Lew's Photo Studio - Book 3 by Lew Pit - HTML preview

Chapter 29

Bethany’s paintings exhibition.

 

First thing Wednesday morning I called Catharina.

“Hi Catharina, how are you?”

“Good to hear you, Lew, I’m fine; to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”

“It’s a bit delicate, you know my birthday is coming up and I can guess that you had planned to come over?”

“Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world.”

“I’m afraid that I’m gonna have to disappoint you, darling, I won’t be home.”

“You’re not gonna be home?”

“No, I’ll be onboard a cruise ship somewhere on the Atlantic ocean. You probably know I wasn’t looking forward to any kind of celebration and a seasoned cruise friend of mine, offered me the opportunity to join her on a cruise. She received this fantastic deal, but she needs someone to go with her, and as her daughter, who is her regular cruise companion can’t join her as she has a baby now and she knew I always wanted to go on a cruise she offered it to me.”

“That’s fantastic you should definitely go, we can see each other another time when you’re back, and I’ll expect a full report of your adventures onboard.”

“Thanks, Catharina for being such a good sport, I’ll make it up to you. I’ll come to Rome shortly after I return from the cruise and the one-week stay in Florida, that’s a promise.”

“Excellent, I’ll look forward to that, so till then enjoy yourself, I’m sure you’ll really like it very much I had a great time when I went on a cruise with Mario many years ago, Ciao Lew ciao, thanks for calling.”

“Yeah ciao Catharina, thanks for being so understanding.”

I was happy she took it so well, but before I could go on this cruise, I needed to set up an art exhibition for Bethany, something I’d never done before, not with paintings anyway. I’d visited plenty of photo exhibitions and I’d been to museums, so I guess I’ll take my ideas from there and Bethany of course. It was a good thing we still had a week and a half before the opening to organize everything but I needed to talk to Bethany soon. Maybe I’ll better give her a call.

“Hi Bethany, we need to sit together to get your exhibition on the road, it needs to open the Friday or Saturday after next because after that I'll be gone for 3 weeks, which will be the duration of your exhibit.”

“Sounds good, when do you want to meet?”

“How about tonight?”

“OK, your place or mine? You know what…come to me: I’ll cook you dinner.”

“You don’t have to fuss over me, Bethany…”

“It’s no fuss, cooking for one or for two is basically the same, I gladly do it and enjoy the company, just get here at 7.”

“OK, I’ll bring a bottle of wine, red or white?”

“Red, I will prepare something meaty, any preferences?”

“No, not really I eat anything meaty. See you later then. Oh, before I forget, maybe we should include Linda; she could act as your representative during the exhibition while I’m gone, you’ll need someone there in case people want to buy any of your artworks.”

“Good idea, I’ll give her a ring and see if she’s available tonight.”

After I closed the shop at 6, I got ready for my evening with two of my favorite girls. I had plenty of time to look my best and washed and shaved all over; you never know what the evening might bring apart, of course, from some good ideas about the exhibition. 7 o’clock sharp I rang Bethany’s bell. 2 seconds later she opened the door.

“Come in, Linda is already here preparing some pre-dinner snacks, that girl is a treasure to have around she is so resourceful.”

“She’s indeed a treasure, I’m so happy she walked into my shop a few months ago.”

Walking in I saw Linda busy in Beth’s kitchen. “Hi, Linda.” “Hey Lew, good to see you.”

As expected, the appetizers were excellent and the food that Bethany had prepared was far better than what I usually made for myself. All of that accompanied by a nice bottle of Beaujolais Villages made it a very pleasant meal, high time to tackle the issues for the exhibition.

“First, how many paintings do you think you will be able to exhibit?”

“I’ve got about 20 here in the apartment, another 8 in different locations in the shop, and a few that still need to be framed. I can have it done by mid-next week, so in total, I guess we’ll have 35.”

“That should do for a nice exhibition, I can add some photos as well, bringing the grand total up to about 45. I’ve got a rail installed in the studio on one side making it possible to hang mounted photos and some paintings with a thin cable from the ceiling. It will be difficult to hang all the paintings that way, so maybe we can put some of them on easels?”

“I’ve got 3 and I may be able to borrow some from the store where I buy my art supplies.”

“Good, I’ll contact Tanja to get the name and address of her cabinet maker: he should be able to come up with some constructions to exhibit paintings. We can also suspend some in the middle from the ceiling in blocks of 4, back to back, or on roll-away walls.

“Excellent idea,” Bethany said. “Though I was wondering why and how Linda would be involved in all of this. And what is this about you not being here for 3 weeks? You’ve got your birthday coming up.”

“Yeah, well that’s the thing. I have indeed my birthday coming up as you know, but you also know I don't want any fuss so I’ve found the perfect solution - well Grace did.”

“What do you mean Grace did, what are you up to and how is Grace involved in all this?”

“Grace is a fervent cruiser, she reached Pinnacle level in the Royal Caribbean cruise line Crown and Anchor club and received this very special offer on a Transatlantic cruise she wants to share with me.”

“I never knew you wanted to go on a cruise,” Linda interjected.

“It’s been something I have always wanted to do, and right now this is perfect for me. I don’t have to deal with any birthday stress, and I can fulfill a lifelong dream; besides it's great for you as well as I won’t need the studio for 3 weeks, just long enough for a nice exhibition, and that’s where Linda comes in as caretaker of the event. You will need someone to handle sales and have control over things unless you want to close your beauty salon for 3 weeks?”

“OK, I follow your reasoning but why 3 weeks? These cruises usually take 2, and not 3 weeks”

“You’re quite right, and you seem to know your way around cruising as well, but we will add a week to the trip in Florida, it's been so long since I visited with Mickey and Donald, and as we will end up in Miami at the end of the cruise, it made sense to us.”

“I see, so you’re going to let us fend for ourselves while you have a good time, and with Grace of all people.”

“Why, what’s wrong with Grace?”

“Nothing, nothing but you seem to spend quite a lot of time with her lately, is there anything brewing between you two?”

“No! Why, do you feel neglected? Should I spend more time with you, Beth?”

Turning red, Bethany was quick to deny she felt neglected. I told them about the big suite Grace was offered on board at a very reduced price and why she couldn’t take her long-time cruise companion Nancy on this one as it would be too much of a strain for baby Emelia.

“So basically we’re helping each other, I help Grace by joining her as the offer was only valid if she had a companion and she helps me escape any unwanted birthday festivities.”

“So you’re going as a couple then?”

“For the cruise line yes we are, and what the outside world thinks is of no concern to us: they can think what they want. If it had been you, Beth, I would’ve gone with you.”

“Unfortunately I’m not Pinnacle, I’m only Diamond Plus and we don’t get the same generous offers as Grace.”

“Well keep on cruising and you’ll reach Pinnacle one day and then you can ask me to go on a cruise with you - allow me already to offer you my services.”

“I bet you do, but beware if that day comes I’ll hold you to it, Linda’s my witness.” She said with a chuckle. “Is there anything we need to discuss concerning the exhibition or have we covered all angles?”

“No, I think we have it all, anything else from your side Linda?”

“I guess not, I can work out any financial issues and opening times with Beth separately, oh before I forget I will need a key.”

“Yes, I’ll have one made for you, and before I forget, when Jada is not in the shop during my absence you’ll need to be at the studio on Monday at 8 to let my cleaning lady Petra in, I’ll inform her about the exhibition and what is expected of her.”

“How about some dessert?” Bethany said with a devious smile on her face.

“You know me, I love dessert, bring it on!”

I had no idea what they had in mind, but it became quickly clear it had nothing to do with Dame Blanche or any other sweet I like - well as it turned out one of the sweets I like was partly involved. I saw Linda slowly pull her top over her head, after which she threw it in my face, grabbed a can from the table, and sprayed whipped cream generously over her nipples while coming toward me

“You must imagine the chocolate sauce and the ice cream,” she said seductively, holding up her tits in her hands, “but I’ve got the cream right here for you to savor.”

I do love whipped cream on everything and especially on hot boobs. It didn’t stop there, out of the corner of my eye I saw Bethany do the same on her D-cups. That left me with one of the most difficult decisions I had to take that evening: where to start? Since Linda was first I started with her, sort of building it up, starting with a small B-cup portion and then moving on to the bigger D-size one. While I was busy licking and sucking on all those enticing boobs, I felt a pair of nimble hands stroke my growing cock through my pants while trying to set it free from its prison. I guessed it was Linda as I was busy eating cream from Beth’s tits, and she was the one holding my head as well. The handling of my cock sure felt fantastic, especially after Linda had fished it out of my trousers, and while holding it firmly she began the up-and-down dance with her hand. Moving from Beth’s now clean-licked boobs to her alluring mouth was just a small distance, which I gladly covered to begin circling our tongues around each other in a hot tongue Walz.

I heard Linda moan as she replaced her hand with her tongue, first circling the tip around my cockhead, paying special attention to the most sensitive frenulum. She rapidly brought it to a full-blown raging hardon, and when that was achieved, both girls stood up, each taking one of my hands, the other on my cock making sure I couldn’t escape they led me to the bedroom, where I was pushed with my back onto the bed partially naked. In the next 15 seconds, I was completely undressed, after which both did the same, changing their attire from topless to full nudity. Bethany climbed onto the bed straddling me, hiding something behind her back, while bringing her pussy over my mouth.

“Now that you had two desserts, how about a third one?” Bethany asked, bringing the can of whipped cream to the front and squirting a big dollop onto her cunt which she then lowered to my mouth. Without giving any thought to my cholesterol I latched on, licking and sucking all over her snatch. The taste was out of this world, her tangy-sweet juices combined with the sweetened whipped cream brought me to dessert heaven.

While I was eagerly feasting on Beth’s cunt, Linda had some dessert festivities of her own, swallowing my dick after decorating it first with whipped cream from her own private spray can. Whimpers of pleasure erupted from Beth’s lips as I did a very good professional imitation of a vacuum cleaner on her clit, drawing more blood into the already engorged love button. When I grabbed her tits, still slippery from the cream, pinching her nipples, resulted in more moaning alternated with high-pitched exultations of pleasure. All of a sudden she arched her back, her pending orgasm building rapidly inside of her, while I was nibbling at her labia pulling at the tender flesh, her womanly flavor sending me into sensory overdrive.

“Oh god fuck, fuck…”

“Not this time Beth,” I mumbled between my upper and her lower lips.

“No need, I’m cumming yes, yes, keep going, SUCK ME HARDER!”

Obliging as always, I sucked so hard I would have made a Dyson jealous. My reward was a bucket load of girly juice. All of a sudden I felt some movement behind Beth’s back and my cock immediately felt cold as Linda had let go of it, I started to complain, as far as it was possible which was rather difficult with my mouth still full of Beth’s squirting pussy. Before I knew what was happening my cock was again encased in a warm and very wet environment, quickly grasping what had happened as I felt Linda’s butt make contact with my abdomen, leave again, then come back as I understood she rode me reverse cowgirl style, her back to Beth’s back. Beth moved off of me, giving me some breathing space in the process and allowing me to watch Linda’s gorgeous back, covered in a fine sheen of sweat as she rode me. I wanted Linda to cum before I did, so my hands moved from her hips to her front over her abdomen finding the top of her cunt. I first slid the hood covering her love button, upwards before I began frigging it. That had the desired effect on her, as I felt her pussy’s throbbing increase around my cock, a clear telltale sign of her orgasm inching closer to boiling point. All of a sudden I felt her body tense up as she orgasmed, going faster, trying to bury my cock as deep as possible in her quivering, convulsing cunt. Contrary to previous orgasms I experienced with her she was rather quiet.

“Have you cum?” Beth asked, lying next to me.

“Uh no.”

“Then I want MY dessert now, I want your cum in my mouth, I want to suck you dry.”

“Be my guest, but please leave it whole, I hope to be able to use it some more in the future,” I said with a chuckle. Bethany looked at me with slightly glazed eyes, not understanding what I had said as she was focused on drinking my sperm. She moved into a 69 position giving me a new, slightly different view of her hot and still dripping pussy. It looked too good to leave alone, so I snaked my tongue into her and began to suck again taking both of her outer lips into my mouth and then holding them with my lips pulling at them like I had her nipples earlier that evening licking and sucking the whipped cream off of them. As she felt her pussy again stimulated by my oral skills, she gave a deep guttural grunt, her mouth stuffed with my steel rod.

Her licking and sucking were bringing me a lot closer to an orgasm, though I was desperately trying to postpone it for her to reach another one first, or together with me, when all of a sudden it hit me, she had another hole I could stimulate and make her cum faster. Grabbing her buttocks I pulled them open licking her pucker, lubricating it with my saliva, pushing with my thumb against her tight anal ring which, with a little insistence, allowed me to slide in, stimulating the nerve endings residing around it into little electric shocks parallel with the ones in the front around her clit. I felt her go into orgasmic convulsions just as my blood-filled organ exploded in her mouth, shooting the first two jets of hot sperm down her throat with the rest filling her mouth, attacking her taste buds. She collapsed on top of me, both of us panting. All of a sudden I heard hand-clapping, looking to my side I saw Linda give us applause with a big grin on her face.

“Great show! Not bad for old folks, worthy of a porn Oscar I’d say. How about another round with a young filly Lew?”

“No thank you, dear: I’ll take a rain check if you don’t mind, no more dessert for me today, but I won’t say no to a shower, followed by a cup of coffee.”

Shower ‘à trois’ came with lots of groping and kissing. When we were finally done, dried, and dressed again, I got my cup of coffee, after which I said my goodbyes with the agreement to get back together on Sunday afternoon to evaluate where we stood with the project. I indicated there might be a need for a few more small meetings to iron out the final details or discuss any problems that might occur in the coming week.

Sunday at 2 pm we got together again in my apartment.

“I talked to Tanja’s cabinet maker and he had no problem making two cubes that can be suspended from the ceiling on which we can hang 8 paintings in the middle of the room, he also managed to produce a few fake easels, if I remember correctly he said 5, we also have 4 roll-away walls, good for another 16 paintings, that leaves 13 paintings to be hung between the photos, I’ll have another rail installed at the top of the opposite wall, all we need to do is find a good balance between the photos and paintings.”

“What kind of photos would you have in mind?”

“I was thinking a few portraits of Catharina, I can't use any from Nancy as they’re sold, Linda’s photos are also out of the question as that would be a bit awkward for you wouldn't it Linda?”

“As long as they’re not nudes, I wouldn't mind.”

“OK, but only a few maybe, I could always do some landscapes or city views, which paintings would you consider Beth?”

“How about some nice paintings of animals.”

“Oh yes, I remember those from your shop, when you were torturing me,” Linda said with a chuckle.

“I wasn’t torturing you, I was making you irresistibly beautiful.”

“Yes you were but it still felt like torture.”

“No beauty without pain my dear!”

“So do we go for the animal paintings then in between the photos?”

“Yes, I’ve only got two so it would be nice to have them sort of together.”

“Good I’ll use some of the photos with Catharina in Rome then. What kind of animals are we talking about?”

“It’s two paintings of horses.”

“Great, I’ve got some very nice photos of a naked girl on horseback, like Lady Godiva, I can use the ones where she can’t be recognized, otherwise her parents could have a fit when they see them.”

“Oh Lady Godiva giving her parents a fit, I wonder why Lew?” Beth interjected.

“You know I don’t kiss and tell. So please don’t ask.”

“OK, we’ll let our imagination run wild then,” Linda replied with a wink to Beth.

“Yes, you do just that ladies. By the way; have you agreed already on opening times, financials etcetera?”

“Yes, we have dad,” they said almost in unison.

“How about the framing Beth, how is that coming?”

“The shop promised they would be ready by next Thursday.”

“Isn’t that cutting it a bit fine?”

“No, I’m OK with that. They’ve never failed me before: when they give a time they always keep their promises.”

“Excellent, I guess we have it all covered then? Unless you can think of anything else?”

“One final thing, what time do we get together on Friday for the installation? Or can we do it on the day of opening, Saturday?”

“No, let’s do Friday evening if that’s OK with you Lew unless you need the studio?”

“I’ve got nothing planned from Friday afternoon onward, so that evening is fine for me, 6 pm OK?”

“Great, now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got another pressing appointment,” Linda said.

“OK dear, have fun, us old folk will have a nice cup of tea and a slice of something sweet.”

Once Linda was gone, I put the kettle on to prepare the tea. Which I served on the small coffee table in front of the settee.

“So how's life treating you now?”

“I can’t complain, my doctor is happy with my health, though she advised me to eat more fruit. So what would you think about me taking a bite out of your melons and giving me some of the wonderful prune juice you have?”

“Did she mean that kind of fruit?”

“Yes, Beth you always look so succulent, so would you mind?”

“Where do you want to start? With the juice or the melons?” As she said that she solved the problem by starting to undo the buttons of her turquoise blouse giving me an enticing view of her D-cups encased in a very sexy, red-colored lace push-up bra.”

“You know what my two weak points are, don’t you Beth? You know I love a woman with a nice flat stomach crowned with two succulent boobs as you have; allow me to pay my respects to them.”

Bethany slipped her blouse off her shoulders and turned her back to me. Since I was getting better at it, she knew I loved to unclasp her bra and set her boobs free. After releasing them, I gently kissed her shoulders, my hands sliding up and down her upper arms, for the moment staying away from her fun bags. I lifted her arms folding them behind my head, thus giving me free access to her front. I still didn’t want to start on her tits, so I stayed away from them, tickling down the inside of her raised arms, enticing giggles from her lips. Then moving down the side of her chest, I did the same there, making her shiver ever so lightly. Sliding my fingernails via her armpits to the outside of her boobs and then under them, I could see her nipples hardening, but I stayed well away from them. She gave a telltale little moan as her arousal grew. Moving away from her boobs, my hands made a little dance over her stomach. She responded with a light disapproving moan until she felt me moving up again, cupping her tits while circling with my thumbs over her nipples. She lowered her arms, turned her head, and kissed me. Just a light kiss because due to the awkward position we were in, tongue work was not possible. Turning completely, she put her hands on each side of my head to engage in a full-blown tongue tango, exploring every nook and cranny of my mouth, inviting my tongue into hers to do the same. An invitation I gladly accepted. After a few minutes of kissing, Beth’s hands moved down searching for the buttons of my shirt undoing all of them, after which she began to pull my shirt out of my trousers and remove it completely, leaving me topless like she was. Her soft skin against mine felt so good, her boobs crowned with rock-hard nipples pressing into my chest while we caressed each other’s backs.

Releasing her I stood up, “Shall we adjourn to a more comfortable setting?”

“Yes let’s,” she said as I took her hands and guided her to the bedroom. Once there I dropped to my knees, grabbed her buttocks, then turned her around so I could get to the zipper of her skirt, which I pulled down, allowing it to slide down her legs, puddling on the floor. She stepped gracefully out of it, leaving her in her heels and matching panties to her bra. Turning her around again, I placed a kiss on the material covering her pubes, while my hands got busy on her buttocks, massaging them over her last remaining piece of clothing. I didn’t last long before grabbing the elastic and sliding the panties down to her knees, from where they dwindled to the floor, allowing me now to place a second kiss on her now unencumbered, nicely waxed womanhood, resulting in a sharp intake of breath on her side. As she was standing right next to the bed, all it took was a small push to make her sit down. I opened her legs, massaging the outside of her thighs with my fingers and the inside with my thumbs, coming close but staying well away from her snatch. I wanted full access to her inner sanctum, so I moved my hands to the underside of her knees, lifting and opened her legs completely. Sliding my hands over the inside of her thighs made whimpers of pleasure escape from her lips, clear proof of her growing arousal. High time to give her pussy the same treatment as I had given her boobs. Using the tips of my fingers I massaged lightly up and down the valley between her thighs and pussy. Seeing her pussy lips getting moist, I started kissing all around her pussy while in passing flicking my tongue against her lips splitting them apart with my thumbs. Her inner sanctum revealed itself to me giving me a waft of her musky womanly aroma. Not able to hold back anymore, I went to town on her pussy. Beth was uttering mousy little squeaks, her pussy growing wetter by the second. With my thumbs, I peeled her pink oyster further open in search of her little pearl. She grabbed my head, pulling it hard against her pulsing button, which I sucked into my mouth, feeling it grow to full size. I began fingering her sopping hole starting with 1 finger and working my way up to 3. She howled like a cat in heat, arching her back, almost suffocating me.

“Oh my god, yes, yes AAAAAAAAHH, yes, yes, OH MY GOD, I'm CUUUMMING!”

She was shouting at the top of her voice, while she drowned me with her girly juices, squirting all over my face and the bed cover.

After that, she was silent for 10 minutes, lying with her eyes closed, her breath slowly coming back to normal. Then she opened them looking at me with a huge smile on her face.

“You did it again.”

“What did I do again dear?”

“You gave me a huge orgasm and kept your clothes on, well at least your pants.”

“Must be my signature move I guess.”

“Get up and take them off, I want to suck your dick!”

“I don’t like to be commanded, but if you want them off, you know what to do.”

After which I stood up in front of Bethany who’d sat upright on the bed her greedy hands groping at the buttons and zipper, pulling my pants down, releasing my raging hard-on from its little prison, and immediately sliding her hot mouth over it. She gently grabbed my balls, tickling them with her red painted nails. I wanted to cum, I wanted to cum fast so I held her head and started fucking her face. Bethany seemed to like that as she began to moan, getting me even closer to erupting with the vibrations she created. She too was building up to another one by frigging her clit with her fingers.

“Oh yes Beth that feels soo good, I’m gonna cum, I’m gonna give you my essence, are you ready?”

“Mmmmmmmm!” was all she could bring out with my dick embedded deep in her throat, her head nodding just a little bit. As my orgasm crested, 3 big jets of hot creamy jizz shot out of me straight down her throat into her stomach. So much for the cream on her cake she had had before together with the tea.

“God woman you do have the knack of making me cum fast.”

“Why are you slower with other women then?”

“Absolutely, the other day I even won a bet with my cleaning lady on that subject.”

“Oh yes, please tell me more.”

“I bet her I could last 15 minutes of her blowing me before she could make me cum, she negotiated it up to 20 and I agreed.”

“And did you?”

“Yes.”

“And what did you get out of the bet?”

“Now that my dear Bethany is for me to know and you to guess.”

“Spoilsport!”

“You know me, I don’t kiss and tell.”

“OK, maybe I should have a bet with you then one day?”

“I could think of a few things I would like to put you through; yes, maybe one day.”

Friday evening, Beth pulled up in a van with her paintings. Linda was already anxiously waiting to get cracking. A few hours earlier the cabinet maker had delivered the cubes, the roll-away walls, and the fake easels. He had changed the design of the cubes so that they had legs and didn't have to be suspended from the ceiling, which would make it much easier for us to hang the paintings on them. When all the paintings were inside we began sorting them by theme and size. Linda had prepared nice tags to be attached next to the paintings, making it easier for potential buyers. She was very eager to sell all of them. After a lot of arguing and discussion, trying out different things we had them finally all in place around 11 pm, now all I needed to do was get them properly lighted. As the exhibition would be open daily from 2 till 10 pm, except on Mondays, we decided it would be best to only go for artificial lighting and close the glass dome off. The vernissage on Saturday would start at 8 pm and hopefully, end at 10:30 pm, I was to document it photographically. We had invited quite a few dignitaries from the village, including all the shopkeepers, who could well be potential buyers. As the local brewery was looking for a venue to launch their newest beer they were very happy to sponsor the exhibition, not only trying to flog their beer but this way they could act as a patron to cultural events as well: excellent for their image. They were even the first to buy one of Beth’s paintings. It always looks nice if one of the paintings already has a ‘sold’ sign on it.

Saturday at 7:30 pm, Beth, as the star of the evening, walked into the shop in a stunning outfit, greyish blue with a lace bodice, leaving most of her shoulders bare. The sleeves were see-through, giving the impression the lace patches were glued to her skin, a plunging neckline drew attention to her ample bosom, and the skirt reached the floor, very wide and whirling around her as she walked. When she came into the exhibition area, checking one last time that everything was OK, my mouth almost fell open as I saw the surprise was in the back: in fact, there was no back, the dress started again about an inch below her ass crack, leaving her beautiful back completely bare.

I walked up to her - well I was more sneaking up on her before whispering in her ear, “Who’s this divine creature visiting my humble studio? Oh my god, it’s you, Beth, I didn’t recognize you in this stunning dress.”

“You mean this old thing I threw on?” she said turning around giving my lower arm a playful tap.

“Been shopping at Astrid’s boutique?” I asked with a wink and a chuckle.

“How did you guess?”

“I guessed because clearly, you were not the only one,” I said pointing to Linda and Astrid who’d just walked in together, each wearing stunning dresses as well. Linda’s in scarlet, figure-hugging with a split from the floor up to her hipbone on the one side and a split from the neckline down to her navel, exposing the inside of her cute boobs as she walked. Astrid’s was turquoise, with a wide, flowing skirt, not dissimilar to Bethany’s showing, some cleavage, but far less revealing in the front and back.

After she found everything still in order, Beth took my arm and walked me back to the entrance, ready to welcome the guests. Linda quickly joined us, acting as co-host and most importantly, our salesperson on duty. By 8 to 8:30 the guests started to arrive. The mayor insisted on giving a speech, paying tribute to our local artist Bethany, explaining how important these types of cultural events were for the community. I didn’t hear him speak at the inauguration of the club downstairs a few weeks ago; his contribution there was more of a physical nature wielding some floggers and plunging his pleasure stick into a few slaves’ pussies, mouths, or asses.

The rest of the evening went very pleasantly: the few times I was together with Beth, I heard her being complimented for her artwork and by the end, I saw that 5 paintings were already sold. Linda was beaming when she joined us.

“You see now Beth, that Lew and I were right about your work.”

“Yes I must admit I would never have expected this, and if it hadn’t been for you two ‘sexually’ coercing me into this exhibition I would probably never have known, so thank you for it. If you need to convince me or someone else in the future to do something they don’t want to do, I recommend the same modus operandus.”

“We’ll keep it in mind,” Linda replied giving Beth a playful tap on her forearm.

The last of the guests left around 11. With all the work we’d done the day before, the strain of tonight, and our adrenalin levels now dropping, we were knackered but happy.

“I don’t know about you ladies, but I’m ready to hit the sack.”

“Yes me too,” they said in unison, followed by a giggle.

As they walked out, I switched off all the lights and locked up. 5 minutes later, I stumbled into bed and was asleep by the time my head hit my pillow. I was woken by the continued ringing of my doorbell. When I looked at the clock it was 10 am, god that’s Grace I thought, coming to help me with my packing. I jumped out of bed donned a bathrobe and buzzed her in. Coming up the stairs she looked at me with questioning eyes.

“What happened?”

“Sorry, Grace but it was a very tiring night last night with the vernissage and I ended up in bed well after midnight and forgot to set the alarm.”

“Yeah, I can see you just came out of bed, don’t worry, take a shower and I’ll have breakfast ready for you when you’re done.”

“You’re a real lifesaver, thank you, I won’t be long”

I had never taken a shower and got dressed so fast. When I walked into the kitchen I was greeted by the smell of fresh coffee, accompanied by eggs and bacon frying in the pan.

“You shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble Grace, just some coffee and toast would have been enough.”

“You better get used to having lavish breakfasts on board every day for the coming two weeks. But once we’re in Florida you can make breakfast for me every morning.”

“That’s a deal. Have you been able to find somewhere for us to stay in Florida?”

“Yes sir, I called one of my realtor buddies over there and they offered me an exclusive deal on a gorgeous villa in a fairly new gated development they’re managing. When we like it, and they’re convinced we will, I may get exclusive distribution rights for Belgium.”

“That’s great.”

“When you’ve finished breakfast we’ll start packing the stuff you’ll need both onboard and later in the villa.”

“Are you doubtful I won't be able to pack a suitcase? I was a master in packing stuff when I was traveling for business, I turned it into a fine art to pack everything I needed for one week in a carry-on, I hate to have to wait in an airport to get my luggage.”

“This is slightly different Lew, you will need different types of clothing for the different events on board. You’ll need a tux for the formal nights, two nights on a cruise this length, you’ll need business casual outfits for the other nights, and really casual outfits for the daytime. Don’t forget we will stop at a few different harbors where we might go sightseeing, it could be cold, Iceland for instance, to name but one, or it could be warm when we get closer to Miami. You will need a big suitcase, do you have one?”

“Uh, I’ll have to search in the attic, but I guess I may have one.”

“I thought as much, just to be on the safe side, I brought Nancy’s suitcase she usually uses when she joins me on cruises, let me get it from the car.”

“I’ll get it for you dear, if you give me the keys to your car, I don’t want you dragging suitcases up the stairs.”

“Always the gentleman aren’t you Lew!”

“I try to be, especially for such a nice, good-looking lady.”

“Flatterer.”

“No, you are indeed a stunner Grace, I’ll be the envy of all the men on board.”

“Now you got me all flushed with your compliments, but thank you, and you’re not so bad yourself by the way.”

“Don’t you dare say for my age!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

When I returned with this huge suitcase I could almost hide in, Grace started going through my closets, picking stuff out I would never have chosen, discarding things that I suggested, and finishing with far too much in my opinion. We had lots of discussions on what to take and what not to take, but in the end, Grace was satisfied with what she had on the bed and to my total amazement it all fitted nicely in this huge suitcase she had brought with her.

This woman will never cease to amaze me. I was truly looking forward to spending the next 3 weeks with her. When she was gone I slipped in my bottle of blue pills, I had a vague idea it might come in very useful. After lunch Grace left, reminding me we would be picked up the next afternoon by the taxi, to take us to “Hoek Van Holland” to catch the overnight ferry to Harwich. There, the cruise ship would be waiting, at the end of its last trip of the season around Europe, to take us across the Atlantic to Miami.