Page 5 of Cruel Debts
“I’m going to take off your clothing. You just tell me if you feel uncomfortable, and we can stop any time.” My hands trailed over his thick biceps, a warm appreciation for the taut muscles there rolling through me as I peeled his jacket off, then the tight tee beneath it. I draped them over a nearby chair, careful not to get any paint on them. “You take care of your physique,” I remarked, stunned by the lack of a single ounce of fat on this man. He was lean but well-built, with broad shoulders that looked like they might have carried a world of responsibility at one point. I had to resist the urge to rub the knots beneath his skin as I let my hands slide lower, resting at his waistband for a brief second before I looked up at this tall, broad Adonis come to life.
“Do you know what you’d like me to paint on you?”
Tall, lean, and beefy shook his head no. “I didn’t come here to participate. This was pure coincidence.”
“Well, must be fate, then,” I whispered smoothly, using the lines I rehearsed to disarm the men who ended up on my dias. “Do you have anything youdon’twant on your body?”
“Cute shit,” he mumbled, his eyes darting back over to the men he’d been standing with when his number was called. “I’ll never live that down.”
“Fair enough,” I agreed, fingers caressing the tips of new brushes as I waited for him to disrobe. “There’s a towel overthere you can put around your waist if you’re a little cold, until I get to that part, of course.”
He stopped dead in his tracks, his shirt half off. “You’re going to paint my dick?”
A definite noob.“Why not? It’s part of your body.” I pulled a thicker brush from the container, relishing the smooth feel of the horsehair against my skin as I tested its softness. “I assure you, it won’t be the first cock I’ve painted.”
“Mmm,” he remarked, watching me with those eagle eyes as he stripped off his shorts next, leaving him in only boxers. “Where should I set my clothes?”
I jerked my thumb at the empty chair on the far end of the dias. “There’s fine. They should be safe from paint that far away from us.”
Those sculpted brows rose again.“Should be?”
My shoulders lifted, the paint on my body stretching a little as it pulled against me. “Accidents happen. Stand still when I say to, and we should be able to avoid them.”
He shut his mouth and folded his pants and shirt neatly, setting them one on top of the other as I watched. My eyes roved over his muscles, mapping his body like the canvas it was about to become. A myriad of things would turn out wonderfully on his skin—a landscape, maybe, the ocean at dusk—but for some reason, I wanted to go abstract. I wanted to put colors where colors didn’t naturally occur. I wanted to make him into a rainstorm, a sunset, a collage of the best things in this world.
But it didn’t fit the vibes this man gave off. He was all masculinity and rough edges. Something about him screamed discipline and rigidity. Almost like . . .
. . . like he’d been in the military before.
“Where do you want me?”
I shook my head and pasted a smile on my lips, chasing away the curiosity, doubt, and other things racing through my mind. “Here is fine?—”
I turned to face him after grabbing a tube of base white latex, and damn near dropped the fucking thing.
And my jaw. I almost dropped that, too.
He’d shed the boxers in the half a second I was turned away, and now his cock hung between his legs, limp but still very impressive. I wondered if he was a show-er or a grower. Hell, if that thing got any bigger, it might be uncomfortable for his partners.
Not your business, Trinity. Professionalism is key here.
I resisted the urge to lick my lips and pried my eyes away from his junk, popping the lid off the top of the paint. “Okay, time to get started.”
Painting bodies I didn’t know had never been a problem for me before now. Something about him, though, was different. He didn’t clamor for the chance to get naked before me, nor did he come here for the paint. No, whatever he was here for, this was a happy accident; from the looks of it, it was not one he had expected or planned for.
But he still seemed comfortable as fuck here on the dias, with a number of people in the crowd staring at him like an exhibit in an art museum, and the rest of them watching with thinly-veiled lust. Some of them didn’t even bother to hide it.
Should he want to pursue something after he stepped out of my reach, the man wouldn’t hurt for options.
For some reason, that made me a little frustrated.
Not your place, Trinity.
I clenched a second paintbrush between my teeth and got to work.
THREE
ASHER
