Max kept on his white button-down and blue jeans while Kurt stripped. Then Max cupped Kurt’s ass and guided him through the house to the pool. Once there, he settled Kurt onto a lounger and took in his nude body. This boy should have posed for Michelangelo, he thought.

“Are those paintings we passed real?” Kurt asked.

“They aren’t figments of your imagination.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I have a Roy Lichtenstein and some Andy Warhol at my main residence,” Max said, rubbing Kurt’s body with sunscreen. “There are original works here. Beautiful landscapes, for sure, but not by anyone major. Now that I’m out, I’d like to put up nudes in the bedroom.”

Kurt squirmed. “I posed nude for an artist once. A boyfriend from Beaumont. A minister’s son. He told me he was going to name the piece Slumbering Angel, but instead he called it Putito de Villa, which I discovered means village whore.” Kurt explained his ex went on a mission to Ecuador and learned some rude Spanish.

“That’s the Beaumont scandal you mentioned?”

“Just the beginning. We broke up, and he showed people the painting, including friends of his father’s. Long story short, I was propositioned, turned on by it, and got fucked by three different ministers.” Kurt looked down, contemplative. He seemed to take in Max’s clothed form and then flush at his own nudity. “It was so different than with you and Sven,” Kurt continued. “That had definitely been about their pleasure. But I felt like you two wanted me to enjoy it, too.” His breathing increased. “It was so nice.”

Max repressed a grin. “How did everyone find out about the ministers?”

Kurt flipped over so Max could apply sunscreen to his back. “One of them took video on his phone, and his wife found it.” He raised his head to look at Max. “They told me they were single. I don’t make a habit of giving up my ass to married men.”

The older man nodded. It appeared what Max thought mattered to Kurt.

Kurt continued. “The wife knew all three, so they all got caught. She had the emails of half the ministers’ wives in Texas. That included Reverend Tock back in Egbert. But here’s what’s unfair. People insisted I must have taken money to have sex with men so much older. I did not. I may be easy, but I didn’t do anything illegal.”

“You were lied to, Kurt. And used. You’re not angry?”

“Sometimes. I lost my scholarship because Beaumont State believed I took money. None of the ministers stepped forward to correct that. They wouldn’t acknowledge anything. All three lost their posts, but they have them again now.”

Max found one thing curious. “These men saw a painting of you where you’re portrayed as a sleeping whore. Is there a reason why you gave it up anyway if the name of the painting hurt your feelings?”

Kurt closed his eyes and sighed. “I wanted it. I liked the idea of being on video. Even more? If I had the opportunity to be painted again that way, I’d take it. In fact, I jerk off to the idea of being painted with a man inside me. It would be done in hyperrealist style, and it would show my face, so everyone would see it was me. And it would be like being fucked forever.”

“If there’s already a video --”

“Not the same thing. I feel like if someone devoted the time to paint me, not someone like my ex, but someone who loved me or respected me, then I must be special. I worry all I offer the world is my looks, you know? If someone captured that, I would feel ... I don’t know. Like I’m worthy of being remembered.”

Max shook his head to clear his lust. He would love to be the one fucking Kurt forever in a painting, and having Kurt nude was making his jaw, and his dick, ache for sex. But what Kurt said felt concerning.

“Romeo, we’ve just met, but I already know you’re as sweet as can be. The way you worry about your debt. The work you put in to keep your museum open. You’re a good man. You are special.”

“May I ask you something, Max?”

“Of course.”

“Why don’t I know your last name?”

Max thought a moment about telling him. Not yet. “I’m worried it would change how you feel about me.”

“How I’d feel about you? So, it’s a name I’d recognize.”

Max drank in the sight of Kurt’s muscular young body and swallowed. “I’m certain.”

“I can’t imagine what could --”

Max cut him off with a kiss.