AN: Thanks so much for the reviews! I don't have a chance to answer yet—I'm going camping for the next few days—but I thought I would put this out there for you guys to read and enjoy. Love, Kricket

Chapter 2

She could do this. Penelope was ready. She'd sharpened her pencils, dabbed her charcoal sticks with some water, and made sure her gray eraser that didn't leave marks was at hand. Now all she had to do was prepare for her first live viewing of a naked man. She was an artist, almost a professional. She could do this.

She hoped to God she didn't giggle hysterically.

"Ladies and gentleman," Madame Grosskilz said, strolling into the center of the classroom—there was one man in the Stationary Forms class.

Right behind Madame was the man they had to draw.

Penelope didn't have a clue what he looked like. With lightening speed, she'd looked downward at the man's feet and wished that she'd sat in the rear for once. The room was set up with the easels in a circle, lining up one by one, like the petals on a daisy. Penelope arrived early every day for the best view, but today... Damn her nerdy hide for always wanting to be up front!

That being said...goodness, he had big feet. They were long, with long toes and high arches. They were nice-looking feet, a lovely mocha hue that would be fun to capture in the black and white charcoal/lead drawing. She loved that color skin; it reminded her of—

The hair on the back of her neck rose. It couldn't be...could it?

"Please welcome our model by paying the highest amount of respect and courtesy to him. Be respectful; he is a human and crafted by a master Artist, just like the statues you have drawn in the past. I expect," Madame enunciated carefully, "that you will all be professional. Any misconduct will cause you to be removed from the classroom. You have two hours to complete your drawing."

She turned to the model and said, "Sir, you may remove your robe and stand in the center."

"Any particular way I'm supposed to stand?" a familiar, wonderful voice said.

Penelope's stomach began to churn. Oh. Oh,no. Oh, no, no, no.

One glance told her, Yes.

Sure enough, there was the familiar face of the man she loved...along with every other part of his body. Every single...enormous part.

She closed her eyes and tried her best to breathe normally and calm her flaming face. Mercy, she had to be beet red; her whole body felt unnaturally hot.

"Act natural, changing positions every five minutes to allow the students a better view."

"Sitting? Standing?" he asked.

Madame gave a smile. "Any way you'd like."

"I don't want to screw this up."

Madame chuckled. "My dear, this isn't hard, just—"

"The hell it isn't!" some girl cackled with from the back, followed by a stream of rather randy wolf whistles and giggles.

Madame frowned, and the crowd quieted. "Ladies! Please, be professional and ignore the slight problem—"

"That ain't slight!" the same girl cackled, causing another roar of laughter.

A surge of protectiveness rose inside of Penelope. This was her Derek, the man that had helped her when she needed it. He didn't deserve to be heckled or catcalled. He was doing this for artistic purposes. She turned in her seat to glare, and—

"Silence!" Madame barked, causing the room to be quiet. "Who said that?"

Unfortunately, Madame was deaf as a doornail. There was no way on earth she would ever figure out who was causing the noise and disruption, making poor Derek so uncomfortable.

Thoughts rolled through her head about how embarrassed he must feel. He couldn't control his body's obvious reaction any more than she could control breathing. She looked up at him to give him a reassuring and sympathetic look.

He was grinning. In fact, he didn't look like he was bothered by it at all. He stood there, maybe a little blush coloring his cheeks, and struck a pose like Madonna's song "Vogue."

That was surprising to her, but she was glad for him. If he didn't mind, then that was a good thing. He was being professional like she was, just brushing the embarrassment away.

And maybe Prentiss was a touch correct: he liked showing off.

Penelope picked up her pencil and began to scratch a rough outline. It was odd; she always thought the male figure would be kind of boring to draw. All those flat planes and lines, strange protruding things and dangly bits; it didn't seem appealing to her at all. Now that he'd come in and stood there, she saw the appeal.

She realized she could draw him all day. She had a side view of him: the sleek line of his back, the curve of his masculine buttocks, the thickness of his thighs, the sinew in his arms and calves. She wasn't bold enough to stare and draw what had gained everyone else's attention, but she focused on everything else.

As she sketched, it was almost as if she were touching him, feeling each wonderful definition. The blush was fading, leaving a warmth stirring in her blood. She lost herself in her drawing, feeling as if she were a sculptor, carving his perfection, making certain that each light and shade did him justice.

"Beautiful," she whispered huskily.

Penelope had a habit. She always talked to herself when she drew, and this was no exception. However, most other times, what she was drawing was not alive. She was shocked when he turned his head and looked directly at her.

This is kind of fun! Derek thought as he stood there, posing like Arnold Schwarzenegger had done when he was crowned Mr. Universe. Luckily, he ran in different circles from this crowd; nobody in here knew him. He'd been a little worried that he...uh...wouldn't be "impressive" to look at—even with the hard-on. He'd heard favorably from girlfriends, and he'd seen a few pornos, but a guy never really knew...

As he'd walked in, he'd seen the faces of the girls, and many of them had winked and smiled at him. A couple others had their heads down, preparing to draw, but the bolder ones appraised him. When he'd dropped the robe, those same bold girls had looked impressed, which was a nice confidence booster. But when the girl had shouted the catcall, it solidified his confidence—and unfortunately, his erection—and he began to grin. He couldn't help but smile, regardless of how embarrassed he felt. It was damned flattering!

Oh well, he'd get over it. He'd put on a game face and move on. He had nerves on the football field, too. This was no different.

Except he was naked.

He was about to chuckle at his thoughts, when he heard a sexy, breathy voice whisper, "Beautiful."

He turned to look and nearly fell off the platform he was standing on.

"Penelope?" he said as he watched her huge blue eyes widen even more, until they were visible behind her coke-bottle lenses. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. She was magenta, she was blushing so ferociously. He could almost feel the heat radiating off of her scarlet cheeks.

Once she started breathing again—Derek was pretty sure she hadn't been for a minute there—she gasped and looked down at her lap, like she was guilty of stealing cookies or something.

Derek's heart went out to her. She was a nice girl, a little freshman from the "nerdy sorority" next door, as his ex called it. She was maybe a touch awkward and strange because she rarely talked, but she was nice. She seemed to want to fit in and was always watching him like she needed a friend. Of course, he was busy with stuff, being a junior and on the football team, so his social obligations were pretty full. Add that to the fact they didn't swim in the same pond, he really hadn't had a chance to get to know her. Maybe after class, he'd stop and ask if she was okay.

Time went by, and ironically it was Derek who was the one who was staring. The rest of the class, she never looked up. She continued to barely touch her pencil to the paper. It made him worried that she wouldn't complete the task. At least the tomato redness of her face had dulled to a rather adorable pink. He tried to look other places, but he kept being drawn back to her. She had pretty skin, nice dark blonde hair, and really full lips. He hadn't noticed that about her before, that her lips were puffy and kissable. He wondered if her boyfriend enjoyed those lips?

"Ten more minutes," Granny Instructor—Derek couldn't remember her name—said to the classroom. That caused his Penelope to look up.

Derek could tell she was doing everything in her power to avoid looking at him, but still, her eyes would shift and her cheeks would begin to flame again. He shook his head; they definitely needed to talk...and soon.