Free The Art of Appreciation by Autumn Markus Page B

of the graceful lines of her body exposed as she stepped under the water; he could almost feel the smooth curve of her thigh as the first drops beaded on her skin.
    A flash of inspiration struck. Matt took off for his studio, favoring the leg she’d bruised until the stiffness wore off. Running up to his door, he peeked at his watch again and groaned. Fuck a duck. The model should be knocking, he still needed a shower, and he knew from experience that leaving an idea unsketched often led to it slipping away forever.
    He caught a break with the flashing light on the answering machine. Jason Shaw had called to say that he was running late and would get there as soon as he could. Breathing a sigh of relief, Matt grabbed a pencil and the sketch he’d made the night before, adding legs, one lifted as if stepping, to the twisted torso. He refined her hand holding the hair on top of her bent head and adjusted a few lines, making sure the shape of her hips was correct in the three-quarter view he’d drawn. Having just studied the originals, Matt wanted the copy to be perfect.
    A knock on the door startled him. He’d missed his chance at a shower again. “Come on in,” he shouted before he corrected the arch of Pretty’s neck.
    “Girlfriend?” an interested bass voice asked from beside him. Matt looked up with a smile, and there was Pretty’s boy toy. He straightened up and gave himself a mental shake. That’s why he’d seemed familiar—from the photos that had accompanied his resume. Pictures could deceive, though, and didn’t convey the subject’s attitude, which is why Matt required an in-person interview before offering the job. Shuffling the paper off to the side, he smiled. Shaw obviously didn’t know Pretty intimately enough to recognize the figure on the paper. “Nope. Another project.” He stuck his hand out after wiping charcoal-smeared fingers on his shirt. “Matt Clarke.”
    Jason shook Matt’s hand firmly. “Jason Shaw. I called to say I’d be late, but…”
    “Sure, I got your message.” Matt looked his prospective model over and was grudgingly appreciative. Jason had chosen dark twill slacks and a dark button-down shirt that had to have been tailored to fit his arms. He was obviously taking this interview seriously, which was a relief after working with Tyler Oda. Tyler had shown up in cutoffs and a muscle tee and had goofed around so much that Matt had been forced to fire him and work from old snaps of Chris. “I was running, as you can probably smell, and got held up anyway. Do you have a few minutes to kill? I can jump in and out of the shower real quick.”
    Jason nodded, and Matt left him examining the pictures he’d taken of Zoe and Chris. Ten minutes later, he was back and feeling more up to the interview. Jason was studying the body shots of Chris and Zoe closely. “What’s wrong with using this guy?” he asked, waving a picture of Chris. “He’s ripped as hell.”
    Chris’s reaction when he was told that the client thought he was too small still made Matt laugh. “The buyer wanted someone bigger.”
    “My win. I’m kinda glad that Chelsie heard about this gig.” He waved a shot of Zoe, looking at Matt with a raised eyebrow. “Is this who I’m posing with?”
    “Eventually,” Matt said. “I’ll get individual shots of each of you first, and then we’ll see about the couple sculptures. The client hasn’t specified what she wants yet.” A thought crossed his mind. “Will that be a problem, working with another model? I won’t purposely ask you to do anything that’s likely to become…embarrassing, but you will be spending time together stripped to the waist. Zoe has modeled for me several times and is used to it, but—”
    Jason waved his hand. “Forget about it. I’ll be fine. I’m a quick learner.” He looked at the picture again. “She’s my usual type, but lately I find myself preferring someone more like that sketch over there.” He gestured toward the