Excerpt Day: Blank Canvases by Winnie Jerome

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Blank Canvases by Winnie Jerome
Release Date: 07/2009
Publisher: Torquere Books
Publisher Link: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2074

Blurb: A frustrated, aging artist who makes ends meet with a dead-end day job is seduced by a beautiful young man who wants nothing more than to pay for his meals and have sex at every opportunity. It sounds like an ideal match, but Kurt's passionate, irresponsible lover, Garrett, is keeping secrets. Worse, Kurt's muse has abandoned him entirely. What does Kurt have to lose in order to find his muse and his happiness again?

Excerpt:

The first customers of the day were starting to trickle in, so Kurt stopped obsessing over his problems and put on his best fake smile instead. The early ones were mothers shopping for their children, and some of them were very high maintenance. Speaking of which, one of them was talking to Kara, and her voice was starting to rise in pitch while she complained about the shoddy condition of the book she had bought yesterday. Kara nodded and seemed to be agreeing, but Kurt could tell by the tight set of his co-worker's lips that she was keeping her temper reined in.

A soft buzz signaled that another customer had entered the store. Kurt braced himself for another difficult helicopter mom before he turned around. He was pleased when the customer turned out to be a very good-looking man.

The guy had wide hazel eyes, and short brown hair that was styled with the utmost care. He wore slim-legged jeans that rode so low that if he stretched the wrong way, he'd be arrested for indecent exposure; lean muscles and baby-smooth skin peeked out in a tantalizing fashion from underneath the hem of his T-shirt.

The brunette was heading straight for the counter, so Kurt reined his hormones in and put on his best professional demeanor. "Can I help you?"

"Uh... yeah. I have a really lame question to ask." He had a deep, rich voice that belied how innocent he looked. The sultry tones went straight to Kurt´s cock, and it took a huge effort for him to pull his head together before he could talk again.

"There's no such thing as dumb questions. Ask away," Kurt managed to say in a steady voice.

His nonchalance seemed to take the edge off the brunette's nervousness. "I'm, you know, looking for some samples of artwork, but I don't know where to start. Could you recommend something?"

"Well, it depends. Are you looking for impressionist, expressionist, or Baroque?"

"Japanese."

Interesting. Maybe the man was doing research for a paper.

"Are you looking for the more modern work?"

"I'd kinda like to look at some of the classical stuff."

Danger signals flashed in Kurt's head, warning him of someone who would have to be asked a million questions in order for him to figure out what they needed. "Which era?"

"Um... I don't really know. I suck; I'm really clueless on this stuff."

He had such a lost expression that Kurt couldn't help feeling sorry for him. He abandoned his usual cynicism and signaled to Rob to take over the counter.

Once Rob was in place, Kurt led the young man to the stacks. "Let's start here... what's your name?"

"Garrett."

He pulled a book from the shelf and flipped to the middle. "Well, Garrett, this one has a pretty good spread of classic artwork... "

"Oh, my God, that's it!" Garrett stabbed his finger down on a picture of a koi. "Do you have anything with more of these?"

"Not in stock," Kurt replied. "Sorry."

"Just my luck. Shit." Garrett slapped his hands over his mouth. "Damn! I didn´t mean to say that."

"Don't worry about it. If I wasn't working right now, you'd probably get your ears burned off from my potty mouth."

"Oh, really?" Garrett replied with a sly grin. "I think I´d give you a run for your money."

He gave Kurt a look that was both mischievous and wicked, lacking any of the innocence he had displayed earlier.

Kurt's throat went dry. Garrett couldn't be older than his mid-twenties. He doubted that the offer was serious, but his job sucked as it was, and the boss wouldn't be in until much later. He may as well spice things up a little.

"Is that a dare?"

"Might be," Garrett said. "Why don't we find out?"

Before Kurt could answer, Garrett grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the bathrooms. He didn´t have time to register what was happening before the door slammed shut. Garrett was on top of him in moments, attacking him with lips and tongue, kissing him until his head was spinning.