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“Sure. Sounds great.”
He gestured for me to sit at a large round table that held a few small paintings, paperwork, and a laptop. “West, I honestly didn’t expect anyone to answer. Oliver Creek is a small town, and it takes a certain person to pose nude. Everyone is so self-conscious about their bodies these days and sees all their flaws, but as a painter, I see beauty in them all. Obviously, some more than others.” That blush again.
My cock punched against the restraint of my jeans.
“I-I’ve modeled before. Not here and never for a painter but for photography.”
Antoine nodded, scrunching his nose. “Would it be weird if I said I recognized you from one of those campaigns?”
My turn to blush. I looked at my feet, shaking my head. “Which one?”
“Some kind of underwear. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you much about the brand or anything else. Here. It looked like this.” He stretched his legs out and put one hand behind his head mimicking the pose from the ad.
“Ah,” I chuckled. “Black thong. Versace men. That was a magazine ad.”
“Yeah, that was it. The magazine was in a healer’s office, and somewhere else?”
“A billboard?” Another chuckle, trying to hide my trepidation. Didn’t know why I was this nervous. He’d seen me before in nothing more than underwear. Of course, so had a lot of other people. Somehow they didn’t matter at all.
Maybe it was because he was so damned alluring. There was something about Antoine. He carried this I am who I am air about him. Self-assured but not in a cocky way. It was damned sexy.
“I haven’t modeled recently. I might be bad at it. Fair warning.”
“I doubt that seriously, West. Here’s what I’m offering.”
He pushed a piece of paper across the wooden table toward me. The sum Antoine was willing to pay was staggering. No way I would ever have expected this job to pay this much. Not for a sitting in this small town. It was, in fact, more than I’d gotten for any shoot, including the thong that made me famous—or at least part of me. Clearly he was talented, but from this number and the size of this house, the world knew it and had been purchasing his art. I’d had enough in my account not only to make that last payment but to live on while my business got started. This was not that much but enough. It would make it enough.
For this amount, I would serve him breakfast, lunch, and dinner nude for the next two weeks.
“Where do I sign?” I asked.
“Are you serious?” Antoine sat up straighter. “You’re in? I thought this might not be enough considering…well, considering it’s you.”
“Nah.” I shook my head. I wasn’t that man anymore. I was but I wasn’t. “This is perfect. When did you want me to start?” I tried not to sound overly eager. “Is tomorrow too soon?” he asked.
“Tomorrow is perfect.”
I signed the contract, and we shook hands this time. When our skin touched, something electric flowed between us. Antoine cleared his throat and rubbed at the back of his neck, no longer meeting my gaze.
I had to be back at seven in the morning.
Last payment almost done, and I had met one of the most intriguing omegas of my life.
Chapter Five
Antoine
I managed to focus enough to get some work done after the alpha left. His appearance had given me some ideas for the painting tomorrow, and I wanted to do some loose sketches. The alpha’s polar bear was so close to the surface that even in fully human form, I could sense the shadow over him. Although I never hid the fact I was a shifter, it wasn’t something I offered randomly, and few of the humans who attended my gallery showing had a clue. At least I didn’t think so.
And my art was not shifter oriented in particular. I loved to showcase the flora and fauna of the Oliver Creek area, but I also included at least one person in each collection. Usually, but not always a shifter. The agency dealt with both and sent the “look” I wanted without taking shifter status into account. But I’d ended up with quite a few and never had the desire to include their other side.
Generally, a shifter could look at another and have a good idea what their animal was, but unless you thought you might have friends in common or came from a very insular group, it didn’t really matter.
But my fox was every bit as into this polar bear alpha as I was. Maybe more.
I settled at the dining room table with a pad and charcoal pencil, sketching out what I saw in my mind and getting more absorbed by the moment. It was such an obvious idea to include both that I wondered why I’d never used it before. I could have asked any of the shifters I painted to pose as their beast, and most would have agreed. At least, I couldn’t see why they would object.
But I’d have to talk to the alpha before I completed the work. Consent had to come not only from him but from his bear. My fox certainly would be annoyed if I assumed he wanted to be captured in oils.
