Nineteen

Julia

“Oh my God!” I gasped.

The girl next to me shot me a quick look. “He’s pretty cute, right?”

I laughed hysterically and then covered my face. Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! What is my life right now?

Austin had said that he was going to be in the class with me all session. That he knew he didn’t art. That it wasn’t a problem. So…of course, he wasn’t worried. Because he wasn’t actually doing any painting. He was the model.

“You’re bright red, honey,” she said, patting my shoulder. “It’s okay. Is this your first time having someone sit for you?”

I met her dark eyes and nearly lost it. “No,” I got out.

She looked at me, as if I was a crazy person, but I couldn’t stop laughing. Austin was going to be naked in a room of twenty people. They were all going to draw him. Oh my God!

He caught my eyes across the room and grinned like a fool. No wonder he’d gone to the gym and avoided my text. He must have been warming up all his sexy freaking muscles before everyone started to draw them. I could see the definition in every single abdominal muscle. All the way down to the sweet V, which trailed down into the sheet.

Nina began to explain everything we were supposed to do in the next hour, but she sounded like one of the adults from Charlie Brown. All I saw was Austin walk onto the platform, find a comfortable enough position, and then drop the sheet.

I covered my eyes with my hands. How many times had I seen Austin naked? Yet here I was, and I couldn’t even look at him. How embarrassing! And totally crazy! And amazing!

He’d said that he did this, so I could find inspiration. The last time we’d been together, I’d drawn him with my charcoals as we lounged around his house. It had been a dream. The inspiration and creativity had come to me like nothing else. Austin Wright was my muse.

And, somehow, he had known that. Or at least, he had done something this outrageous to try to snap me out of the funk I was in. He cared enough to do anything to make me remember my love for my art.

I slowly peeled my hands back and stared up at him in his pose. Our eyes locked, and all I saw was desire in the lines of his face. If he wasn’t careful, that wouldn’t be the only place desire would be evident.

“You should probably get started,” the girl next to me said, dragging me away from Austin’s body. “We only have an hour.”

“Thanks,” I muttered.

Then, I got started.

Either Austin was a genius or extremely lucky because my hands seemed to work of their own accord. Muse, he was indeed. Everything in me that usually locked up when I looked at a canvas dissolved like salt in water.

By the end of class, I had a not-so-terrible start to a painting of Austin in the nude. I’d thought that I had perfectly inspected his body before this, but I had never looked at it quite as intensely.

“Hey,” the girl next to me said. “You should totally stay after and talk to him.”

“What?” I asked, distracted.

“He was staring at you the entire class. I’d be shocked if he didn’t ask for your number.”

“You think so?”

“Totally.”

Then, she winked at me and sauntered off.

Yeah…I bet he would like my number.

Austin was covering himself up with the sheet again as Nina went over to thank him for coming in. I cleaned up my supplies and put my painting away with the others, so I could work on it next week. Once the class cleared, I walked up to Austin, shaking my head as I approached.

“Austin Wright,” I said with a short laugh.

“Julia Banner,” he said in a teasing tone.

“I cannot believe you just did that.”

He gave me a confident smirk. “Why? I’m not self-conscious.”

“That is blatantly obvious.”

“Actually, it was kind of the bargain I made to get you in the class,” he said, nodding his head to the back room for him to change.

“You had to bargain to get me in?”

“Well, the class was full. I had a friend who works the Art Trail and suggested that he could get you in, but they needed a model. So, I sort of volunteered to do it if it would get you in.”

I stared at him, slack-jawed. “That’s…I mean, why? Why did you do that?”

He looked confused. “You know why. For you, of course. Look,” he said, running a hand back through his hair, “I know that things have been weird between us since Maggie.”

I winced at her name. “Yeah.”

“I get why you’re hesitant to jump into this feetfirst. I hurt you. And seeing her brought that all back to the surface. But I’m not dipping my toe in the pool with you, Jules.”

“I know, I know,” I muttered.

He reached for my paint-smeared hands and brought them to his lips. He slowly kissed his way across each individual knuckle. His eyes remained glued to mine as he took his time with my hands.

“This isn’t some stunt. Watching you paint was addictive. The way you looked at me, babe.” He shuddered. “It was a work of restraint not to get turned on while watching you do what you love.”

He nipped at my thumb. My body heated at the gesture.

“Was it that much of a turn-on?”

He moved my hand to his dick, covered only by a thin sheet. “What do you think?”

I wrapped my hand around the length of him and stroked up once. “Looks like you were into it.”

“I was half-tempted to make you be the model with me. I wouldn’t have minded one bit if you were naked underneath me on that platform.”

“Filthy,” I whispered.

“I don’t think I was the only one thinking dirty thoughts,” he ground out, walking me backward into the stone wall.

“I can’t believe you sat naked for me. For an entire class of people so that I could get into a studio.” My heart sang for him. Perhaps I should have been upset that he had shown off his beautiful body to all these people. But all I could think about was how lucky I was to have someone who cared. And how fucking hot he looked naked.

“I can sit naked for you anytime.”

My hand slid back up his cock, and then, with one easy tug, I pulled the sheet off his body. He was naked before me one more time.

“Watching you naked for an hour like this was torture.”

He smirked once, and then his lips were on mine. The past week of uncertainty between us vanished as quickly as it had come. I wasn’t completely over what had happened, but big gestures went a long way with me. The class in and of itself was a big deal. Sitting nude to get me into the class was above and beyond. Now, I wanted every inch of that fucking sexy body against me.

Our bodies crashed together in the back room of the studio. Neither of us knew how much time we’d have before Nina came looking for us. Neither of us knew if we’d get caught. And maybe that was half the fun.

Austin snagged my jeans and ripped them down my thighs. His hand thrust up between my legs, rubbing me none too gently. I moaned louder than I probably should have. Austin pressed his other hand over my mouth.

“Shh, baby,” he crooned as he wet his fingers and circled my clit until I was shaking.

My knees threatened to give out as need shot through me. “Please,” I whimpered.

Austin pulled me off the wall and bent me forward over one of the art tables. I reached across the table and gripped the other side. He angled his cock to my pussy and then pressed into me. As he took my body, I bit my bottom lip so hard that I tasted the tangy rust of my own blood.

His strokes were fast and forceful, stretching me open for him and taking me. Owning me. I loved it. I loved it so much that I couldn’t even think straight. I always loved my pleasure mixed with just enough pain. The line was so thin. The edge so close.

Austin swiped a finger through my wetness, and then I felt the pressure against my pucker. He didn’t wait for permission or to see if I wanted it. He just pushed his finger into my ass. The sensation shocked my body, and I gasped.

It was hardly our first time doing any kind of anal play, but it still surprised me every time it happened. How good it felt. How confident he was with playing with me. How he knew exactly how to use it to draw out my pleasure.

And here we were, in the back of the art studio, with no time at all, and I was getting fucked in both holes. Bliss.

“Oh God,” I moaned, clenching him as hard as I thought possible.

“Come for me, Jules.”

“Yes,” I said. “Yes. God, yes.”

My release crashed through me like a tidal wave. I saw red as I shook from head to toe. My orgasm was so tight that I felt Austin follow in the wake of my tsunami.

I banged my head forward on the table when I finally was able to relax. Austin bent over me and kissed my neck twice before pulling out of me. I stayed there a few seconds longer before righting my jeans. Austin was hastily throwing his clothes back on just as Nina knocked on the back door.

“Everything okay back there?”

Austin and I looked at each other.

Oh, yes. Things were a hell of a lot better than okay.

Once clothes were straight, we profusely thanked Nina for allowing me to join the class. She gave us both knowing looks but chose to ignore whatever indiscretion had happened in the back.

“It’s my pleasure. Thank you for volunteering to sit for us. I’ve been looking for someone for weeks,” Nina said.

“It wasn’t as bad as I’d thought,” Austin said.

“Well, good. I’ll see you both next week.”

“Bye,” I said.

Austin slung an arm around my shoulders as we walked out of the studio together. I could feel that euphoria of a new relationship settling back over us. That feeling of rightness returning. It wasn’t a hundred percent better. Things like that didn’t get better overnight. But, for the first time in a long, long time, I thought that maybe, just maybe, love could conquer all.

“Where’s your car?” Austin asked as we approached his Alfa Romeo across the street.

I pointed to the parking lot next to the studio. Then, I took a second glance. And a third.

“Wait…where the fuck is the Tahoe?”

I jogged across the street in frustration and circled the place I knew the SUV should have been parked. But the parking lot was completely empty. There had only been two other cars parked by me. They’d probably left with the class, but where was my car?

“Must have been towed,” Austin said.

“Fuck!”

“It’s fine. Call the company on the sign and see if it’s there. I can drive you over.”

“I fucking hate tow companies,” I growled.

But I did as he’d said. The guy who answered confirmed that my SUV had been impounded in the last hour, and I needed to come by and pay the fine to get it.

“Thanks,” I muttered sarcastically before hanging up on the guy. “Just my luck.”

Austin pulled me into a kiss. “Don’t let this ruin our date. It happens to everyone at some point. It’ll be fine.”

“You’re right. I know. But ugh!”

We hopped into his car and drove over to the towing company. There she was. My black Tahoe, sitting all pretty. I walked up to the station where the guy I’d called was working. I handed over my ID and a debit card to pay the fucking one-hundred-and-eighty-dollar fee.

“I’m here for the Tahoe.”

“Sure thing,” he said. He handed me a paper to fill out and ran my card.

“I can’t believe you guys even towed that parking lot. People park there all the time.”

He shrugged. “The company that owns it called it in. Bad luck.”

I rolled my eyes. Of course the company had called it in on the day I was there. Between this and the break-in, I was totally running out of luck.

“You’re all good to go,” the guy said, handing me a receipt and a copy of the paperwork I’d filled out.

“Thanks.”

I snatched the stuff out of his hand and flagged down Austin. “All good to go. The company called in the cars there for the art studio.”

“Assholes.”

“Right?”

“At least we got it all settled.”

“Yeah,” I said, dragging his lips against mine again. “Come over?”

“Absolutely.”

“See you there.”

He nodded and then headed back to his car. I jumped in the Tahoe, and before I drove away, I took a deep breath and let it out. Just bad luck. This shit happened to everyone. It didn’t mean anything. Not a thing.