The Photographer - Pt 4 of 9
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April was different.
Unlike Don’s other models, April wasn’t a student at the university where he usually recruited women. He found April working as a restaurant hostess, and she was so striking that he gave her his business card and invited her to discuss becoming a model. Like most beautiful women, April had fantasized about being one of the glamorous girls who appeared in fashion magazines. She never imagined her fantasy would become real.
This made her uncertain about what to expect the first time she came to Don’s studio. He explained that he took photos - a LOT of photos - for manufacturers of medium-priced fashions sold mainly through online magazines. He showed her some web pages featuring his work, and made sure she understood that he wasn’t the kind of big-name photographer who’d fly her to some exotic location so she could pose in designer clothes on a beautiful beach. All Don’s work happened in his studio.
“This is not a particularly complicated job,” Don said. He told April what he paid for a session, and she liked what she heard. April had long-term financial problems that were troubling and burdensome. Even a small amount of extra money would make a big difference to their family.
“I’d love to try it,” April said. “I love wearing nice clothes. It sounds like work that’s also fun.”
“I hope you still feel that way after you’ve posed in a few hundred outfits,” he said.
“This is the changing room. The clothes on this rack are for you to wear when you pose. After you finish, you fold up that outfit and put it in this box. The most time-consuming part of the process is changing from one outfit to another, so I need you to do that as quickly as you can. I take pictures by the thousands. I can’t be successful unless we can do this in a rapid, organized manner.”
It wasn’t hard at all. On one wall of his studio, Don hung a series of photos that showed standard poses. Whenever April wasn't sure what to do next, she looked at the pictures and imitated the poses. It seemed to please Don.
“You’re very good at this,” he said early in their first session. “These pictures are terrific. You look great. Women will look at you and want to wear these outfits. It helps that you are very fit. It means you can wear more revealing clothes and still look good.”
April was flattered by the compliments, partly because she didn’t think Don was consciously trying to flatter her. His brand of photography was very rushed; it was obvious that he wanted to take a lot of photos in a short time, and he seemed focused on the fact that April posed in a way that allowed him to get suitable exposures quickly.
“I’m glad you’re happy,” April said. “I’ve never done anything like this. I hope it’s OK.”
“It’s better than OK,” Don said. “I can tell that I’m going to want to work with you a lot.”
What Don didn’t know was that April was a wife and mother struggling to survive. Although she was only 25, she was older than any of Don’s other models, who were all single coeds with few responsibilities. When Don wrote April’s first check, she was thrilled to realize that it was enough to pay for a week's groceries. When he said he wanted her to pose every Thursday, April did a little math and saw that working for Don could improve her family’s financial situation in a big way.
He would learn later that April’s situation was unique. She’d had a happy childhood, and as an 18-year-old teenager she was a varsity cheerleader without a care. Back then she dated a handsome boy on the football team, and they spent many joyful hours making out in the back seat of his car. But they were too immature to use birth control, so she got pregnant.
April and her boyfriend had both planned to go to college, find good careers, and have a good life. The pregnancy derailed all that. Her boyfriend got a low-wage job as a warehouse worker, they got married, and they moved into a tiny apartment in a marginal neighborhood because that was all they could afford.
April found a job working evenings as a waitress. She was so smart and organized that she was soon promoted to the position of hostess. Although they had two salaries, no couple ever worked harder to earn so little money. Life was a struggle that wore them down.
They reacted to the stress differently. Her husband smoked a lot of cigarettes, drank a lot of beer, and watched a lot of sports on TV. He never complained because he didn’t want to dwell on the fact that they’d made poor choices. As his belly grew, April became determined not to let that happen to her.
She realized that her body was one of the few things in her life that she could control. She never skipped a workout, never smoked a cigarette, never ate more than 1,400 calories a day, and almost never drank sugary drinks or alcohol. As she watched her formerly athletic husband transform into a pudgy slob, she swore she would keep fit and attractive.
“I don’t understand why you say I’m good at this,” April said at the end of the first shoot. “I look just like all your other girls.”
“That is definitely not true,” Don said. “You do NOT look like the other girls! You can do many types of modeling that other models can’t.
“I don’t want you getting the wrong idea about yourself. Can I show you something? It will just take a minute.”
Don got the memory card from his camera and downloaded the new pictures of April into his computer.
“OK, let’s look at this outfit. It lets you see what I mean. You’re wearing a crop top that shows a bare midriff. Look at your abs. You are buff, April. All my models are lean, but most of them have soft bellies that don’t show any muscular definition. They can’t model athletic apparel, or two-piece swimsuits, or some types of lingerie. You can do all of that.
“Here’s a picture of a girl I photographed yesterday. She’s very good. I use her a lot. Now, look at her arm. It’s nice and slender, but there’s no muscle. No curvature. No shapeliness. It’s straight as a pencil. That’s acceptable for a lot of outfits, but let’s look at your arms.
“Check out your shoulder. You can see there’s a deltoid muscle that gives you definition. You have visible biceps and triceps that give your arm shape. You’re not overly muscular - nobody would confuse you with a bodybuilder - but your body looks like an anatomy chart showing a perfectly proportioned woman.
“Conversations like this make me a little bit uncomfortable because it sounds like I’m a meat inspector and you’re a slab of beef. I hope it doesn’t seem like that. What I’m trying to say is that your anatomy is almost perfect for modeling. I hope you want to work with me, because I could really use someone like you.”
Your body looks like an anatomy chart of a perfectly proportioned woman. It was the best compliment April had ever received. She was aware of the fact that Don wasn’t trying to ingratiate himself with her; she recognized that he was simply stating a fact he wanted her to understand. That sincerity made the compliment more meaningful.
“I’d love to work with you,” April said. “This was fun.” She didn’t mention that the check she held in her hand would have a big impact on her budget for the week. She wanted more of those checks.
“OK, let’s plan on seeing you here one week from today. Is this time slot alright? I can work around your schedule. My clients are sending me a shit ton of new clothes next week, and there are a lot of items that are perfect for you.”
“This time slot is fine,” April said. Her daughter had just started kindergarten, which gave April more free time than she’d had since giving birth. The opportunity to earn more money came to April at a perfect time, and she felt lucky.
But Don knew none of those things. As he was walking April to the door, she mentioned that she particularly liked a leather skirt she’d just modeled.
“You like it? Take it. It’s yours,” Don said.
“Really? Don’t you need to return it?”
“Nope. My clients don’t want me to return this stuff. Once a month I haul a bunch of new clothes down to the Salvation Army. If you see anything you like, please take it with you. And not just the clothes you wore today. That big box is full of stuff my girls have modeled since the last shipment arrived. Take whatever you like.”
April loved pretty clothes. She always wore nice things before she got pregnant, but now she didn’t have enough money for such luxuries. Don saw excitement in her eyes.
“Let’s go treasure hunting!” he said, picking up an empty box and heading for the changing room. He and April went through the pile of clothes he’d photographed, and they found a lot of items she wanted.
She saw that Don had a good eye for fashion. “Take this,” he’d say. “It will look great on you.” Rummaging through the box, he pulled out a sexy green dress with a sharp slit skirt. “This is appropriate for you to wear to work, isn’t it? You’ll turn a lot of heads when you show up in this.”
Don carried the box to her car. That’s when he got the first clue about the challenges in April’s life.
The car she drove was old and rusty, with a big dent in one fender. He noted that April kept it spotlessly clean, but he couldn’t help thinking that such a car could break down unexpectedly and strand April somewhere inconvenient. He realized that there must be an explanation for why she drove such a crappy car, and that the reason was probably sad.
He hoped that the money she earned modeling would be enough to help her get a better car.
April drove straight to the bank and deposited the check, then she rushed home to pay her electric bill. She’d planned to pay it at the last minute because she didn’t have enough in the checking account to cover the check; that wasn’t expected to happen until her husband’s pay was deposited. The modeling deposit changed that. She put the bill in the mail just before the postal worker arrived, and she smiled at the idea that she’d prevented the possibility of having her power shut off.
As the postman drove away, she looked at the box of nice new clothes, and allowed herself to hope that something had finally happened that could reduce the constant stress in her life.
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It didn’t take long for things to get better for April. After only two months, she had taken home enough clothes to completely refresh her tired old wardrobe. Her co-workers noticed the stylish new clothes, and she enjoyed hearing compliments about her new look. The extra money allowed April to catch up with overdue bills, and even put some money into savings. April’s husband noticed that she seemed to be happier, and he let her know that he was glad for her.
Oddly, her friends were less supportive. Most of the women she socialized with were other moms who lived nearby in similar circumstances. They all had too many responsibilities and not enough money. Like April’s husband, the women didn’t do much to maintain their health or appearance.
Despite their young age, they were getting thick around the middle. They were increasingly careless about their hair and makeup. They wore frumpy clothes. April sometimes invited these women to go on walks around the neighborhood, but they always declined. They’d rather sit around drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and complaining about their husbands and kids. April felt that all their negativity wasn’t good for her, but she didn’t have any upbeat and positive friends.
Increasingly, she noticed that these women resented her. April still looked as good as she did when she was a high school cheerleader. She had lots of energy and enthusiasm. Her new wardrobe was stylish and attractive. The other women felt April made them look bad, and they regularly made comments that seemed calculated to undermine her. It got much worse when April let them know she had been hired as a model.
They were all negative about it. Her “friends” saw it as one more bit of proof that April was a lot cuter than they were, and it grated on them. They were incessantly critical about Don, arguing that he had to be some kind of pervert with some mysterious hidden agenda.
“I’m just saying this for your own good,” one of the women said. “I’d be suspicious if some guy I didn’t know wanted me to pose for him.”
I’ve got to get some new friends, April thought to herself.
It made her angry that other women were so jealous that they tried to undermine her. Now that she had some extra money, she could afford to take classes in yoga or aerobics. Maybe she could find like-minded women there. She stopped wearing her new clothes in front of the other women because that always made them ask snarky questions like “What did he make you do for that?”
April finally got so mad that she decided to deliberately do something she knew would make those women angry. When Don told her that a new catalog had gone online, April scrolled through the photos and bookmarked pages featuring pictures of her wearing especially attractive outfits. She then insisted on showing the images to her “friends,” who had no choice but to sit there and pretend to be happy for her.
Seeing April posing alongside so many pretty college girls made the women seethe with resentment. April had taken so much abuse from these women that she was glad to be able to get back at them. She decided that she’d decline to meet up with any of those women for a few days, claiming to be “too busy” until she had a chance to purge the anger from her system. That afternoon she drove to a sex shop and treated herself to a bigger, more powerful vibrator. April’s husband didn’t work very hard to satisfy her anymore, so she needed to take care of her own needs.
All this combined to make April especially glad to go to photo shoots with Don. He was relentlessly upbeat and complimentary. She always felt good about herself when she was with him. Don’s artistic inclination made him very sensitive to fashion and women’s bodies, and sometimes he did special things for April. When he received a shipment of clothing that contained items that he believed would look particularly good on April, he made sure to have her model those clothes, then take them home afterward.
She was especially happy whenever she wore items personally selected for her by Don. It was nice to get that kind of attention from a man who made it so obvious that he appreciated her.
Inevitably, April felt attracted to Don. It had to happen. He was just a few years older than her, and he shared her dedication to positivity, health, and fitness. He dressed in nice clothes and believed in good grooming. When she stood close to him, April sometimes got a whiff of a nice brand of aftershave. Her husband smelled like cigarettes.
Get a grip! she thought to herself. I’m a wife and mother!
All that was true, but it did nothing to change the fact that she wished that the man in her life was more like Don.
Then Don did something so wonderful it was shocking.
Don wasn’t stupid. He gradually figured out that April had financial problems. He’d asked what her husband did for a living, and he didn’t need to be told that warehouse workers earned low wages.
One day, the guys at the shipping center where Don picked up his clothes told him something interesting. They needed a new truck driver. The center employed a driver who hauled deliveries to regional customers, and their old driver accepted a higher-paying job as a long-hauler. They needed a new guy - fast - and they were willing to pay for an inexperienced person to take a course that led to acquiring a commercial driver’s license. It paid $70,000 annually, which was a lot more than April’s husband earned at the warehouse.
The next time April came to the studio, Don gave her the news after the shoot.
“Do you happen to know anybody who needs a job?” he asked. He described the position to April. He didn’t specifically say her husband should apply, but she was able to figure that out for herself. She pushed her husband to apply; he got the job, and his weekly take-home pay almost doubled.
One day April showed up at the studio driving a much better car. Don looked on happily, realizing that he’d done something that significantly improved April’s life.
At a different shoot, when he asked her what was new, she said that she’d been spending time looking online for homes for sale. She explained that she wanted her family to do something that had once been unthinkable: buy a nice house in a good school district. He saw how happy it made her, and he felt glad.
Slowly, Don faced a growing reality - he was developing feelings for April. He knew he could never act on those feelings - she was married, and he wasn’t a home-wrecker. He got plenty of female attention from his other models, so he wasn’t desperate for companionship. But he recognized that the attraction he felt to April was unique and powerful. They had a connection.
Nothing happened for a while. Then, Don got a new shipment of summer clothing that pushed his relationship with April in a new direction.
The shipment included a lot of swimwear, ranging from modest one-piece suits to more revealing two-piece outfits and several very bold mini-bikinis. April was the best choice for the most revealing suits in the collection. Her toned, athletic body made the suits look best; his other models were better suited to wear the more modest items.
When April showed up for that week’s shooting, she found a pile of the tiny bikinis waiting in the changing room. “I’m glad you’re available to model these suits,” Don told her. “Your physique is perfect for this kind of work. The client is going to be very happy with the photos we take today.”
April posed in one suit after another. She’d never worn swimsuits that were nearly that revealing; it wasn’t the kind of thing that was suitable at the neighborhood pool where she took her daughter to swim. The tiny, stylish bikinis made her feel glamorous. It also made her acutely aware that Don was getting an extremely close look at every part of her body. He peppered her with compliments. She couldn’t help but feel aroused.
Don felt it too. The girls he usually slept with were buoyant and bubbly; April was more than that. She was magnetic. He could tell that she felt the attraction as well, but he assumed they wouldn’t act on it. He thought it was a feeling they could both enjoy without succumbing to temptation.
But April felt differently. There was a hot, wet itch between her legs by the time the shoot was over. She saw the bulge in Don’s pants. “Why don’t you take that suit with you?” he suggested. “It goes particularly well with your complexion.”
“I’m not sure I could wear this anywhere around here,” she said. The bikini top barely covered her nipples, and the bottom was a thong that concealed very little in the front and nothing in the back.
“I see what you mean,” he said. “Do you ever just sit in your backyard and take in the sun? You could get more of an all-over tan with that suit.”
April imagined how the women in her neighborhood would react if she wore such a sexy suit on her patio. The prospect amused her. They would be soooo jealous! she thought. It was a great idea!
She took the suit home.
When she went to change into her street clothes, she couldn’t do it. She looked at herself in the mirror, liking what she saw. Don seemed to be the only person who noticed and appreciated her. Her husband was a nice man who’d done a good job coping with their stressful life, but his passion for life was gone. On nights when April wanted to make love, her husband usually fell asleep on the couch while watching TV. It happened so often it damaged her self-esteem.
April made a decision. She stripped off the swimsuit, then left the changing room naked. She found Don in the studio, and she liked the expression on his face when he saw her nude body.
She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her body against his. “You always make me feel good about myself,” she said. “I’m sure you can tell how much I like you, and I’m pretty sure you feel the same about me.” April pressed her hand against the front of Don’s trousers and felt his hard cock.
“I need a man who makes me feel good about myself,” she said. “I don’t get enough of that.”
Don knew there were good reasons not to go further, but the temptation was just too strong. He pulled April closer and felt the pounding of her heart. Don’s hands ran up and down April’s back, slowly reaching down and caressing the tight little ass he’d admired so much through his camera’s viewfinder.
“You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen,” he told her. “You are irresistible.”
“Don’t resist,” April said.
Don leaned down and kissed her chastely. He kissed her again and again, and each kiss was more soulful and passionate than the last. April felt there was something deliciously erotic about being completely naked while Don was completely dressed. She pressed her belly against his hard cock. She imagined how it would feel inside her.
He led her to his bedroom, thankful that he’d made the bed that morning. April helped him out of his clothes, and they lay down on the sheets.
Don usually led the way during sex. He liked to have women lie on their backs so he could kiss and caress them, then have hot foreplay until they were writhing with desire. That’s not what happened with April. She was so anxious to have sex with Don that she climbed on top of his body and lined up his cock with her pussy. She was already very wet down there, so she was able to push Don all the way inside her with a single smooth stroke.
“. . . oooooooooooh . . .” she said when she felt the head of his cock push against her cervix. It had been years since she’d been fucked properly.
April began moving up and down, pushing Don all the way in, then pulling all the way out. He was surprised she was so hot and wet already. He hadn’t touched her, but April felt the way a woman usually felt after he spent a long time working to arouse her.
She looked into his eyes and smiled. Don didn’t see anything that suggested she had the slightest reluctance to have sex with him. He’d never had sex with a married woman, and he was very aware of the dangers of hurt feelings and damaged relationships. April’s determination reassured him.
She got excited very quickly. It had been a long time since she’d had an orgasm without her vibrator, and she was ready. April realized that Don was looking at her, feeling his gaze wander over every inch of her body. His hands caressed her breasts, belly, and thighs, which were marvelously firm and smooth.
“You feel just as good as you look,” Don said. His comment was exactly what April needed to hear right then.
The orgasm began in April’s clit, then spread deep in her pussy. Waves of erotic sensation spread everywhere. She began moving faster, making her pussy pound against Don’s body as she came and came and came. April put so much energy into what she was doing that a thin sheen of sweat formed all over her body. Her skin felt slick. As she moved on top of Don, her inner thighs slipped and slid over his torso. Her climax lasted a long time, and when it was over, she collapsed on top of Don, who wrapped his arms around her.
Don let her relax. His cock ached for release, but he knew April needed to recover. It would take a few seconds before she’d be ready to resume having sex. He waited until she began to move, then he rolled her over onto her back.
“Let me do the work,” he said.
She felt his cock move in and out slowly and carefully. His gentle, affectionate motion was exactly what she wanted right then. April had been so starved of male attention that she was overwhelmed by the feelings of intimate closeness. She put her hands on his waist to try to pull him deeper, and she noticed that Don’s trim middle was nothing like her husband’s pudgy midsection.
She wasn’t doing this for revenge; she liked and respected her husband, understanding that his life was just as hard as hers. Still, April was a healthy young woman in her sexual prime. She needed this. Don was giving her something that had been missing for a long, long time.
Her second climax was even stronger than the first. She squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth as the orgasm took over. April hissed when the excitement became overwhelming.
Again, Don paused as she recovered from her climax. By the time he resumed slowly moving in and out of her pussy, Don had a powerful need to cum himself. He couldn’t stop himself from going faster and faster. By the time he finally climaxed, Don was grunting with exertion and slamming his cock into April’s body. She loved feeling him lose control. He acted as though she aroused him so much that he couldn’t help going a little crazy with desire.
Don rolled to April’s side and took several deep breaths. They were both overheated and sweaty from their exertion. April took a few minutes to cool off, then curled up under Don’s arm. She didn’t feel a trace of regret about cheating on her husband. She had simply had good sex with a good man because it was something she’d been denied for much too long. She’d do her best to keep her husband from finding out what happened, but she wouldn’t regret it, and she hoped it would happen again. And again and again and again.
Don felt much the same. He’d had sex with a lot of girls; on this day, he’d made love to a woman. There was a difference, and he liked it. There were still a lot of things about April’s life that he didn’t know, but he hoped she could find a way for their intimacy to continue. He’d leave it up to her. April was a smart, sensible woman. He’d do whatever she wanted.
She made her feelings known immediately. “I hope this isn’t a one-time thing,” she said.
“I hope so too,” Don replied.
“I’m sure you know that my life is complicated. But I love the way things have changed for me since I met you,” she said. Don looked her in the eyes, then smiled.
“I’m glad,” he said. “I always look forward to the times I get to see you. It would make me happy if I could see you more often.”
“We can make that happen,” April said.
Don knew that his relationship with April would have to be different from the other girls he took to bed. They were all single and carefree, and most of them were unattached. Their relationships consisted mainly of coming over to model clothes, then having sex afterward. But some of them liked to go out on dates occasionally, so Don would take them to a restaurant or theater before taking them home to bed. If there was a concert or other special event Don wanted to attend, he always knew girls who’d be happy to go with him.
It would have to be different with April. They could never be seen together in public. If one of April’s bitchy neighbors spotted her with a man, they’d immediately report that to her husband. The time April and Don spent together had to happen in private.
“I know I’m scheduled to come back here to model clothes for you in a week, but I’d rather not wait that long to be with you again,” April said. “Could I see you sooner than that?”
“I’d love that,” Don said. “When could you come over?”
“How about tomorrow?” she asked.
Don smiled broadly. “Tomorrow is fine,” he said.
April’s hand roamed over Don’s chest and belly. She loved how firm and trim he felt. Her hand gradually worked lower, and soon she discovered that he was hard again.
“Where did this come from?” she said, stroking his cock excitedly.
“You get the credit,” Don said. Her hand felt wonderful. He was glad when April straddled his body again and placed the head of his cock at the entrance to her pussy. She was wet, and open, and full of Don’s cum. He entered her easily. She rose up and placed her hands on his chest, leaning forward as she worked her pussy up and down.
Don ran his hands over April’s breasts and realized he’d be feeling them a lot in the weeks and months to come. His cock fit perfectly in her tight, wet pussy.
This feels like coming home, he thought to himself.
……………..
Coming home. Doesn’t that sound nice? In Part 5, Don’s affair with April takes an unexpected and exciting new direction.
