Chapter 25
Lance and Cathy
Tuesday evening shortly before closing time a distinguished gentleman walked into the shop.
“Good evening sir, how may I be of assistance?”
“I heard that you specialize in nude photography, is that correct?”
“Euh yes, why do you ask?”
“I have, what may sound like a strange request. By the way, my name is Lance.”
“Yes, you probably know I’m Lew right? So tell me about your strange request.”
“You see, I’ve always wanted some nice photos of my wife Cathy in the nude, but I can’t get her to agree and I was wondering if you would be able to convince her and take these pictures for me?”
“Wow that’s a tall order, why doesn’t she want to have pictures taken in the buff?”
“She’s now 45 and she thinks she’s way past such frivolities. Whatever I tell her, she’s convinced she’s far from beautiful enough, and believe me she looks great and spends a lot of time in the gym to keep in shape. Here let me show you a picture I took without her knowing it with my phone.
Lance showed me a grainy picture on his phone of an attractive topless lady. She had gorgeous boobs, very firm, with the cutest very light-colored areolae and nipples you can imagine. I could only see a portion of her face, as Lance had been focusing on her boobs when he took the picture. He showed me another grainy one fully clothed and from what I could make out, his Cathy looked very nice indeed.
“I see that she allowed you to take a picture of her topless with your phone, have you tried with a camera, a question of getting better quality pictures?”
“I surprised her in the bathroom when I took the photo with my phone and she demanded I immediately delete it, which I didn’t do as you can see, but she doesn’t know.”
“Being a naughty boy aren’t you Lance?”
“Yes and no, but it’s so frustrating I can’t get any good photos of her, no hope of her allowing me to take better quality pictures with a digital camera, so I’m desperate. I hope she will be able to keep her stunning body in shape, but who knows for how long, and when that happens I am sure she will regret not taking the opportunity when she was still in her prime for the rest of her life.”
“You still have some time Lance, a few weeks ago I photographed an, at first unwilling, 52-year-old woman in the nude, and believe me she’s a stunner. You remember Gwyneth Paltrow had her picture taken on her 58th birthday in her backyard, also completely nude. She had it even published under the caption, ‘in my birthday suit on my 58th birthday’, unfortunately for her, her daughter was not amused by her stunt but she said she couldn’t care less.”
“Could you try to talk Cathy into posing naked please, as you did with that 52-year-old woman?”
“I have talked several women out of their clothes before, but from what you tell me, Cathy is going to be a tough cookie to crack. I do like a good challenge though, so if you want me to, I’m willing to try.”
“Great, how do you want to go about it?”
“Those, my friend, are the tricks of the trade I’m not very willing to share.”
“OK, I understand. What do I need to do to make this happen?”
“The best thing you can do is bring Cathy along under the pretense of having her portrait taken, figuring out a reason, I leave to you. Please don’t mention anything about her posing in the nude, because that would make it definitely impossible.”
“When can you do it, I can’t wait.”
“How about tomorrow? Would that be convenient? Can you come up with a plausible reason to bring her here then?”
“I think so, what would be a good time?”
“I have my assistant Jada in the shop tomorrow afternoon, so she can take care of any customers picking up prints or stuff, so any time in the afternoon would be fine, maybe not too late; it may take some time to convince her to go starkers. Can I put some pressure on her with a cock and bull story?”
“You have my fullest consent, short of physical force, for whatever you need to do to get her naked in front of your lens.”
“Fine, we’ve got a deal then, I’ll expect you around 2 pm, make sure she wears something that looks nice, but comes off easily, a summer dress is always good. I guess you won’t be able to convince her to be naked under the dress?”
“I guess not, but why do you ask?”
“Bras and panties always leave marks on the skin, so when they take them off, they show in the pictures. It takes a while for the marks to disappear and I’m not sure how long I can keep her running around naked in the studio, assuming I can talk her out of her dress in the first place. The dress is usually the most difficult part to get them to remove, once that is gone, the rest usually follows fairly easily.”
“I can hear you are indeed a master in getting the ladies naked.”
“Just a thought, would she be interested in any sort of kinky stuff? I mean would she be susceptible to going into a sub position?”
“No I don’t think so, we’ve never tried anything in that direction, so no that might even scare her off.”
“OK, good to know, but it’s sometimes another way of getting the ladies to disrobe. See you tomorrow then around 2 pm, with Cathy.”
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”
“Oh before I forget, you’ll be able to follow the whole session without her knowing about it via the screen in my computer room, Jada will show you once I disappear with Cathy into the studio. The whole session will be videoed as well, so if you want, I can provide you a DVD afterwards. The whole thing, including prints or a photo album plus DVD, will come to € 2000, is that acceptable?”
“Yes, I don’t care much what the costs will be, as long as I get photos of my Cathy in de nude.”
“Excellent we’ve got a deal, if I can’t get her out of her clothes, you’ll get the clothed portraits for free. I do have a reputation to live up to you know!”
The following morning was rather calm, I briefed Jada, when she arrived after lunch, on what was to happen in the afternoon and what her role would be. Now it was just waiting for Lance and Cathy to arrive. Right on the dot of 2, they walked into the shop. A first look at Cathy confirmed Lance was right, she was a looker, and the summer dress she wore clung to her lithe figure, with almost bare shoulders, just spaghetti straps holding up the dress. Unfortunately, I also detected bra straps, telling me Lance had not succeeded in talking Cathy into coming without the lingerie; OK so be it. The dress ended mid-thigh leaving the biggest portion of her shapely tanned legs bare, on her feet she wore sandals showing her nice slender feet with toenails fashionably painted bright red like her fingernails. I had agreed with Lance upfront to pretend we didn’t know each other.
“Good afternoon sir and madam, how can I be of assistance to you?”
“Good afternoon, I told my wife Cathy that you are famous in the village for taking portraits.”
“Thank you for the compliment and yes I do pride myself on doing justice to the people I photograph. Are you looking for a couple's portrait or just of one of you?”
“No it’s my wife, I’d like a nice set of portraits of her, with some of them being larger prints for wall mounting.”
“Excellent, I can do that, when would you like me to do it?”
“Euh right now if possible?”
“Um, yes that’s possible, Jada can look after the shop while I take..?”
“Oh my wife’s name is Cathy, and I am Lance, sorry for not introducing us.”
“No worries, I’m Lew by the way, but I guess you knew that?”
“Yes, we knew from the people who recommended you.”
“Great, shall we go to the studio then Cathy?”
“You coming, Lance?”
“No dear, I don’t want to interfere with Lew’s creativity, and besides I need to run an errand downtown, but I’ll come back to pick you up, when will you be finished, Lew?”
“It may take a few hours as we have to see what background to choose, maybe do something special with lighting some special poses. We’ll have to see, come back around 4, 4:30, I guess we’ll be finished by then.”
“Wow, will it take so long?” Cathy asked already looking worried.
“Don’t worry Cathy, once we get going I’ll bet you’ll have lots of fun and it will be over before you know it.”
“OK then.”
“See you later then Lance,” I said, giving him a wink.
While Cathy and I went to the studio, Jada took Lance into the computer room so he could follow the whole procedure. He seemed extremely nervous and curious whether I was going to be able to talk his wife out of her clothes to pose naked in front of the camera. I had my plan worked out, it was devious and naughty and I expected Cathy to get mad at me and her husband, but I was sure that in the end, she would love it, especially when she saw the results the week after.
“OK Cathy, have you ever posed for a photographer before?”
“No, I have absolutely no idea what you’ll expect me to do.”
“Don’t worry, once we get started it will come naturally to you, let’s start with something simple, do you guys have a garden?”
“Yes in the back.”
“Great let’s start with a garden background, pretend you’re in your garden and you’re looking at the beautiful flowers, I’ve got a basket here with some fake flowers for you to carry, pretending to gather them, don’t look at the camera please.”
Cathy did exactly what I asked her to do, she was a natural and didn’t even know it. I had her take different poses, then put a garden bench out for her to sit on and pretend she was in a park. After about 20 minutes, I thought the time was ripe to tackle the subject of nudity.
“Would you care to lower the straps of your dress for me, Cathy?”
“Not really.”
“I’m afraid I’m gonna have to insist.”
“I said no!”
“Ah, it’s clear Lance didn’t give you the full story then.”
“What story?”
“About him losing the bet.”
“What bet?”
“It’s obvious you have no idea, do you? Well Lance and I had a bet about the election, and if he won, I would give him a portrait session of his wife for free, but if he lost, you had to model for me in any way I would choose. I’m afraid he lost.”
“No way!”
“Yes, so I’m afraid you’ll have to play along. Lance sang your praises on how beautiful you are and he was right Cathy, you are a gorgeous woman, and taking pictures of beautiful women in the nude is my passion.”
“God no, the stupid man, so that’s why he brought me here with a cock and bull story about getting a nice portrait of me to hang on the wall, and besides I’m too old for this crap. Is there something we can work out maybe, just between the two of us? I’ll pay you handsomely for the portraits.”
“A bet is a bet I’m afraid Cathy and you will have to pay up in the way that Lance and I agreed, so please lower the straps of your dress. We will build up to it, I don’t want you to start stripping right away, and I assure you that in the end, you will like it. I’ve done this so many times before with women much older than you. Just a few weeks ago I had a gorgeous woman of 52 in here, who was tricked by her daughter to pose in the nude for me. By the end of the session, she was even seriously aroused. Let me assure you that is not my purpose here, but who knows, if it were to happen, Lance and yourself would benefit from that once you get back home.”
“I’ll be more likely to hit him for getting me into this kind of situation.”
“Why? Now tell me do you go to the beach sometimes?”
“Uh yes, regularly.”
“Do you wear a bikini then?”
“Yes of course, but I’m not on the beach right now!”
“No that’s right, but think back, I bet you it’s a very tiny bikini, with just a string in your ass.”
“Yes.”
“And when you walk around in it, you love it when the men look at you, drool over you, as I bet they do with your stunning body. That’s your exhibitionist streak, one you share with a major proportion of all the good-looking women in this world.”
“You think so?”
“Yes I think so and besides, you’ve got smashing boobs…”
“What do you know about my boobs, you’ve never seen them!”
“I have, Lance, showed me the picture he took of you with his phone, topless in the bathroom.”
“The bastard, he promised me he would delete that!”
“Don’t be mad at him, it’s what convinced me to go for the bet in the first place, on the off chance I would get to see those enticing boobs of yours in real life, and better yet, photograph them. So please, again, can you lower the straps of your dress”
Reluctantly Cathy finally complied, accepting her fate. I got her to turn her back to me and pull the zipper of her dress down, revealing her completely naked back, except for the bra and upon my request, she gave me a sultry look over her shoulder. With some more convincing she pulled the top of the dress over her shoulders and let it slide down her arms, finally dropping to the floor, leaving her in her bra and French, almost transparent knickers, it was a very nice combination in a daring pink-purple color combination, with lots of lace at the fringes.
When she finally turned around, her exhibitionist streak took over as she lifted her arms high in the air a defiant smile on her face, as if saying ‘here look at me, I’m gorgeous’. She did look as if she stepped right out of a lingerie fashion magazine, her stunning body with her brown curls accentuating her beautiful face. So far so good, now the final hurdle, total nudity, I wondered if she would dare to go for it.
“Excellent Cathy, let me give you some music to dance to, taking pictures while a woman is dancing always gives excellent results.”
After about 10 minutes of dancing Cathy was slightly out of breath, but enjoying herself, maybe I should try to numb her final inhibitions with a bit of alcohol.
“Can I offer you a glass of Champagne Cathy?”
“Yes that would be nice, I was getting a bit thirsty from the dancing.”
She gulped the glass down in one go and continued to dance. After a few minutes, it started to take effect.
“You think I’ve got beautiful boobs?”
“Yes absolutely.”
“You really want to see them?”
“I’d love to, go on, show them to me.”
She moved her hands behind her back, fumbling with the hooks of her bra. When they finally came undone, she grabbed the straps of the bra and pulled them sideways taking it off, and swinging it high in the air before throwing it away. I was taking pictures all the time.
“Well, what’s your opinion?”
“Cathy they’re divine, D-cup are they?”
“Yes, what about my nipples, they’re so bland, so colorless, I bet you’ve seen far nicer ones in your career.”
“I love your nipples, they’re just right for your boobs, I guess that Lance loves to suck them?”
“Yes he does, he also likes to eat my pussy. Now that we’re at it, would you care to see my pussy too?”
“I’m just dying to finally meet your pussy, show it to me girl.”
She didn’t need any more convincing, she grabbed the elastic of her French panties and pulled them all the way down, dangling them on her right foot before launching them in a nice arc toward me, as a stripper would. She had a gorgeous pussy, nicely shaven, with an eye-catching, well-trimmed, heart-shaped bush.
“Very nice hairdo, did you do that yourself?”
“No this is strictly Lance's work, he loves to shave me and trim my bush, always in a different shape. I can guess now why he chose a heart shape this time.”
This made for some excellent pictures, Lance was going to be in seventh heaven I thought. But he was witnessing it all wasn’t he from the computer room? I guessed that by now he had a very hard problem in his pants, unfortunately so did I and there was nothing I could do about it, as a married woman, Cathy was strictly off-limits for me, I never get involved with married women, with one exception, my beloved Catherine from Rome.
I would have to rely on Jada to bring me a release later this evening, or my faithful friend at the end of my right arm. I got Cathy to give me some very daring poses, exposing her pussy, even playing with it and making it very moist in the process. To be honest, I was a bit jealous of Lance as he was the one who would be taking advantage of his wife’s arousal later that day. I bet they will be tearing each other’s clothes off once they get at home and fuck as they’ve never fucked before. Lance’s deceit to get the long-awaited photos of his wife in the altogether will most certainly be forgiven.
“OK Cathy, I think we can wrap it up, it’s almost 4 o’clock and Lance will be here soon. Did you have fun?”
“Yes I did, I never expected it to be so liberating, and yes I seem to have an exhibitionist streak in me I wasn’t aware of. I won’t be so reluctant anymore in the future when Lance wants to take pictures of me in any state of undress, there is always the delete button if I don’t like what I see, and this time it will be me pressing that button instead of leaving it to him.”
“Excellent, I have only one more confession to make, Lance never left the shop, he could follow the whole session on screen in my computer room, so he knows you are ready to leave.”
By entering the studio at that precise moment, Lance proved my words. Before he could say anything, Cathy jumped in his arms, naked as she was, her legs around his waist, kissing him like crazy. After a while, she let go so he could say something.
“Darling, I hope you’re not too angry at my deceit and the help Lew gave me to finally get those pictures of you I’ve been asking for - for so long now.”
“We’ll have to see. You’ve been very naughty, and it may take me a little while to forgive you… I can’t wait for the results, when will we be able to see them, Lew?”
“Somewhere towards the end of the week I’ll have a selection ready for you to choose from, but please give me a ring so you don’t come in vain. How would you feel about taking a further step?”
“What do you mean a further step?” Lance asked with a puzzled look on his face.
“I had a couple the other week who posed naked together.”
“In the nude?” they replied in unison.
“Yes, of course in the nude, what’s the fun in posing with a naked woman all dressed up?”
“Oh yes Lance, let’s do this, I don’t want to be the only one of us in the nude in our photo album.”
“I don’t know, are you sure?”
“I think that Cathy has a valid point, Lance, I’ll make you a deal. For 500 more I’ll take a whole series of photos of you as a couple, or are you more scared than your wife? You know I made a bet with her that I could talk you out of your clothes,” I said winking at Cathy.
“Yeah, I bet you did.”
“Betting is very dangerous Lance, ask Cathy, she knows all about it.”
“Come on Lance take your clothes off, I want to do this,” Cathy urged her husband.
“OK, fine, if I don’t I’m probably gonna have to hear I’m a chicken for the rest of my life.”
Lance got undressed and I directed them into different sitting and standing poses, all very tasteful. Cathy was clearly in her seventh heaven, feeling supported by her husband. When it was done, and while they were getting dressed again I heard them discussing in a hushed way, until I heard Lance say just a bit louder, “Don’t you dare ask him!”
“What is it that you are not allowed to ask me, Cathy?”
“Oh, nothing,” Lance replied.
“Sorry, Lance I heard you distinctly say that Cathy was not allowed to ask me something. Cathy can ask me anything she likes, especially after this wonderful photo session. So go right ahead Cathy what would you like to know?”
“Uh, is it true that you have a BDSM dungeon in your cellar?”
“Yes and no. If you want to know if there is a BDSM dungeon in my cellar, the answer is yes, if you want to know if it’s mine, the answer is no. I rent the space to the local BDSM club.”
“You see, there is a BDSM club in the village, I told you so,” Cathy said triumphantly.
“Is that really true Lew? Lance asked me, still finding it difficult to believe me.
“Yes, why, are you interested?”
“Uh, we’re not sure, we would love to see it if that’s possible,” Cathy replied with a big smile, her clearly being the more adventurous of the two, totally contradictory to what Lance thought.
“You can visit; every Thursday evening they have an open-door session for interested people, you pay a minimal entrance fee and can see what and how some of the members practice their art and if you’re adventurous you can even participate. Usually, flogging is recommended, sometimes accompanied by some nipple play or a small hot wax treatment, unless you prefer less painful games. They have a real artist in rope bondage, he can turn a woman into a macramé piece of art. They have courses and also a small shop featuring all kinds of tools and toys for personal use at home or the club with loads of books about their lifestyle. It starts at 8 pm and runs until midnight, it’s very similar to what they do in the Antwerp Fetish café. Let me get you the club’s president’s card: if you contact her she’ll tell you all about it.”
“Wow that is awesome, we should go, Lance, I want to see this and maybe also feel it. Thanks for the info Lew I appreciate it.”
“Always happy to oblige.”
They walked, very happy, out of the store like a couple of teenagers in love for the first time, arms around each other’s waists. Cathy, a liberated woman, far more confident about herself than before she walked into my shop, Lance was as happy as a lark, he was finally going to get the photos he wished for and more, for so long. They looked happy and so was I, I had had the opportunity to photograph another gorgeous woman in the nude. Jada was also happy, proving to me she was perfectly able to run the shop all on her own, it was a tremendous boost to her confidence.
As for my personal release, I didn’t have to rely on my right hand that evening after all as Grace rang my doorbell shortly after 8.
“Come on up Grace, what brings you to my doorstep on an evening in the middle of the week?”
“A private and personal matter which may or may not come as a surprise to you.”
“Please do tell, you’ve made me curious.”
“Don’t be angry, but I was told in the strictest confidence your birthday is coming up soon. Don’t ask who told me, I won’t snitch.”
“The gossip mill in this town is unbelievable, I might as well have put up a billboard to announce my birthday.”
“As I said Lew don’t be angry, but I know. I also know you want to keep it a secret and you even mentioned that you would rather skip town that day! Well, I may have a solution.”
“Grace I would forever be in your debt if you could sort that out for me.”
“There is a way, you know that I cruise a lot?”
“Yes, you mentioned that you were regularly fulfilling your lifelong dream to go on cruises, together with Nancy.”
“Yes, but now with the baby it’s become difficult, we could still go but then we would miss the fun in the evening, not being able to see the shows and go dancing. Well, because I do a lot of cruising with the same cruise line I am a Royal Caribbean Crown and Anchor Pinnacle club member and as such a member I got this special offer I would like to take up, but I need someone to go with me. Now there, I said it.“
“What are you implying? You want me to go on a cruise with you?”
“YES! I can only take up this offer when I book for two people.”
“And when is this cruise and where does it go?”
“It’s a Transatlantic cruise, from Harwich to Miami, and they offer me a luxury suite at a very reduced price, and to top it all, it leaves September 27, so with your birthday on the 10th of October, that would be ideal for you. The cruise takes 14 nights, so you would be back well after your birthday.”
“Wow, that’s amazing, and you would like me, instead of Nancy to go with you on that cruise?”
“Yes, Lew I’d like that very much, if you want to spend 14 nights with me on a ship, mostly at sea that is.”
“It is something I have always dreamed of, going on a cruise, but as a bachelor, it’s not easy. As you said you almost always have to be a couple, or else it’s just too expensive, but could you spend 14 nights with me, stuck on a ship?”
“I think I could, otherwise I wouldn’t have thought of asking you silly.”
“Yeah, you’re right, stupid of me to ask. I definitely could spend that time with you, and I guess if it’s a suite there will be enough space. Where do I sign?”
“You don’t need to sign, if you want to go I’ll take care of all the paperwork, I’ll just need some data from your passport because they are very strict on that, the name has to be absolutely correct you know.”
“So Harwich - Miami hey, what do we do when we end up in Miami? We come straight back, by plane I guess? Or is there time for a short vacation in Florida?”
“That’s open for negotiation, and I already had something in that direction in mind.”
“It’s been a very long time since I visited with Mickey and Donald; I was thinking we could add a week around Orlando, doing the parks, Disney World, Epcot, and Universal Studios, oh and it’s been ages since I had honey-glazed baby backs from Tony Roma, my absolute favorite. Oh Grace you’ve got me all excited, that’s the best birthday present anybody could offer me. We could rent a small villa for a week, I’ve done that many times when I was over there.”
“Sounds good, I could go for that as well, I’m in real need of a good vacation, and 3 weeks sound just marvelous, and maybe just maybe I can couple the fun part to something practical, there is this couple who operate a luxury villa park in Florida I’d like to visit and maybe do some business with, so, yes let’s do this.”
I was so excited I put my arms around Grace and kissed her full on the mouth, she responded eagerly, sliding her tongue over my lips, encouraging me to engage in a tongue tango. My cock reared its ugly head inside my pants.
“What have we here Lew? Someone seems very happy to see me?”
“I’m sorry, but I had this arousing photo session this afternoon with this couple and they are able to quench their thirst at home but I’m not, I’m so sorry, but it didn’t take long for mister cock to claim your attention.”
Grace dropped to her knees undoing my pants grabbing inside to take my dick out, making circles around the head with her tongue, bringing it within a few seconds to full mast. She was good, I knew she was good and while she was licking and sucking my pole my imagination was running wild. Thinking of having Grace all to myself for 14 nights on a cruise ship and then another week sharing her with Mickey and Donald was just too much. It had been years since I came so fast. I surprised her as well since from the few encounters we’d had she was used to me lasting a lot longer than 15 seconds. Being a good sport she swallowed.
“I’m so sorry Grace, it was this afternoon's arousing scenes and now the thought of going on a cruise with you that overtook me.” As I pulled her back to her feet I continued, “let me make it up to you please!”
“That’s OK, I was just surprised, but it’s only normal to have a mouth full when sucking dick I guess?”
“That’s true but not this fast, please sit down I want to pleasure you as well.”
“No, no that’s not necessary.”
“I insist!”
“OK if you insist, what’s a needy girl to say.”
With Grace seated on the sofa, I could now slide my hands under her skirt, caressing the outside of her thighs with my fingers, my thumbs on the inside sliding up towards the top of her panties. In passing, I put some pressure on her pussy through her panties, and when she felt me grabbing the elastic she lifted her bum allowing me to pull them to her knees and feet. When I took the hem of her skirt she lifted again so I could pull her skirt in the opposite direction making her completely bottomless. Spreading her legs she opened her pussy wide for my attack, and attack I did, with my mouth straight to her pleasure button, licking and sucking. My hands moved up her body towards her soft boobs, caressing them over her blouse and bra. Desperate to get my hands on them I tried to undo the buttons, but she pushed my clumsy hands away taking over herself, and making my life so much easier. Once her blouse was open, I could easily slide her bra up and over, freeing my second favorite toy on a woman’s body, tits!
I heard Grace moaning while she pushed her mound into my mouth demanding more. I concentrated on her clit, but freed up one hand from her boobs so I could slide a finger into her hot love grotto, quickly following it with a second one, stimulating her illustrious G-spot. That got her juices flowing. She would last longer than I did but not all that much, probably at the thought of us soon being able to do this every day for 3 weeks. My movements set her off convulsing and contracting down on my fingers, whimpers of pleasure erupting from her lips, quickly increasing to loud shouting giving a voice to her orgasmic feelings. “Ooooh, yes, go, go, aaaah, I’m cumming! CUMMING! I’m CUMMING!”
She almost smothered me with her crotch getting all rigid, pushing her mons hard against my mouth and nose, before jerking a couple more times and falling on the sofa, totally relaxed.
My hand, mouth, and face were flooded by her girly juices, allowing me to drink from her fountain of love, quenching my thirst for her female nectar. I felt all the pent-up feelings resulting from that day’s photo session leave my satisfied body.
“It’s always a feast when I can drink from your fountain, and just the thought of being able to do that every day for 3 weeks sometime soon, gets me hard again.”
“It’s supposed to be a vacation as well Lew, not a sex marathon.”
“Sorry, let me rephrase that, it will be wonderful to spend 3 weeks in your company Grace, on a cruise liner crossing the Atlantic, and visiting Disney World again - not alone this time as I did in the past.”
“That’s much better, and I do expect you to eat my pussy, or poke it with your pleasure stick regularly during those 3 weeks as well,” she said with a chuckle and wink.
“Great! We really do see eye to eye don’t we?”
“Yes we do, I’ll let you know how everything’s going and provide you with the paperwork and the exact schedules for the taxi to Hoek of Holland, departure, and arrival times of the ferry to Harwich, and the cruise ship. I’ll see if I can book a villa for the third week with this couple I want to meet and can you rent a car? From what I understood you’ve done that before, so you do the things you know about and I’ll do the cruising bits, I’m familiar with.”
“Great, I presume we’ll keep this a secret?”
“Absolutely, except for Nancy, of course, I can’t leave town without telling my daughter.”
“Yeah, I will need to tell Catharina as well, as I suspect she will want to come to Belgium to celebrate my birthday with me as I did on hers, I’m sure she won’t tell anybody here about our little escape and I’ll make it up to her when we’re back.”
Grace got up, put her panties back on and fastened her bra and blouse, looked at me with a devious smile on her face, and said, “Goodnight Lew!”
“I’m not so sure I’ll be able to sleep, excited as I am about this whole thing, and thank you so much, Grace, this is the best birthday present ever.”
“My pleasure, see you.”
Grace almost danced down the stairs, clearly as excited as I was, being able to go on a cruise again after a long period with Nancy’s pregnancy, the break up with her boyfriend, and finally the birth of baby Emelia. But before we went on the cruise I had one more problem to solve, Bethany’s art exhibition, and maybe going on vacation could be a blessing for that as well, it would free up the studio for 3 weeks, just the right amount of time to do an art exhibition.