Dear Reader,
It looks like this is going to be the last part for a while. I'm writing chapter 25 at the moment. But I'm quite busy. I hope I can do that part (Ch. 25 - 27) in the coming weeks. So please be patient, because writing, translating and editing may take some time. But for now,
Enjoy and please rate it and leave a comment. I hope to hear from you.
D.
22 In the conservatory
While you read this part of the story, listen to the album:
Cuidado Coracao by Amália Rodrigues
Softly I heard the sounds of a Fado filling the room as I tried to untie the knot.
"You have to be patient, I have to adjust a few things." I heard Pablo say to my left.
The knot released and I blinked at the bright sunlight. Slowly the contours in the space started to take shape and color. I was in the green. No uniform green, but varied variations that were interspersed in certain places by beautiful pink, red, yellow, blue and white spots. Large plants and orchids, a jungle? No, a subtropical greenhouse? Or not...?
I looked up where a glass dome let light through. I was in a large conservatory.
Right in front of me was a little white cast iron table and three matching chairs with cushions on the seats. The legs and the edge of the table were made of fine filigree.
Suddenly I became aware of the high humidity. It was so humid that my blouse had started sticking to my back.
I took a breath and sniffed. The intoxicating scent of the flowers present had an erotic effect on my body. My nipples hardened.
Pablo was standing to my left in a kind of portable photo studio with his photo case and was busy arranging the lighting of a flash installation.
"Come here."
I walked over to him and saw that he too was bothered by the heat. There were pearls on his forehead. He pointed to a spot in the studio area for a huge roll of anthracite-gray paper hanging almost ten feet above the ground and half-unwound on the floor for at least six feet. A beige towel was laying right next to the paper.
"Take off your shoes before standing on the paper."
He pointed to the towel.
I went to the towel, took off my shoes and put them neatly next to the paper. Pablo had put his camera on a tripod and was busy connecting the camera to the flash installation.
When he looked up, he said, "A little more forward, Nita. Otherwise we will get those hard shadows."
I carefully took two steps forward. Pablo looked through the lens and raised his hand to indicate that I should stop. He came out from behind the camera and walked to a chair that he took just in front of the paper. Then he took a long wire from the tripod which was connected to the camera. Pablo sat down on the chair.
"I will now first check whether I have adjusted the light correctly. So you have to stand still for a while."
I dared not answer so I nodded.
He pushed a little button attached to the wire and went back to the camera. He looked at the photo for a moment and then walked over to one of the flashes on the right. He placed it half a meter towards the paper and then pushed the button again. He walked over to the camera again and nodded as he looked at the result.
"Yes, now it looks good. Come on back here Nita and don't forget to put on your shoes when you come overhere."
I put on my shoes while Pablo was busy with his photo equipment. I went to the chair and suddenly heard him say, "No, Nita, go to the table. So I will know for sure that everything will remain as it is now."
I walked obediently to the table and he followed me a little later.
"Sit down."
I sat meekly and he came to stand next to me, dropped to his knees and said, "We have two hours to shoot some nice pics, that seems like a lot, but it isn't. I want you to listen carefully to me and do exactly what I say without comment."
He looked at me, not as if he was waiting for an answer, but more observantly, searching as if he wanted to take in every detail of me.
"You have a bra on, take it off first. You know why."
I took a deep breath and suddenly became aware of my nipples puncturing my bra. I wanted to say something, but he gently pulled a lock out of my face as he got up. I closed my mouth again.
"You can change behind there." Pablo pointed to the roll of paper and I stood up and walked behind the studio section. Behind the paper roll stood another of the chairs that were around the table.
I unbuttoned my blouse, unhooked my bra and laid it over the chair. While I put the blouse back on, I saw the damp spot on the back. I quickly buttoned it up. While I was busy buttoning my blouse I rubbed my breasts for a moment and became aware of my nipples again. Sensitive as they were, they rubbed against the fabric of the blouse with every movement I made, making them only seem to get harder.
With a color of excitement and perhaps also of shame, I stepped away from behind the paper while closing the top button and I walked over to the towel."
All the while she had been sitting she had looked at the fireplace while she had slowly drunk her glass. I picked up the bottle that I had placed next to me and stood up. I pushed a cushion towards her and sat down next to her. There was some sauce at the corner of her mouth and I moistened my finger with my tongue and then I started wiping away the sauce. She continued to look into the fire, recalling what she had experienced at the time.
Without saying a word, I licked my finger. She turned her head towards me. I rubbed my finger over her mouth and offered it to her. For a moment she looked at me strangely, but when I gave her an encouraging nod, she put it in her mouth. She sucked softly and I felt her tongue brush my finger. When it came out of her mouth she smiled.
"I'm getting a bit stiff." she said, trying to get up. She had been half on her knees most of the time and I had to stop her so she didn't fall over, only that didn't work out so well. We both fell on the ground giggling. She lay down when I got up. I walked over to the fire to throw another block on it and turned around. Her dress was pulled up by the fall and I could see a large part of her thighs.
Take it easy now, don't make hasty decisions. The story had excited me, but I managed to control myself. Slowly she rose and I saw the doubt appear on her face again.
"I see you're worried, honey, about Tomà s?" She nodded.
"Also, but even more about Carlos, what he will do as soon as he realizes that I had absolutely no idea about the archiving. Soon I will lose my job and I really need the money Dito."
I started to laugh.
"Don't worry about that. For a long time I had an idea for improving the archive and worked it out on my computer. Tomorrow I will present it to the management and then indicate that it was your idea in principle and that we have worked it out in recent days. I am sure they will appreciate it. And Carlos? I don't think he has any doubt."
She was somewhat reassured but still ...
"If you want you can call your babysitter, so you'll know all is well with Tomà s."
She looked at her watch and shook her head. "It is already half past ten. I don't want to call her anymore. By the way, if it didn't go well, she would have already called me."
I walked over to her and put my arm around her shoulder. And pressed a kiss on her cheek. For a moment I felt her shiver. "Are you cold?"
"No, but I think the alcohol has its effect. Normally I don't drink on a weekday."
I could not control myself and turned her towards me. Gently I kissed her on her mouth. "We are going to make a place to sleep for you in a minute. But first I want to hear what happened that afternoon."
I lowered myself again on the pillow and patted the cushion next to me. She sat down against me and continued with her head on my shoulder.
"When I took off my shoes and stood on the towel, Pablo approached me and tried to loosen the top button of my blouse. I looked at him and then at his hands clumsy at the button.
I laughed and said, "Do I have to help you?" and took his hands off my blouse. I loosened the top button and looked at him.
"Yes, and the next two as well."
Again I doubted for a moment, but since he had already walked back to his camera and I remembered what he had said about commenting, I released them both.
"Good, now to the middle, yes good." I had walked barefoot to the center of the paper.
"Hold the lapels of your blouse with both hands, Nita. But first put up your collar. And look a bit angry at the camera. As if you are angry with me ... Yes, that's it ... a little more to the left, yes good that way. "
I heard the shutter a few times and the flashes of light coming from the installation made it impossible for me to look. I tried to keep my eyes open, but everytime the flashes went off I blinked.
"Do I have my eyes closed?"
He looked back at the images.
"No, you're doing fine. Now I want you to bring your blouse over your shoulder on one side, No, your left shoulder, Yes, turn around a quarter turn to the right and look over your left shoulder. Hmm "
He looked through the camera. "Your blouse pulls too much, loosen another button."
I looked at him as I loosened the button and felt the warm air on my chest. I looked down and saw that my breasts were half visible. Because I had turned away from him, he certainly couldn't see them. I resumed the pose.
"Buttocks slightly back and your hair ..."
He looked through the camera again and then came to me. Before he reached the paper, he quickly took off his shoes and walked on in his stockings. I tried to hold the pose as he shifted locks from my hair. I saw his forehead shine. When he walked back and put on his shoes again, he took off his shirt.
He had a white t-shirt underneath with cap sleeves. It stuck to his body.
"Try to look sultry... No, that's way too much, too much still, how it should be, it should be just a little inviting. Yes, that's right!! Fine."
Click .. click ... click ..
He looked over the camera. "Take your blouse out of your pants, Nita. Yes, no, completely, front and back, then those annoying ripples that now run over your back disappear. Yes good, your hand in your side, yes your left. Perfect, stay that way."
Click .. click .. click ..
"Just come over here, Nita, and you can see what I did."
I put on my shoes again and walked over to him. I saw a few nice photos on the screen of the camera.
I smiled at him "Beautiful Pablo, that looks good"
He nodded with a serious face and then said: "Take off your pants and then stand up again. I just have to change the light."