Justin receives an intriguing offer just before Christmas.
Stroke of Genius Art Gallery – Chelsea, NY – Three weeks before Christmas
Justin shook the snow off his sneakers as he opened the art gallery's imposing oak door and jumped just before it promptly slammed behind him due to the gusty winds blowing outside. It was brutal winter days like these in New York City when he was thankful that he could walk to the art gallery, even though his shoes were totally soaked now. He grimaced; he had scoffed at his mother's admonition the last time they spoke that he needed to buy himself a decent pair of hiking boots for the upcoming winter weather, but he had dismissed it out of hand, telling her his trusty old sneakers would more than suffice for where he needed to go in the city. Normally he rode the bus or the subway to get around town, but today the buses were running significantly behind schedule due to the weather, so he had elected to trudge through the snow to the gallery. As he stood there with his feet wet and cold and his toes feeling like they were frostbitten, however, he realized just how much he despised snowy weather and how right his mother had been.
Undoubtedly due to the inclement weather, the trendy gallery was noticeably quiet for a Saturday, which was normally its busiest day. He wasn't sure why the gallery owner, Tabitha Montgomery, had called him a short while ago and asked him to come down to see her, but she had said it was an urgent matter. His curiosity had won out over his desire to stay put inside his apartment and just vegetate in his tattered old recliner with a cup of hot chocolate at his side as he craned his neck around to look for the owner, not seeing any sign of her. He could smell the telltale aroma of freshly-brewed coffee, though, so he had an idea she was somewhere nearby. If Tabitha didn't get to drink at least six cups of coffee each day, she claimed she couldn't function. He smiled at the thought as he called out her name. "Tabitha?"
"In my office, Justin," was the prompt reply from the back of the room. "Come on in."
Justin toed off his shoes, wrinkling his nose up in distaste at the soaked socks underneath as he padded over toward the rear of the space that held a separate, spacious office for the gallery's owner. He had first met Tabitha approximately six months ago when he had been in New York City for a short time, oddly running into her at a local coffee house that he frequently patronized in the mornings to get his latte fix. One day he brought one of his sketchbooks with him and was sitting at one of the round, outdoor, wrought-iron tables drawing the people walking by when his work had caught the woman's eye as she was exiting with her espresso. She had stopped to admire his work, one thing led to another and faster than you could say Lana Turner and Schwab's Drug Store, he had found an agent to represent him and a place to exhibit his artwork. In the months since their alliance had been formed, he had been fortunate enough to sell sufficient quantities of his work to allow him to recently rent a small place nearby. It wasn't much – just an upstairs, efficiency-studio apartment in an old brownstone situated on top of a deli – but it was in a safe neighborhood and the building had been meticulously maintained by its owner, not to mention that it had a wonderful amount of light that streamed in from the east windows in the morning that was perfect for painting – so he was quite content with it, considering how monstrously high the rents were in most of the city.
As he walked up to her office doorway and stuck his head in to greet her, he realized she wasn't alone. There was a tall, dark-haired man who appeared to be in his 30's sitting on the couch she kept opposite her desk for visitors. Justin immediately noticed what striking eyes the man had – they were a royal blue, which offset his dark-brown hair perfectly, and his hair was thick and wavy. He was meticulously dressed in a navy blue, custom-made suit with thin white pinstripes, and wore a light gray, collarless shirt partially open, revealing firm, muscled flesh underneath. Even in the suit, Justin could tell the man took great pains to stay fit, noticing the lean, fit frame and the way his body angles molded perfectly to his outfit.
"I'm sorry," he said apologetically with a smile, turning his attention back to his friend. "I didn't know you had a visitor."
Tabitha, a tall, stylish-looking, slender woman in her mid-50's with blondish-gray hair swept up into a loose chignon, waved for him to join them. She took a sip from her mug of coffee before she shook her head and explained, grinning, "No, come on in. This is why I called you down here in the middle of a blizzard."
Justin smiled and nodded at her sheepishly as he entered, noticing her peering down at his feet. "I took my shoes off," he explained to her. "They were drenched."
Tabitha nodded with an amused smile; that was one of the things she liked about Justin. For someone as enormously talented as he was, he was totally unpretentious and down-to-earth about himself. She somehow knew that no matter how popular his art became eventually – and she had no doubt whatsoever that would happen someday – he would never become cocky or arrogant about it. It just wasn't the way he was and it was like a breath of fresh air to her after having to deal with so many snobby, moody artists in her business. "Less chance of scuff marks being left on my expensive, hardwood floor," she teased him as she scooted back from her leather chair and stood up from the desk. "I'd like to introduce you to someone," she told him as approached him and lightly placed a hand on his shoulder to turn him around to face the other man.
As the man on the couch rose for their introduction, Justin couldn't help observing again how incredibly handsome he was; his initial assessment about the man's focus on staying fit had been more than accurate. As he stood up, the man's long, lean, muscled frame came into greater scrutiny. Every bit of his appearance was meticulous as well as elegant, from his coiffed, wavy, black hair, his manicured nails, his expensive, silk shirt and suit, right down to the high gleam of his Italian leather shoes. He held himself tall and erect as he held out his tanned hand, evoking quite a formidable presence. Just then he smiled at him, a broad smile of pearly-white teeth that made him think this man could be called 'Sunshine,' too. But on this person, somehow that named seemed a little too cutesy for him, because he would be called more handsome than beautiful, a word that Brian threw out regarding him from time to time. He forced himself to push his handsome partner out of his mind for the time being and concentrate on the present as he held his hand out to shake the other man's, noticing the firm but not overly bruising grip before they broke their clasp.
"Justin, I'd like you to meet Maarten Van Den Berg," Tabitha told him. "Maarten, this is the artist I was telling you about – Justin Taylor."
The tall, dark-haired man smiled, the action spreading to his eyes that were framed with the longest lashes Justin had ever seen – he thought again about how the irises were the most vivid shade of blue, much darker than his own, and they were quite unique-looking. They seemed to have flashes of silver in them depending upon the angle. He couldn't help staring into the other man's eyes a moment longer than was socially polite before he nodded and the man spoke to him.
"Very nice to meet you, Mr. Taylor," Maarten said with a rich, distinctive accent that Justin couldn't quite place. He was speaking in perfect English, but by the sound of the man's baritone speech, he obviously was a native of some other country. "Tabitha has shown me some of your work and speaks very highly of your skill at portraiture. I'm sure you'll be perfect for me."
Justin's eyes widened as his gaydar went into the stratosphere over the tone of the man's voice. He couldn't be sure if he was flirting with him or not, but he definitely had the idea that this man was a cock man, through and through; after being around Brian for so many years, it was easy now to typically tell the difference between a gay and a straight male and this one was buzzing off the charts in that direction.
"Uh…" Justin swallowed hard. Very glib there, Taylor…Get a grip! he silently admonished himself before he smiled and managed to say clearly enough, "It's nice to meet you, too, Mr. Van Den Berg."
The man shook his head slightly and with a polite smile advised, "Please…Call me Maarten. After all, we're hopefully going to be seeing a lot of each other in the next few weeks. At least you're going to be seeing a lot of ME; that is if you agree to it." The man looked over at Tabitha, who noticed Justin's frown of confusion.
The gallery owner was well aware that Justin was gay – the subject had come up naturally in one of their conversations regarding the sexy, gorgeous man that often seemed to be the focus of so many of Justin's portraits – his partner back in Pittsburgh, Brian Kinney. Justin had told her some of the details regarding the rather unorthodox relationship he and Brian had shared over the past several years, enough to know that her protégé was deeply in love with the handsome man who tended to wind up in most of Justin's more engaging pieces. In fact, Justin had just returned recently from spending Thanksgiving with his partner in Toronto, visiting the man's son and the boy's two mothers. He had come bursting into her gallery with news that he and Kinney had decided they were tired of their long-distance relationship and both wanted to find a way for the two of them to be together all the time. To her slight disappointment, her most promising artist had informed her that as soon as he could arrange it he was planning on moving back to the Pittsburgh area to be closer to his partner.
She had assured Justin that she would be more than happy to keep representing him; she knew a remote business relationship would be more difficult to maintain, but Justin was worth the extra effort. She had seen a lot of artists come and go during her more-than-25-years' experience in the business; enough to know that an artist of Justin's caliber only came around once in a lifetime. She was simply grateful that it had been she who had been the one to discover him, and if she had to work with him long-distance to keep him under her fold she was more than happy to deal with the additional logistical concerns.
Personally, she had come to think of the young artist as a friend as well as a protégé, too, so in that regard she was happy that he and his partner could be reunited. She knew that Justin seemed to spend far too many hours on his artwork and not nearly enough time actually enjoying himself when his partner wasn't around, and while his finished products continued to be phenomenal and sold well for her, she also realized they seemed to be on the melancholy side most of the time when he and his partner were apart. Despite their age differences she really liked Justin – not only was he physically beautiful on the outside but also intelligent, well-spoken, and funny; in her opinion, he would be any gay man's catch, but she knew his heart had already been firmly lassoed by the man whose name seemed to come up frequently in conversations between the two of them. The two men standing in her gallery would certainly have made a striking couple – one blond and pale, the other dark and brooding, but she realized that wasn't going to happen, not unless she wanted to be known as a home wrecker. Which led to the reason why the three of them were meeting here in the first place...
She looked over at Justin with a smile as she explained, "Maarten just moved here from Amsterdam to join his partner in his Manhattan law firm; they're both attorneys. He wants to give him a special gift for Christmas and I told him you were perfect for the job."
Aha. Justin internally slapped himself over his impression that the man was trying to hit on him; now he understood what he needed. He smiled in pleasure at the thought of a new commission until the rest of Tabitha's words sunk in. "Ohhh….You said for Christmas?"
Van Den Berg nodded apologetically. "I know….It's very short notice, Justin. Do you mind if I call you Justin?" When Justin shook his head, he continued. "But this opening for a junior attorney only became available last week, and I was so busy moving my things here that I'm just now trying to think of a special gift for Jacob; that's my partner. He's been so wonderful about going to bat for me at his law firm – going to bat, that is the right term, yes?" Justin nodded with a grin as Maarten continued. "He's been so great about getting me this job so we could finally be together here in America that I wanted to get him something unique for the holidays. I know it's a lot to ask, but it would mean so much to me – and to him. I'd like to commission you to paint a portrait of me that he could hang in our apartment. Do you think you could that in time for Christmas?"
Justin bit his lip in thought, mentally listing what all he would need to do before now and then to get that accomplished. He would have to get the necessary supplies, draw up some preliminary sketches, plus have the man sit for him several times if he wanted him to have it ready that quickly. "I would need for you to spend a lot of time with me in order to get it done by then; you just said you were starting a new job. Won't that take up a lot of your time?"
Maarten shook his head with a smile. "No…They don't want me to start until after the New Year so my salary doesn't affect their budget until then. I can be at your…how do you say it? Disposal; I can be at your disposal as much as you need."
Tabitha raised her eyebrows and looked at him in silent encouragement while Justin mulled it over. "What about your partner, Jacob?" he queried. "Won't he wonder why you're spending so much time away from him? You said it was a surprise gift – won't he get suspicious about what you're doing?"
Maarten shook his head and grinned. "No, I might not have to work but HE does. He's letting me remodel his penthouse as his gift to me, so it won't look weird if I'm away a lot in the next couple of weeks. He'll be at work most of the time anyway, and I can tell him I'm just doing some shopping for new furnishings if I have to; he won't suspect a thing."
Justin nodded, not missing the man's reference to a penthouse; not only a penthouse, but if his partner lived in a MANHATTAN penthouse, the man must be doing quite well. He calculated in his mind what he still needed to do in the next few weeks before he was reunited with Brian back home. The two of them had arranged for Gus and his moms to visit them at Britin for Christmas; in a weak moment, Brian had even agreed to let his son's dog, Tricky (or Cujo as Brian liked to call him) come along as well. Of course, that had been after both of them had applied their own unique forms of persuasion on him. Gus had merely appeared during one of their weekly Skype calls, pleading with those big, brown, doe-eyes to let his dog come with them on their road trip to Britin, telling his father that he couldn't bear to be apart from 'his best friend' and put him in a cage somewhere, while Justin had simply withheld web sex from his partner for a few days until Brian finally cracked and, against his better judgment, muttered that Tricky the Terrorist could come along, too; that was, as long as the dog stayed out of both his personal study as well as the bedroom.
Once Justin and he had resumed their daily long-distance sexual escapades, Brian had advised his partner that despite the animal's ability to perform so many tricks, the only living being who would be rolling over in their bedroom would be him. Of course, Justin had an idea he wouldn't be the only one performing that particular 'trick,' but he had had the intelligence and foresight not to bring that fact up right after he (and Gus) had gotten their way. It had been no small accomplishment getting Brian to agree to have the rambunctious yellow lab stay at Britin, so Justin figured he'd better not push his luck.
He broke out of his musing to notice Van Den Berg and Tabitha staring at him expectantly as he realized that he had been daydreaming. He smiled at them apologetically. "I'm sorry – I was thinking about something else for a minute and trying to figure out if I had enough time to fulfill your request before going back home for the holidays. I imagine Tabitha has told you what a perfectionist I am, so I would want to make sure I have adequate time to complete it before Christmas. And I imagine you would want me to have it framed, also, since it will be a gift."
Maarten nodded firmly, impressed with the artist's conscientiousness. "Yes to both questions. You're exactly the kind of artist I want, Justin. Tabitha showed me several of the portraits you've done; they're exquisite and precisely the type of style I'm looking for. Please tell me you'll do it – I'll make sure you're well compensated for the all the time it will take. Oh – and there is one thing I should probably tell you – I would like for you to paint the portrait with Jacob's penthouse in the background; he's got a wonderful view of the Manhattan skyline and I think having it done there would make it even more special for him. Could you do that?"
Justin pondered that particular condition; he certainly wouldn't mind having the rare opportunity of seeing the inside of a Manhattan penthouse, but the logistics of transporting all of his painting supplies several miles away wasn't going to be easy, not by bus or subway anyway. He hesitated as he told the other man, "I don't know, Maarten. I'm certainly open to using whatever setting you want, but it would be pretty difficult to carry what I need over there using public transportation." Thoughts of other riders jostling all his paint and canvases around on the subway, particularly, made him cringe slightly.
"Oh, no!" Maarten reassured him as he looked at him almost aghast. "I wouldn't expect you to do that! I would send a car to come and pick you for each session with me. Please say you'll do it, Justin. I would see that you are paid handsomely for all your time and trouble."
Justin looked over at his mentor, who nodded encouragingly as a signal for him to do it; knowing Tabitha, that probably meant that she and Van Den Berg had already discussed the financial terms and they were quite acceptable, considering that Tabitha received a percentage of whatever commission Justin received through her intervention.
He turned his attention back to their visitor and finally nodded; perhaps this would be a good way to keep his mind off someone else who tended to occupy so much of his thoughts. "Okay," he told Maarten. "If I devote enough time to it, I'm sure I can have it ready for you before Christmas."
"Wonderful!" Maarten cried out in delight as he clapped Justin lightly on the back. "I can't tell you how much this means to me, and I'm sure Jacob will be very happy with it! Can we start tomorrow then?"
Justin smiled. Why not? "Sure – what time? I would say the earlier the better, because it will take me some time to get set up and I need to study the space to obtain the right lighting for my work. Plus you need to tell me more about what sort of pose you want me to paint for you."
Maarten nodded. "That's fine. I can send the car to pick you up at 8:00? Jacob leaves for the office at 7:30, so the driver should be able to pick you up right after he drops him off. I'm sure I can swear Alfred – that's his driver – to secrecy once I tell him the reason why."
Justin nodded. "I'll be ready tomorrow at eight, then." He looked around for one of Tabitha's business cards on her desk and hurriedly wrote the address down to his apartment before handing it to the other man.
"Wonderful!" Maarten responded as he pocketed the information and the two men shook hands again. I'll be looking forward to seeing you tomorrow morning, then."
Justin nodded as he watched the handsome man gracefully stride from the room, never suspecting that this latest art assignment was going to bring him much more than he ever bargained for.
A/N: Would love to hear what you think.:) Thanks to Boriqua522 for looking this over for me!:)