Page 18 of Her Patron
Sette dropped her bag on the floor in front of her bed. “You’re busy.”
“No… I…” June looked down.Oh, my God!She was naked from the waist down, her skin glistening and flushed with leftover arousal from Miquela’s touch.
“I’ll come back later when you’re cleaned up.”
Sette bent down to pick up her bag. Where was she going? She could leave her things here. She was forty-five minutes early, but June didn’t mind.Where are you going? Don’t go anywhere…How was it possible that June was as relieved to see her as she was scandalized? Was she… embarrassed? What the fuck!
“Or…” Sette put her bag down again, but did not turn to face her. “I could paint you as is. Could be a fantastic piece, really.‘Courtesan Caught.’The question is… if it’s not the painter, then who is it that’s mussed up the model?”
Don’t you dare shame me.
June thought that, yet the words coming out of her mouth were, “I’m sorry. I should’ve known you were coming soon.”
“Hmph. She must’ve been good, though. To knock you out like that first thing in your work week. I wonder… could any other woman compare today? Or are you done?”
“What are you asking?”
She looked over her shoulder, thin eyes narrowing into slits. “Don’t play coy with me, please. Let’s work.”
“I don’t want you to paint me like this.” June shoved aside any covers beneath her, messing up the bed she had made before lunch. “If you do, you’ll be doing it to spite me.”
“Don’t take me that way.”
She was slowly unpacking her things. The little easel. The pencils. The brushes. A small canvas. There were tubes of tester paint she used to get a feel for what colors she wanted to use when she painted later. Sette didn’t touch those yet.
“I’m sorry.”
Usually, she would interpret her own phrase to mean that she was sorry she was in such a state when her appointment arrived. It was not exactly professional.
I’m genuinely sorry. I’m… ashamed?
No, not ashamed. June was never ashamed of what she did for a living. Other clients could deal with it, or they could see themselves out of her place of business and far, far away from her body.I’m not ashamed about that, per se.What was she ashamed of, then?
Was it… hurting her? Was she even hurt?
Sette’s visage softened, and in turn, June’s heart did as well. Relief coursed through her like a gently flowing stream. Good.Good.
“You’re a beautiful woman, June,” Sette said, setting the canvas on the easel. “No matter who has touched you.”
The relief quickly changed course and turned into fire.
“I know you didn’t mean what you said,” she spat. When Sette merely sat on her stool and looked at her, unchanged, she became even more incensed. “Don’t you dare call me dirty.”
“I would never say such a thing.”
“You implied it!”
“What the hell do you want me to say?” Finally, some emotion! Cold-shoulder Sette was not sexy. “I find you passed out in bed with another woman’s fluids all over your damn skin!”
A pause. Then, June laughed.
“What the fuck!”
“Only a doctor would sayfluids!”
Sette gaped at her in disbelief. June, meanwhile, continued to laugh, hand clutching her bare stomach and doing God knew what to her insides.
“Come on, June.” Sighing, Sette slumped on her stool, still in disbelief. “Think of this from my perspective. Did you have this planned?”
