His Favorite Birthday

For some people, birthdays can be a pain, at least after a certain age. When you're young, you look forward to birthdays. They're another step towards maturity and the privileges that go with adulthood. It's a positive event.

For most people, 29 is the turning point. After that, birthdays can just be another reminder of unfulfilled plans, lost opportunities and missed potential.

If the birthday is divisible by ten, it can be especially traumatic.

Ross didn't do birthdays well, never had, no matter what the number. His wife Kate had learned to be gentle with him, don't make a big fuss, and certainly no parties or public acknowledgement of the anniversary. Good birthday sex always helped, but even that was usually just salve on the wound.

She started thinking about doing something special almost a year before he faced his next decade marker, trying to come up with some way of making him really enjoy his birthday for a change. It wasn't until February that she came up with the beginning of the idea.

While at a friend's house, Ross was looking over the latest Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. Kate noticed that he was particularly enamored with the body paint section. For some reason, the thought of these beautiful women being naked, but not appearing to be completely nude struck something in his psyche.

He pored over the pictures a long time, looking closely, holding them up to the light at different angles, intrigued by the basic concept. Later, Ross had even asked Kate if she would let him paint her up like that some day. He was thrilled that she didn't immediately say "NO!" Actually, she was already thinking about that exact idea.

During a Girls-Night-Out dinner a month later, she mentioned her plan and asked four of her closest girlfriends for more suggestions. Bridget knew Ross best and suggested "Nudity. Female nudity. And lots of it. How about taking him to a nudist camp for the day?"

"Ooh, not a bad idea," said Kate, pondering the concept for a while. "But I think he'd appreciate a more intimate setting for his birthday. You know, just close friends."

Jody quickly added, "Oh, so you were hoping that us four would all prance around naked for him just because it's his birthday?"

Kate stammered, "Well, kinda. Not really. Maybe just help me out here. It should be no real big deal. You've all been naked in our hot tub. He's seen you, and you've seen him. Well, everybody but you Tonya."

Tonya squirmed, looking uncomfortable and didn't say anything right away. She had a reputation as a bit of a prude, but she didn't think of herself that way. But Kate's request actually got Tonya momentarily picturing herself standing naked in front of Ross. Not with the other four women. By herself. She had her reasons.

Ignoring Tonya, Kate continued her plea to the three other women, "We could all meet up for the weekend at our cottage. The lake is beautiful at that time of year. There's golfing, wine-tasting, we could do some shopping. C'mon, it'd be fun. And if we could work in a late night skinny-dipping episode or something for Ross' benefit, I really think it would help take the sting out of his birthday. You gals wouldn't mind that, would you?"

But Bridget and her husband already planned to be out of town that weekend, Jody had a nephew's graduation, and Marge was scheduled for the city tennis tournament. With only Tonya available, Kate immediately wrote off that idea.

Until Tonya said, "Pat and I could make it. And I would be willing to go along with anything you have planned."

The other four women all looked incredulously at Tonya. Kate was the first to call her out, "What? I'm stupified. I mean, you're more than welcome to come up for the weekend. But you mean that you're willing to participate in anything, and I mean anything that I set up? You? Tonya?"

"Well, not anything," Tonya quickly responded. "I mean, I draw the line at being photographed, or swapping spouses or anything downright immoral. But I'd be comfortable being naked in front of you and our husbands. Why does that surprise you so much?"

Jody was the first to butt in, saying, "Tonya, during our ski trips, you've never been in their hot tub naked, even when Kate has declared a 'girls-only' session late at night. You still wear your bathing suit. I can't imagine you playing strip poker or whatever else Kate has in mind."

"Ooh, strip poker. That's another good idea. I hadn't thought of that." Kate continued, "Tonya, I'm very appreciative of your offer, but you've got to admit this probably isn't your cup of tea. Thanks anyway." Then she dropped the issue.

Tonya was actually a bit miffed. She didn't think she deserved the prudish reputation that all four of her friends had so obviously laid on her. So, the next day, she called Kate, wanting to set the record straight. "I was serious about coming up to your cottage that weekend, and if it's just the four of us, I want you to know that I would be willing to flash a little skin for Ross' benefit. In fact, I'd be willing to flash a lot of skin, and if the mood was right, I'd be glad to show everything I've got. So why does that surprise you so much?"

Kate stammered, more than a little surprised at the offer. "Is this really my friend Tonya? The one who never participates in skinny-dipping, hot tubbing or flashing? Why are you making a complete reversal of character for this one? Please don't get me wrong. I really appreciate your offer. I really do, and if you're serious, I would love to take you up on it. Either way, you and Pat are invited up for the weekend."

Laughing, Kate added, "Should I be reading something else into this? Like, do you and Ross have something going on behind my back?"

Tonya laughed back. "No, I can assure you, I am not having an affair with your husband. But of all the guys in our group of friends, I have always liked Ross the best, and he is the one of them I would feel comfortable being naked in front of. To be honest, and I won't name names, but one of the other guys has always struck me as a bit creepy. But you can tell by the way Ross looks at you when you're flashing or something, he seems natural about it. Just the smile on his face says it, and he doesn't stare at your breasts, he actually makes more eye contact than anything else. You can tell he's more than appreciative, but he's cool with it."

Kate was still shocked by this revelation, and she wanted to pin down Tonya on exactly what she would be willing to do. "So let me get this straight. You're willing, let's say, to play strip poker in a well-lit living room if it's just you and Pat and me and Ross? You're prepared to sit there naked for more than a few minutes if you lose quickly? And let's take it even further. You'd be willing to walk naked out to the lake at dusk, do a little skinny-dipping, and then get in the hot tub, naked the whole time?"

Tonya hadn't exactly pictured it playing out exactly like that, and she pondered this 'worst-case scenario'. She quickly decided that she wouldn't mind it. Actually, she found that it might even be enjoyable. "Yes," she answered, "I would."

The Big Day

The day of Ross' birthday dawned warm, clear and with just a little breeze at their cottage on a lake in northern Michigan. As usual, he got up an hour or so before Kate, and he decided to get in his exercise before it got too hot. He got dressed and headed out for a bike ride for a couple of hours.

All through the bike ride, he tried to convince himself that he didn't feel older, but he could already feel the birthday malaise settling in. He told himself that it was all mental. It was just another day, nothing special. He pushed himself to go faster than his usual pace to prove to himself that he still had it.

Almost home, just as he was within sight of his driveway, he passed their lovely and charming neighbor Rita out walking her dogs and he slowed to say hello. She immediately said "Happy birthday. Kate told me this is your big day," which was exactly that Ross didn't need at that moment. Instead of making his usual flirtatious conversation with Rita, he thanked her politely and headed down his driveway.

He put his bike in the garage and walked inside the main house. He could hear Kate in the kitchen, apparently emptying the dishwasher, so he veered into the room to talk to her.

He was more than a little surprised when he saw her standing there, stark naked. "Holy shit, you're not wearing anything," was his first comment. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

All of a sudden, the day was looking a bit brighter.

They were alone at the lake house, at least until that evening when Pat and Tonya were due to arrive. But still, Kate didn't walk around nude very often, even if it was almost 80 degrees just after nine o'clock. Ross leaned against the counter and admired her as she walked around the kitchen putting away dishes.

She gave him a hug, and said, "I've got a few things planned for you today. Nothing really big, but you should enjoy yourself." He was enjoying himself already.

He watched her as she walked out onto the deck and shook out a couple of rugs. She seemed very comfortable as exposed as she was, but they both knew that the thick foliage on either side of the house prevented the neighbors from seeing anything and there was little chance a boat would go by on the lake.

He grabbed a glass of orange juice and sat down in one of the big deck chairs. He was disappointed when she went back inside, but she quickly reappeared with her beach towel, which she spread out on the deck chair right next to him and lay down.

She made a big production of stretching out, arching her back and then pulling her legs up over her head. She warned him, "Don't get too excited. I'm just loosening up." Ross thought to himself that she looked great, and he said so.

They talked for almost a half hour, long enough that they both seemed to forget that she was naked. Finally, the telephone rang, and Kate went back inside to answer it. It was Pat, and she didn't hand the phone over to Ross right away. She talked to him for quite a while, walking around the deck naked. Ross was thinking that Pat would really enjoy this conversation if they had videophones.

She finally handed the phone over to Ross. After that, she could only hear his half of the conversation, which went, "Yeah, thanks. Yeah, we'll see you tonight. When are you going to get here? OK, we'll make dinner reservations for 7pm. Until then? I don't know, Kate says she has some special activities to keep me entertained. Well, it should be good, she's been walking around naked all morning so far. Yeah, I'll bet you'd like me to put her back on the phone. What, Tonya knows about this? What is it? She wouldn't tell you? Oh well, I'll find out soon enough. Yeah, I'll take pictures for you. Yeah, check your email in a couple of minutes. OK. See you soon. Bye."

Kate feigned being indignant, "Why did you tell him I was walking around naked? He didn't need to know that."

Ross laughed, "No, he didn't need to know. But he sure appreciated hearing it. He even offered to drive up here right now. And you seemed to be enjoying talking to him as you were walking around here naked."

Kate blushed. She liked flirting with Pat. She'd never do anything more than flirt and maybe once in while let him see her naked, but she'd do that whenever she could get away with it. Ross liked to have her show off, so she could easily rationalize any such nudity. And later this evening, she fully intended to let Pat in on the show. She figured that Pat would reciprocate, and Kate wouldn't be shy at looking over his big, tall body.

Kate went back inside and Ross followed. "So, what are all these activities you have planned for today? And why does Tonya know so much? I can't imagine her being involved. Heck, she might be the biggest prude amongst all our friends. She's not involved, is she?"

Kate answered, "Go take a shower, clean up and we'll get started on the surprise. It's warm enough already, so we can begin. Like I said, it's nothing really big, so don't get so excited. And the reason Tonya knows is that I told the girls the other night at dinner that I was going to make your birthday 'special', that's all. Do you seriously think that Tonya would participate in anything racy? Hah! That ain't gonna happen, is it?"

Ross nodded in agreement, chuckling to himself that even for an instant he had thought that Tonya of all people would be involved in anything that could be considered racy.

He peeled off his bike shirt and shorts and tried to give Kate a quick hug, hoping to press his naked body against hers. But she jumped back, saying, "Get away from me, stinky, sweaty man. Go take a shower, shave and come back out here. Take your time. It's still early in the day. Relax."

He obeyed.

When he returned, Kate had set up the camera on top of the tripod, with a big plastic sheet and some towels spread out in front of the big sliding door that opened out to the deck. There was a box with some small jars in it, some small paintbrushes, a couple of old beach towels and two old swimsuits. He wasn't sure what Kate was up to, but he liked the look of this already. "OK, what do we get to do?" he asked with a big grin on his face.

Kate laid out her plan, "You get to use these body paints and paint a swimsuit on me, and you get to take pictures of your artistry. Then, I'm going to go out and lay around at the end of the dock. Eventually, I'm going to jump into the lake and wash it off, but we'll see how long that takes. First, let me go over the ground rules. I am going to be the one to download the pictures on my laptop. Then I'm deleting the originals. These are not going to become public in any way, shape or form. I'm going to select one or two pictures that I will let you have. Of course, those will probably be of the final artwork - don't think I'm going to give you one of the first pictures where I'm completely naked. Of course, you already have more than a few of those, so that shouldn't be any big deal. So let's get started."

From the broad, gaping smile on his face, Kate knew he was thrilled.

She continued, "I want you to take a few pictures of me before you get started, and then I want you to take a picture every few minutes. I'll tell you now, I'm going to try to make something like a time-lapse video. I can't promise it will work, but let's see how it comes out. Let's start with a couple of pictures in poses that I've already got planned. So start clicking away."

Ross gleefully complied, and took some front and rear pictures of his wife, buck naked with her arms stretched over her head. Then she had him take a couple more with her apparently trying to cover up, holding her hands over her breasts, and in front of her pussy. He was real curious what that was all about. She told him not to get too excited, saying it had to do with the time-lapse video, and she wasn't sure was going to work.

But he was getting excited. Slowly but surely, she could see the bulge in his shorts getting more noticeable.

When he started painting, he first brushed on a microscopic g-string, with only a quarter inch wide stripe of burgundy colored paint front and rear. He had to use his hands to push apart Kate's glutes to keep the brush strokes from dabbing paint on her tight little butt cheeks. In front, the thin stripe didn't even cover her pubic hair. But it was his day, and she was going to let him do whatever he wanted. Using the camera on the tripod, he snapped pictures of her front and rear, topless, wearing only the scant g-string as she stood in the same pose as before with her arms stretched over her head.

Kate felt herself getting aroused and hoped that she didn't get too wet, lest her excitement mar the bathing suit bottom he was so carefully painting on her.

Next, he made the g-string a little more modest, but not much, adding just a bit more burgundy paint in the front and rear. More pictures recorded the progress. A very small top was painted on next, with one square inch patches covering her nipples and thin strings connect them over her shoulders. Once again, he took pictures of her front and rear.

Within a few minutes, the swimsuit had become a normal looking bikini, covering a bit more of her breasts, about half her butt and all of her pubic hair. Ross had taken his time and fondled her gently as he painted the bottom half of her full breasts. Kate's only complaint was that the brush tickled her.

She stopped to take a look at herself in the full-length mirror in the master bedroom. She turned and pirouetted and they both admired his artwork. Kate was surprised at how she really did look like she was wearing a bikini. But the air she could feel gently moving across her skin told her she was completely naked. If she looked closely, she could make out her nipples and pubic hair, and her butt was definitely well defined. But the darker shade of burgundy paint made it difficult to see anything. She was convinced that more than a few feet away, you couldn't tell the swimsuit was just paint, even if you knew.

Over the course of almost an hour, the swimsuit slowly took shape, and each step added to the one-piece model that Kate had in mind. They must have taken fifty pictures total by the time Ross had finished adding details, accents and some dabs and stripes of other colors here and there for contrast. Kate tried to hold the same pose for all the pictures, with her arms stretched over her head, giving a close-up view of every inch of skin on her body.

When he finally declared it finished, they both went back to the mirror for final inspection. She turned and stretched, trying to see herself from every angle. She thought it looked great, even better than she had hoped. It wasn't as detailed as the Sports Illustrated versions, but then again, she didn't think she was in that league anyway.

As if he was reading her mind, Ross surprised her just then by saying, "You look even better than the pictures in SI." Even if she thought he was just saying that to be nice, that comment still meant a lot to her.

He inspected his artwork and she let him look her over closely. He spent more time checking out her breasts, butt and pussy. She enjoyed the attention he was giving her body, so much so that she felt herself getting wet again. She noticed that he had to be fully erect, judging from the bulge in his shorts.

He was surprised when she said, "Now it's my turn."

"What do you mean?" was his startled response. "Aren't we going out to the dock for an hour or so?"

"Not until I've painted you. I've decided you need to have your black bicycling shorts painted on," she said as she started to unzip his pants. He laughed as his shorts fell to the floor, and she reached inside his briefs and pulled out his fully erect penis.

"And that's why it won't work," he said. "I can't go out there with a raging hard-on. In fact, I'll probably have to wear my briefs under my swim trunks so that I'm not completely obvious. Look at me. Look at how excited you've got me. I can't go out there like this. No matter how much black body paint you put on me, I'll still look obvious. I could even get arrested. I'll have to lie on my stomach the whole time."

"Don't worry," Kate said, "I thought this out long ago. But first, I need some pictures of your fully erect cock for my collection. Maybe I'll even put them on my iPhone. My girlfriends always share snapshots of our men when we get together. They'll really appreciate it because now I'll have something to show next time."

Ross' eyes widened. He knew she was just kidding. At least, he was pretty sure she was kidding. She was kidding, wasn't she? After all the pictures he had taken of her over the years, he had no choice now but to stand there and let her click away.