Chapter 34
DANNY
Stepping back,I take in the image on the large canvas sitting on the easel that I’ve set up in my living room. The cascade of black-brown hair. Those expressive, saucer-like brown eyes. The gentle smile pulling at those perfect bee-stung lips.
The longer I stare at it, the bigger my grin gets. My oil painting of Eden is finished.
A giddiness I haven’t felt in a long, long time takes hold inside of me. This is the first time I’ve finished a piece ever since my breakup.
I run my hands through my hair and shake my head, smiling to myself. I did it. I finally have my inspiration back.
A million ideas flood me. I want to do more paintings of Eden of course, she’s my muse. But I want to do landscapes now too. Maybe take a car ride outside of the city to some place scenic, like Multnomah Falls, and bring my sketch pad so I can capture some images that I’ll paint later. Actually, painting a cityscape of Portland sounds fun too. I could set up on the rooftop of my friend Paul’s downtown apartment building and paint for a few hours.
God, this feels good. Incredible, actually. And I owe it all to Eden.
There’s a knock at my door and I walk over to answer it.
“Eden.” My eyes bulge when I see her standing there, a bag of takeout at her side. She flashes that stunning smile at me. There’s an edge of shyness to it, and it’s the most adorable thing ever.
“Hope it’s okay that I dropped by.” She holds up the bag. “I wanted to surprise you with lunch.”
“Oh, um…” God, I’m going to look like such a psycho when she walks in and sees the massive canvas of her face on it.
When I stammer for a few more seconds, her smile fades. “This is a bad time, isn’t it?” She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. I should have texted you first. I just thought that surprising you with lunch would be a cute girlfriend thing to do.”
She starts to step back, but I reach out and grab her free hand. “No, don’t go. It’s just…” I glance behind me. “Okay, so, here’s the thing.” I let go of her and scrub a hand over my face. “Lately I’ve started painting a lot and, um, well…”
I force myself to take a breath and step back to let her in. There’s no good way to explain this. Maybe I should just let her see it.
When she walks inside, I close the door behind her.
“Oh that’s so great you’re painting, Danny! What are you working on…oh….”
My body tenses as I brace myself for her reaction. I hear the bag of food land on the floor. My gaze falls to my socked feet. She’s quiet as the seconds pass. Crap. Not a good sign. She’s probably so weirded out that she’s speechless.
I huff out a breath and finally look up. But instead of looking confused or horrified, her expression is pure awe. Her mouth is slightly open and she’s smiling.
“Oh my god. You painted me?”
She’s beaming when she walks over to stand in front of the canvas. “Danny, this is incredible. You made me look so beautiful. Wow.”
Warmth pools in the center of my chest at her reaction—at how it’s a mix of joy and disbelief.
I walk over to stand beside her. Together we look at the painting. “I didn’t make you look beautiful, Eden. You are beautiful. I was just putting your beauty to canvas.”
“My nose ring,” she says quietly, staring at the delicate silver ring on the canvas. She gently bumps her septum piercing with her knuckle. “You painted that too.”
“Of course I did. It’s part of you.” She turns, aiming her smile at me. “And it’s hot as hell.”
She tip-toes up to kiss me, slinks her arms around my waist, and hugs me. “Danny, this is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. It’s like I’m your muse.
“You absolutely are,” I say, my lips against her forehead. “Ever since we reconnected—ever since we started working together and started spending so much time together, I’ve felt inspired to paint again.” I clear my throat. “I haven’t painted much since my breakup. But you changed that.”
When she doesn’t say anything, I start to doubt myself. “Sorry, I hope that doesn’t sound weird.”
Eden leans back to look at me. “Are you serious? It doesn’t sound weird at all. It’s hot knowing that I inspire you. That you’ve been thinking of me and spending hours drawing me…” Heat ignites behind her deep brown eyes. “Did it, um, get you hot? To think about me when you were painting?”
The corner of my mouth curls up. “Yeah. It did.”
She bites her lip before grabbing my face and kissing me so hard, I nearly lose my balance. I lean down to scoop her up and she instantly wraps her legs around my waist. I head in the direction of my bedroom, but she stops me.
“No, wait. How would you feel…” Her chest rises as she catches her breath, her gaze searching my eyes. “This might sound kind of weird…and dirty.”
“I’m all for it then.”
She chuckles. “Would you want to, um, maybe…do it…on a blank canvas…with some paint?”
I’m speechless as I take in Eden’s request, which is somehow kinky and adorable all at once.
“It’s just that, well, you painting me got me kind of hot and I thought it would be hotter for us to actually do it. In the paint,” she stammers.
“Fuck yeah I’d like to do that.”
I set her back down on her feet, then grab some butcher paper and set it down on the hardwood floor in my living room.
“I’ll be careful not to get paint on your floor,” Eden says as she sheds her jacket and top.
I yank off my t-shirt, toss it to the side, and stalk toward her. I grab her by the hips and pull her against me. “I don’t give a shit about my floor.”
Leaning down, I kiss her while undoing her jeans. Seconds later we’re both totally nude. I grab a few bottles of acrylic paint from where I’ve set them on a nearby side table. “What colors do you want?” I ask
“Hmm. Let’s do black and orange.”
I quirk an eyebrow. “Interesting combination.”
I dollop a half-dozen blobs of each color on the butcher paper, set the bottles back on the table, and fall back-first onto the makeshift canvas. Eden giggles above me, and I reach a hand up to her. “Join me?”
She settles onto my lap. The feel of her warm, soft, naked body on mine has me hard instantly. I groan, squeezing my fingers against the fleshy curve of her hips. “Fuck, this is gonna be good.”
She leans down, capturing my mouth in a filthy, desperate kiss. Minutes later we’re practically dry-humping, clawing at each other. The paint is sticky and cold against my skin, but something about the contrast in sensations—the wetness of the paint, the cold butcher paper, the hard floor, the heat and softness of our bodies—drives me wild.
“I need to be inside you,” I growl.
“Oh my god, yes.”
I reach over and grab my discarded jeans, fish a condom out of my wallet, rip it open with my teeth, and sheath myself. Eden moves to place herself on top of me, but I stop her, maneuvering so that she’s on the floor now and I’m on top.
I run the head of my dick along her soaking wet slit.
She whines. “Don’t tease me, Danny…”
She moves her hips up, but I pull away.
I smile down at the sight of my girl, hot and writhing, aching for my dick.
“Tell me how bad you want it. Tell me how bad you want my cock, Eden.”
She gazes at up at me, her deep brown eyes cloudy with arousal. “So bad. Please, Danny…Please give me your cock.”
I shiver at the sound of her begging for my dick. I slide the head inside of her.
She groans. Her eyes roll back.
She whimpers. “More, Danny. I need more…”
Feral pleasure rips through me. Fuck, this is hot, feeling just how much she wants me.
Heat pools at the base of my spine. With my free hand, I grip her chin. Our gazes lock.
“You want this dick, baby?”
She nods. “I need it, Danny. I need your dick inside of me. Now. Please.”
That wild feeling inside of me takes hold. My cock is throbbing, aching to be inside of Eden’s perfect pussy.
When I finally slide into her, we share a loud moan.
I still, savoring the hot, wet feel of her.
“Fuck, Eden. How do you always feel this amazing?”
A desperate growl rips from my throat as I start to thrust. She tightens around me and my brain turns to mush. She feels too good, my body can barely handle it.
I dig my fingers into her hips. “Every single time I’m inside of you, I lose my mind.”
She flashes a pleasure drunk smile at me as I thrust. When I pick upside and thrust faster and deeper, that smile fades. Her eyebrows crash together, and a panicked look flashes in her eyes.
“Yes, Danny. Just like that.”
I keep that steady pace for a minute.
She drags her fingernails down my back. I growl at the pain. Fuck, it’s hot, feeling her get rough with me.
Her chest heaves as she pants. “Fuck me harder…faster…please…”
Her breathy pleading is my kryptonite. I’d do anything she asks me to as long as she says in that desperate, pleading tone.
I take in how her tan skin is covered in splotches of black and orange. Her flawless face is smeared in paint and it makes her look equal parts wild, messy, and gorgeous.
I grab her leg and wrap it around my waist, deepening the angle between us.
She tilts her head back. Her eyes roll.
It feels like an electrical current is pulsing through me. My skin is tingling, and my blood and muscles are hot.
I drive fast and hard, the pressure inside me building and building to that inevitable peak. I watch as she moves her hand between her legs to help get herself to the end.
“Yes, baby. Work that pretty little clit for me,” I rasp.
I feel her calf start to tremble against my lower back. She’s close.
She works her fingers faster around her clit.
Heat flashes from my dick and balls to my abdomen. “So fucking hot…”
I drive harder, as fast as I can. She breaks with a howl, thrashing against both the floor and me. I come seconds later, collapsing on top of her when I finish.
For a couple of minutes, we’re quiet. It’s just the sound of our panting and the butcher paper crinkling under us every time we make the slightest move.
I roll off Eden and lay down next to her. She twists her head to me, flashing an exhausted and drunk grin.
“Wanna see our handiwork?” I ask
She nods. I stand up on the butcher paper and help her up. Together we look down at the splotches and smears of paint. There are no clear shades of black or orange on the brown butcher paper, just blobs and swipes of this burnt brownish color our bodies have made.
“Huh.” Eden squints. “I thought it would be prettier than this.”
I burst out laughing. “Cutest reaction ever.”
She scrunches her face and shrugs.
“I think it looks great,” I say, pulling her into me. “Well done. You’re an artist now.”
She giggles into my chest.
“Come on.” I take her hand in mine. “Let’s take this to the shower.”