Under The Desert Sky - a teaser...

For your pleasure, here is a short teaser of my story The Sculpture which is included in Under The Desert Sky anthology from Xcite Books
Hope you enjoy! T x x

Jason gripped the chisel as he always had and pounded it repeatedly with the mallet against the oak block. Every time he glanced at his subject heat rose in his jaw and he quickly took his focus back to his tools.

Pound, pound, pound. His left hand jarred around the thick handle as the blade slipped deliciously through the hard grain of the wood. Jason practically wailed at the innuendos surrounding him. It was all Deborah’s fault. She had insisted her friend Quentin should have a hand sculpted bust made for his ridiculously opulent mansion.

Jason had met Quentin a couple of times before and hadn’t really thought much about him, just that he was a friend of Deborah’s. Now though, standing before him with his torso exposed, Quentin was an awesome sight. Jason almost felt as though he was cheating him, using humble oak to carve out his form when alabaster would have been far more appropriate.

The rise and swell of Quentin’s pecs with the darkened tight nipples made Jason clench his jaw and grip the chisel tighter. The more he tried to see Quentin as an object he just had to copy, the more he felt his rod quiver in his jeans.

‘Could you keep the pose, please?’ Jason hoped his voice hadn’t dropped any hints of his rising arousal as Quentin rubbed his upper arms.

‘Sorry, mate,’ called Quentin peering round the barely touched block, ‘it’s just I’m getting a bit of a draught from somewhere.’

Jason couldn’t believe it; he was practically in melt down, sweat dripping down his forehead and off the tip of his nose. He wiped himself on his sleeve. They had been together over an hour and Jason had only formed the most basic of outlines.

‘Can you hold it for just a bit longer,’ he said, his eyes boring into the wood, ‘I’ll just get the basic shape sorted.’ If Quentin had answered Jason didn’t hear it through the blood thundering in his ears.

‘Jase ... Jase?’ Quentin’s voice finally made it through to Jason. ‘Don’t you think it might work better if you actually looked at me?’

Jason blinked and shook the hair out of his face and slowly made eye contact with the Adonis in his studio. He had never felt so aroused and intimidated by anyone before. All he wanted was to do a good professional job and get paid. He didn’t need this!

‘Listen, mate, if you’re not up to this today, we can reschedule.’ Quentin reached for his shirt and started to pull on a sleeve.

‘No, no!’ Jason panicked and before he knew what he was doing flew over and pulled the shirt from Quentin’s grasp. For a second the world stopped and Jason felt horrified. He stared into Quentin’s eyes, ‘No, I mean, I don’t have any appointments for ages.’ He released his grip on the shirt but Quentin pulled it tight, catching his hand with the fabric and pressing his chest into Jason’s.

‘Good,’ whispered Quentin...


To buy the anthology please visit Xcite Books!