Fearless (The Story of Samantha Smith #1) (33 page)

He nodded at Hourglass. She swooned. Bitch.

Then he turned and walked over to my easel. “Surprise.” He smiled broadly.

Romeo leaned in front of me and shook Christos’ hand before I could offer up any bitchiness. I think I was grateful.
 

Kamiko joined us.

“Hey, guys,” Christos said to all of us. “Good to see you.”
 

“Hey, uh, Christos,” Kamiko said. “Your gallery show was awesome! Your paintings were amazing.”

“Thanks, Kamiko.” He smiled.

Christos leaned over and kissed the corner of my mouth. “Hey, Samantha.” His eyes held mine. I admit this made me hot all over.

“Hey, Christos,” I choked out stiffly. I was still somewhat defensive.

“Did you manage to get our dear Sam home safely on Saturday?” Romeo asked.

Christos’ grin widened further. “You could say that.”

“I hope she wasn’t a burden,” Romeo quipped.

“Not a bit. She’s too easy on the eyes for that.” He stroked my arm with the backs of his fingers. “How’d your sketches turn out, Samantha?” He walked around my easel to get a good view.

I was embarrassed for him to see the angry blacks stabs of charcoal that were my first drawings of him and Genesis. I was pretty sure that he, as an artist, would figure it out. All I had to do was not show him that page. I turned to the last page of drawings.

“I really want to see the first couple we did,” he said innocently. “They had a lot of dynamic energy. I’m curious how you handled it.” He reached to turn back the pages.

I stopped him and smoothed the page back down. “Oh, um, my charcoal broke on those. They’re terrible.” I gave him a guilty grin.

“Okay,” he said strangely. “How about the others?”

Those I was willing to show.

“Nice, Samantha. Your gestures are better every time I see them. I really like what you did with Genesis’ hips in this one. Simple flaring lines. Really captures her narrow waist.”

I wanted to ask what
he
did to Genesis’ hips during that pose, since he had his hands on them. But I bit down on my words. I was determined not to be a jealous bitch. “Thanks.”

Genesis slowed as she came by. “Great work, Sam. I love that one on the bottom right!” She crinkled her nose and smiled, but kept walking. I’d half feared she would come up and drape her arms around Christos, but she hadn’t.

The timer beeped, signaling that the break was over.

“Five minutes poses, please,” Professor Childress said.

Christos and Genesis undressed and posed on the dais.
 

“Too bad Madison isn’t here to see Christos,” Romeo whispered.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re such a slut, Romeo,” I hissed.

“I know, right?” He smiled with no hint of guilt whatsoever.

I sighed. I was a bit calmer now, and focused mostly on the drawing. Because the poses were longer, the models had to assume more relaxed stances.
 

During the second pose, Christos looked directly at me. I saw him smirk ever so slightly. I met his eyes, suddenly determined to make him crack a smile completely.

I pouted my lips seductively. I lowered my lashes and casually slid my fingers toward my cleavage.

He widened his eyes and cocked his head a quarter of an inch. He shook his head minutely, as if to say, “Stop what you’re doing.” His raised eyebrows clearly warned, “Or else.”

I gave him an “Or else what?” head cock.

He rolled his eyes and lowered his gaze to the floor. That wasn’t the effect I was going for. I was bummed. But I could tell he was struggling to hold back his grin. His face reddened.

I had him. He was about to break. But then he took a deep breath and released it slowly. He raised his eyes to mine and stared at me stoically.

I glanced around to make sure no one was watching me. Everyone was busy drawing. I narrowed my eyes again and caressed my stomach with my fingertips. I bit my lower lip. I slid my fingers across the bottom of my breasts, tickling them through my shirt and bra.

Then I saw Christos twitch. I mean it. His…probe. It twitched again. Oh shit! What had I gone and done? I hadn’t thought this through! Whoopsie me!

Christos’ eyes widened in full panic. I froze. He was pleading with me. His cock grew ever so slightly. Shit!

“Oh my god,” Romeo moaned in a throaty whisper. He looked at me, and saw what I was doing to Christos. “Whatever you’re doing, Sam, don’t stop…”

Holy crap! I was turning Life Drawing into Romeo’s Spanktime Theater! I may as well have grabbed Romeo and Christos both by the cocks and started tugging! I was crazy!

I blushed beet red and hid my face behind my drawing pad, afraid to witness the carnage. I imagined the morality police knocking down the door any second. Hordes of cops waving billy clubs and offended old biddies in church dresses would stampede through the room.

“It’s okay to start drawing at any time, Ms. Smith,” Professor Childress said dryly over my shoulder. He raised his eyebrows and smiled at me over his glasses.

Caught.

When the professor walked away, I leaned against my drawing pad, burying my face.

At some point, I got a hold of myself…not the way you’re thinking! And went back to drawing.
 

Christos seemed to have recovered. His face was blank, his member at rest.

Thank god.

A minute later, Christos and Genesis changed poses. He made sure his back was to me.

It was for the best. I could not be trusted. D’oh!

Believe it or not, I made it through the rest of class actually drawing. I was really happy with the results.
 

Genesis and Christos were great together. Not too great, I hoped. I couldn’t decide if they had a history or not. Knowing Christos, probably. But did it matter? No.

After the final pose of the class, when they were both dressed, Genesis said to Christos, “Good to see you again, Adonis.” She smiled wide. Were her eyes glimmering? Pupils widening?
 

Shit. At least she was calling him Adonis. Maybe she
didn’t
know him that well. Or, she knew Adonis TOO well. Grrr.

I’d been watching her nipples like a hawk during the later poses, looking to see if they hardened at any point, but I couldn’t really tell. I have to admit, I partially did it to avoid further virtual foreplay with Christos.

“You too, Genesis.” Christos smiled at her.
 

Was he flirting?

“It’s always a pleasure working with you,” she said. “It’s nice having someone who can handle the more intense poses.”

“Totally,” he smiled.

Okay, this was too much. I gave Romeo a “Can you believe those two?” sneer.

Romeo shrugged his shoulders, confused. I glanced at Kamiko. She was packing up her stuff. Even the preening flamingoes weren’t paying attention to Christos and Genesis.

Was it just me? Was I all bent out of shape over nothing?
 

“I do a lot of modeling in town,” Genesis said to Christos, “and people are always looking for couples poses. If you’re interested.” I wasn’t sure if she was suggesting anything, but I certainly didn’t like her use of the word “couple.” Or the phrase “if you’re interested.”

“Thanks, Genesis.” Christos said smoothly. “I totally appreciate the offer, but my schedule’s pretty full up now. I’ve got to finish work on my next gallery show. I’m not going to have time for modeling.”

“Oh, no worries. Thought I’d ask.” Genesis smiled at him professionally.
 

Okay, maybe she wasn’t angling for my man, I mean Christos.

“If you need any models for your new paintings,” Genesis said, “Give me a call.”

What! I flexed my claws at my side.

“I will,” Christos said politely.

“You have my number, right?”

“Yup.”

Crap, he
did
know her. How well was the question. Or should I say, how intimately? How big of a mess was I getting myself into? Was I stupid for falling for Christos Adonis Manos?

“Take it easy,” Christos said to Genesis in goodbye. Then he walked over to me, not giving Genesis a second thought.

“Hey, Samantha.” He smiled at me seductively. “Want to get lunch?”

I felt trapped, certain my jealousy was uglifying my face. My eyes darted around the room. The first thing I noticed was the distinct look of disappointment on Hourglass Flamingo’s face because Christos was talking to me. She packed up her drawing equipment and marched out of the room with her pal Breasticles. Okay, that was a good sign.

“Let’s get lunch,” Romeo said, referring to himself, Kamiko, Christos, and me.

Christos awaited our consensus.

“Sounds good,” Kamiko said. “Come on, Sam.”

I guess the decision was made for me.

“Okay,” Romeo smiled like an imbecile. He was so in crush with Christos, but him I didn’t worry about.

I texted Madison to meet us at the Student Center.

While the four of us waited in line for fish tacos, Romeo and Kamiko argued about the finer points of the newest episode of Adventure Time.

“Missed you,” Christos said quietly, his eyes burning into mine. He stroked the corner of my mouth with his thumb.

Electrical current jolted from his thumb down my spine. I was still thrown by his naked posing with Genesis.

He leaned down and kissed me softly. The electricity intensified into bolts of lightening that shot down between my legs, hitting my core in pulsing jerks.

“Can you guys at least sneak into a restroom?” Romeo joked.

Kamiko giggled. “So romantic, you two!”

Christos broke off the kiss slowly, our lips dragging apart in slow motion. Oh god, I needed a moment alone after that.

Romeo’s face screwed up thoughtfully. “Doesn’t she look like a zombie right now? Like Christos drank her life blood and turned her into a zombie?”

“That would make Christos a vampire,” Kamiko corrected.

“You’re confusing me, Kamiko,” Romeo said. “Can you explain that in a language other than Klingon?”

“Zombies don’t drink life blood, duh. They infect you with zombie virus. Vampires drink life blood.”

“Ahem, nerd,” Romeo coughed.

Christos chuckled. “I’m going to have to agree with Kamiko on this one, Romeo. Besides, I prefer to think of myself as a vampire. Much sexier.”

“Zombies can be sexy, too,” Kamiko said. “Sexy Zombies are totally in right now.”

“Nerd alert!” Romeo shouted. “How do you
know
these things?!” Romeo’s overly dramatic, humorous personality got the best of us. Even Kamiko joined in with our laughter.

We ordered our food and sat down together.

“So, you two dating, or what?” Romeo asked, munching on tortilla chips.

“Okay! Subtle alert!” Kamiko jabbed.

“Admit it, Kamiko, even you want to know what’s going on between Sam and Superhunk here.”

Madison walked up with a tray of food and sat down. “What’d I miss, you guys?”

“I was just asking the lovebirds if they had any bow chicka bow wow wow to report,” Romeo said casually.

My eyes popped open.

“Did you forgot your Ritalin this morning, Romeo?” Kamiko gawked. “Show some manners!”

“I think porno movie music is the soundtrack to Romeo’s life,” I said.

“Yes!” he hollered without hesitation.

We shared a laugh.

“So, come on, you two. What’s your official status?” Madison asked.
 

I was holding up a fish taco, about to take a bite. I didn’t know what the hell to say. So I passed the buck. “Christos? Care to answer that?” I sounded perhaps a tad more snide than I intended. I blamed nude posing with Genesis. Sue me.

He chuckled while chewing food. Everyone stared at him, so he felt pressure to hurry up and answer. He sipped his drink to wash it down. “Well, I’m not much for labels.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. I think I saw Madison rise up in her seat an inch or two, as if ready to spring.
Go, Mads! Tear his balls off!
If she didn’t, I would, in about five seconds.

“Labels tend to under-deliver. They’re like sound bites. What is dating, anyway?” he smiled.
 

Why was he smiling? I didn’t like where this was going at all. My stomach seized in response.

He continued. “Dating for one couple may mean something entirely different than it does for the next couple. I mean, some married couples have open relationships.” He sipped his drink.

I sank in my seat.
Here it comes. Male justification for doing whatever the fuck the man wants while leading the woman down the primrose path.

“If you want some sound bite, like ‘we’re exclusive,’ that’s not my style.” He sipped his drink again.

I glanced at Madison, Romeo and Kamiko. It seemed all their jaws hung as slack as mine. Was I receiving some kind of blow off? In front of my best friends?

“I prefer a clear description of the facts at hand,” Christos said confidently. “Samantha is the most beautiful woman I’ve seen in my entire life. She’s also possibly the coolest.”

Huh?

“More than that, I feel this amazing connection with her that I’ve literally never felt before. The kind of connection that you didn’t know was possible until you felt it for the first time. The kind of connection that probably comes along once in a lifetime, if you’re fucking lucky.” He smiled at all of us. “And we all know I’m fucking lucky.” He flashed his cockiest smile. “But I’m not stupid, either. There’s no way I would take the slightest chance of screwing things up with Samantha. All other women have ceased to exist for me.” He leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head proudly.

Everyone at the table was utterly silent. I saw a fleck of tortilla chip slide down the corner of Romeo’s chin. All of our jaws were at full hang.

“So, call that whatever you want,” Christos said as he leaned forward and popped a chip in his mouth. “I don’t have a convenient word for it.”
 

I don’t know if you can swoon with your mouth drooping completely open like an idiot, or not. Doesn’t it require the back of the hand to the forehead and a huge, girlish sigh? Technically, yes. But I can say with confidence that at that moment, all of us were swooning. Even Romeo. I saw it in his greedy eyes.