In Flesh and Stone by Hal Bodner

Author:Hal Bodner [Bodner, Hal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781467903622
Published: 2011-11-17T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

“Holy Mother of...”

Nadine was, for the first time since Alex had known her, almost speechless. The older woman reached out her hand as if to touch the canvas and stopped, scant inches from the still tacky varnish, and drew it back.

“Jeez, Louise,” she breathed. “It’s...it’s...” She gave up trying to express her opinion, taking it in with an expression of awe.

Even Corey, normally not at all sensitive to art, was at a loss for words, gaping at the revealed splendor of Capricorn Emergent. He wore a pair of beige slacks which probably cost as much as a week’s rent on the gallery space, with a deep midnight blue silk shirt, open to midway down his chest, the muscles of his pecs and shoulders clearly evident beneath the sleek material. Alex couldn’t help noticing how nicely the color set off his complexion, highlighting the darker auburn and russet tones and forcing the brassier reds and starker sun-tinged yellows into repose. He looked a little pale and some tiny lines had made their appearance at the corners of his eyes. Doubtless, Charles Wannamaker had kept him awake all night and well into the morning and, though Corey was nothing if not a night owl, he usually restrained himself to a few hours of strenuous sex starting around one in the morning, just before the clubs closed, and was usually asleep by four. Charles, on the other hand, Alex knew to be an early riser and an inveterate napper and had many years of cross-time zone travel under his belt. He’d also recently discovered the benefits of Viagra. Charles would be tired, of course, but Corey must be exhausted.

Corey had always been an amazingly good-looking guy, not only because of his physical gifts, but also due to his youthful exuberance and devil-may-care attitude towards almost everything. When Corey entered a room, even if his face had been swaddled in rags and his body hidden beneath layers of frumpy sweaters, his inherent energy alone was a bright beacon sufficient to cause heads to turn. But now with his fatigue showing, however slightly, Alex suddenly saw how he would age and was shocked to realize that if in the blush of youth, Corey was beautiful, as he grew older, he would become shockingly stunning.

Alex turned his attention to the banker and was not surprised to see him perfectly tailored as always – though if Alex looked closer, he could see a slight smile of surfeited satisfaction whispering around the corners of his mouth, as if he were subconsciously trying not to break out with a boyish grin of pleasure. From the moment he and Corey had arrived at the gallery in response to Nadine’s call, he’d been drinking the younger man in with his eyes, mentally undressing him and, Alex was willing to bet, eager to try out more tricks from his sixty-plus years repertoire of sex, desperate to impress Corey and convince him to stay this time.

The artist had stubbornly refused to reveal his latest work until both his best friend and his most ardent collector had arrived.

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