Double Exposure

Double Exposure - Part 3: Persuasion and Seduction

9 March 1982. 11:32 am. Washington, DC.

It was late in the morning on a Tuesday, not a typically busy time at the National Gallery of Art so the building was practically empty. It allowed the man to watch the beautiful woman, albeit from a distance, as she stared transfixed at the painting on the museum wall.

As he looked at her, he wasn't sure which was more stunning, the art on the wall or the woman who was admiring it.

He immediately noticed her when she entered the museum and decided to follow her as she strolled through the galleries. Most of the paintings she took only a cursory look at, but for this painting she was now looking at, she took her time. He estimated that she had been taking it in for well over ten minutes now. All the while, he just watched her, drinking in her beauty.

Finally, he gathered the courage to approach her. He casually walked through the empty gallery and stood next to her, looking forward, admiring the painting.

It was the first time he actually saw the subject matter of the painting, and he was initially shocked. The artwork was painted in a style that was almost photorealistic, a closeup of two naked people, showcasing intertwined limbs, a woman's spreading breast, and a man's hairy chest. The bodies laid on top of rumpled bed sheets.

With all of the masterpieces strewn throughout the National Gallery of Art, he could not figure out what drew this woman to what he considered basically pornography.

"Simply beautiful." he finally said, breaking the silence of the room.

The woman let the words hang in the air for a moment before speaking. "It really is. What at first appears as a simple vulgar painting reveals itself as so much more the longer you admire it. Are they husband and wife? Lost lovers reconnecting after years apart? An illicit affair between two married people?" She paused for a moment. "Friends who finally expressed their mutual desire for each other? It doesn't matter. They are two people in post-coital bliss, completely vulnerable to each other, in love."

The man looked at the painting again with a newfound appreciation. "I'm glad you like the piece. It means a great deal to me."

"Oh, why is that?" the woman responded, finally looking at the man.

He lost his train of thought when she turned towards him. Her long dark hair framed her oval face. A face that was adorned with deep blue eyes. He composed himself and said "Well, I'm Edward Stern." She looked at him blankly unaware as to why she should recognize his name.

Slowly he pointed to the small placard that was next to the artwork. The woman moved closer and read what was written on it.

Joan Semmel | Touch | 1975

Then underneath that were the words:

Currently on loan from the Edward Stern Trust. The National Gallery thanks them for their kind generosity.

The woman's eyes went wide. "You own this painting?" she exclaimed.

"I do, and a few others, but this is one of my favorites so I wanted to share it with the world." he explained.

"Oh my. What other paintings do you own? Do you have any more of Ms. Semmel's work?" she asked.

The man was thrown by this question. He obviously wasn't Edward Stern, and he had absolutely no idea who Joan Semmel was. He just saw the name for the first time a few minutes ago when he read the placard. "Um, no more of hers, but I have a few other items. A couple of Picassos though."

Thankfully the woman did not ask him any further questions about his art collection. He was happy that he could remember 'Picasso'. "I didn't catch your name." he said, extending his hand.

The woman extended her hand in response, and they politely shook. "Mila van Amsberg. It is very nice to meet you."

Edward's eyes narrowed when she said her name as if he were wracking his memory. Then a look of realization appeared on his face. "Princess Mila? From the Dutch Royal Family?"

"The very same." Mila said shyly.

"I've read about you. You seem to be jet setting around Europe a lot these days." Edward said. "I can't believe I'm standing next to royalty. You may very well become the Queen of the Netherlands in the future."

"Hardly." Mila said with scorn. "My husband's older brother is the one in direct line for the throne. Plus I'm American and I married into the family. Even though the Dutch are some of the nicest people in the world, there is no way that they would stand for a foreigner sitting on their throne. But they are fine with reading about my exploits in the tabloids."

Edward smiled and then looked around. "I would think that a princess would have bodyguards or whatnot hanging around her, but you're here all alone."

Mila laughed. "I'm not that important to warrant bodyguards apparently. Sometimes I think the rest of the Royal Family has it in for me, and wouldn't mind if something happened."

Edward scoffed. "Well, there aren't many people here at the museum today, but I can offer my services. How about I act as your bodyguard and we continue to enjoy the museum together."

Mila narrowed her eyes as she looked at Edward. It was a smooth line. She thought she would reward him for it. "That would be lovely." Edward smiled with her response and offered his arm to escort her through the rest of the museum.

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For the next two hours, the man who called himself Edward and Mila strolled through the National Gallery taking in the breathtaking artwork that adorned its walls. Mila had to admit that Edward was quite charming and it made for an interesting day. She was looking forward to some time by herself, but was pleasantly surprised with his company. They shared stories and laughed throughout the afternoon.

He had stated that he had become successful in finance, but if she had to guess, he was born into money. He was much too young to have that much success already unless he had a head start. Plus his overall look exuded money. The perfectly coiffed hair was most likely the result of a $200 haircut. His obviously toned body was most likely the result of having a personal trainer. His skin was smooth and somewhat tanned. Most likely from exotic vacations rather than a tanning bed. He was definitely easy on the eyes and quite charming.

Soon they came to the last room of the gallery, and both seemed a bit disappointed that their time had come to an end. Edward then nervously cleared his throat. "I don't want to be too forward, but I got quite hungry, and I'm assuming you did too. The Hay-Adams hotel is a short cab ride from here and they offer a wonderful lunch at their restaurant, The Lafayette. Would you care to join me?"

Mila contemplated this request for a moment. Finally in a bit of rash judgement she blurted "Sure! But we need to leave the museum at different times. The last thing I need is for some paparazzi to snap a photo of me walking with you and I'm all over tomorrow's tabloids again."

Edward beamed with excitement. "No problem. I'll go grab us a table!" He hurried out the front door of the museum on his way to the hotel.

Mila laughed to herself. He looked cute running off in such an excited state. She waited a few minutes before following him to the Hay-Adams.

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At the Lafayette, they both enjoyed a wonderful lunch together, continuing their laughter and conversations from their time together at the museum. The tone definitely turned more flirty as the time went on.

And then at one moment during a lull in the conversation, they both began to look into each other's eyes. Feelings were progressing in both of them, and they both knew it. Edward finally started to say. "This may sound crazy, since we just met, but what if I said--"

Mila interrupted him before he could finish. She had signaled for the waiter, and he was now beside her table. "Excuse me, my husband and I just love your hotel. Would you be able to check with the front desk to see if there are any rooms available?" she asked.

"Of course, ma'am." Edward looked shocked as the waiter left to go check on rooms.

"I guess I passed then." he said and began to laugh out loud. The woman laughed equally as hard after the waiter left.

"I wasn't sure how long I could keep that persona up." Claire Weber said with tears in her eyes.

Damian Cross then said. "Come on! I was charming. I could persuade any woman with my game."

When the waiter returned he said "Ma'am, the front desk informed me that yes indeed, we have several types of rooms available. Would you like me to secure one for you?"

"Actually we changed our minds. Sorry about that." She handed the waiter a $5 bill for his troubles. He then left them alone again.

It had been six months since Elliot Graves recruited Claire to come work for Echelon, the same time that Damian was recruited. Like Claire, Damian was recruited from a Midwestern university, this time Indiana University, but he was a year older than Claire, and in his final year at school. When he was first recruited and accepted the offer, he was told that he was going to be the youngest agent ever to join Echelon, only to find out 2 weeks later when they recruited Claire, that she was now going to be the youngest ever.

When they were assigned to their start group, they were the only college-age recruits in there. All of the rest of the people came from the CIA, the FBI, the NSA or some other 3 letter agency within the government. As a result, Damian and Claire instantly bonded from the very first day of training and became fast friends.

They both had similar backgrounds. Both grew up in small towns in the Midwest, little to no family, few friends. She recalled the term that Elliot referred to as "at liberty". With each day they spent together, Claire found herself being drawn more and more to Damian, and the same could be said for him in regards to her.

Throughout the previous six months of training, Damian considered himself quite adept at the lessons he was presented with. He might have been at the top of his class if it weren't for Claire. There was not one subject that she didn't excel at. Whether it was Weapons Training, or Hand-To-Hand Combat, or even Political Unrest Strategies, she was extremely skilled at them all. This included their latest subject, Persuasion and Seduction, in fact it was a subject she was most skilled at. Quite honestly Damian was having trouble with the subject which is what led them both here today. Claire volunteered to create a scenario that he could play out. This scenario involved him persuading and/or seducing a Dutch princess in efforts to extract information. Claire set up those loose parameters and played the role of the princess. She would offer Damian critique of his performance after it was over.

"Well, I'm curious. How'd I do?" he asked with bated breath.

"Not bad." She replied. "Picking up the Edward Stern name from the placard was good. I didn't see that coming, and it tied right into the interest of the target. Made for good conversation."

"Awesome." Damian said, pleased with her praise.

"But--" Claire said before he could get too full of himself. "You messed up when you got into the details of your art collection. You obviously don't know art and struggled to even come up with an artist. 'Picasso'? Really? How pedestrian can you be? The more specific the details, the more you are going to have to know about the topic. So if you don't have a deep dive of knowledge on something, keep it vague. Any slip up might blow your cover."

Damian looked dejected with her criticism. He really wanted to impress her.

"Ohhh. Is someone upset by the bad mark from the teacher?" Claire said in a pouty voice causing Damian to laugh. She grabbed his hands across the table and laughed with him. Damian couldn't help but feel a charge when her skin touched his.

The two of them stayed at the table to talk and laugh. They didn't feel bad about taking the table. There were very few people in the hotel restaurant eating since it was the hours between the lunch rush and the dinner rush.

Both Damian and Claire privately realized that they had become each other's closest friends. Throughout their lives they unknowingly lived the "at liberty" lifestyle, which included no true close friends nor much in the way of family. They both shared a unique career situation that they could only discuss with each other, as a result they quickly became the closest person to each other in both of their lives. It was inevitable that they began to develop feelings for each other.

"So I know if you were actually a Dutch princess, that totally would have worked." Damian said.

"Oh you think so? Maybe." Claire laughed. "But if the roles were reversed, it wouldn't have taken me near as long."

"Well of course. You are an incredibly sexy woman. Any man would be a fool not to fall for you. I guess it'd take half the time that it took me." Damian said.

Claire audibly scoffed. "You drastically underestimate my abilities."

"Ok, I'll bite." Damian said. "Let's switch roles. Starting now, I'm some Dutch prince that has set up a lunch meeting with a reporter that is doing a story on him. Do your best. I'm going to say two hours before you crack me."

Claire simply smiled devilishly at Damian. Then she called out "Um, waiter!"

The waiter quickly returned to their table. "Yes ma'am?"

"I apologize, but we have changed our minds and we would like to get a room. What rooms are available?" she asked with a purr in her voice.

"Certainly ma'am. The front desk informed me that we have a lovely King guest room available and we also have a charming double. And there is one suite available that is quite exquisite." the waiter explained.

"We're celebrating, so let's splurge with the suite." Claire said, handing the waiter her credit card.

"Of course ma'am. I'll be right back with your keys." The waiter hurried off towards the lobby of the hotel.

"Well that's not fair!" Damian laughed. "But I don't think that's how you would play out a target."

"Whatever gets the job done. You're my target and I knew that would get the job done. The right tool for the right job, I always say." Claire's blue eyes locked onto Damian as she said it.

The waiter returned. "Thank you Mrs. Jensen. Here is your card back and here are your room keys." He handed both over to her and she slipped him another $5 bill. "Thank you ma'am." The waiter quickly hurried off, leaving the bill for the meal. Claire took a look at it and charged it to their newly booked suite, #906.

Claire stood up and slid one of the room keys over to Damian. Then she made her way towards the lobby elevators. "Wait! You're serious?" Damian asked.

"The only way you'll find out is if you come up. Just give me a five minute head start. Can't have the paparazzi taking any pictures." she purred as she disappeared into the hotel lobby.

Damian couldn't believe what was happening. He had longed after Claire for months now but did not want to act upon it. First it was against Echelon policy to get involved with fellow agents. Too many issues could arise on missions. Second, in the six months that he's known her, Claire has become the closest person to him in the world. He was frightened that if they became something more, it would jeopardize that. But here she was inviting him up to a hotel room in the middle of the day on Tuesday. He instantly became aroused. His decision was already made. He waited the excruciatingly long five minutes before he jumped up and made his way quickly to the lobby elevators.

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Damian clumsily attempted to open the hotel room door as quickly as he could, anticipating what was on the other side. When he finally unlocked it and swung open the door, he rushed in only to see a large, but empty, hotel room suite. The drapes were open letting the afternoon sunshine in and the bed hadn't looked like it had even been touched. It seemed as if he were the only one here. In his mind he was hoping he would thrust open the door to see Claire already waiting for him under the covers.

Before he could even explore the room any further he felt someone's arms in back of him intertwine into his own, thus disabling his upper body movements. "Didn't our training always tell you to check a room before rushing into it?" Claire said from behind him. She must have been hiding and moved up on him impossibly quiet in order to subdue him.

"I guess so. But to be fair I was distracted." Damian said without looking back.

Claire ran her hands up his chest and began to unbutton his shirt from behind. Once it was undone, she removed it and then focused on his pants. First unbuckling his belt and unzipping his fly. She then peeled off his pants and underwear. Once they were on the floor, he stepped out of them and his shoes and socks. He now was completely naked standing in the middle of the hotel suite with Claire's arms still intertwined with his.

She pressed herself close to him and he instantly felt the warmth of her bare skin touching his, he realized that she was completely naked as well. His penis was fully erect with anticipation.

She let go of his arms and ran her hands slowly down his chest, stomach, and finally to his crotch, wrapping both of her hands around his cock. Slowly she began to stroke his shaft. Damian tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling. "Oh God. You wouldn't believe how long I've waited for this."

She smiled when he said that, and it made her even more enthusiastic about pleasuring him, but didn't want him to go too far. She had other plans. She reluctantly removed her hands from his cock and spun him around so that he was now facing her. She then grabbed the back of his head and pulled his face towards her, kissing him intensely when they made contact. Damian held her tight and returned the kiss, their naked bodies pressed firmly against each other as they did. Then she forcefully but playfully pushed him back onto the bed, his body slightly bounced when he hit the mattress.

Now that he was laying on his back on the bed, he finally had a chance to see Claire in her full nakedness. She looked spectacular. Her long brown hair flowed over her shoulder, partially covering one of her breasts, her other was completely exposed. Her stomach was tight, muscles already forming in her abdomen from the constant workouts she has been doing since joining Echelon. Her hips were perfectly rounded, framing her vagina and it's neatly trimmed pubic hair. Her legs and arms were toned, smooth, and taut.

Damian drank in her image. She easily was more beautiful than any of the masterpieces he saw today at the Gallery.

Claire seductively crawled up from the bottom on the bed along Damian's body, her hair draping down and tickling his legs as she slowly moved upwards. He looked down at her as she snaked her body towards him, her eyes locked onto his eyes as she did. She ran her tongue up his legs as she progressed, first on his shins, then knees, continuing on to his outer and inner thighs before finally pausing when she arrived at his groin. He moaned slightly in anticipation. His erection was so hard it hurt. He was hoping that she would continue her tongue work on his shaft.

It was just at that moment that he felt the tender sensation of her tongue begin to lick his ball sack. Claire took her hand and moved his stiff dick to the side so she could maintain eye contact with Damian as she began to pleasure him. Damian realized that she enjoyed watching his response to her pleasuring him just as much as he enjoyed watching her while she did it.

Claire took her time and licked every inch of each testicle, completely drenching them with her saliva. Then she slipped the entirety of one of Damian's balls into her mouth and began to suck on it like a baby would suck on a bottle.