More than creative tension (closed)

Ben stepped into the men’s locker room of the office gym to get changed, trying not to get distracted by thoughts of the day to come. It was a tiny space, barely much more than an oversized bathroom, with a single shower and enough room that any more than three men getting changed at the same time would have to be very comfortable with each other. It fit the gym, which had pretty clearly been a checkbox so that business looking to lease offices could be charged just a bit more. Ben couldn’t remember the last time there had been anyone else trying to change at the same time as him. Anyone serious about their exercise would just have a membership at the Gold’s Gym around the corner instead. Hell, until this summer he’d had the entire gym to himself in the morning.

Until he’d hired Julia, that was. He wasn’t sure at first that he needed an assistant. He’d been running his consulting business just fine for over a decade. However, as things had grown he did have more trouble keeping things straight. Sometimes clients dropped into his small office unexpectedly and it was awkward, so a receptionist might be nice. A college intern with the right major - well maybe they could help out with the work too. He hadn’t expected that the best candidate would be so… well, so damn cute. Every day seemed brighter with her there. She was smart, creative, productive - and at the same time a distraction as his eyes seemed to wander. It was unprofessional, but now that summer was here her clothes had gotten... damn, he hadn’t felt this horny since before his wife had gotten the terrible news of her diagnosis. Friends told him he should move on, but what would they say if they knew it was with a college girl, and his employee?

He shook his head to himself as he pulled on his workout clothes. It was great having Julia around. He probably wouldn’t be working out as hard as he did if she wasn’t around. Having an fit and attractive twenty-one year old woman working next to you all day made you want to be fit too, though at 48 he wondered if attractive was a word that was behind him. He wasn’t going to hide the silver that ran through his dark brown hair, but he could keep his belly lean and his limbs strong. His doctor said he had the body of a 35 year old. Too bad that still would be old compared to Julia.

He sighed and stepped out into the gym. He really should think about the work they needed to wrap up today, but it wasn’t a terribly long list and his mind kept wandering to the same thought: How long until Julia arrived, and what would she be wearing today?

About ten minutes later the door to the gym opened and a young dirty-blonde entered the room. Her hair was tied to a ponytail and her 5’2’’, softly tanned body was glistering with a light sweat, where it wasn’t covered by her tight fitting gym cloth. The grey sports top was hugging her breasts, but left all of her torso uncovered. And besides her black, body hugging shorts the only other clothing on her body were her pink running shoes. Julia smiled at her Ben and moved over to one of the weightlifting machines. “Hey boss, how are you? This weather is just too nice to do my cardio workout out in here, so I changed earlier and did a few laps around the neighborhood.”

Her body was nearly perfect on a first glance, but a schooled eye like Ben’s quickly spotted the little imperfections, which made Julia stand out form models like her roommate Katelyn. First of all there was her rather small body size as well as her just b-cup sized breasts. Additionally her nose was a bit too large for her face, and her jawline a notch to hard. Normally, no girl would really mind that, but living with a big breasted beauty like Katelyn, who sucked up any guy’s attention like a Hoover, had made Julia pay more time in the gym. All the hard work was slowly starting to pay up, and her muscles were becoming more defined and ass round and firm.

The blonde student sat on the machine and started to pull up the weights, that she had just adjusted to her training plan. With every pull the muscles pushed against her soft skin from the inside, giving her boss a perfect view on her nearly body-fat free body.

“How was your day boss, is there anything you want me to start working on once we are done here and back in the office?”

"Good morning Julia!", Ben forced himself to look straight into her eyes, at least until she turned her head towards the weight machine. As soon as she did he couldn't help but let his gaze trace over her petite figure. Ben loved the look of her pert, small breasts and found himself always drawn to see if her nipples were stiff and visible from her workout. Something about that always made him fantasize about her being braless at work and being able to see more in his incidental glimpses down her top than the cute bras he had spotted on occasion. As she turned to adjust the machine he admired the snug firm of those shorts on her bottom. He loved the way that her shorts and skirts often clung to her, defining the cleft between.

He took a deep breath. His erection had quickly followed his daydreaming gaze, making the treadmill an uncomfortable place to be. He stopped it and made a point of drinking his water, trying to will his erection down before he turned to get off the machine.

“We don’t have that much lined up today, actually, just three things. Happy Friday, I guess.” He smiled and edged past her, hoping the bulge in his shorts wasn't too obvious. He watched her in the mirrored wall of the gym as he toweled off his face before guessing that he had shrunk enough that he could turn back towards her. The running shorts were great for keeping cool and having free movement, and he liked the way his lean muscled legs looked in them, but they didn't hide much either.

“We have the final Photoshop pass to do on the Marco Family Restaurant ad photos.” He gave her a wink, knowing that while Julia had done great with high-end food photography, the photos of uninspiring plates of spaghetti and lasagna weren’t exactly her favorite. “Then we have the layout for the Lion’s Club fund-raising job with all of the shots we took of their work at Memorial Hospital.” Julia had been great there, bringing great smiles out of the volunteers, staff, and the patients. Ben had to smile as the guys who even had decades on him still wanted to get a peek at Julia.

“And then, well, we have something more open ended. I have an old friend and client with a specialty travel business that would like us to brainstorm ideas on advertisements for some new packages he’s planning to offer. I haven’t had a chance to read over the doc he attached to know the details yet, but it should be fun.” He tried not to stare, but his eyes were so easily drawn as she pulled on the weights - from the rise and fall of her chest, to her trim belly, to right where her toned thighs disappeared into the black shorts. He had to turn away as his erection was threatening to rise harder and faster than before.

“So how about I’ll take the Marco editing, you do the Lion’s club, and we’ll probably both be done in time for lunch and we can look over whatever Chris is trying to sell people on for their vacations."

Julia nodded her agreement when she had finished the last set of repetitions on the machine. She was really grateful that Ben was taking over the Marco Family job, since there was nothing rewarding in editing boring pasta and lasagna plates. Even with lots of those magical features that photoshop offered, you couldn’t turn mediocre food into a delicious meal. However, that was one of the things that Julia like about working for Ben. He wasn’t one of those guys that pushed all the shitty jobs to his subordinates. He actually was treating her with respect and valued her professional input, which was something that was rather rare when working as a college intern.

The Lion’s club job was much easier, since it just required her to work over some closed and red eyes, some unwanted refections and artifacts in the pictures. Of cause there were for more pictures to work on, but Julia didn’t mind that at all.

The young blonde got up and stretched her body. Her breasts pushed against the material of her sports bra, but since the material was rather firm, it didn’t give Ben any new hints on his intern’s tits. “That other job sounds interesting… I love it when our creativity is needed… and vacations as a general topic sounds always interesting.” She smiled at her boss and turned around to the next machine, where she was going to to squats while pulling down some weights.

Julia had noticed that Ben had suddenly turned away from her and become very busy with some other stuff in the room. This was a behaviors that she had noticed already a few times with her boss. She assumed that he was secretly steeling some glances at her body and tried to cover that up, however he wasn’t doing a very good job at it. At first the 21 year old had felt a bit awkward about it, but as Katelyn had pointed out after hearing about it, there was no harm in letting an old man having some fun. Especially when it might even help Julia with her job and getting the better tasks for example.

A smile spread on Julia’s face, when she tried to imagine how Ben would react, when she would do her squares, right in front of him. With that thought she started to lower her body and pushing her round ass into her bosses direction.

Ben had just gotten started on the incline press, his mind back on the safer topics of work and his workout, when Julia changed to doing squats. Every squat pushing that wonderful young bottom at him, all the more firm and round thanks to those shorts. He did five reps half distracted watching her, then took a deep breath and realized his shorts were starting to tent. He shook his head, thinking that perhaps compression shorts under his jog shorts would him hide this in the future. He did the next five reps with his eyes closed, concentrating on pushing up the bar, but that made his form feel wobbly. He looked over at her again, checking to make sure she couldn't see him looking at her in any of the mirrored surfaces, then let his gaze follow her absentmindedly as he pumped out some more reps - and found he'd lost track of his rep count and developed a tent in his shorts. He sighed to himself and rested the bar. It looked like it might be that kind of day. But at least she won't be wearing that kind of outfit up in the office.

"Okay, I guess I'll grab a shower." He rearranged himself in his shorts, then tried to let his towel dangle naturally so it covered his bulge. "I think the Lion's club photos are all set in the usual folder. See you in a bit."

He headed towards the men's locker room, tempted by the idea of jacking off in the shower to the image of Julia in her workout gear.

Julia turned and looked at her boss, when he announced that he would take a shower. He looked just a bit to tense when he moved to the men’s changing room. So the blonde proudly assumed that her little show had caused some effect, sadly she hadn’t seen any prove for that.

“Ok, see you in a bit. I will just finish of my routine and take a shower afterwards.” With that the 21 year old student turned back to the machine to do one more cycle of 15 squads. When that was successfully done, she finished her work out as usually and took a selfie for her Instagram page with the help of the large morrow at the far end of the small gym. Julia was impressed and satisfied by how much progress she had made in the past few month. Her body was far more defined than it used to be. Which was also something that her boss seemed to have noticed… but it wasn’t also lost on Katelyn.

Then she went to the changing room and stripped of her sweaty gym cloth and took a cool and refreshing shower. The chilly water made her sensitive nipples stand out, but since the small buttons were doing this quite often, Julia didn’t pay much attention to that. Afterwards she dried herself off and got dressed in a bright yellow summer dress, which was hugging her fit body at the right places, but was also comfortably light to wear. Since the day had been pretty warm so far, Julia skipped on the bra that she had taken along and just put on some small, white panties beside the dress. On her feet she had as usual for her, some white sneakers, opting for the comfortable choice over some high heels, which her roommate always wanted her to try more often.

Then she made her way up to the office, to get some serious work on the Lion’s club pictures done.

Ben peeled off his workout shirt as the locker room door closed behind him. He let out a long breath, his urges and emotions playing in his head. Part of him shouted that he was way too old to be thinking of a young woman like that and to save any fantasies for when he was watching porn starlets in the lonely hours of night in his own home. Part of him had to wonder if there just maybe might be any way it would work. After all there were plenty of off-age relationships out there, right? But what did she think, a young woman with such prospects surely would want some young hunk.

He looked at himself in the mirror; he was no young hunk. His upper body was pretty good, in no small part due to the extra energy he'd put into workouts since Julia had joined him, but would never have the cut definition of a young man. His abs - well, nothing was going to bring back the six-pack of his youth but at least it wasn't threatening to bulge over his belt or anything. His legs and backside were definitely his best feature, lean and sculpted compared to his chest.

He gave a quiet laugh at himself, posing there like some aged Adonis. Best to put this behind him. He shoved down his shorts and headed into the shower stall, his cock bouncing up still half-erect. "Some cold water will fix that", Ben thought to himself. He scrubbed himself down, getting his mind back onto work, now somewhat ashamed that he had seriously considered getting himself off.

He changed into a blue polo shirt that was trim to his body and a pair of khaki shorts. The thought crossed his mind that the roomy cut of the shorts would help disguise the effects of any other momentary weakness for Julia. His grey and black sneakers laced up, he grabbed his bag and headed for the office, trying not to think about that fact that hearing the shower running in the women's room meant Julia was currently naked. He let out another long breath and shook his head at himself.

Up in the office he fired up the coffee machine before starting up their two workstations. When he'd hired Julia he'd cleared off the largest table and managed to fit the workstations back to back. It was nice for being able to talk and make eye contact while still working, but it did mean that when they wanted to compare notes they had to get up and walk to the other person's side. Ben's side faced the door to their minimalist reception area, and he had just pulled up a big image of a all-you-can-eat Italian buffet when Julia arrived.

Julia entered the small office and smiled at her boss when she smelled the odor of fresh coffee filling the room. The young blonde was wearing her hair open and only had applied a light touch of make-up to soften her facial features a bit. The yellow summer dress was wrapped closely around her body and stopped at mid-thigh, giving Ben a good view at her soft skinned legs. With every step Julia took toward her desk, the firm muscles underneath her skin wiggled accordingly. Only two thin spaghetti straps ran over Julia shoulders, leaving most of her upper body bare and giving Ben a nice view onto her softly raising cleavage.

“Perfect, you have already made coffee. You really know how to spoil your employees.” Julia laughed and got herself a cup of her one addiction. The strong interest for coffee ran in her family, her parents as well as her siblings all loved to drink their coffee strong and in excessive amounts. She looked over her shoulder toward her boss and jokingly asked, “I hope you don’t start drooling with all those tasty views you get to enjoy all morning.”

She laughed and returned to her spot and sat down and logged into her computer. Quickly she found the folder with all the pictures that Ben had told her about and started to work on them. The task was - as expected - not very difficult. Some adjustment here and there and a picture was done in no time, before the task was more or less repeated with the next photo…

He met her eyes with a smile at her comment. "Hah, you're lucky there's any coffee left for you already. Good thing that shower didn't take you too long." Ben liked his coffee too, often bringing in a new roast that he ordered online. The burr grinder on the shelf near the coffee pot meant that the fresh taste was readily available, if a noisy process.

He turned back to the computer. He did like to spoil her, trying to balance the role of the mentor teaching her the skills of the trade with being friendly - and yes, he was all too aware much of that was because of how he was attracted to her.

"Yes, Marco's tasty treats - maybe we suggest that for his next tagline." The tasty view he was most caught with was the image of her in that sundress. He shifted slightly in his chair, distracted from his work. Those legs, the view of her thighs, the yellow of the dress against her skin, and she certainly didn't have any bra straps matching the thin straps of the dress - surely she just had on a strapless bra and wasn't really braless ... was she?

He put it out of his mind and got back to work with another long (and he hoped subtle) breath to relax himself. Concentrating on making Marco's food look its best helped, but his mind kept returning to Julia. He flicked his eyes across the desk, wondering if he could see, but the large monitor blocked his view of her chest. A few more images later he rose from his seat, taking his mug over to get more coffee.

He paused to admire the beautiful sunny day out the windows, a contrast to the cool air pumping as the building's HVAC tried to keep them cool. "It's going to be a scorcher today, I hear." He took a sip and turned back to their workspace.

"How's it looking for the Lions?" he asked her as he strolled around to her side of the desk, making sure his eyes stayed on hers until he could see her screen. "Looks good there." He paused and studied the images a moment. "One thing - notice how the red of the volunteer's shirts are slightly off in these frames? That's because we moved from the room that had lots of natural light to the fluorescents so we had a different ambient light temperature. You'll need to adjust those a little."

He had been doing so well, but when he turned to look down at her his gaze slid across those beautiful shoulders and down her cleavage. He pulled his eyes back to hers immediately, but his heart was quickly set pounding.

When Ben indicated the different shades of red on the pictures, Julia took a closer look. It was always surprising how her boss could pick up the slightest differences in the coloring and lighting on a quick glance. In order to see the discoloring a bit better, the young blonde leaned a bit closer to the computer screen. “Yes, I thing you are right, the red over here is a bit lighter than over there. But that shouldn’t be too hard to adjust.”

However, through her movement toward the computer screen, the soft textile of the yellow summer dress slipped a little bit forward. It was only a small movement, but the half inch was enough to give her boss a clear view down her cleavage. Her bare left breast was uncovered and Ben could take in the soft round curves of the firm small orb. The tit was resisting the gravity and the slightly darker nipple was turned a bit upward, pointing forward although it wasn’t hard at the moment.

Oblivious to the sight that she was presenting to her boss, Julia tapped away on her keyboard and moved her mouse quickly over the screen. “How is this, boss? Do you thing the reds are now more alike?” When Ben didn’t answer right away, Julia looked up toward her boss and caught him with a dream look on his face. Surprisingly, his eyes were not on the screen, but directed downward toward her body.

Ben's eyes took in the round, firm curves of her breast and particularly the small dark nipple. His breath caught in his throat. He felt like a high school boy, caught at the sight of his first breast, for a moment if not that young then definitely younger in spirit. It was something that all of the lusty ease of the internet (something he certainly hadn't had when he was young) could not match.

Her voice pulled him away and he snapped his eyes back to her screen. "Oh yes, that's definitely better" he blurted, even as blush appeared on his cheeks. "Nice job there." He gave her a quick smile and turned away to return to his own workstation, all to aware that it was likely she had caught him looking. What would she think of her older boss looking down her shirt like that? Should he just apologize immediately, or would that just make it worse?

And for all of the embarrassment and recriminations in his mind, he also couldn't dismiss that beautiful vision of her breast and the way it made him stir. This girl, this young woman, moved him in ways he hadn't felt in so long. But would his lusty distractions ruin all that? What did she think of all this, anyway?

At first Julia was equally embarrassed as her boss. Once she had noticed that Ben had been staring down her dress and had probably gotten a decent look at one of her breasts, the young blonde blushed and turned her eyes quickly back to the screen. But the damage was already done and Julia didn’t want to make a big fuzz about it. She liked her job as well as her boss, so she didn’t want to embarrass Ben even further, which would do no good neither of them.

The 21-year old mumbled a quick “Thank you” and continued with her work, while her boss slipped quietly behind his desk again. The next few pictures, that Julia gave a work over, were done with an unusual high concentration on the task. Then the initial embarrassment started to melt away and even a small, proud smile appeared on Julia’s lips.

She felt a bit guilty for having teased Ben in the gym earlier by intentionally pushing her ass into his direction and by showing off her fit body right in front of him. Additionally, it had been her, that had skipped on using a bra in a naughty and teasing mood. Hence, Julia could hardly complain that Ben had taken the chance to look at her tits when it had been presented to him. And most of all, the young student felt a bit excited by the effect she had on her boss. The man met numerous beautiful models, like her roommate, through his job, who had nicer bodies and way bigger boobs as well. But he obviously wasn’t losing his interest for Julia, although she was - in her own opinion - no match to those girls.

Julia had to admit, that he fact that Ben was probably even older than her father, was a bit creepy at first, but there was also a part of her body that seemed to like that fact very much. Carefully, she glanced past her computer screen to catch a look at Ben, seeing him for the first time not only as her boss, but also as a rather attractive man.

Ben felt the uncomfortable silence between them and tried to press on with his work. It was largely automatic for him after all these years, given the simplicity of this particular task. You needed some mindless grind between the truly creative challenges, and the grind was generally what paid the bills. It was something he'd tried to get across to Julia as well. Life as a professional isn't all high concept projects unless you're lucky enough to have some wealthy patron or great contacts. Often the things that keep you inspired for the art are your personal projects that bring in no revenue.

His wandering mind pulled back after a long stretch of small edits and realized he was almost done with the job. Reminding himself to keep to professional thoughts he looked over to make eye contact with Julia.

"How are you doing over there? Ready to see what our friendly local travel agent wants from our creative talents?"

Julia looked up when she felt Ben’s eyes on herself and smiled warmly at Ben, signaling to him that everything was normal and cool between them. “I am done with the pictures. I am just going over them a second time to make sure that I didn’t miss anything, but so far everything looks good.” She looked back at the screen and clicked through the last few pictures. “Ok, boss, I am done. I saved all the files in the usual folder. So, what does your friend Chris need for his business and how might we be able to help him?”

Ben was so glad to get that friendly smile. Perhaps she wasn't offended by catching him taking a peek. It was a bit of a mystery to him - whenever the topic had come up with female friends he'd gotten a mixture of "yeah, pretty much all guys do it, no big deal as long as you don't leer all the time" and "it's bad and you should feel bad for having no self control." The younger women tended to be more in the first group, so maybe that was the way Julia felt.

"Okay, let's get that email up. Why don't you swing around here and we can read it over at the same time." He turned his attention to his screen as he pulled up the company's gmail account. "So in the business you'll find that there is a spectrum of customers ranging from who want to dictate every last bit of what their collateral will look like, some who will give you a general direction and a lot of leeway. If they know what they're doing then either is fine, it's when they don't have a good mind for these things that it can be rough. If you end up doing re-shoots because they don't like it then you either need to charge them more hours or eat the cost, and sometimes you have to feel out which you can do with each customer. Chris is more towards the know-what-he-wants side and he's understanding of the cost of revision, but he's usually tight on money."

He found the email from Chris and pulled it up:

Hey Ben, I know I haven't thrown any work your way for a while, but I need some photos and graphic design from you. You've heard me rant about how the goddamn online travel places are putting us travel agents out of business. Well, the way I've been able to survive those fuckers is to get more and more specialized. You just have to find the right niche group and serve them what they want. Like that "kayaking with whales" thing we did last fall (great shots, by the way, lots of compliments on em). Hell, this winter I found 50 people who paid good money for a tour of pre-revolutionary church bell towers! Anyway, all the details for what I need are in the attached doc.

I gotta do this cheap-ass though, so see what you can do for me, but it's gotta look pro. If there's any way I can cut the bottom line with some perks on the side let me know. When was the last time you took a vacation anyway? How about a getaway to a beach with lots of hot women in tiny bikinis? Airline tickets, hotel rooms, pointers to the hottest strip club - whatever you need I can score you some. How many years since you last got laid, anyway? Seriously, you need to shake loose man, let me help you, I can set you up. Anyway, read it over and give me your best bid on the work, okay?


Ben cringed a bit and looked over at Julia apologetically. "Oh, and I should have warned you he can be a bit ... coarse. Sorry about that." He double-clicked on the attachment, hoping maybe she was a slower reader than him and hadn't gotten to the last bit, but figured it was probably pretty unlikely.

In contrast to the tone of his email, the document itself was very crisp and business like. Chris planned to help promote a handful of small, specialty beach resorts on the US south-east coast and in the Caribbean. These were too small to have the advertising power of the big names like Sandals which currently dominated marketing to tourists. They also discretely wanted to advertise that they were intended "for the naturist lifestyle" - and Chris had worked up a plan.

To that end, Chris wanted three separate sets of photos composed with room for his ad copy. The first set would have more conservative images and careful wording for print magazine and other conservative venues, and in these the model's nudity would be implied without being blatantly shown. The middle one would be for slightly looser markets (including Quebec, but he was clear to note he'd handle the French translation), and the model's breasts would be shown. The last one would be for parts of the website he was setting up and other more naturist-friendly channels and the nudity would be fully shown. The nature of the posing was to be at the photographer's best judgement. Overall it was clear that this was a plan that Chris had presented to his prospective clients given its careful and precise phrasing.

At the bottom of the document, the tone shifted back into what was clearly the author's more natural style.

Ben, I gotta be clear here. If I wanted a sexed-up piece of ass I'd have included the contact info for some stripper who fancies herself a model and needs money to support her dirty habits. But these clients want to be clear they aren't swingers - they're just people who like having their junk hanging out all the time. The model needs to look like a hot girl-next-door just hitting the beach. Minimal makeup, no fucking hoop earrings or that kind of crap. Hell, a young MILF would work fine, their customers skew relatively young. We want the women in the target audience to identify with her and if the men want to fuck her that's great. And I'm not saying these people are racist, but everyone I've met so far is an Anglo, so no matter how great her ass is no black chicks. I know we're on a budget here, but if we can get two women with different builds to appeal to different tastes then great. If you can go a bit lower than usual rate with them they can have rights to the photos for their portfolio and I can throw in discounted tickets to Florida or something. Hell, if you find someone who wants to visit one of these resorts I can really get them a deal. Anyway, drop me a line if you have any questions or if you have a number for me.

Ben sat back, his cheeks blushing. "Wow, that's uh... interesting." He'd shot nudes before - it was practically a requirement for a fine arts degree. He'd done ribald shots for a theatre group. He'd even helped a friend make a boudoir set for her fiance once. But it had been quite a while, and the thought of doing such a shoot with Julia... it embarrassed him and made him hard as a rock at the same time. But would she even want to take part in this?

"Well Julia, if you, uh... " he turned towards her, his tone ready to let her off the hook on this one, his words trailing away.

Julia read carefully and with great interest over the mail on Ben’s screen. She was a bit surprised by the language that Chris had used and wondered whether this was the kind way that Ben would also talk when around other guys. What had shocked her most was the ‘hey, I’m not racist, but…’ comment, since as usual it was exactly that. If this job had been just for Chris, Julia would have lost interest right away. But the young blond also knew, that Ben needed jobs like these to open new fields of business for himself. She was aware about the challenges that small businesses like Ben’s or Chris’ were facing due to the fast developments coming with the internet and the so called new economy. A decade ago it had been harder for new competitors to get into the photography business, nowadays all you needed was a fairly decent camera and a computer to do all the work. Because all the printing and development of pictures were done way more efficiently and cheaply by some internet printing companies.

So the selling proposition in the market for people like Ben was that they had to offer more customized products and to help during the creative process of developing it. And this were the kind of tasks that Julia had been looking forward to, since they were an ideal outlet for her creativity and interest to experience and try out new things. So she looked over the rather offensive style of writing in Chris’ mail and tried to figure out what he really wanted.

She thought for a moment about the descriptions and tried to imagine the kind of women Chris expected to see in the pictures. “I guess your friend is approaching this too much from the visual perspective. What he tries to describe sounds more like certain characters that he wants to see in the pictures and not just differently dressed women. Sure we could use the same model and take away one more piece of clothing for each shot, but that wouldn’t look convincing in any way. We should create some kind of short character descriptions for the three or four girls, if we use two models in the last series. Then it’s way easier to create the right look for the models we will be using.”

She looked at her boss and continued to talk, getting more and more into the idea that was forming in her head. “For me the first girl sounds like a newlywed from maybe the Midwest. She is nicely looking, tall, with maybe smooth, straight hair, has no tattoos or piercings, and wears classic single color bikini style swim wear. So that she clearly represents those conservative values that Chris mentioned in his mail. She should be in good shape, but not too much. I guess someone like me already shows too much abs and power, some people find that intimidating and wrong.”

Julia thought for a short moment and then made up her mind to suggest her roommate as a model to her boss. “I might even know someone, who might be perfect for that role. My roommate is doing some modeling work and she would look great for this.”

“The second series of pictures, should have a more progressive kind of woman in it. I wouldn’t reduce that just to her being topless. But she is clearly a more open minded and fashionable kind of person. So she should signal that she is more of a free spirit and wants to change the world. I see her more like someone, who would have a fashionable and maybe shorter hair style, a heathy lifestyle with a thought through diet and lots of workout, maybe a belly button piercing, and probably some thong panties to wear.”

“Well and the last part needs clearly more progressive girls. I see them having lots of jewelry, tattoos and piercings, but also a naturalist kind of look. So I would ease down on the make up to and hair spray to make them look more natural. I guess my friend wouldn’t mind doing such nude shots, she has done something like that before. But maybe she also knows someone else we could ask, that those might be harder to get than by offering some free pictures for their portfolio and some tickets to Florida.”

Ben was all set to try to apologize for Chris, maybe even decline the job claiming he had too much on his plate. When she started talking through the possibilities for the job it was a huge relief.

"That's a great approach, develop personas for each of the sections of the campaign. I think if we can put something solid together like that then i can sell it to Chris and get him off his original idea. I almost wonder if learning more about those resorts we'd be able to get a better idea. Chris is a great salesman, but he's rather... primitive in a lot of ways. Once he got the idea of naked people in his head that may be all he really saw."

Ben leaned back in his chair, his unfocused eyes looking down at his knees as he thought over her suggestion for a moment. Then a smile grew on his face and he looked straight over at Julia.

"I wonder if Chris started from the idea of the nude woman in the last one and just tried to dial it back for his publication channels. It's like you said, but instead of taking away a piece of clothing each time he's trying to add a piece of clothing - but from what little I know of the idea of naturism that seems like the wrong approach. You don't see an image of a person in a swimsuits, even if their appearance resonates with you, and think 'I should try naturism!', right? I mean if you were thinking about something different for a vacation and saw a woman in a bikini, you'd just think of a normal beach."

He was starting to rush along with ideas, the creative energy of brainstorming that was when he really appreciated having Julia there and for once wasn't distracted by his physical attraction for her, but instead for all the things he found so mentally attractive about her.

"It's like that ad for whatever that Viagra competitor is - it shows a couple each in their own bath tub facing a sunset holding hands - both presumably naked but nobody cares and the ad runs in all kinds of publications and on TV."

He was getting more animated now, his hands gesturing as if he was framing the shot.

"So what if focus on taking your idea of the woman for each part of the campaign - and if you know someone who could model that'd be great of course - and for a minute forget about what she's wearing or if she's wearing anything. For the person who's looking at the ad in something like the Lifestyle section of a city newspaper, where we have to be a bit more conservative, who is that woman? Is she a business woman who is looking for a relaxing getaway? Can we find out if these places have spas and massages and all that and then put her in that scene? She could be in a fancy-looking spa tub facing away from the camera and nobody would think anything of it."

"Then for the - like you said - progressive kind of scene maybe it's just like you said - we want to sell open minded and free spirited. What does that scene look like? Is that like showing that she's completely comfortable - maybe more comfortable - relaxing in the nude? Again we can imply that without showing everything."

"If the last one is for people who already are on a naturists website or mailing list or whatever, then yeah maybe we shoot them so it doesn't look like we're hiding anything, but the whole point is that being nude isn't a big deal for these people, right? We need the model to look like she's super comfortable, not posing at all, just being herself. Like we just happened to snap the photo while she's in the middle of talking with her best friend or something. Yeah, that's maybe the one where we'd need more than one model - to show that sociability."

Ben's eyes are bright and excited even as the words start to slow as they tumble out of him.

“I like that idea of the two women in a spa or hot tub, holding hands, showing their deep satisfaction and relaxation to the potential customer. It signals that this isn’t just any vacation, but has the potential to become a moment of pure happiness. And I guess the idea of using two women instead of a common couple is already a hint that this isn’t a trip for the average GOP member.” Julia laughed and started to take some notes on the ideas they had already created so far.

“But I think, it’s important to take those pictures at the actual location, so that the customer gets to see what he will really get in the end. Otherwise, Chris will have plenty of unhappy customers, if there isn’t the expected spa or a rather disappointing view on the sun set over the ocean. So, do you think, he would be able to set something up for us? I mean those resorts must have a pretty good interest in getting their places advertised, so maybe they can come up with a solution that would work for them and Chris.”

The blonde student thought for a moment and then looked up at her boos. “Well, how many different models do you think we will need. There are obviously two involved at the least, but might be even more. And you are right, boss, we might also need some other people to help us fill those pictures with a realistic and attractive atmosphere.” Julia pushed a streak of her hair behind her ear and wondered how she could push the idea of using her roommate again.

“Well, like I said, my roomy might be interested in helping me out with this one. She needs some pictures for her portfolio and wants to get some attention for her modeling business, so if you are interested, I might ask her. But I don’t have any ideas for the other model, especially since she would have to be willing to pose nude and close to another woman. Do you have some kind of a file on potential girls that I might take a look at?”

Ben rose up out of his chair and started pacing.

"You know what? I don't know if you've had any classes with Prof. Lauren Vogt - I wouldn't say she's a friend but an acquaintance - a couple years ago I needed to do a shot for a a new coffee shop where I needed a lot of people relatively cheap. She was able to find a light crowd worth of students for me - I ended up using one young man in couple ads after that too. And I know he mentioned that he had been posing for some of Prof. Vogt's figurative studies sections, so that means at least a couple of models who have posed nude."

He tapped his lips with his knuckle, a habit Julia had seen him do many times before when he was thinking through something. "Though I admit I'm worried that if I call her up and ask if she can recommend a half-dozen college students who will pose nude for a commercial shot it's going to sound a bit... like a creep, I guess. At least with your roommate the job offer would be coming from someone she knows and can trust."

He paused in his pacing, turning back to Julia. "You're right it would be ideal to get that on-location shoot, but it might be difficult to fit much in the way of travel into the budget. We'd have to look and see how near the closest one even is. For the background people we could call Chris's contact at the resort and try to see if any of their regulars..." Ben stopped suddenly, his eyes looking straight at Julia's. In all his thoughts about the logistics of finding models he'd skipped over something: she had basically just suggested going to a nudist resort with him, which kind of implied ...

He was suddenly at a loss for words.

Julia looked a bit confused at her boss when he suddenly stopped, obviously caught up in some thought. She assumed that he was having some doubts about her idea, since he hadn’t sound as excited about as the young student. “We should at least talk with Chris. I really think it would be a big mistake not to shot these pictures at the actual places that he wants to advertise. Wouldn’t you feel betrayed if you booked some vacation based on some nicely done ad or flyer and get something completely different in reality?” She looked at him with her blue eyes, but didn’t give him really time to answer her rhetorical question. “I surely would. So he would somehow make a deal with the resort, since both of them will profit in the end. The remaining budget could be held at a rather low level, if we use Katelyn. And maybe she even has some friend she might be able to bring along. That way it wouldn’t be too awkward for them to do some naked shots together.”

She smiled at her boss, feeling full of energy and excitement. “If you want to I could give her a call and check with her. I am pretty sure that she would be happy to help us, even if it’s not really paying anything. But if you would rather use a more professional model or one of those students from school, it would be fine as well.” Although, Julia didn’t really mean this last sentence, she didn’t want to look too locked into her own ideas.

“Or do you have any other ideas? I mean, it wouldn’t hurt to run it pass Chris and maybe he can give you come more information on the budget. Then we could see what’s really possible and what isn’t. But he can’t really expect you to do this for free and create prefect work along the way, can he?”

Ben caught himself. "Oh yeah... sorry ... got caught up there." He strode towards his side of their workstations, hoping the flushing heat on his cheeks wasn't too obvious to her.

"Yeah, could you please call her... Katelyn, you said?" He sat down in front of his computer. "If she has a portfolio online somewhere that could be great for planning and for selling her to Chris." He looked up over to her. "If she has any professional credits - like anytime she's been paid to model for anything - then I can plausibly tell Chris she's a professional working for short money. That might help."

His fingers flew over the keyboard. "Let me see if I can find where the nearest resort is... just so I know what we're asking of him." He looked over to Julia again. "And yeah, if she has a friend who she's comfortable enough to model with that'd be great. Ah yeah, here it is - let's see what Google maps says... Bearskin Lake huh, yeah it's less than three hours away. Not even a bad drive."

Ben grabbed his cellphone and headed for the door the studio in back. "Look, I'll forward you this review I just found of this place. Read it over and give your friend a call. You know her best, but please just be completely straightforward about what's she'd be getting into, okay? I'm going to go call Chris and see what I can sell him." He took a deep breath and pulled his shoulders back. "Wish me luck, okay?" He smiled at Julia and headed into the studio.

In Julia's email was a link to a review from a website that apparently specialized in naturist resorts:

Review: Bearskin Lake Naturist Resort

This exclusive gem of a resort is nestled in the foothills off a lazy, winding road. When I stopped at the nearby Sunshine Diner for breakfast not 10 miles away, only the gray-haired chef/owner could give me directions to Bearskin Lake. It’s a testament to how Bearskin (and yes, the pun is intentional) was founded and how it has been managed over the years.

In 1975 Kirk and Susanna Gifford wanted a retreat from the movement of the late 60s that kept the best parts of the freedom and self-discovery without the politics and turmoil. They had visited naturist camps inspired by the hippie movement, but saw that many of them were constantly struggling with local authorities and even amongst themselves. They decided to purchase land around an old family cabin in the remote foothills and let it grow slowly. A prohibition of “No Alcohol / No Drugs” immediately set them apart from their more libertine brethren, and combined with a positive outreach to the local sheriff, helped make sure that the resort has never had the legal struggles common to similar resorts and camps of the same time period. “Kirk’s family has been in the area for generations,” Susanna adds, “So we weren’t seen a weirdo hippie outsiders.”

By the 1990s the camp had reached the size it is today, with a sprawling two-story main building and a cluster of smaller cottages that ring half-way around the small lake. Kirk and Susanna have retired to one of the cottages, leaving the resort management to their daughter Lauren and her husband Alex. Keeping to the small and exclusive approach, Lauren and Alex have aimed for that they term “upscale natural.” The rule against alcohol was dropped in 1991 and the main building, the Bearskin Lodge, now boasts an extensive bar on a wide, sunswept balcony with a beautiful view of the lake. Guests can have a hot stone massage, luxuriate in a hot tub, take a dip in the lake, and then have a five-course prix fixe dinner all while being comfortably and naturally nude.

“My parents saw that plenty of nudist getaways were camps with little in the way of amenities.” Lauren explains. “Bearskin went a different direction and as a result we have a regular clientele who love to join us to get away from their busy lives.” Indeed the no-alcohol rule was replaced later with a “no cellphone” rule - guests have to leave their cellphones in their rooms or cottages, in part to help maintain the serenity of the place, as well as for the privacy of fellow guests. That’s not to say that guests have to completely disconnect. “We had a businessman who had booked a room for two weeks, but had a big deal come up. He managed to close the sale over the course of three days from his cottage without ever having to put on clothes.” Lauren laughs as she tells what is clearly one of her favorite Bearskin stories.

Your correspondent found his weekend at Bearskin a delightful change. While I miss the energy and community that I find in larger (and more crowded) naturist resorts, the Bearskin experience combined the best of a conventional spa and a naturist getaway. However, I would not recommend Bearskin for naturist families with young children unless they will be entertained with simpler pursuits such as swimming, sunning, and canoeing. Many have termed such resorts as the “new high-end movement” in the naturist community, but Bearskin reminds us that some such places have been around for quite a while. It shows in the simple assurance they can offer their guests. Whether it’s for a weekend or a week, I recommend treating yourself to a visit.

The 21-year-old’s eyes danced with great interest over the screen, taking in every word the extensive review, while Ben was talking to Chris on the phone. During her childhood, Julia had spent some time in Europe, where nudist beaches and resorts were far more common and also rather public. Actually, she had even visit quite a few of those beaches as a teenager, but none of her experiences were close to anything than what Bearskin Lake Resort was offering. Based on the review, the naturist resort sounded rather exclusive and very private.

Julia had a strong feeling, that the resort’s management was rather strict about the rules and wouldn’t most likely make any exceptions on their no clothing rules for some people taking advertising photos. She realized with a bit of a shock that this would mean, that Ben wouldn’t just get to see the models nude, but Julia as well. The young blonde blushed from the thought of showing off her bare body to her 48-year-old boss. And judging by the way he had been looking at her tits earlier, Julia was sure that Ben wouldn’t mind taking a long look at her.

However, there was also a part of herself that was curious about seeing Ben in a similar situation. He was quite good looking in Julia’s eyes, especially for his age. Surly all the working out he was doing was paying off, although he wasn’t anywhere near those studs that walked around campus. Nevertheless, it would also be some fun to see him trying to hide his excitement from looking at all those naked, sexy female bodies.

Focusing back on her job, Julia pulled out her phone and dialed her roommate’s number. After a few moments, the line was connected and the blond was greeted by her friend. “Hey, Julz, what’s up?”

“Hi, cutie, how are you? I just wanted to ask, if you would like some dinner tonight. I have something that I would like to talk to you about. Ben got currently a job, that requires a young model, who would be a fresh and open minded face. I thought this would be something for you and Ben surely is interested in getting to know you.”

“Oh, cool, Julz, that sounds great. Dinner sounds great, especially when you are cooking.” Katelyn joked and a bit smile formed on her face. “I should be home by seven, so if that sounds fine to you, I would love to hear more about that job. But open minded, sounds like those are not going to be some fashion shots.”

Julia giggled and pushed some hair out of her face again. “Well, you might be right about that. Anyway, see you later, Kat.” They hung up and Julia returned her attention back to the computer screen in front of her, waiting for her boss to finish talking with Chris.

Ben took a deep breath as he crossed into the studio. The lights rested quiet in their stands. The whole idea of this job had his imagination wandering. It had been a long time since this studio had been used to create anything more creative than a collection of corporate headshots. He leaned back on the edge of the long, empty table on the back wall and stared at his phone.

"Hmph, that reminds me" he mumbled to himself "Bradley Reality is going to be here first thing Monday morning."

Time to get himself in the right mental place to deal with Chris. His fingers slowly moved over the phone as he straightened his back and planted his feet. Deep Breath.

"Ben!" The sounds of car noise cluttered the sound of Chris's voice. "Ben, good to hear from you but I've got a big lunch deal coming. You've got like two exits to tell me how you've got a hot but cheap model all lined up for that nudie camp job."

"Yeah Chris, great model, we still have to work the details but it's looking good."

"My man! Seriously? Shit, I didn't think you'd be able to work that fast. You've never been that fast when women are involved before, am I right? Nah Nah, I'm joking man, seriously good news. So when can you have that wrapped up?"

"Well, we were looking over your plans and think they might come across a bit, well... cheap. I looked at that first resort in the list and it's more of a high class place."

"We? What's this we, Ben? You let this model tell you how to do my shot? What the fuck Ben?"

"No, I took on an assistant, an intern for the summer. She's got some good ideas for where we could go with this, what will really engage with young people - like her really."

"Ok, okay, you got a hot young thing working for you there Ben? Seriously there are simpler ways to get in a young things's pants you know - cheaper too."

"Yes, I mean, No, that's not how..." Ben took a deep breath, one hand over his forehead. "Look Chris, the real bottom line here is that if we want to really want to convince people that they should visit these specialty resorts we need to connect them to those places. We need to see the resort, get some shots there, really show them off."

"Woa, woa, you want to do location shots in this nudist resort? Damn Ben, I didn't think you had it in you."

"Well, it was Julia's idea. Look Chris, the nearest one is only a couple hours away. If you can get us a contact there, sell them on it, I think we can put together a great campaign for you."

"Look, I can't afford to pay you for travel and accommodations and all that shit. I said right up front that I couldn't put a big budget on this. I was real fucking clear. Look, I'm getting ready to turn off on to my exit here."

"Chris, look I'll treat it like a vacation, no billing to you on travel - just the usual fees for the shots."

"Okay, Okay, I'll give them a call okay. You send me an email with this great plan of yours by the end of the day and we'll see."

"Right, right, let me know how it goes, okay?" Ben glanced at his phone and realized Chris had already hung up.

Ben shook his head, let out a deep breath, and found he was smiling. Maybe this crazy plan might just work. He slipped the cellphone back in his pocket and strode back into their shared office.

"Julia, I think he's going to go with this." The smile had become a beam. "Let's get some lunch and make some storyboards to close this deal - I seem to remember you had some great pen and ink work you showed me at your interview?"

Julia smiled happily when Ben announced that Chris was probably going along with their idea. It wasn’t so much the job itself that the young blonde liked, it was the interesting and creative experience that she was looking forward to. “I am sure we can pull something good together on a tight budget, although I personally think that Chris shouldn’t be thrifty, if he wants to have some quality work.” She remembered the initial mail that the travel agent had sent and a smile spread on her lips. “Or that guy seriously overestimates the value of his knowledge on strip joints and the local escorts market.”

Also Chris’ remark about Ben not having gotten laid in several years came back to her mind, so that Julia wondered whether that was true or not. If it was actually the case, it surely explained Ben’s general shyness and secret interest in Julia’s body. Her blue eyes quickly traveled over her boss’s body and he wasn’t looking bad at all, so that he shouldn’t have any trouble meeting some women his age. But there was also a ring on his finger and Julia was sure that Ben had mentioned at some point a wife and at least a son. So maybe he had some personal trouble at home.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Julia grabbed something to write and got up from her desk. “Sure, lunch sounds good. How about trying out that new sandwich place down the road.” She walked over to the office door and held it open for her boss. “By the way, I talked to Katelyn and she sounds pretty interested. I will have to fill her in on the details tonight, but I am very confident that she will play along, especially when she might get some pictures for her portfolio and a chance on some future jobs.”

Secretly, Julia was very sure that she could convince her roommate to play along, since they weren’t just normal roommates. They were something that the young student sometimes referred to as roommates with benefits. And since Katelyn was usually the one that called in the benefits, Julia was sure that she had plenty to offer to her friend. However, that wasn’t something that she did want to share with Ben or anyone else, since she wasn’t considering herself as a lesbian, she was more bi-curious, with a stronger interest in men.

“So, did Chris give you any additional instructions or are we still fine with our initial plans?”

“... Or that guy seriously overestimates the value of his knowledge on strip joints and the local escorts market.”

Ben looked a bit embarrassed as Julia mentioned Chris’s strip club comment. “That’s just Chris - if you ever meet him, just try to remember we work with all sorts of clients and try not to take anything he says about you personally.” Ben looks like he’s blushing a bit and looks away from Julia, fiddling at his computer for a moment. “I mean, he does have some clients in that industry as well, he wanted me to do a campaign for some of them once, but my wife vetoed that - she didn’t like Chris very much.” His voice trailed off a bit, letting Julia pick up from there as he absentmindedly fiddled with the wedding ring that he still wore.

“Sure, lunch sounds good. How about trying out that new sandwich place down the road.” She walked over to the office door and held it open for her boss. “By the way, I talked to Katelyn and she sounds pretty interested. I will have to fill her in on the details tonight, but I am very confident that she will play along, especially when she might get some pictures for her portfolio and a chance on some future jobs.”

“That sounds great.” Chris brought a bit of a forced-looking smile back to his face. Sometimes it hit him hard to think of his wife, Anna. “I’m looking forward to meeting Katelyn. From the sounds of the resort we have a variety of things we could do that would add to her portfolio. It can be good experience for you to help with the editing workflow on them too, if you want to use them as part of your portfolio as well.” He turned and looked back at her as they walked down the hall from the office. “Speaking of which, I think we talked about this before but I’d love to see what you’ve developed as a portfolio before. I was convinced when I saw the three samples you brought to your interview, but I’d like to see more.”

“So, did Chris give you any additional instructions or are we still fine with our initial plans?”

“Chris is going to talk to the resort about our idea of shooting on site. I’m hoping that it will make as much sense to them as it does to us, and then he’ll be tempted to imply that it was his idea all along. If it becomes ‘his idea’ then I think we’ll find that he has budget for it. Honestly, that's the way it is with a lot of clients.”