This is a true story which happened while on a business trip to Europe. Doing a favor for a business colleague turned into an opportunity to explore an unknown side of elegance, culture and fantasy of which I will never forget.
Chapter 4
Once Marco left, I took a quick shower myself and then got ready to go. The beach itself was right in front of the hotel and pretty crowded. I elected to get one of the rental chaise lounges run by the hotel. I had room towels, but they were not quite big enough to give enough room to lay out without touching sand.
Once I got comfortable, I surveyed the beach area. It was a very mixed crowd. Lots of families with kids, also what appeared to be a lot of tourists. I guessed that only perhaps 30 percent of the women were topless. I had been to beaches in the South of France and Nice before, so it was not totally surprising, but I might have guessed the fraction would be higher. The quality of bodies looked pretty typical too – some who had nice beach bodies and some who did not. But no one seemed to care, which was also my attitude. I did observe there were lots of the men wearing "European style" briefs which were the small Speedo type.
I had worn a red bikini with a sarong style covering and flat sandals with my hair up. I reapplied sunscreen, but thought to myself this was quite the letdown after the "Marco service". My bikini itself was on the skimpy side, but not too bad. The bottom had more covering than a thong and the top was a tie style which gave my breasts a lot of exposure and a little support. But the top did not matter so much as I quickly removed it.
I had my normal small exhilaration wondering whether anyone had watched, but I very quickly relaxed. As I lay in the sun, I began to think about what had happened with Marco, about whether to tell Jurgen or not. He and I had been intimate of course, and I was his escort for the party, but it was not like we were dating nor had any understanding. And I had been discrete so none of his friends could know. I wondered what kind of reaction Jurgen would have, but one thing was clear, I had thoroughly enjoyed the last 24 hours. The party and the sex had made my visit to Nice quite memorable already. I had not really made any decision on what to do, but I was not overly concerned either.
The water of the Cote d'Azur was a beautiful blue and many people were swimming and doing other common beach activities. I was drinking the local rose' wine. My alcohol consumption when traveling is definitely more than at home, but without a reason to drive, I was enjoying the indulgence.
The beach staff was younger people like Marco, dressed in light shorts and shirts. Very professional. However, I could not help but think when the young man who brought my drink came by – what reaction did he have to another topless woman. I suppose you could get totally deadened to it, but I had made that assumption with Marco as well and found out it depended on the looks of the woman too.
I had been at the beach for about 20 minutes and decided to have a walk down the beach. The bold part was that I did not put my top back on as I strolled, the conservative part left my sunglasses on in case of "some guy with a camera".
I walked for about 15 minutes in one direction. I drew my share of looks, but did not mind. I saw each particular section of the beach had its own particular personality with respect to families and the degree of nudity. I did see one section where there were a number of women fully nude, although even then there was a variety. I love to people watch, not just on the beach. And this was no exception. I suppose the "watch and be watched" slogan would fit. In any event, I was glad to be in good shape and I expected that I had one of the nicer beach bodies and did not mind if people noticed.
I made it back to my chair and got comfortable again. There was now a couple in the chairs next to me, probably about my age.
They said hello, and during a few seconds of dialog, we discovered everyone was American. Lee and Karen were from the Boston area, here on vacation. They had really not traveled very much and during our discussion, they asked a lot of questions, both locally and of various other places I had been.
Lee had on American style trunks and Karen had on a relatively modest black bikini. It was probably after about 10 minutes when she asked how I felt about going topless. Apparently they had arrived on Friday and she had still not given it a try.
I said, "You should do what you want. If you are not ready or comfortable, then wait. But you might find you like it."
Lee was just listening in, as he sat on one side with Karen in the middle between us. She was again asking how I felt and what it was like.
I responded, "It doesn't really matter how it feels for me, you should do what is right for you. I enjoy the freedom and it does not bother me if the guys, or women, check me out."
I further mentioned I had been going to topless and nude beaches for several years and had gotten quite accustomed to it. But I think what probably connected with her the most was when I said I still got nervous each time and that I could get unwanted attention sometime, but it was no big deal and I dealt with it.
Karen replied, "Well, I could probably give topless a try, but I could never go nude. That would be too much."
I said, "I had a similar attitude initially as well, but you would be surprised that when you are at a beach where practically everyone is already nude, it was not as big a leap as you might expect."
She inquired and I described the solitude of some of the Hawaiian beaches, as well as the crowd at Haulover, the English garden in Munich, etc.
I could tell she was beginning to warm up to the idea. I also got the idea Lee was extremely intelligent to be quiet and had probably enjoyed hearing Karen get the woman's perspective. I guess he had been hoping she would go topless, but had not been successful in persuading her. And the truth be told, I was not trying to persuade her to do it either, but that could have been the effect.
After a while of some additional discussion and questions, she turned to Lee, "What do you think baby, should I?"
Lee confirmed my suspicions, saying, "Totally your call baby, but you know I don't mind. Like Beth said, do it if and when you are ready."
I though 'nice', as any pressure would have likely killed it.
I commented, "If you are going to do it, don't put your toe in the water, just dive in."
She laughed, and did just that. She took her top off just like that and leaned back with a smile.
I laughed, "See, the world did not stop, and you will feel better too."
Lee had a big smile on his face. Both of them had what I would call normal bodies, not bad, but not supermodels either. I thought she would now get to enjoy this new experience.
Karen laughed in return, "You don't understand. I figured this would be the least self-conscious way to do it for me. No one is going to be looking at me with you here."
I smiled back, "Nonsense. And look at Lee over there smiling."
Slight deflection, as Lee had been looking over at me quite a lot while listening in on our conversation.
