean back into the seat so the steering wheel is at arm’s length. Excellent. Now, take your left hand off the wheel and lean it on the side of the car, rest it there, pretend you’re drumming a beat with your fingers as you cruise along.”
She continued to do as he asked her, conscious of the camera clicking above her as he leaned over. Quickly glancing down, she realized there was quite a show of leg available from his angle, her skirt having slid higher with every movement. Just as they had been outside, the tops of her stockings were beginning to show.
“Can I ask you to do something, please, Joanne?”
He was much more polite than Stan, asking her, rather than commanding her, and complimenting her all the way.
“Sure.”
“Can you undo the button on the jacket, please.”
Joanne took a deep breath and bit her lip once more, keenly aware that Stan was capturing every facial expression from his position on just the other side of the car door. She knew each small step was one she couldn’t take back, but there was no obvious sinister motive, and he’d been nice to her.
“Okay.”
She lowered her right hand from the steering wheel, flicked the oversized button through its buttonhole, and put her hand back on the wheel in a single fluid motion. Although more of her blouse was on display, nothing else was.
She heard the camera’s click another couple of times.
“I’m sorry, Joanne, that’s not quite the effect we want. Would you mind undoing the top two buttons on your blouse?”
This time there was clearly more at stake, and she knew the other two men were watching her intently. Once opened, she doubted they would ask her to close them again, indeed would probably ask for more to be undone. Still, she’d chosen the blouse with care for the evening, knowing from Stan’s description of the evening that such things would be required of her. The blouse had twelve buttons down the front, and she’d checked in the mirror. It would need the top six to be undone to expose more cleavage than she did in a tank top, let alone a halter neck.
Taking a breath, she took both hands away, reached under her chin and undid the top two buttons, before repositioning her hands, one on the steering wheel, one on the side of the car.
“That’s excellent, Joanne. Really, really good. You are doing well, and that pose is almost perfect.”
“Almost?”
“Well… Would you mind another button… maybe two?”
Joanne paused again, then repeated the previous motion; four buttons were now undone.
“Can you spread the shoulders of the blouse open just a little?”
She complied, feeling secure in the situation, knowing it would need another two buttons before she would feel in any way uncomfortable, and not even then. Joanne gasped in horror as she realized that she’d checked the front view with six buttons open in her mirror, not the top down view Chris was now getting, especially with the lapels splayed wide as they were. She instantly colored up as the three men chuckled and Chris lightly leapt over the side of the car, leaving her alone in the vehicle once more.
“Well done, sweetie. That was very good. Now, it’s time for… shall we say the ‘leg show’ as you get out of the car.”
Stan allowed her to calm down and then opened the car door wide, to allow the three of them to congregate a few feet from it. Joanne looked at them as they took up their positions, and was surprised to see J
eff lying down on the floor, clearly angling his camera up toward her.
“Figures.”
“Sorry, honey?”
“One of you had to go for the up-skirt shot didn’t you? See some flesh above the stocking tops!”
Her wisecrack caused the three to chuckle, and it was Stan who answered her.
“Look down, honey. You’re already showing flesh above the top of one stocking.”
Joanne immediately dropped her gaze to confirm that this was indeed the case. All the moving around in the car, together with her raised knees, had pushed the skirt so high up her thigh that you could clearly see two inches of naked flesh above the hold-up stocking.
“Oh.”
“Don’t worry, honey. It looks almost perfect like that.”
“Only almost?”
Joanne realized her mistake as soon as she’d spoken the words, the second time she’d made the same mistake, but it was too late. She vowed silently to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the evening.
“Well… Would you mind undoing another two buttons, and just hiking the skirt up another couple of inches?”
She blushed and bit her lip once more.
“Hold that expression, that’s fabulous.”
Chris darted in to take a couple of close-ups of her face as she sat perfectly still. As he backed away again, Stan motioned for her to do as he had asked. Silently cursing, and knowing the level of exposure was now approaching the end of her comfort level, she reached down and undid the next two buttons on her blouse. It was now open down to the same level as her nipples, and if she allowed the blouse to gape open, one or both of the fleshy nubs would be exposed. Breathing deeply, she placed both her hands back on the steering wheel.
“The skirt too, please.”
She dropped her hand to her exposed thigh and slowly pulled the skirt up another couple of inches, knowing that in a few seconds they would ask her to swing the leg out of the car, exposing even more.
* * * *
“And that’s a wrap. Well done, Joanne.”
Joanne stood there next to the car, breathing quite heavily. She had surprised herself by actually enjoying having the three men focusing their cameras, and incidentally their gaze, on her. However, it was simply the first set of pictures she’d agreed to pose for. It was also the only one for which she would be using her own clothes. Stan had promised to provide the other outfits.
