Chapter 1
An Eventful Barbecue
I was working as an advertising representative for a reasonably popular magazine and the sales manager had arranged a barbecue lunch for a group of potential clients at one of the local beauty spots. The usual sort of thing, the chance to meet and chat with a couple of major, and several minor celebrities over free food and booze, on the proviso the clients take home the kit of promotional material handed out as they left. As the photographer who normally covered that sort of event was off sick and I was reasonable competent with a digital camera, I was asked to take care of getting a few usable shots.
As these sort of things go I suppose it went reasonably well, a few of the people I had spoken to seemed to be genuinely interested in the package we had to offer their businesses and by mid afternoon I was feeling pretty hopeful of getting some orders over the next few weeks.
Most of the major notables and customers had left after a couple of hours or so, leaving us with just a group of the more serious drinkers, one of whom I was trying hard to continue politely chatting to when I first saw her.
I couldn't understand why I hadn't noticed her before because her hair alone, a thick, lustrous mane of red that fell well past her shoulders, made her stand out like a lighthouse on a dark night. But although it was that blaze of colour that first caught my attention, under those circumstances it alone wouldn't have been enough to hold it unless there had been other things too. But I immediately saw that there certainly were plenty of other things...
Although she was only wearing just a simple shift dress, the muted yellows, greens and bronzes showing off her milky white skin, the way she filled it would have been more than enough. The fabric seemed to cling to her every curve, and even from a distance I could tell from the way her breasts moved around under it that she wasn't wearing a bra. There was something almost hypnotic about the gentle, slightly jiggling swaying motion that was going on, and those movements alone were worth more than just a second look.
But as well as the large, and obviously firm attributes that were causing those, there was also something about the way she moved, a graceful fluidity that was decidedly sensual, even, perhaps unconsciously, sexual.
She somehow gave the impression that only yesterday she had still been a child, and that when she woke this morning she had been amazed to suddenly find herself with a woman's body. That everything about her new shape was still a surprise. The weight of her uptilted breasts and the way her arms now brushed against their firm roundness when she moved. The way her hips and buttocks swayed when she walked. The extra distance down to the ground now that her legs had fully grown.
Then as she came even closer I saw just how beautiful her face was. Heart shaped, with wide-set, grey-green eyes, a neat little nose, and a full, almost too full-lipped mouth. What made her stand out even more, well at least to me, was the fact that apart from a light, orangy-pink lipstick, her face was almost completely free of make-up. And, just like the way she moved, it had a heart-stopping look that somehow combined both that of an apparently innocent child, and a woman who was all too aware of her sexuality.
And at that moment this child-like sex goddess was walking directly towards me, and smiling.
As luck would have it, just at that moment a group decided it was time to leave and called away the person I'd been chatting to, leaving me standing alone. The girl's smile widened as she saw that happening, and when she got closer she said. 'Hello, my name's Tracey, I've seen you taking photographs. Are they for use in the magazine?'
'Hi Tracey, I'm Jim. Yes, well maybe, it all depends on how they come out, I'm not the regular photographer, just a stand-in.'
'It looked as though you knew what you were doing. Would you take mine?'
And that's how it started, with her asking me to just take a couple of photographs. At that stage I didn't even bother to ask her why she had asked me, she was so stunningly beautiful that I would have grabbed any opportunity I was given to have a chance of finding out more about her.
So, having spotted a couple of not-yet-too-drunk celebrities I walked her over to where they were standing and took a few pretty ordinary shots of the three of them. Then, while the others returned to the serious business of getting their glasses refilled, I took Tracy by the arm and said. 'Let's get away from this lot, I'd like to try to get a few really good shots of you on your own.'
The ploy might not have worked with many girls, but Tracey complied enthusiastically and having found somewhere shielded from the crowd I got started. I took a few full-length pictures, then a series of close-up shots of her face, and quickly saw she had that quality that I'd heard real photographers talk about, how some women seem to literally glow when a camera is focussed on them.
I told her so and then suggested we look for a few different settings, to see what sort of back-ground was best to bring out the unique tones of both her skin and especially her flame-red hair.
She agreed to that too and we wandered off together, starting to chat at a personal level as we looked for different places where I could take some more pictures.
As I imagine hundreds of thousands of reasonably pretty young girls do, all through the last years at school she had dreamed of becoming a model. Having left, she had started attending some sort of training course, while getting a job in one of the better-known chains of dress shops. One of the things she had already learned was that almost any publicity was good, and when she'd heard about that day's celebrity lunch from a friend, she'd decided she would try to gate-crash it.
'So if you can get any picture of me in the story I'd be really, really grateful Jim.' She said with a meaningful look.
I told her it wasn't something I had any control over, reminding her that I was merely standing in for the regular photographer, and that even he had very little say as to which pictures, if any, were actually used in the coverage.
But that didn't seem to make too much difference to her attitude, she said she was sure I would do my best for her, and that she would help me to get whatever pictures I thought had the best chance. So we continued moving around the area, stopping every now and then to take a few photos, then continuing to look for somewhere just a little different.
The area where the barbecue had been held was park-like, but as we moved further away the vegetation became less ordered, with several paths meandering through it, a couple of which led to two nearby beaches.
The first was pretty open and breezy, but the second, tucked away in trees behind a rocky headland, was much smaller, more secluded and well protected from the wind. The path led up to a flattish area where there were a couple of benches and as they were angled in different directions I realised they would provide me with several different backgrounds to work with.
'This looks good Tracey. I can take you with the sky behind you from this angle, or with either the rocks, or those trees, from another. And there's very little wind to blow your gorgeous hair about, so let's see what we can do.' I said.
I asked her get up on one of the benches, and with her feet on the seat, sit on the top rail of the back-rest. Then when I was sure she was comfortably balanced, I got her to turn and arch her upper body back a little, so I had the curve of her breasts in profile.
'That's great!' I said after I'd taken a couple of test shots. 'Now, you have terrific legs, so pull the hem of your dress up a bit further so I can see more of them.'
She did as I'd asked without the slightest hesitation and for the next few minutes, with the blue sky behind her, I moved around taking pictures from various angles, all the time murmuring words of encouragement and praise.