Daniel buttered his bread but Ben used it to soak up the delicious sauces. He was assured that the alcohol was long evaporated in the coq au vin as it had been prepared the day before and slowly reheated over the afternoon to be prepared for dinner.
Conversation centered on their time in Paris, the things they saw and what shopping they did. Béatrice asked about the beautiful rings she saw the two women wearing and Gabriella asked Daniel to get his camera to play the movie of the ring ceremony for them. Ben made to protest but was overruled by everyone else. Daniel dashed upstairs and returned quickly with his tablet which he’d loaded the movie files onto. He queued it up and handed it to Alexis. Béatrice got up and went to Alexis’ side to watch with her. Stephanie listened in as did everyone else at the table. Ben ate quietly trying to avoid the admiring eyes watching him.
When it finished playing Alexis and Béatrice were both in tears but were confused by his admission of love to three separate women. Especially since he asked one to marry him!
Stephanie was smiling as tears ran down her cheeks. “That was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard,” she said softly and Gabriella leaned over and kissed her cheek.
“Stephanie can explain it to you later,” Gabriella said to Alexis as she looked questioningly at her cousin.
“Show them the dance!” Sophia called to Daniel. He grinned and took back the tablet to queue the file. He handed it back and the women watched Sophia and Ben glide effortlessly around the beautiful ballroom in Versailles.
“He does renovations and dances like this?” Alexis gasped incredulously. “Ben! You’re staying with us in France!”
Protests immediately erupted from the group and everyone ended up laughing. Ben blushed in embarrassment.
They finished their meal and Marie brought out the dessert.
Finally Ben pushed back well satisfied. He turned to the cook. “Marie that was an absolutely fabulous meal! You are indeed a master chef!” There was a round of applause and the woman grinned and blushed.
Alexis and Béatrice helped Marie clean up and they shooed their guests out into the sitting room.
“Ben, will you pose for me now?” Stephanie asked shyly.
“Oh! Ok. Don’t you need that armature thing and the clay?” he asked.
“For when I begin to work on the actual sculpture yes but right now I need to determine the pose I want to do,” she explained.
“Alright. How do we do that?” he asked.
“We’ll need privacy. I suggest we use your room.”
Ben walked over to her side and placed her hand on his arm and led her to the stairs. They went up to the third floor and down the hall to his room. Once inside Ben dropped his hands to his side and looked at her helplessly. “I have no idea how this works.”
She smiled. “First off you should just relax. This isn’t difficult at all. I just need to map you in my mind so I can form a complete image. Then we will select a pose that you can hold comfortably for when I begin the final mapping. When I have an accurate image in my mind I can do the work without your involvement… aside from the occasional remapping should I need to refresh it.”
“How do you do the mapping?” he asked curiously.
“By touch like I did with your face, shoulders and chest earlier,” she said.
“Ah.”
“You should get undressed.”
“What?” he jolted.
“I can’t map you through your clothes,” she said reasonably.
“I have to be naked?” he asked uneasily.
“I’m making art. This isn’t porn,” she said frankly.
“Right. Uh, ok,” Ben said and began to undress. It was a little unnerving as she was looking right at him. While he knew she couldn’t see him that didn’t detract from the odd sensation of getting naked in front of a woman he’d just met. He looked over at the beautiful figurines of the dancers she’d made and took strength from the example of her skill. Plus the faces of the dancers were minimal so it was going to be somewhat abstract. He was fine with that.
Once he was undressed he stood before her with his hands clasped before him. Then he realized that was dumb so he dropped his hands.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
“Oh, sorry, yes,” Ben froze as he realized he was somehow expecting her to know he was naked.
“Relax. I have done this before. All you need to do is stand still,” she said with a smile as she stepped forward with her hands outstretched. They landed on his chest so she moved them up. “I’m going to begin at the top and work my way down.”
Ben held still and watched the intense look of concentration on her face as she gently ran her slender fingers over his scalp, around his ears, and onto his face. He closed his eyes for this part as she spent more time on his face than he expected. She seemed particularly interested with mapping out the extent of his scar.
When her fingertips reached his lips he opened his eyes and saw a wistfulness pass over her face so he playfully stuck his lips out in an exaggerated kissed. She smiled and moved on to discover the shape of his jaw. The intense concentration returned.
Once more she read the surface of his chest and memorized each scar, its shape and location. She stepped around him and moved her hands to the top of his shoulders and ran them over the muscles of his back.
“No scars here,” she murmured.
“I’ve always faced my attackers,” he responded and her hands paused then moved on.
She moved to his left side and ran her fingertips down his arm pausing at the scars and being careful of the stitches. She did his right arm then moved to kneel in front of him. She placed her fingers on his stomach and paused.
“Relax,” she said and he realized he had been tensing up so he closed his eyes and willed his muscles to unclench.
He understood this was for art and wasn’t supposed to be sexy but his body wasn’t so cultured. It was only aware that a pretty woman was touching him very intimately. A specific part of him began to wake up.
“I’d prefer to map this area while it’s at rest,” she said with a grin as she touched his thick cock. Her expression changed as she realized his size.
“You’re big!” she gasped.
“You say that a lot,” he joked, trying to deflect his embarrassment.
She snorted and started to giggle. She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle the sound. “I suppose I do,” she replied when she got control of herself.
By this point Ben’s cock was reaching full rigidity so she moved her hands down and discovered the contours of his balls. Ben gasped.
“Sorry,” she said and slid her hands over his thighs.