Sam and Beth were a young couple that moved into one of the units in the same Body Corporate Association as me. They hadn't been married long and had no children as of yet and both of them worked. Beth was a nice young woman. She had a good figure and a friendly personality and got on well with everyone, although she did tend to fade into the background a little when Sam was around. She was also not the sharpest pencil in the box. Not that she was stupid, but just a little slow to catch on to what was going on around her.
Sam was a glad-handing extrovert, always smiling and chatting to people. He had the politician's trick of making you feel that he was genuinely happy to see you and valued your opinion on whatever the subject under discussion was.
Now while Sam was a tenant and had no voting rights at the BC meetings he had managed to inveigle the owner to give proxy rights, allowing him to come to meetings and vote. No-one objected because Sam was such a nice guy.
Sam always seemed to have suggestions of things we could do to improve our surroundings. It didn't take me long to work out that his suggestions required one of two things, sometimes both. Money and our time. He apparently felt free to vote for us spending money on things we didn't need which was understandable. It wasn't his money. The other thing was that he'd suggest things that would require us to make up a working bee to do the work. Oddly enough on the few times we actually went ahead with a working bee Sam was missing, although Beth would be there with his excuses.
In my opinion Sam was a very superficial character. He might have some bright ideas but there was nothing there to back up those ideas except a fast talking mouth. He hadn't yet learned that you have to be willing to do the work if you wanted to achieve something.
Sammy boy was also a bit of a sleaze. I'd noticed him hitting on a few of the women in the complex but whether he scored or not I didn't know.
I managed to front up to Sam one fine Saturday afternoon with a suggestion. He'd been stooging around outside while Beth was doing some gardening. A very attractive figure she made with tight shorts and a tight abbreviated top. She'd gone inside just as I was approaching.
"Sam," I said, acknowledging his presence.
"Colin," he replied, all smiles and apparently thrilled to be seeing me.
"I just noticed that Beth had been doing some gardening," I observed. "Quite an attractive young thing."
"On her behalf, I thank you," Sam said, waiting to see where this led.
"You know I'm a photographer?" I asked.
"Yeah. I've seen some of your work," he replied, giving a nod.
"I'd like to take a few photos of Beth," I told him. "I think she'll make a great subject."
"We'd get copies?"
"Of course."
"Then I see no reason why not. When do you want to do it?"
"I don't want you to get the wrong impression. I'll be wanting to take some, ah, artistic photos as part of the shoot."
Sam considered this with a slight frown.
"Um, by artistic I take it you mean nude?"
"Yes, but in a very artistic manner," I assured him.
"Yes, well as long as I'm there I see no harm in that," he decided.
I was already shaking my head.
"Sorry, but I don't want you there," I told him. "With you there she can't be her natural self. She'll always be looking to you for approval. No, I need you to go gave a drink or something and come back in an hour or so."
I'll give him credit. He did seem a little doubtful as to the wisdom of doing this.
"Um, that would leave you alone with my wife and her, um, undressed. How do I know that you wouldn't, ah, you know what I mean."
"I do indeed, but it's nothing to worry about. Really, even if we did you'd never know so you can tell yourself nothing happened in good conscious. While you're gone why don't you have a drink on me?"
I tucked a fifty into his shirt pocket and he brightened up immensely. If there was one thing Sam liked doing it was spending someone else's money.
"Why don't you tell Beth that I'll be taking a couple of photos and then you can head out for a break and a beer?"
"Right. You're a good chap and I know you wouldn't take advantage of me," he said. Not a word about how I might take advantage of Beth.
He stuck his head in the front door and yelled to Beth and then he nodded to me and headed for his car. The way he drove off he was eager for a drink.
I strolled into the house looking for Beth. I could hear the shower running and guessed that was where she was so I opened the bathroom door and walked in. Beth was standing in the shower, eyes wide as she looked at me. I opened the door to the shower cubicle, checking her out as I did so.
"What are you doing here?" she asked indignantly. "You've got no right to be here."
"Didn't you hear what Sam said? He gave me permission to take a few photos of you as long as he gets a copy."
"I heard him yell something. Where is he? Anyway, I'm naked."
"Yes, I can see that," I admitted. "Beautifully naked. Wonderfully naked. You'll come up a real treat in a photo looking like that."
"But you can't go taking nude pictures of me."
"Not nude. Artistic. And Sam said I could."
She gave me an irritated look.
"Just where is Sam? Why isn't he here?"
"Sam's not here because I told him you'd feel all inhibited and unable to relax in front of him. He decided that he'd go and get a drink while I do the photos."
"This is ridiculous. He's just letting you wander in and take nude photos while he's off having a drink? Sorry, artistic photos. What's to stop you from, ah, you know what I mean."
It's amazing how often people can't just come out and say what they mean.
"If you mean that I might want to have sex with you," I said, "Sam brought up the possibility. I assured him that if we did we wouldn't tell him and so he could quite happily assume that we didn't. He seemed to think that was reasonable. What he doesn't know won't hurt him."
"Maybe not, but I might," she said with some irritation. "Anyway, where'd he get the money for a few drinks? He was broke."
She promptly interpreted the look on my face.
"You gave him money to go away and leave me with you, didn't you."
Certainly not," I denied. "I just gave him some money so he could enjoy a drink or two while I took a couple of photos. Now smile."
I took a couple of shots while she glowered at me. I sighed and reached into the shower to turn off the water.
"Smile," I prompted her. "I want Sam to see you happy and smiling in the pictures."
"How can I smile when I know you're likely to jump me and rape me at any moment?"
"Oh, relax. For a start, I'm not going to rape you at any moment. I'm certainly not going to rape you in the bathroom. Why don't you hop out of the shower and get dried and then we can adjourn to the bedroom, a much more fitting place for a little rape. Once there we can decide how this rape will take place."
"I'd have thought," she said, sounding a bit put upon, "that you'd wait until the end of the photos before raping me."
"That would be silly," I responded. "Knowing Sam he'll have his couple of drinks and then rush back here early hoping to catch me in the act. That way he'll get to act all self-righteous, hinting that an injection of funds might soothe his injured feelings. His alternative scenario will be to get back early enough that I won't have had a chance to jump you, meaning he got his drinking money and I miss out on my fun and he still gets some photos. So you can understand that jumping you is a matter of priority."
