you?”
Robin sighed. “That’s what Ryan said too.” He swallowed. “There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”
“Nothing at all.” Dean lay on his side, propping up his phone against a pillow. “Why didn’t you take Art classes? You’re obviously interested in it.”
Robin’s shy smile made Dean’s heart glad. “I guess woodwork won the toss. I couldn’t do both, and I knew I’d need those skills if I was gonna work with my dad.”
“That’s a pity. I’d have loved to have you in my class. Most of the kids who did Art thought it would be easy, some kind of a dodge. The Art history part bored them to tears. From a purely selfish perspective, it would have been so good to have a student in there who was genuinely interested in the subject.”
“I’m sorry I missed out on having you as a teacher too.”
Dean loved the quiet melody of Robin’s voice. He could listen to him talk for hours. “Tell me. Who’s your favorite Pre-Raphaelite painter?”
Robin screwed up his forehead, obviously deep in thought. “That’s tough. I don’t think I could name one. Holman Hunt was awesome, but then again so was Edward Burne-Jones. And I love Rossetti, but Millais was just as good.”
Dean beamed. “Well, you’ve named my favorites.”
Robin’s face lit up. “Really?”
Dean picked up his phone and flipped the camera to reveal the large print on his bedroom wall. He caught Robin’s gasp.
“Ophelia. I love that one.”
Dean flipped the camera again, then replaced it in its former position. He lay on his side, Robin mirroring him, and they talked about their favorite paintings, the model Rossetti used, Holman Hunt’s trips to Palestine to get the lighting right for his more biblical works… It wasn’t until Dean glanced at his bedside alarm clock that he realized they’d been talking for almost an hour.
He let out a soft chuckle. “This wasn’t what I had planned at all for this call,” he confessed.
Robin smirked. “Yeah. I kinda got that.” He stilled. “But this has been amazing.”
Dean had to agree. With one reveal of his books, Robin had derailed Dean’s intentions, and what was to have been a hot bedtime chat had morphed into a fascinating discussion.
Dean couldn’t have been happier.
“I’d better let you sleep,” he said reluctantly.
“We can always talk some more about this tomorrow while we put up the lights and stuff,” Robin suggested.
Dean liked that idea. “Thank you,” he said earnestly. “I haven’t enjoyed a conversation so much in ages.”
“Same here.” Robin’s eyes appeared as though they were about to close at any second.
“Go to sleep, beautiful.” Dean blew him a kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Here.” Robin blew a kiss back to him. “Goodnight, Dean.” Then he was gone.
Dean rolled onto his back. How did he do that? The night had gone nothing like he’d planned, and Dean didn’t give a fuck. What he was left with, however, was the desire to spend more time with Robin. His gorgeous exterior was merely the icing on the cake.
What lay beneath was just as alluring.
Chapter Twelve
Robin got up that Saturday morning as soon as he heard the alarm go off in his parents’ room. Saturday morning was chores time, and had been so since he and Ryan were little. Mom had assigned them a list of tasks to be completed, and every week they’d swap.
Robin wanted to make sure his chores were done so no one could complain when he went out mid-morning. He raked up the leaves from the back yard, and dumped them into the huge sack where Dad kept them, ready to be composted. Then he cleaned the two bathrooms. Next task was to dust and polish in the living room, where he always cursed the ornaments that stood on the shelves above the TV. They’d belonged to his great-grandmother, who had left them for his mom when she died. Robin had never seen so many china dogs.
The whole time he was cleaning and tidying, his mind was elsewhere. Specifically, Dean’s place. Robin knew he was going there to help out, but the subtext was something different. The thought that he might get to see Dean naked gave him an illicit thrill. Not that he hadn’t already fantasized about Dean’s dick, but he wanted to see the rest of him too.
Ryan wasn’t helping. The previous night, he’d sent a link to another porn video, which showed a student stalking his teacher, and ending up getting his ass reamed. Robin was starting to wonder about his twin, who seemed to