Thirty-six

“IS THE COFFEE COLD?” I whispered in Lissa’s ear.

“You’re lucky I didn’t make it when Melody told me what was going on,” she said. She pulled my hand to her lips and kissed it, inhaling deeply. “Did you relieve her tension?” she asked, sniffing several times for a scent that wasn’t there.

“Yes, love,” I chuckled, “but I never got my fingers wet. Quite amazing, actually.”

“If she spreads the word, every girl here will want Tony’s magic fingers. I know I do.”

“Oh? What about poor Tony?” I whined. I was teasing and resting my head on Lissa’s shoulder as she made my espresso. She whipped around in my arms to face me.

“Tony? Oh my god! Tony, when’s the last time we made love?”

“Um ... last week, New Year’s Day.”

“And with Kate?”

“Yeah. Same day.”

“And Melody?”

“Sunday morning, first one of the New Year.”

“And not one since!”

“Um ... we’ve been busy. I’ve been busy, I guess.”

“And you just gave a beautiful orgasm to your friend and didn’t have one yourself, did you?

“It was awfully quiet. I don’t know if she enjoyed it all that much.”

“Oh, you poor baby!”

“Yeah. Like I should feel sorry for myself. My wives send a perfectly beautiful woman into my bedroom to undress for me. Poor Tony.”

“Tony, I want you to look at every guest and family member here tonight and then tell me which one you want. Even if it’s Amy, I’ll find a way to make her yours.”

“Um ... how about Walt?” I laughed.

“If that’s what you want, baby, I’ll find a way.”

“And how about if what I want is already in my arms?”

“Can you wait for coffee for another fifteen minutes?”

I appreciated Lissa’s offer, but the reality was that we had guests and I’d been out of it for nearly two hours of our party already. I don’t know if I would have been up to it even if Amanda had tried something. She had just kissed me softly for a minute while I ran my hands all over her back and ass, and then she pulled her dress on and asked me to zip it.

I wandered downstairs with my coffee and started greeting guests. They were all getting into the swing of the party. We were playing Strauss waltzes interspersed with big band jazz and ballroom dance music. Melody had actually found a used The Best of Lawrence Welk CD at Silver Platters this week and added it to the mix.

There were some predictable combinations as I walked through the party and greeted people. Sandra and Walt were talking with Kate. Sonia and Amy were sitting in a rocking chair together. I looked around and found Thor dancing with June. What a contrast with the little Korean girl and the huge Scandinavian god. Melody and Bree were dancing with Justin and they were doing their best to confuse the poor guy. Amanda had found Whitney and Rio and they were collapsed on the daybed together, each with a plate of food and a soft drink. Lissa had come downstairs with me and the party was in full swing. I looked around, though, and couldn’t find Wendy. I started to say something to Lissa when a pair of hands covered my eyes from behind.

“Guess who!” she said.

“Grrr rawr rawr,” I answered. There was a quick pivot and the hands went behind my neck and Wendy pulled herself to me. We had a quick kiss and then she turned to kiss Lissa as well.

“I was worried when I didn’t see you out here,” I said.

“Kate was busy with everyone and I ... I didn’t want to come out before you got here.” She pushed away from me and spun around so I could see her dress. It was great.

“Did Melody do that?” I asked.

“We were having fun with fabric at the studio while we worked on the new shipment,” Lissa said. “Melody said she could make tiger stripes for Wendy’s new dress. Pretty impressive, don’t you think?”

“Not only is it impressive, we should be selling these,” I said. “This is beautiful. Only you can’t sell our model. I’m keeping her.” I hugged Wendy. As I looked more closely at her dress, I realized it was cut with a full back and a collar that supported two strips of fabric attached at the waist. These provided the only covering there was for Wendy’s breasts. The back, on the other hand, was full, leaving the sides bare from armpit to waistband. They’d reversed the front and back!

Wendy stood up on tiptoes to whisper in my ear.

“Melody made tiger stripes in my hair, too,” Wendy said. I ran my hand over her head, which had no more than peach fuzz growing on it.

“Not that hair, silly,” Wendy laughed. Oh shit!

“For our purposes, Bacchanalia doesn’t quite mean drunken orgy,” I said as everyone laughed. I was getting them into their first pose. “And there are rules, too. Eventually, there will be a lot of models who don’t have any clothes on. There might even be a naked artist or two. But there is absolutely no touching without the touchee’s permission—even if you’re a couple—or triple—or quadruple. And while I want to capture a lot of flirtatiousness, we’re not talking anything X-rated. The only thing that will make it R-rated is the nudity. Got it?”

“You take the fun out of everything, Tony,” Whitney laughed.

“Can’t it be a little more R-rated?” Rio chimed in. “Like that ad with the guy’s hands covering the girl’s tits. What was that product?”

“I didn’t think you wanted them covered, Rio,” I laughed. “Tonight, we’re just going to try some positions anyway. I want some fully clothed sketches and reference photos. You all look so good in your formals and tuxes. It seems like a shame to lose them so soon.”

“I don’t get it,” Whitney said. “You’re going to paint nude pictures of us with all our clothes on?”