Max closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. He needed to get off this train of thought. Didn’t like how Sean kept managing to distract him. Seriously, the guy was neither here nor there. Bottom line, Max’s diligence had paid off in the end. He’d helped his students with their finishing touches, and the final products looked fucking amazing. The smiles on their faces said they thought as much, too. And that made Max really fucking happy.
High on satisfaction, he turned with a clap toward Blondie. “Alright, Sean. Good job today. Your work here is officially done.” He looked back to his class. “You guys did amazing. Your statues look incredible. Next week we’ll focus on constructing their molds, then the week after that, we’ll cast them in bronze.” He grinned. “You think they look sweet now, wait till you see them all alloyed up.”
His students smiled, anticipation glittering in their gazes as they stared at their labors of love. Sure, the girls’ eyes twinkled brighter than the guys, their statues being of a gorgeous young man. But ultimately, even the guys couldn’t hide their contentment.
Max gestured to the sinks at the back of the room. “Now go clean up already. Class is over. You can ogle your statues later, on your own time.”
That definitely got a few grunts from the boys. And quite a few laughs from the girls. Max smirked, watching them shuffle around, getting their sculptures wrapped and shelved.
Then and only then did he allow his gaze to wander. Over to catch Sean slipping on his shirt. Max watched him for several moments, the first time he had all class, contemplating his next course of action. Something he’d been deliberating ever since Monday about something he’d been planning for a while. Back when he’d set up his class’s end of the year art exhibition at the local gallery just down the road. To submit, along with his students’ statues, a complimentary sculpture of his own. Using the same model, but in a distinctively different pose, to serve as a presentational centerpiece. But that was before he’d met their model.
Max eyed Sean tentatively, not sure what to do. Asking him to pose for Max privately wouldn’t be crossing any student/teacher lines. After all, Sean wasn’t his student. But honestly, that wasn’t even the issue. Or rather, the issues. The guy looked young. Like really young. And respectively, was just way too attractive. Max hadn’t anticipated that. Would it cause complications? Max watched Sean shove on his socks and then shoes, wondering just how old he really was. Something that should probably be the deciding factor. Max should just ask him, and if he was too young for comfort, well then that’d just make Max’s decision a little easier.
Around him, his students began gathering their things to go.
“Alright guys, say thank you to Sean. It was very generous of him to give up his time for us this week. He did an awesome job, and your statues are proof of it.”
“Thank you, Sean.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Yeah, dude. ‘Preesh.”
Sean smiled and graciously inclined his head. His charm knew no bounds. “My pleasure.”
Shoving on his beanie, he grabbed his small, flap backpack and shouldered on its drawstrings. But before he could make much headway for the door, Max deftly intercepted.
“Hey, Sean. You got a sec?”
Sean looked surprised. “Sure.”
Max nodded. Crossed his arms. “I just wanted to thank you personally. You were awesome this week. Very professional.”
Sean smiled really big and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Thank you. Each job is always so different. I like the variety… And it pays good.”
Max’s lips curved. “Yup. There’s always that.”
Sean nodded, those big dark blue eyes of his glinting. Max had to consciously focus to stay on track. Dragging his thumb down the corner of his mouth, he held Sean’s gaze and went for it. “If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”
Sean blinked, brows rising. “You want to know how old I am?”
Max shifted his weight. “Sure. You know, in regards to how long you’ve been doing this.”
“Ah.” Sean eyed him dubiously. “I’m twenty-three. How old are you?”
Max stilled, not because Sean was older than he’d thought, but because Sean had fired his question back at him. “Uh. I’m thirty-one.” He scratched his cheek. “Although, I’m not really sure how that pertains.”
Sean shrugged. “It doesn’t. I was just kind of curious.” His smile returned. “You’ve still got some miles on you.”
Max’s lips quirked. “Just a few. I run my engine pretty hard.”
“I bet you do.”
Max lifted a brow.
Sean chuckled and cleared his throat. “So anyway, now that we’ve got that all filed away…” He eyed Max expectantly.
Max eyed him back. Then forced himself to just spit it out. “Right. Uh. Listen. There’s another reason I asked you to stay behind. I wanted to see if you’d be interested in another job.”