Chapter 19

“There’s always a choice but let’s leave it at that for now. I don’t want to spoil things between us now that we’re becoming closer, but please Lisa, think about what I’ve offered you. And you know, I bet Justin wouldn’t consider it cheating if you went with me. Hell, if I know men it will turn him on; it does with Craig and Peter when they know I’ve been with a girl.”

Lisa laughed at Claire’s persistence as she walked back to her car and drove home. Over the next few weeks, the women’s friendship developed until Lisa asked Claire around for lunch one day.

After they’d finished a light lunch and a bottle of chilled white wine, they sat talking. Once again, Claire jokingly propositioned Lisa, who again laughed the approach off, saying, “Claire, you are incorrigible, and that’s not why I invited you around. I like you, I really do. I don’t know why, but I feel I can relax in your company.”

“Well, it’s like business you’ve got to be persistent and not take no for an answer. And you do excite me. Ever since I watched those videos of you and knew that you’d...” for once Claire left the words unsaid.

“Come with me, I want to show you something,” Lisa said in a voice that left Claire intrigued, even more so when she followed Lisa into her bedroom.

On the wall directly facing the bed was a 5’ x 3’ oil on canvas painting of Lisa in the provocative down-the-cleavage pose they all adored. It wasn’t a true painting or photograph but an overpainting of a photograph to give a surrealistic and impressionist look, using the photograph as a base image to work from. The brush strokes were bold and confident, with no hint of hesitation, clearly being the work of a talented artist. The effect was stunning, with just enough of the original photo left to ensure that it was clear that the model was Lisa.

The image was both innocent and provocative, even sensuous in one and the same. Innocent in that the pose appeared casual as though the model had been caught unawares; provocative in the semi nude nature and view down her cleavage.

“Wow, fuck me. That’s something to have in your bedroom.”

“Justin loves it as much as you appear to.”

“My God it’s fabulous. Isn’t it a bit provocative though? And how did you explain it to Justin?”

“Provocative? Well, that’s why it’s in the bedroom, not the lounge. Only Justin, me, and now you have ever seen it. I told him I wanted to do something different for him and that I was experimenting and this is the result. You see Claire, I have degrees in fine art restoration and history, with a second in photography and cinema. Justin knows I’m artistic and that I know my way around a camera and a pallet knife.”

“That’s unbelievable. I know you and Justin are dealing in historic artefacts and shit like that but I didn’t realise that you painted yourself.”