The Wright Mistake(46)

Like…what the fuck had he been thinking?

“Hey,” the girl said, having made it back to me. “It looks like this is the only seat left. Is it cool if I sit here?”

“Sure,” I huffed.

I knew I probably should have been friendlier, but getting stood up to an art class Austin had paid for was doing nothing for me. Not a thing.

“Okay,” Nina said, moving to the center of the room. “Thank you all so much for coming out today. It’s the start of a brand-new session, and I have a special treat for you today. Last session, we worked on portraits. We’re going more advanced this session with life drawing, also known as figure drawing.”

I sat up straight in my seat. Figure drawing? Like…for real?

“We’re lucky to have a volunteer to sit in for this session. Please remember to give him our full respect. His job isn’t any easier than yours.”

My eyes were glued to the back door of the studio, as I waited to see who the hell would volunteer to sit for a figure drawing. Standing in one position for an hour, completely naked, wasn’t my idea of fun.

Then, the door opened, and my jaw dropped open.

Austin took a step into the room.





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.