shirt, small earrings, sensible heels. Next to her was …
The silver fox.
The thought popped into her head the second she saw him. He was broad and well-muscled but not gym-pumped. His hair was close cut, silver at the temples and some through the top. He had a five o’clock shadow like Chris but it was also shot with an almost metallic colouring. He had big blue eyes, she could see that from here. And when her eyes settled on him, she found he was looking at her. Intently. Definitely sketching her, she could see his hand moving, but the gaze held much much more than artistic interest.
Something low in her stomach tumbled to life and her nipples, which had calmed down since Christopher’s retreat, went tight and tender all over again.
Damn.
He gave her a tiny incline of his head as greeting. Acknowledging her awareness with his own. Dani looked away. Let her gaze skip to the next person in his row. A large man who looked like a long-haul trucker. Now that was interesting. She suppressed a smile. Unlike the silver fox he was all bulk – wide shoulders, a body to match. He wore a concert T-shirt beneath a huge flannel shirt that was completely unbuttoned. Baggy jeans and work boots, complete with a trucker’s cap. His leg bounced up and down, up and down, vigorously as he worked. His tongue peeked from between his lips in concentration.
The amusement grew. She found it interesting and wonderfully distracting to see the various kinds of people in Chris’s classes. Maybe it was true that the heart of an artist lived in us all.
She startled slightly when Chris called for a break. He nodded to her as she moved, letting her stiff muscles flex. To clear her head, Dani wandered the halls sipping water before returning.
Chris was talking to a student, standing behind the woman, pointing at the sketch pad she’d been working on. She heard random words. ‘The fall of her hair’, ‘muscle structure’, ‘side swell of her breast’. That one made her blush. She shut her eyes for a moment, willing the heat not to invade her face but that was a bad move. She was immediately back with the two men, poised in front of her, paintbrushes in hand, swirling cool paint over the halos of her nipples, down her skin, towards the desperate place between her thighs.
‘… now Dani … Dani?’
She opened her eyes. Blinked. ‘Sorry?’
‘If you could take your place now. We’ll do about twenty more minutes then I want to go over your work with you and fill you in on some of our upcoming assignments.’
She nodded, went back to the stool which she didn’t use. She simply stood in front of it, dropped her robe and tried to recall her position. She glanced up to find the silver fox watching her. There went that thing in her stomach again. There was something entirely intoxicating about looking at a man and being able to see his desire for you blatantly painted across his face.
Christopher walked quickly to her, put his hand on her skin. Her breath hitched but she tried to cover it with a cough. ‘It was a little awkward. Let me help.’ He arranged her like his own personal doll. Painted doll … her mind quickly supplied. When she was posed so that he was pleased, he went back to his desk.
Dani saw him grab his pencil and saw him scratching at his own pad again. Was he sketching her just like the class? It had never occurred to her that Chris would be drawing her. She’d just expected strangers, not him. But did it matter? Her mind prattled on, with nothing to do besides stand there and think in circles. Did it matter if he was sketching her when she was standing there buck naked for everyone to see?
A bizarre thought popped into her head. What if these people had taken pictures surreptitiously of her with their phones? Did she really want her naked form floating around on the internet? For a few hundred dollars a week?
Panic flared in her chest and she focused on breathing. Chris wouldn’t let that happen. He’d never in a million years put her in that position. But what if he didn’t know?
She felt her fingers twitching of their own accord though her limbs felt numb from her blossoming anxiety.
She thought at any moment she’d just start screaming. Screaming like a lunatic. Wailing about phones and perverts and permission. She nearly wept with relief when Chris stood and said, ‘I’ll be right back. I need to walk Dani out. Let’s give her a hand, people. It takes a brave person to stand in front of a bunch of strangers and bare it all.’
The whole class started to clap and she thought she might actually drop dead right there from embarrassment. Never had she wanted to see a floor crack open and swallow her up the way she did at that moment. Hurrying, Dani pulled her robe on and grabbed her bags. She glanced back and found the silver fox watching her.
What would he think if he knew she’d named him that in her head? He smiled at her and she found herself smiling back. He had a nice smile. Something told her he might not mind her chosen moniker at all.
Chris followed her out in the hall and barely got his mouth open to speak before she grabbed his arm, her panic flaring again, and growled, ‘Phones!’
‘Phones?’ He put a steadying hand on her shoulder and her worry was great enough to allow her to ignore his familiar touch, even though the only thing separating that hand and her skin was a robe so thin it was nearly transparent.
‘Their. Phones.’ She shook her head, knowing she was making very little sense, but she couldn’t seem to get a full thought out.
His laughter was so unexpected she had the irrational urge to smack him. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, catching the look and backing up a step. He raised his hands like he was under arrest. ‘I’m sorry. Jesus, I forgot to tell you that part. Is that why you looked like that towards the end?’
‘Just your average raging panic attack,’ she said, her mouth a tight line. So tight and tense it made her jaw ache. ‘Ya know. Irrational fear, the urge to scream and scream and scream … no biggie.’ She crossed her arms under her breasts because it made her feel secure – less naked – more powerful.
He shook his head and put his arm around her. Which was no big deal, she reminded herself. He’d done it all the time when they were young and bumming around. ‘Sorry, Dani. Jesus. I’m an ass. I take their phones at the beginning of class. I put them in a basket and lock it in the supply closet. Then I pay attention during class. Just to make sure. I get it. I would be worried too if the absent-minded professor had forgotten to tell me that little tidbit.’
She exhaled slowly. Then inhaled deeply and did it again. ‘OK, my heart has stopped racing now.’
He gave her a squeeze and she hugged him back briefly. ‘You’ll be here tomorrow for my other class, right?’
‘I will.’
‘You’re doing great. You’re beautiful.’
‘It’s still weird,’ she said, looking at her bare feet, trying to ignore the ‘beautiful’ comment. A chill rushed up her spine and she shivered.
‘Of course it is. It would be weird if you didn’t think it was weird.’ He caught the shiver. ‘And it’s cold in here. Go get dressed. I’ll see you tomorrow, OK?’ He kissed her forehead briefly. No big deal, she reminded herself.
‘I’ll be here.’
He paused on his way to the door. ‘You sure you’re OK?’
‘I just didn’t sleep well. I’m fine.’
‘I hear you,’ Chris said. ‘I had weird dreams all night.’
You and me both, buddy.
‘And no rest for the wicked tonight.’ He checked his watch while she tried not to admire the thickness of his forearm or how the muscles flexed just beneath the skin.
‘What do you mean?’ She rubbed her feet together. Wanting so badly to get dressed but not wanting to walk away from him just yet.
‘After this I have