Free Absolute Pleasure by Cheryl Holt Page A

her arm, then her shoulder and neck. With subtle pressure, he adjusted her position then continued on, incorporating a profile of her bosom and abdomen.
    Mesmerized and impressed, she observed him, his slender, tapered fingers folded around the charcoal, his abundant, luscious hair flopping over his forehead. She'd never witnessed another so totally absorbed in his enterprise. No wonder he was so skilled!
    He was immersed in his task, scarcely cognizant that she was in attendance, and there was something elegant and divine about beholding him.
    Eventually, he was illustrating all of her, and she was forced to conclude that he was correct: Through his eyes, she was quite pretty, shapely, curvaceous and extremely feminine.
    Was this how he really saw her? How glorious if it was!
    From somewhere far off, a clock chimed, and she sighed. Their appointment was wrapping up when it seemed as though she'd hardly spent any time with him at all. How had four o'clock arrived so quickly? Prompt, dependable Mary would be waiting impatiently at the main house.
    Would her hours with him always elapse in a blink? If this trend persisted, the entertaining engagements would pass so fleetly that, when their contract was terminated, she'd hardly have any memories to carry with her.
    With the fourth bong of the clock, the reverberations penetrated his concentration. He peered toward the window.
    Dazed and disoriented, he inquired, "Is it four already?'
    "Yes." She was happy to discover that the minutes had progressed hastily for him, as well.
    "Will your friend be punctual?"
    "Aye."
    "Then I suppose we must be done for today."
    "I suppose," she concurred, sad all over again that it had ended so soon.
    He scowled at the page upon which he was currently working, his engrossment gradually waning. The pictures he'd drawn were scattered about him on the floor, and he peered down at them as though he didn't recognize them. Then, he focused on one in particular—a silhouette of her upper body—and he picked it up, analyzing it, and her, as if comparing, her to the finished product
    "How fetching you are!" he ultimately pronounced.
    He submitted it to her, and she contemplated it as thoroughly as he'd just done. Amazingly, she looked pretty and young, innocent and pensive.
    "I'm flattered."
    "Don't be. This is truly you." He retrieved the sketch and tossed it on the pile with the others. "You're too hard on yourself."
    "Perhaps," she allowed, and she pointed to the stack of amazing pictures he'd executed with so little effort. "May I keep them?"
    "Not yet. I'll want to review them extensively before I begin with the actual painting."
    She'd hoped to be given a token of the magical interlude, but she hid her disappointment, reminding herself that there would be other meetings, other lazy afternoons that would enchant and beguile as this one had.
    "When would you like me to come again?"
    As he considered his answer, he examined her so tenaciously that she was certain he would invite her back the next day, so she was greatly mystified when he said, "How about Friday? I'm free then."
    Four days away! An eternity!
    Yet she masked her displeasure, once more, despising how the intervening period loomed, a gray, barren void, where she would have nothing to do, and no responsibilities to oversee. Their imminent session beamed like a beacon on her individual horizon, the sole bright spot in her otherwise dreary universe. Her anticipation for me pending event only underscored the pitiful level to which her life had sunk.
    "Friday will be fine," she graciously responded. "At two?"
    "How about one?"
    An extra hour! "Marvelous. What will we do?"
    "I'll carry on with my sketching." The meeting adjourned, he stood, then assisted her to her feet. "Next time, I want you to dress differently."
    "How so?"
    "I need to see more of your arms. Your neck and back."
    He cupped her shoulder, kneading the fleshy section just above the blade, startling her with the strength in his