Art by Adonis

by Kris Sawyer

“Okay?”

  “Well, when I called you, you said you’d call me back later.”

  “Right, because I had no clothes on.” Rick snickered, probably remembering it. Since the day they’d met, he had loosened up a lot and mostly spoke caring less about what Aidan would think.

  “That image, of you, in no clothes … it didn’t let me sleep last night.” Rick’s laugh subsided and the red slowly reappeared on his cheeks, brightening by the second. “I haven’t stopped thinking about it.”

  “Mr. Ross…”

  Aidan leaned forward to sit on the edge of the couch. “Don’t get me wrong. What I mean is, I couldn’t stop thinking how your naked body would look on a portrait.”

  Rick shook his head. “No.”

  “But …”

  “I think I know what you’re getting at and no, I wouldn’t be comfortable doing that for you.”

  Aidan took a deep breath. He had to convince Rick. If he could manage to do so and paint the portrait, it’d be epic. “Look, Rick, I’m a professional artist. I’ve worked with many models before who’ve sat nude for my paintings and I’ve never … never even once crossed a line. I know you’re uncomfortable with the idea, but, let me try and ease your worries.”

  “You don’t understand, Mr. Ross. Not everyone wants the world to see their nude body.”

  “If that’s what is worrying you, we can cover up your dick with something… maybe … maybe like a sheet. We can use one, no problem at all. It won’t ruin my idea for the painting.”

  “Are you thinking of covering my legs too?” He asked. “Because, believe me, you’ll want to. They look really ugly when they aren’t covered. You don’t want to show them in your painting.”

  Aidan held his hands up. “Let me be the judge of that,” he said. “I just want to know whether or not you’re willing to do this for me.”

  Rick turned his face away from Aidan. He stared at a flower vase with a faraway look in his eyes. Aidan figured he was taking some time to think this through. So, he didn’t utter a word and waited patiently.

  Of course, Aidan understood why Rick would say no if he did. However, he had no backup plan for the day. He wanted to paint this portrait so badly that his mind wouldn’t let him come up with any other idea. So, if Rick refused to go nude, he’d have to settle for something else. Right now, though, Aidan wanted to remain positive.

  Rick rubbed his face with both his hands and exhaled. “Fine,” he said, biting his lip in nervousness. “But I don’t want anyone else to see me naked. Will Kim and Mrs. Hutchinson be around today? They can’t see me either.”

  Aidan didn’t reply immediately. For a moment, he was dumbfounded. In the back of his mind, he’d probably assumed and accepted Rick would say no. But now Rick had agreed, it came as a pleasant surprise to him. “Kim is off today. And I’ll call Mrs. Hutchinson right away and tell her to take the day off too. We can order in something to eat.” Rick nodded hesitantly. “Um… why don’t you go into my bedroom and strip off in there? You’ll find a clean robe in the bathroom. Put it on if you want.”

  The guy nodded and wheeled his chair toward the bedroom. Meanwhile, Aidan made a quick call to Mrs. Hutchinson. He headed to his studio and brought the easel out into the living room. He planned to have Rick resting on the couch while he drew him. He set it down and observed the surroundings. He tried to imagine Rick lying there naked. He swallowed. He’s really going to be naked. As soon as the image came to his mind, he pushed it away and tried to concentrate on what was important.

  The pose didn’t work out very well in his imagination and he wondered how the painting would look if Rick was lying on a bed.

  Sexy.

  Picking up the easel, he decided the bedroom would be a much better setting. He knocked on the half open door and pushed it open. Aidan was greeted with the sight of a shirtless Rick who had his jeans half way down and was struggling to get them off. “Hey,” he said, “Need a hand there?”

  “Yes, please.” He sounded grateful for the offer and sat back.

  Aidan left the easel near the door and went over to him. Kneeling down, he realized Rick still had his shoes on. He first took them off carefully, and then helped him out of his pants. “There.” He folded his clothes and placed them on one of the chairs nearby.

  “Thank you.” Rick failed to give a convincing smile, but then, Aidan understood his nervousness. “D-do you… um… want me to t-take the underwear off too?”

  “Sure,” Aidan grinned. “Full disclosure man.” He winked and watched Rick nod. With shaking hands, he pushed his boxers to his knees and they automatically fell to the ground. Aidan picked them up and placed them carefully with the other clothes.

  When he looked at Rick, the guy had both his hands covering his groin. “Uh … I’ll go get the robe.”

  “Nah, leave it. I’ve decided we aren’t going to leave this room.”

  Rick looked at him, perplexed. “Are you painting in here?” He pointed at the easel behind Aidan.

  “Yeah, I thought this would be a better setting. What do you think?” Rick shrugged. “Can you get yourself on the bed or do you need help?”

  “It’s okay, I can manage.”

  Aidan nodded. “Great. I’ll go get my stuff set up,” and he left the room to fetch whatever he needed for the time being. As he was positioning the canvas on his easel, he kept glancing at Rick. It was amusing to see his attempts at getting on the bed while also trying to maintain his dignity and keep his manhood covered. Aidan took out some extra pillows from his wardrobe and placed them randomly behind Rick. He also got a plain white sheet out and handed it to Rick. “Use this to cover yourself, but, also try and keep it a bit sexual. You know what I mean?”

  “I guess,” Rick said and unfolded the sheet at his own pace.

  Aidan closed the wardrobe door and walked over to get behind the easel. He sat on his stool and found Rick had covered his body entirely. The only part of his naked skin Aidan could see was his chest and above. Rick’s naivety made him chuckle. “Is that what would arouse you?”

  “Huh?”

  “Well, imagine I was naked in front of you and covering myself with a sheet in that way, would it turn you on?”

  “I-I don’t know.” He stammered.

  “Exactly … but if you found me in bed barely covering my body with it, wouldn’t that be more appealing?” Rick swallowed and Aidan realized his words were affecting him sexually. The poor guy repositioned himself, probably, a tad uncomfortable and the sheet suddenly flaunted a bulge. Aidan grinned and said, “I’ll show you.”

  The discomfort in Rick grew when Aidan approached again. Aidan climbed on the bed to get beside him, then carefully took hold of the top of the sheet and slowly pulled it off him. Rick’s hand immediately reached out to conceal his semi-erect cock. Aidan smiled to himself and began to drape Rick’s body again the way he wanted.

  “Take your hands away,” he ordered when Rick covered up his groin. Rick’s hesitation was apparent. He removed his hands, one after another. Aidan held back an urge to whistle at the sight in front of him. He knew Rick wouldn’t like it.

  But, truly, the man was hung.

  Aidan took just another moment to appreciate the beauty before covering it with the sheet. He pulled it down slightly so the upper part of Rick’s cock was on display for a sensual tease. In the process, though, his hand brushed against it and the hard member reacted. Aidan turned his gaze to look at his gorgeous model. Rick had his eyes closed and seemed to be holding his breath.

  Aidan touched the bare shoulders with his hands and Rick slowly opened his eyes. Falling into their bluish depths, he made Rick lie back on the pillows. Mechanically, he guided both of Rick’s hands into the position he wanted and rearranged the sheet.

  Their faces were inches apart and both men couldn’t look away. Aidan felt a little light headed and his mind went blank for a while. An alien feeling overwhelmed him. When he came back to his senses, he found himself leaning over his model an
d their lips had met.

  He jumped off the bed like he’d been struck by with an electric current. Aidan held his hands up. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean … fuck!” He cried and swore some more out loud. He’d never behaved in such an unprofessional manner with any of his previously hired models. Rick must think I’m some kind of a sexual predator, he thought and looked away in his utter humiliation.

  “Mr. Ross…”

  “This was wrong,” he said. “I’ve no clue what got into me. I promise … I promise Rick, it won’t happen again.”

  Maybe Aidan had imagined it, but he thought he saw a hint of disappointment on Rick’s face.

  Rick gave an understanding nod.

  The sexual tension was on the rise after that. As Aidan worked on the portrait, his mind kept going back to the moment they’d shared that kiss.

  It wasn’t a kiss, really, just a peck because the moment had ended too soon. Yet, it seemed like time had stopped ticking. Aidan kept asking himself, what was I thinking? But he never came up with a logical explanation for his behavior. His body had reacted on its own. His cock still remained hard at the memory. The view in front of him didn’t help much in calming him down.

  Being an artist, Aidan was big on getting the details captured. Rick had a perfectly flawless skin. The small amount of hair on his chest and near the crotch brandished a sexed up, manly look. With none of his clothes on, Rick seemed to look even skinnier than usual. There was hardly any excess fat showing on any part of his body. His torso and arms were muscular from wheeling his chair around but his legs, though, were definitely in the worst shape. Rick had already warned him about it but Aidan never imagined they’d be this bad. He hadn’t dared to ask him how he’d ended up in a wheelchair. He’d always seen his lower half covered by his baggy jeans and a pair of sports shoes, which looked pretty normal to him.

  “Stay still.” Aidan was in the process of drawing Rick’s hand. But he kept moving it to pull the sheet over his now hard cock. He tried in vain because the sheet barely covered it.

  “I want to … I mean …”

  “I know, I know.” Aidan smiled comfortingly. “But it’s okay. Leave it. I need you to stay still for some time.”

  Professional nude models often got fired from their jobs if they ever got a hard on when it wasn’t wanted for a portrait. Rick wasn’t one. Aidan couldn’t blame him for becoming hard in this situation. It was sexy and his dick agreed. Keeping it out of sight, he adjusted the bulge in his own pants and continued painting.

  Around noon, he placed an order for a large pizza and it arrived exactly an hour later. By then, he’d gotten most of the work done. He went into the bathroom and got the robe for his model. “Here, put this on. We’ll continue after lunch.”

  Rick nodded. “Can you please come here and help me?” He asked.

  “Sure,” Aidan said and walked over to him. As he got on the bed and leaned forward, Rick put his right hand on Aidan’s chest to stop him and stared with a dreamy look on his face. His smile was also a little different this time, which confused Aidan. “What?” He whispered.

  The hand on his chest moved up and Rick cupped his cheeks. What he did next, though, was totally unexpected. He rose up and closed the distance between them.

  Aidan’s body came to life with the touch of his lips. Each nerve in his body vibrated and begged for some more. He pushed his head forward and kissed Rick back. They both moaned into the kiss. Aidan hadn’t realized it until that second how much he’d wanted this. His mind had tried to reason with all the wet dreams he’d had about Rick each night since they met. But his body had remembered feeling this hot every time he dreamt of the guy.

  They broke apart, gasping for air. Aidan grinned. “What was that all about?”

  Rick smiled shyly. “You promised not to kiss me again; I didn’t.”

  “Well, I did so for a reason,” Aidan said but still couldn’t wipe the grin from his face. “I’ve got some professional ethics of my own and one of them is about not having any sexual interaction with any model I hire. And that’s why I made that promise.”

  “Oh…” His smile slowly disappeared. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

  Aidan shrugged. “Now I know whatever I was feeling for you isn’t one-sided, let me rephrase it slightly.” He held the robe out to Rick and helped him into it. “This kissing, I promise, won’t happen again while we’re working. But as soon as my paintings are done and you’re paid off for your services, I’ll officially take you out on a date. After that, we can fucking smooch or do whatever suits us for as long as we want.” He winked.

  Rick giggled and Aidan’s heart fluttered at the happy sound coming from him. “I’d really like that.”

  The last and hottest painting of Rick’s was finished the next day and Aidan felt an immense pride to tag it with the Art by Adonis signature at the bottom. He left all three portraits in his art studio and promised Rick he’d show them to him after their date. He also called Kim to give her the good news and as expected, she couldn’t wait to see the paintings. Apparently, Monday – which was the following day – was too late for her. But Aidan didn’t care and Kim had to give up. They would also be getting in touch with the art gallery managers to fix up an appointment for showcasing these new paintings to them.

  But all that would have to wait.

  For his date with Rick, he couldn’t make up his mind on what to wear. He didn’t want to be too overdressed and intimidate the guy but he didn’t want to be underdressed and make it seem like he couldn’t care less. Aidan had a couple of party coats he tried on in front of the mirror, but then decided against wearing those because they had sparkly designs on them and it’d be totally weird. He’d planned on taking Rick to a fancy bar for dinner and drinks and then Aidan would bring him home to show him the paintings. It was going to be a casual meetup and for that, he realized, he didn’t need to dress up really.

  He finally decided on one of his branded sweatshirts and a pair of jeans.

  By the time Aidan reached the road to get him, Rick was already there waiting on the sidewalk. As he pulled his Chevy to the side of the road, he wished the guy would just trust him with his actual home address so he could start picking him up from there. This late in the evening, the street seemed too dangerously secluded to be waiting out there alone.

  “Were you waiting for me very long?” Aidan asked as he carried the guy in his arms and settled him in the seat.

  “No, I just got here.” Rick smiled, putting on his seatbelt. “I see you’ve brought a different car today, Mr. Ross.”

  Aidan laughed as he put the car on drive. “Yeah, not one of my favorites. But I like to take these on dates. In case I get lucky, the back seat is really comfortable to get some action on.” He pointed his thumb behind and winked suggestively. Rick refused to look at him and Aidan noticed the guy was biting on his lower lip, trying to contain his smile. Damn! He’s blushing.

  It was utterly adorable.

  “By the way, I want you to do something for me.”

  Rick’s smile grew. “What’s that?”

  “Get your mind out of the fucking gutter. It’s nothing kinky.” He laughed. “I just want you to stop calling me Mr. Ross. Makes me feel like an old fart.”

  “Then what should I call you? Adonis, maybe?”

  “No!” He was starting to like this side of Rick much better. The one who was relaxed and not afraid to make a joke. Because the guy had a great sense of humor which he’d discovered these past couple of days. “Just call me Aidan.”

  He giggled. “I’ll try.”

  Their destination arrived quickly but it took Aidan almost double the time to find a parking space. By the time they found a good one, they’d reached somewhere four blocks away. Aidan sighed. “I’m sorry, we’ll have to leave the car here.”

  “That’s okay. I like to take a walk if the company is good.” That made Aidan smile. He stepped out from the driver’s side and hurried to get to Rick. “Aren’t
you tired of this already?” He asked as Aidan put him on his wheelchair.

  “Tired of what?”

  “Helping me in and out of your car.” He laughed softly.

  “Nah. Gives me a reason to show off my strength.” To make his point, Aidan flexed his biceps. His gym routine had definitely helped in building great muscles. The tightened shirt boasted the proper shape of his biceps and triceps. “Come on.”

  They started walking down the busy street. Rick looked up at him with a smile. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me why I was in a wheelchair.” He took a pause before asking, “Aren’t you even a little curious about it?”

  “Erm … I am.” This is awkward. “I’ve been meaning to ask you but … I really had no clue how to bring it up.”

  “You, Aidan?” Rick looked surprised. “Really?”

  “Well, yeah.” He laughed. “So, now that you’ve brought it up, I want to know.”

  “An auto immune disease called CIDP. It got me when I was like three years old?” He shrugged. “They treated it. But it was too late. CIDP can be cured but only if they identify it early on. By the time we got a proper diagnosis from the doctors, my muscles had been attacked and became wasted. My legs below the knees are the worst and they never did recover. It’s not like I can’t move my legs, I can. But they can’t bear my weight so I can’t even stand let alone walk. So, the wheelchair has been with me for as long as I can remember.”

  “That’s kinda sad, man.”

  “I’m not.” He grinned. “I guess I’ve just gotten used to it now. I mean, being in a wheelchair has its own perks too.”

  Aidan chuckled. “Well, it’s nice to see you’ve accepted the circumstances … that you’ve kept going.”

  “It doesn’t make sense complaining about something I can’t change, does it?” Aidan shook his head in response and they exchanged an understanding smile. “So, what’s this place you’re taking me to?”

  “It’s a bar I personally like to go to sometimes. Great food, great music and it’s not too loud either. I mean, you’ll understand what I’m saying over the noise.”