“I’ve been focusing on my own work, thank you very much. How is your search for an agent for Mason going?” Caleb dragged the studio lights closer to illuminate the picture which was framed against a black drop cloth.
“Give me another week on that. I’m concerned, Caleb. You’ve been there for a month and a half, and the best thing you sent me was a manuscript. I’m in the business of representing artists, not writers. Now, you say you’ve been focusing on your work, but you have nothing to show for it. I’m at my wit’s end with you to be honest.”
“Calm your tits. I’m working.” Caleb juggled the cellphone to his other ear as he took a test shot. The flash briefly washed the room in brilliant white light. “I’m taking photographs to send to you as we speak. You said you wanted something great, not something thrown together.” Caleb adjusted his position slightly and took another shot. “And I think you’ll be happy with the rawness of this one.”
“So, who is he?” Gregoire asked curiously.
Caleb smiled. “He’s nobody, Greg.”
“Oh, he’s somebody. You knew exactly who I was talking about without needing clarification. Is he your new muse? That’s a refreshing change. Buyers might love that, coming from you, the consummate playboy.”
Caleb sighed. “He’s nobody. By the way, thanks for the birthday gift. I think I’ll treat myself to the strip club tonight with the money you sent me, if they even have one in this backwater that is.”
“I thought a little cash might make your day since you won’t touch your savings. You’re out there living like a poor starving artist, aren’t you? I don’t know why you insisted on disappearing. It’s all a bit pretentious isn’t it?”
Caleb laughed. “Walking around New York City without a shirt was pretentious. I like to think of my seclusion as romantic. I’m a modern-day Monet, up at dawn, painting the Atlantic sunrise.”
“Whispering sweet nothings to your new male lover.”
“Don’t,” Caleb bristled. “What I’m doing over here has nothing to do with what I do over there.”
“Then, you admit it? You have a thing for your writer? Oh, this is going to be good! I can’t wait to see the paintings.”
“Keep your sordid homoerotic fantasies and speculations to yourself. He’s barely legal, he’s too inexperienced, and I’m too old for a sexual revolution.”
“Listen to me, you stubborn fool. If he can get you to paint with the zest you used to have, hold onto him, for your own sake.”
A knock interrupted the conversation, and Caleb looked at the door nervously. “I have to go, Gregoire. I’ll be in touch, promise.”
He threw open the door and saw Mason standing there with a very troubled expression. Caleb put up his guard as he did not want to instigate another round of intimacy. He really had believed that Mason would stay away as instructed.
“I’m sorry to interrupt…do you have time to talk?”
Caleb gestured for him to come into his apartment and slowly closed the door. “Your parents…?”
“They’re at dinner with my older brother and his fiancé.” Mason sat on the sofa and rested his elbows on his knees, pushing his fingers through his hair. “I have a dilemma.”
“What is it?” Caleb took a seat across from him.
“I need to figure out a way to fund a gap year. My father believes I’m incapable of coming up with the money, but I’m determined to make it happen.”
Caleb quirked a brow, wondering how he was supposed to help. “Maybe you could contract out to small businesses for a while?”
Mason’s eyes met his. “That would keep me from having to commit to a corporation. Good thinking.”
“You look drained,” Caleb said with concern. He hesitated but his earlier resolve was failing fast and he finally reached out and ran a hand through the other man’s hair. “Do you think you could sneak away? It’s my birthday and I’m going out tonight. You could use a taste of the nightlife, too. It’s the cure for the blues.” He grinned.
Mason smiled shyly. “Um, I could tell my parents I’m going to the library?”
Caleb sat back, relaxing. “We can hang out for a few hours to take your mind off things. Meet a couple girls, have a couple drinks. After that, you might be able to come up with a better solution to your problems. What do you say?”
Mason chuckled and nodded. “Let me call them and tell them I’m going out. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
As Mason left the room, Caleb resolved yet again to keep his hands, and every other part of his anatomy, to himself. He was taking Mason out because he hated to go out alone and because the kid needed a break.
“C’est la vie,” Caleb muttered as he searched his closet for something to wear.
He had meant what he told Gregoire. Mason was too young for a relationship and for the heartbreak of a casual affair. Caleb decided he would take him to the strip club to remind Mason that he liked pretty blonde girls. He hoped that would be enough to retarget the other man’s desire away from himself.
Chapter 6
Mason’s patent leather shoes whispered over the concrete floor of the Men’s Show Club. He smoothed his thick hair and tugged the blazer of his shale gray suit, unaware that he had garnered the attention of nearly every woman in the building the second he had entered. Beside him, Caleb cut an equally impressive figure in a white suit and red sneakers. They both looked like money.
Caleb O’Hara was completely at home in the environment, but Mason Sinclair wasn’t. He had never been to a strip club. He had told his parents he was going out with a few friends. Mason knew his father had questions about his uncharacteristic behavior. He had not forced the issue, and Mason had not volunteered further information.
The dark, smoky room pulsed with heavy bass, and eight dancers were on the stage. The selection was broad—from bubbly blondes to smoldering red heads. Servers dressed in alluring costumes were walking the floor. Bouncers dotted the establishment, clothed islands in a sea of near-naked flesh. The weekend crowd was boisterous, shouting suggestions for the dancers to get dirtier.
Caleb ushered Mason to a spot near the action, and Mason’s eyes followed a svelte woman swirling down a pole. “Happy birthday, hyungnim,” he murmured. “Let’s have a drink to long life. My treat.” In the back of his mind, he pondered why Caleb would bring him to a place like this. Was it a test? He found the women attractive. Test passed. His gaze skated to the man who sat next to him.
Caleb called over a server and ordered cognac. “How’s this for a night on the town?”
“Fantastic,” Mason lied. It was too loud and much too crowded. He sighed and leaned in the scoop-back chair, restlessly tapping his fingers on the stage that doubled as a tabletop. Caleb swatted Mason’s chest.
“Take your pick. I’m buying you a dance tonight.”
“No.” Mason colored and looked down with a smile. “How about you get one for yourself, okay? It’s your birthday.” The woman crawled seductively to the edge of the stage and whipped her long hair back as she stared at Mason with a look that said she would gladly eat him alive.
Caleb chuckled softly. “You look liked you’d rather be anywhere but here. Let’s go to the back. It’s probably quieter, at least.” Caleb casually strolled to a curtained door where a bouncer stood guard. He peered over his shoulder at Mason, and Mason grabbed their drinks and slowly followed. “Two private dances. Your best,” Caleb said quietly.
He flashed a large amount of cash, and the bouncer nodded discreetly, pulling back the curtain. Mason studied the purple-lit corridor with interest. The walls, floor and ceiling were all painted black. The cacophony of the main floor penetrated minimally once the curtain swooshed closed behind them, and the frantic energy of the crowd was absent. He turned to Caleb who put his hands on his shoulders and smiled triumphantly. “Loosen up. You’re going to enjoy this. I promise.”
“Caleb…” Before Mason could voice further protest, two giggling girls came entered behind them. He raised a brow.
The club had, indeed, supplied its best. The women were pin-up perfect. He got an eyeful of cosmetically enhanced breasts poured into tiny shirts, hourglass figures flaring to narrow hips, and perfectly formed tight asses. Both wore school girl outfits. Mason swallowed with difficulty.
“Are you the two for the private dances?”
Caleb produced yet more cash and the girls beckoned for them to follow.
“Right this way, boys.” The blond one of the two ushered them into the lushly appointed private room.
Mason pushed aside his reticence and looked around. It was not as bad as he had expected. There were two burgundy chairs and a bistro table. Mirrors lined the opposite wall, and a gilded chandelier dripped just enough light to add enchantment. The brunette strolled to a hidden stereo system to cue up music.
“It’s my birthday, ladies. Make it special,” Caleb replied with a wolfish grin. He threw himself into a chair and waved Mason to the other. Mason took a seat, staring at the half-dressed women. What had he gotten himself into? “Particularly…” Caleb grabbed the wrist of the blonde and smiled up at her as he directed her to Mason’s lap. “Make it special for him.”
Mason tried to relax. The blood was already rushing to a region below the belt, and the sultry music that poured from the speakers increased his tension. He gripped the seat of the chair and let out a slow breath as the blonde slid intimately against his body. He glanced over at Caleb where the sexy brunette was slowly lowering herself with a rolling motion of her pelvis.
Mason bit his bottom lip. The girl in his lap glided smoothly back and forth. It is just a dance, he told himself. His erection was hard to hide with the blonde all over him. She smelled like cherries, and she looked unbelievable. But she was not the reason for his physical reaction. It was the look on Caleb’s face. It took Mason right back to the grassy knoll where Caleb had gotten him off in the most erotic, taboo way possible. He still struggled to insert that little cameo into his everyday reality.
Caleb watched him while the blonde seductively simulated sex. Mason sucked in a breath as she bounced up and down on his cock with her damp, hot snatch stroking his swollen manhood. “Somebody’s happy this birthday,” she giggled.
Caleb groaned and let his head drop to the back of the chair, staring at the brunette. The two women shared a look and backed away at the same time. Mason hastily took a sip of his cognac. “What’s going on?” he murmured. “Why did they stop?”
Caleb grinned and toasted glasses with him. “You’ve really never done this before, have you? It’s time for the clothes to come off.”
There was a naked woman in Caleb’s lap doing her best to dry-hump him to climax. His head swam from the nearly empty bottle of champagne chilling on the bistro table. The getting to know each other phase was over, he guessed. The last thirty minutes of the hour-long private dance promised to be even more intimate than the first thirty.
The brunette slid to her knees on the floor between his legs and took his erection between her breasts, masturbating him with the globes. He sweated and loosened the collar of his shirt as his hips strained forward involuntarily. “Mmph!” he moaned, chuckling. He was hard enough to chop wood.
After a similar night at this kind of club in New York, he could have his pick of women to take home. A glance at Mason reminded Caleb that he wasn’t in New York and that there was nobody waiting at the attic apartment to take the edge off.
Caleb licked his lips and forced himself to pay attention to the woman smiling and jiggling her breasts around his stiff cock. “You like that?” she asked. His hard-on said more than words could. The irony was that his erection had little to do with her.
He let his arm drop to the space between the two chairs where Mason’s arm already dangled. Their fingers brushed, and Caleb closed his eyes as the sparks of arousal hit home. He knew he should pull away. It was an accidental touch, a completely meaningless touch. So, why did it make his heart race? He held Mason’s hand. The darkened room provided cover, and Caleb allowed himself to believe the indiscretion would not be seen.
His pelvis rocked forward and back to the faster tempo of his private dancer; yet, his fingers danced over Mason’s teasingly in a separate erotic interplay. He was more aware of Mason than the woman. She whipped her hair and rolled her hips while Caleb marveled at the softness of Mason’s palm, trying not to remember what they had done on the grassy knoll. Trying harder not to fantasize about Mason returning the favor.
“Is she being good to you?” Caleb’s foot touched Mason’s.
Mason squeezed his hand and laced his fingers through the other man’s. “Caleb-hyungnim,” he sighed with arousal. Caleb enjoyed what the sensual exhale did to his being. His body hummed. From beneath half-closed eyes, he watched the blonde straddle Mason’s lap and writhe against him. She made sensual little sounds of pleasure, feigning arousal well. Mason’s eyelids squeezed tighter. “Caleb!”
Don’t say my name like that, Caleb thought as he shook his head. His own dancer climbed into his lap, mimicking her companion. As she rocked against him, she draped her arm over his and took Mason’s hand. Smiling mischievously, she brought his fingers to Caleb’s mouth.
“Happy birthday, baby,” she cooed. Caleb locked eyes with her. She traced his quivering lips with Mason’s soft fingertips. Caleb’s tongue darted out for just a taste. Mason gasped as Caleb helplessly closed his lips around his middle finger and gently sucked. Just a taste would not do. He wanted every inch of him. Mason jerked with euphoria.
Caleb felt his cock spasm at Mason’s reaction. With a groan, he sucked harder, listening to the sound of Mason losing control. A burst of Korean words filled the room. “Yeah, sweetheart!” The blonde clutched Mason’s shoulders and danced with greater intensity. “Don’t stop!” she cooed. Mason’s face reddened. Caleb could picture exactly how stiff Mason was. He knew what had the blonde going crazy.
“Ah, God, Mason…” Caleb moaned and kissed between his fingers and licked his way to the tip of the digit, taking it back into his mouth. Caleb felt he would explode. He felt it coming. He growled as the brunette brought Mason’s hand down between their bodies, and his cock pressed intimately into Mason’s palm as she grinded.
Mason caressed him shyly, but he grew bolder as Caleb thrust against him. He stroked Caleb through the thin barrier of his slacks, gripping tighter, jerking faster. Caleb emitted a strangled moan as the lust swelled within him.
“Is this what you really want?” the brunette whispered. “Don’t be shy. We won’t tell.” She beckoned for the blonde, who shook her hair back with a sultry whimper and leaned closer. The two women gathered each other’s faces and kissed, but the two men hardly noticed. Mason squeezed the tip of Caleb’s cock. Caleb only half-heartedly tried to stop him.
Mason leaned closer, and Caleb clutched him by a fistful of his hair and dragged his mouth to his. His erratic breathing poured past Mason’s lips in a fiery kiss.
Mason forgot the girl in his lap. He throbbed in tandem to Caleb’s pulsating cock in his hand. He rubbed up and down as something took control of him—curiosity, arousal, insanity—he did not know what. All he knew was that he wanted Caleb naked. He wanted to feel his hard heat quaking in his fist. The look on Caleb’s face spurred him beyond rationality. It was as if they were the only two people in the world, and this emboldened Mason.
He cupped Caleb’s balls and fondled him as Caleb rose and fell from the chair. Mason wantonly kissed Caleb’s neck. He rubbed down his chest and unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt to touch his chest with his free hand. His fingers played over Caleb’s nipples. Caleb groaned his name, and Mason went back to his lips to continue the passionate kiss.
Mason’s erection stood at attention in his pants, and he felt like he was wearing too many layers. Perspiration dripped from Caleb’s forehead, even though the room was not overly hot. It was the fire burning between them that made the shale gray suit seem too heavy. Mason cupped the back of Caleb’s neck and dove his tongue d
eeper into his mouth as Caleb pumped faster into his hand.
Mason shuddered with pent-up frustration. He felt the tension in the room tighten and something forbidden was about to happen. He feared it and wanted it at the same time.
The blonde turned around and stroked his erection with her ass but she could not steal his attention. He envisioned himself molding to Caleb in the same way, imagined Caleb letting him push inside and ravage him the way he so craved.
“Uhn! Yes,” he groaned.
Mason had never experienced anything close to the desire he felt for the artist. This dark room filled with music was a place where fantasies came true for other men. Why not for them? Caleb’s vocal moans and sobs of pleasure filled the room. Mason gave his wrist another flick and Caleb’s dick expanded still more beneath his trembling fingers.
“I told you,” Caleb groaned tersely. “I told you this would happen if you didn’t stay away. Ah, Mason!”
Caleb grabbed his wrist in a vise grip and uncontrollable tremors wracked his body. Mason felt the explosion of wetness through Caleb’s pants. Caleb moaned and pushed deeper into his hand, his cock spasming with shockwaves of ecstasy. Mason stared at him with wide eyes. He had not intended to take things that far.
His body begged for the same release. However, Caleb’s expression darkened with anger. How were they supposed to explain this?
Behind his eyes lights sparked and flashed. Caleb was jolted by the force of his orgasm and he realized that his body had been waiting a lifetime for Mason’s touch. His climax left him winded and lightheaded. He tensed, trying to stop the shudders that rendered him helpless, but he could not stop until he was spent.
Caleb sucked in a breath and forced the brunette dancer off him. “Hey!” she yelped. He threw money on the table as he quickly fled the room. “Caleb!” Mason called after him. “Hyungnim!” Caleb walked faster. He dashed past the staring bouncer and darted behind the curtain to see what was wrong. Caleb heard Mason’s footsteps pounding behind him in a light jog as he wove around tables, not even looking at the exotic dancers gyrating on the main stage.
Room for Rent Page 6
