Chapter 16 #2
She should have known a bit of body hair wouldn’t faze Luca.
But maybe he wasn’t the best person to ask.
He was very earthy – which made him a great teacher: he was so matter-of-fact about sex and bodies, and she knew she could discuss anything with him.
But it also meant he didn’t have a problem with things that other people might find off-putting.
Plus, he was an artist – he saw beauty in all sorts of things that most people wouldn’t find beautiful at all.
‘Is it unusual, though? I just don’t know what a guy would expect.’
‘What this Mark dude will expect, you mean?’
‘Yeah. He might not like it.’
‘He should feel privileged if you let him anywhere near it.’
‘But the girl on my blog would probably be more up-to-date on stuff like this. If that’s what everyone’s doing nowadays…’
Luca shrugged. ‘You should do what you want. It’s your body. If you’re comfortable with it, he should be too.’
‘Hmm, maybe,’ she said, chewing her lip.
‘Let me show you something.’ He took her hand and pulled her up off the sofa, leading her towards the corner of the room he used as his studio.
‘What is it?’ she asked warily. ‘I’m not going to strip off and let you paint me.’
‘It’s not that. I want to show you how beautiful a natural woman can be.’
‘Oh.’ She tried to ignore the stab of jealousy she felt.
In the studio she glanced around at the canvases stacked against the walls and on benches, and wondered if this ‘natural woman’ had been a girlfriend or just a model.
But instead of reaching for one of the canvases, he went to a shelf in a corner of the room and took down a large book.
He flipped through the pages, then laid it down on the worktop.
‘Look.’ He pointed to the page.
Claire came to stand beside him, looking down at the painting in the book – the torso of a naked woman lying on a bed with her legs spread.
It was such a graphic close-up of the genital area that she couldn’t help feeling shocked.
‘It’s very… powerful,’ she said, trying to be grown-up about it and not show her revulsion.
But she knew her lip was curling like Yvonne’s had earlier over the idea of a full bush. Maybe she should go for a Brazilian…
‘It’s Courbet, L’Origine du Monde. Don’t you think it’s beautiful?’ Luca was gazing at it lovingly.
‘Um… no, not really. It’s a big hairy snatch. I mean, I’m sure it’s very good, but I wouldn’t want it hanging on my wall or anything.’
Luca laughed. ‘You’re such a philistine!’ he said, bumping shoulders with her. ‘I think it’s amazing.’
He was definitely the wrong person to ask, she thought. She’d start looking into waxing options tomorrow.
‘Okay, look at this one,’ he said flipping to another page, a painting of a naked woman reclining on a couch. ‘It’s Goya. La Maja Desnuda. This was the first depiction of pubic hair in Western art. It’s a very sexy painting, isn’t it?’
Claire had to admit it was. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘Pubic hair was never shown in classical art. You’ve probably heard that story about Ruskin discovering his wife had pubic hair on the night of their wedding, and freaking out because he thought there was something wrong with her.’
Claire nodded.
‘It’s probably not true, but the sad thing is it may be. He might never have seen a real woman naked, and in the paintings and sculptures he’d have known, they’d have been hairless.’
‘Those Old Masters have a lot to answer for.’
‘And now internet porn is doing the same thing – all those hairless bodies. There are probably some young guys growing up now who think that’s normal.’
‘That’s the problem, though,’ she said, turning to face him. ‘Maybe Mark’s one of them. I mean, not that he’s never seen pubic hair, but maybe it’s not what he’s used to.’
Luca sighed. ‘Like I say, do what you want. But will you promise me one thing?’ he asked, running a hand through his curls.
‘What?’
‘If you do decide to hack it all off, you’ll let me paint you first.’
His eyes were alive with excitement and she swallowed hard. She glanced back at the book. She couldn’t see herself posing like that, her twat on display for all the world to see. But he seemed so eager.
‘I don’t know. How long would it take?’ She would feel so ridiculous lying around naked for hours, flaunting her body like she thought she was all that.
‘A few days maybe. It would just be me,’ he said persuasively, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
‘But what about afterwards, when it was finished?’
‘I wouldn’t sell it. I wouldn’t even show it to anyone else, if you don’t want me to.’
‘Days?’ She frowned. She didn’t like the idea of lying around naked for days with him staring at her. He’d seen her naked plenty of times, of course, but this would be different. His gaze would be so intensely focused on her. She didn’t know if she could handle that.
‘I could do it from photographs, if that would be easier for you. I’d just have to take a few snaps. I could make the painting from those.’
‘Is it just as good using photographs?’
‘Well, I’d rather have the real thing, but…’
He obviously really wanted this, and he’d been so nice to her. It seemed like the least she could do. Besides, it would be good practice for her – she had to get used to being looked at naked. ‘Okay,’ she whispered.
‘You’ll do it? You’ll pose for me?’ His eyes lit up, and she couldn’t help smiling back at him.
‘Yeah, if you want me to that much.’
‘Thank you.’ He pulled her into his arms and kissed her, his fingers going to the buttons of her shirt as he kissed his way down her neck.
‘You want to start right now?’ she asked, pulling back. She wasn’t sure she was ready just yet.
‘Right now, I want to fuck you. I wasn’t joking about all that twat talk turning me on. Besides, I want to paint you afterwards, when you’re all glowing and voluptuous with that just-fucked look.’
‘Oh!’
He took her hand and led her to the bedroom, and they spent the next couple of hours working on Claire’s post-coital glow.
‘This is how I want to paint you,’ Luca said some time later, propped up on one elbow beside her in bed.
‘Just like this.’ His thumb stroked over her swollen lips and then his hand moved down to cup her breast, his eyes following wherever he touched.
‘You’re so beautiful – all full and sated, and alive. ’
Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard posing naked for him, Claire thought. Because the way Luca looked at her made her feel so sexy and beautiful, like she really was all that.