Picture Perfect Read Free Page A

canvas. Normally I wasn’t a fussy person. I barely even looked in a mirror . Paul often said that I was the least vain of any woman he’d ever known, and I suppose I didn’t care overmuch about my appearance. Well, I mean, I did all the usual cosmetic things that everybody does – hair brushing, face cleansing and all that sort of thing – but never went much beyond that. I was lucky to have been born with nice skin that didn’t take much looking after, so I generally ignored that side of things.
    At the end of the day, Roger showed me his work to date. Once again, I was startled by what I saw. It was me. I know it was, but a totally different me to the person I recognised in the mirror. The painted me was somehow……. afire with a restless energy. I could almost feel the emotional depth; the questing urge for action portrayed in the eyes and the slight clenching of the fingers. I must have stood there, staring for at least ten minutes or more, until Roger gently coughed and awoke me from my reverie.
    “Well, my dear, what do you think of it so far?” he asked.
    “Roger, it's breathtaking,” I declared fervently, still looking at the painting. “I don't know how you did it, but you've captured the inner self. It's almost as if you've stripped my soul bare.”
    “Ah, yes,…… speaking of that,” Roger murmured self-consciously, “I was wondering if perhaps you wouldn't mind being painted that way.”
    I looked up at him in mild astonishment. “You mean, without any clothes ?”
    “ Exactly ,” he said, shuffling his feet a little. “It's not something I ask all of my models to do and it's entirely voluntary. Most of them don't mind because it simply part of the job, but you're new to this and not a professional. I hope you’re not offended by my suggestion.”
    “No, not at all,” I reassured him. I wasn’t offended in the slightest. My earlier days as a flower-power hippie girl in a ‘free love’ commune had robbed me of any bashfulness. But I was a little surprised that Roger would ask me to pose nude this early in our relationship. Did he have some other agenda in mind? He was looking at me, still patiently waiting for my answer.
    “Can I think about it first?” I hedged.
    “Of course you can, my dear,” he told me. “I know it’s a big step when you’re not used to it. I’ll understand fully if you don’t want to. There are other paintings we can do. It’s just that having you ‘ au naturel ’ opens up your vulnerable side and will give us a much larger option of scenarios. And besides, you have an absolutely stunning figure. I want the whole world to admire the sheer beauty of it. Go home and give it some thought.”
    As I said before, posing nude didn't present any problems for me. The main hurdle I had to overcome was telling Paul about it because I wasn't quite sure how he'd react. He was always protective of me and, if he vigorously objected, I probably wouldn’t go ahead with it. I owed him that much. It was a major dread in my life – that I’d end up by disappointing him in some way.
    “You're going to…… what ?” he exclaimed, when I finally summoned the courage to tell him.
    “Take it easy,” I advised. “It's not the end of the world. I haven’t said ‘yes’ as yet.”
    He took a few deep breaths and calmed himself. “Sorry,” he apologised. “You just caught me by surprise.” He paused, looking at me intently. “Are you sure you want to do this, Kim?”
    I shrugged. “You know that this sort of thing doesn't bother me,” I informed him. “I'm more concerned about your reaction. I won't do it if you really, really don't want me to.”
    Paul spread his hands in acknowledged defeat. “I can't say that I'd be jumping with joy if you went ahead but, sweetie, it's your life and, as I’ve said before, you’re a big girl now who can make her own decisions. I'm certainly not going to make a scene about you doing something that I know you want to do. Just