Chapter 11
Sette
“Marvelous,” Sette’s agent said, gazing upon her one finished work and another two sketches already in progress. “You’ve outdone yourself.”
Sette didn’t want to look proud, but she certainly felt it.
I know it’s my best work yet. Look at her.
She hadn’t mentioned who June was or what she did for a living.
Only that she was a live model for a new series of paintings.
If Joy the agent had come over the day Sette called her, then she would’ve found Sette beaming in so much pride that she would’ve been sick.
Five days later, however, she was in better control of her emotions.
Not that it stopped her from thinking about June, no matter how much Zara warned her not to.
Who else do I think of in the shower, though?
Or in bed by herself. Something about that woman had the power to make Sette touch herself over and over again.
“I’m glad you like them.” Sette offered Joy a cup of tea. She declined. “I’ve worked out a deal with her. I plan on creating a whole series of erotic paintings.”
Guffawing, Joy turned away from the finished product and went back to staring at a rough sketch on another easel.
Sunlight streamed through the studio windows, illuminating the golden paint of June’s hair.
Sette found herself constantly staring at it, remembering the way June’s hair glowed in her bedroom. Then I fucked her. Oh, well.
“Erotic paintings are a great sell, although it will be difficult to find galleries willing to take them. People are getting conservative again. Such things work in cycles.”
“You’ll find a place, right?”
Joy snapped a picture on her phone. “I’ll show them around. Don’t be surprised if I call to schedule some private viewings.”
That was what Sette wanted to hear. She didn’t need to make a living off her art, but she did appreciate the validation.
Everyone knew she had the technical skill to create great paintings, but so far, most were underwhelmed with her subjects.
Since meeting June, however… Fuck me. I could paint her all day.
Zara’s suggestion that she do a series based on the women of the Manoir was ludicrous.
Sette couldn’t stand the thought of sitting down to paint any other woman. Unless she was with June, perhaps.
“I won’t lie to you, Sette,” Joy began, running her fingers through her thick black hair. “This could be good for you. I’ve got contacts in Tokyo who might go for this. They love the erotic stuff there.”
“Not in Hong Kong though, huh?” Joy had many international connections, but Hong Kong was her home playground and the main gate to the rest of Asia.
Joy waved her hand. “Hong Kong isn’t into this right now. It would be a tough sell.”
“Got it. The Japanese, it is.”
“Of course, right here in America is the best place to start. This is a European style, but those Euros have seen plenty of Anglo nipples these past few centuries. Get your name going here and in East Asia, and maybe you could break into Europe.”
That was almost too good to be true. Sette had never courted ideas of being a hit in Europe. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she pleaded. “I’ll be happy with a show near here.”
“I’ll be going to New York soon. Can you get me two more finished paintings by then?”
“I’m going to be meeting with the model tomorrow. I should be able to complete these sketches, then get to coloring them.”
“Good.” Joy studied the completed painting again. “What is her name?”
Sette hesitated, not that she expected Joy to recognize her model. “June.”
“Wow.” The agent turned away. “How classic.”
Glad we’re on the same page. Sette had been doing research on the name recently and discovered that it was derived from Juno, the Roman goddess of love and marriage.
Not to mention, the queen of the gods. Perfect for a woman as beautifully rough as June Kingsley.
“It’s an unconventional name for a woman as young as her, but it suits her. ”
“To be sure.” Joy’s phone rang. “Hello? Joy Cheung speaking.”
Joy left only a few minutes later. Sette gazed at her canvases, in awe not of skill, but how well June’s beauty spilled from paint.
If Sette wasn’t careful, she would become lost in a world that did not exist. Not until she was back in that bedroom with her, anyway.
Shit. Maybe Zara was right. Nah. Sette wasn’t the type to fall in love with a woman like June. She hoped.
Women like Sette had no right to speak of self-control when they spat in its face – and lost themselves in women like June.
To be fair, Sette knew she would make love to her when she came to see June that Wednesday. What she didn’t count on, however, was going to her only halfway through her work so she could inhale that flowery perfume.
“What is that? Rose?” The words were barely uttered. Sette was so enraptured with her body that every other word was punctuated with a heavy kiss to her naked skin.
“What?” Apparently, June was lost in what they did as well. “Huh?”
“This perfume.” Sette breathed the scent in deeply, exhilarated. “Is it roses?”
“Oh!” Was that from understanding what she meant, or from Sette’s hand rubbing her between the legs? “Lavender!”
Lavender? Now Sette imagined June in a bed of lavender, like she was in her own bed right now.
They had started with June posed by the bright window, hair covering her body, but her coy look expressing everything she thought.
Those come-hither eyes had been the undoing of Sette Christie.
She wouldn’t be able to work until she had spent more money than she ever intended.
Funny how little she cared about the money now.
Every woman has her hobby… maybe spending money on her is mine.
“You like it, huh?” The purr in June’s voice made the poor woman too eager to bear.
“You mean the perfume… or you?”
“Both. Fuck me.”
She was already naked, and Sette was half naked.
Even so, she didn’t want to be inside her quite yet.
Sette would rather explore her skin, kissing this, licking that, becoming acquainted with what made June’s body so unique and irresistible.
It may not have been good form for an artist to become so enamored with her model on a personal level, but this was different.
June knew how to separate herself from the work.
Did Sette? Fuck off with that question. Her fingers sank into June, enveloped in an intoxicating heat that made her fuck her with purpose – the purpose of getting June off.
Sette wanted to watch her come before she lost her mind. Even if June faked it, Sette wanted to enjoy the fantasy she paid for. Anything that fueled her imagination.
“Oh, my God!” June thrust against Sette’s hand, those mesmerizing breasts hypnotizing her as they swayed with every movement. “You feel so good!”
She tried not to laugh. She may not have paid for any other woman in her life, but she was pretty sure that was pure sex worker talk. At the very least, her voice was not convincing. The rest of her, however? Sette was sure that was all her work.
“You don’t have to say anything,” she told June. She’d rather not hear the platitudes, unless June truly meant them, even if they were an unconscious reaction to something she truly felt. “You don’t have to do that with me.”
June opened her eyes to give her a stinging look. That only made Sette want her more.
Indeed, it took renewed self-control not to plunge into her right now.
Sette had succumbed to June’s wiles a lot sooner than she intended – sex was supposed to be Sette’s reward for a good day’s work.
That didn’t mean she wouldn’t draw it out a little bit.
Make sure June was truly ready for her. Feel her body close around her fingers.
Watch her arch her back and spread her legs wider.
Smell that wonderful fragrance that emerged from her body.
Hear those guttural moans that no woman could fake.
All Sette did was fuck her with her fingers – and maybe suck one of her nipples – and she was already coming.
She didn’t delude herself into thinking she was that good. Or that June was that easy. But she did go ahead with the idea that Sette was willing to have fun if June was, too.
“Fuck!” June’s hands snatched the bed covers, body stiffening as every breath caught in her throat. Sette couldn’t pull her fingers out if she wanted to.
She didn’t let June rest. By now, Sette was so famished for her that she only wanted to feel how good June was around the rest of her.
June welcomed a kiss to the lips and Sette’s hips between her legs. Before long, Sette had what she wanted – and June instantly groaned beneath her.
Any intention to make slow and intimate love to her went out the window. Sette could not help herself. What else was she supposed to do, other than hump her completely senseless?
From the way June reacted, Sette had a feeling this was her preference as well.
“Sette!” she cried, hips bucking to meet hers. “Don’t stop!”
She wouldn’t. Not until she couldn’t go a moment longer.
That didn’t take long. Thinking about June so much for so long had turned Sette into the most wanton creature this side of Earth.
The moment she pressed herself against her, heat to heat, all she could think about was climaxing.
The warmth of June’s body soaked into her skin…
the way June’s thighs tightened around her, the friction building with every grind…
goddamn. Did she think Sette was a god? That she could go on forever, rocking them together until June shattered again and again?
For as much as Sette wanted to live up to that kind of hype, she knew it was impossible.
She was a mere mortal woman. A woman who would have to be happy with going for as long as she could.
Women like June made that difficult.