He was sitting to my left, on the couch, and I caught sight again of the various artwork and designs tattooed up and down his right arm. Casually, I gestured at it. "Looks like you've collected some cool artwork already," I told him.
"Oh, you like it?" Robert rolled up the right sleeve of his gray tee, all the way up to his shoulder, to reveal outlines of even more work, yet to be inked in. Even better, he was now showing off one hell of a muscular bicep. "It's all my own work," he said, beaming.
"Really? You drew everything?" I leaned in closer to look.
"Yeah," Robert answered, proud to admit it. "Well, they're my designs; I gave them to the guy, and he's slowly getting them all tattooed onto my arm in a sleeve. Anyway, yeah-they're my designs."
I really was impressed-the guy would have made one hell of a graphic novel artist, and I told him so.
"You think so? I just do it for me." He rolled the sleeve of his t-shirt down again, as I sat back on the couch. Even his fingers were long, clean and well-maintained. Sexy. "So okay Wes, let's get this out of the way -- how much did these cost you?" he asked, gesturing with a thumb at the paintings on the wall behind us.
"Fifteen-hundred dollars."
Robert's mouth fell open. "You're shittin' me."
I shook my head. "Nope. Believe it or not, that's with the $600 discount."
Robert fell back onto the couch hard. "Damn."
"I probably wouldn't ask that much for them, though," I added. "Besides, I'm always willing to negotiate."
Robert laughed, looking over at me. "Man, I couldn't afford anywhere near that. Not with all the negotiating in the world. And I don't dare ask ya how much for the big one, so I guess that's that ..."
He started to rise but I caught hold of his arm, pulling him back down to the couch. "Hey man -- ya never know. For instance -- let's say I started off by saying I thought twelve hundred was a fair price for the big one. Then your counter-offer would be ... ?"
Robert laughed. "Dude, like I said -- that's still not even in my ballpark, money-wise."
I shrugged, so turned on by him now I could almost taste his skin. He smelled of Tag body spray and a scent unique to him -- clean, yet musky and masculine -- and it was driving me crazy. "There are other methods of bartering besides money," I said.
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