Flora stifled a yawn, the sun beating through the glass on her pale back making her sleepy, languid as the golden dust motes drifting through the air. She'd been sitting in this pose for almost an hour, watching the earnest students as they stroked sticks of charcoal across their papers, squinting at her breasts and thighs as though she were a sofa they were thinking of buying.
'I suppose that's all I am to them,' she thought, as the faint scraping sounds continued under the watchful eye of their French tutor. 'Models aren't women, really, even to the guys. We're just furniture.'
She sighed audibly, drawing a disapproving gaze from Monsieur Dubois; an immaculately-dressed, if somewhat pretentious man who'd once had a modest career as a portrait painter. Now, he opened his studio to young artists and models like her, who hoped for immortality on canvas in exchange for boiling half to death in this stuffy little room on the fourth floor.
She tried not to giggle as he frowned. Instead she resolutely gazed ahead, the feathery strands of her long, copper-red hair shifting against her back. She caught the eye of one of the men, Matthew, she thought his name was; dark-haired and blue-eyed, with the thin, wily face of a fox. He offered her a wry grin as their tutor walked in a slow circle behind his pupils, a small group of six, assessing their work. Flora felt a faint tingle begin in her nipples as Matthew's gaze slid lower, to her small, high breasts, and stayed there.
His expression changed, camaraderie replaced by something sharper, hungrier. Monsieur tapped him sharply on the shoulder.
'Concentrate,' he snapped. The other students laughed, Flora felt the beginnings of the hated blush that threatened to storm over her face. Damn being a redhead sometimes! At least she could blame it on the intolerable heat. She took a deep breath and concentrated on the feeling of the sweat beginning to trickle down her ribs until she felt the flame in her cheeks subside.
'Monsieur?' The voice of the only female pupil today. A friendly-looking brunette.
'Oui?'
'It's three o' clock, I have that doctor's appointment .'
'Yes, yes, of course, are you back next week?'
Their voices faded as the tutor showed the woman out, their footsteps echoing down the hall, Flora felt a faint sense of disquiet ripple through her. Now the girl had left she felt exposed, closely circled by this group of men.
'Don't be ridiculous,' she thought. 'You're already as exposed as you're going to get.' She glanced at Matthew out of the corner of her eye. He was staring at her, the naked lust in his eyes sending a pulse of fear and excitement through her body as he slowly took in the rich curve of her waist, her creamy skin, the red triangle of hair between her legs. He looked at the man next to him, a stocky older blond, who grinned. Soon, all the students had downed tools and were staring frankly at her body, all trace of artistic detachment gone. They nudged each other, whispering in each other's ears as she felt the hairs stand up on the back of her slender arms. Flora felt the excitement churning in her belly edge into panic, where was Monsieur?
Somewhere in the building, a phone rang. They heard the trip of the tutor's footsteps downstairs as he went to answer it. Matthew; a wolfish smile on his face, got up quietly from his seat and closed the door, jamming a chair under the handle. His gaze flicked around the room.
'Time for a private class.' He said softly.
'W-What are you doing?' She stammered, hating the tremble in her voice.