Chapter Thirteen

Marin

I wiped Kert with a damp towel from the bathroom and tucked him under the duvet. With the way Kert lay limp as I shuffled around to clean us up, I could tell we were not ready for a shower.

I snuggled up to Kert, licking a stray drop of cum from his chin.

He smiled lazily, took my tentacle, and hugged it to his chest. “You were everywhere.” He kissed the top, smooth part of my appendage. “By the end I barely knew what was happening, I only felt good to the limit without it being too much.”

“You read like a book.” I danced my fingers along his thigh under the covers. “And you say what you want, too. You’re a bossy little devil while you can still talk.”

Kert chuckled. “I love planning and organizing shit in life, but the pressure of it gets to me. Submitting in the bedroom gives my head the quiet and peace I need, and you wrenched that control out of my hands in the best possible way.”

“I’d be happy to do that every day.” For the rest of my life. “Until you have to go.”

Kert murmured something in German, then snuggled to my side. “Then I have more requests.”

I kissed his horn. “Hit me.”

“I’ve always dreamt of you sliding your tentacles around me and inside me when I was asleep. So I could wake up to you panting, fucking me, telling me that you couldnt’ wait for me to wake up.” He traced circles on my chest with his finger.

“That’s hot and I’m more than willing to oblige.”

He smiled into my pec. “Don’t tell me when. Surprise me.”

I wrapped my lower tentacles over his waist and legs. “I love y—your wicked mind.” My throat was so dry I had to clear it. My mouth worked faster than my conscious brain. Was this all-consuming lust, comfort, and friendship what love was? Yeah, there was no point denying it. “When you discovered my paintings you said you had something to confess too.”

“Yeah.” He lifted his head and wiggled to sit up, but I pulled him on top of me instead. He rested his chin on his hands, facing me. “Remember that big installation sculpture I’ve been working so long on?

I nodded. “You didn’t want to tell me what it was and told me not to google it.”

“I was embarrassed to show it to you. Then, it blew up in the art circle and on social media, and now I’m sorta famous.”

“What? That’s fantastic. Congratulations.” I squeezed him to my chest then sat up against the headboard, dragging him with me. “Oh Kert, is that why you kept it a secret? You knew I didn’t have my art in galleries here so you didn’t want to make me feel bad?”

“That’s only one of the reasons. You’re talented, and here you’re successful in your own right. If you want recognition, you’ll have it when you’re ready to share more of your work.” He waved in the direction of the room full of paintings. “I wasn’t sure what your reaction would be so I kept quiet about it. The reason is the sculpture itself. Wait, I have pictures from the reveal.” Kert rolled off the bed to get his phone from the other room, showing off his perfect ass, then his swinging cock when he returned. He snuggled back under the duvet, tapped on his phone and turned it to me.

A gigantic structure dwarfed the massive, high-ceiling room of the gallery. Spanning what must be over twenty feet tall was a figure of a man with two legs, two arms and four tentacles.

The raised Tentacles held a globe—much like Atlas, while the hands cradled an anatomically-correct heart. The detailed ridges of every strained muscle were stunning, but it was the face that made me gasp.

“Yeah, I know. I thought you’d find it creepy.” He grimaced, then batted his lashes at me. “But then I saw your art. So we’re even. Sort of.”

“That’s me.” I scrolled to see a closeup. “You spent over a year on a sculpture based on me. The details on the tentacles and my face. The fabric on the groin.” It looked like a delicate, flowy material, blown by a breeze. Except it was from marble too. “Holy shit. I know you’re talented, but this is Luo Li Rong level.”

“Thanks. She’s my idol.”

I zoomed on the sculpture’s crotch. “Good thing you didn’t sculpt me naked since it’s only now that you’ve found out about my cocks.”

He stuck his forked tongue out. “I’d have to add them.”

“You would too.” I chuckled, returning Kert’s phone. “Now I’ll have to go to Berlin to see it.”

“You always have a place to stay. My house is yours.”

“Now that you’re famous, maybe not.”

“Shut up.” He smacked me in the chest. “Now even more than ever.”

The art world consisted of many introverts who hated fame being forced to interact with people, but Kert was such an outgoing social butterfly. “Are you loving it?”

“It was fun at first. Every local gallery knew who I was. I got invited to parties and met artists I’ve been a fan of for a long time.” He sighed, playing with the suckers of my tentacle. “But then the constant invitations for interviews, visits at galleries, art schools, and people asking me to make speeches became too much.”

“And normally you love attention.” I wrapped my hand around his tail as it floated in the air, gently stroking it.

“Exactly. But this was crazy. With the raised expectations for my next project, I’ve been getting calls about what I was working on. But I couldn’t. I sketched a few ideas but didn’t like any of them. I wasn’t inspired. I needed a break, to leave, to take a breath. And I had to see you too.”

“So here you are.” I kissed the inside of his palm. “Is that why you deleted social media?”

“Yeah, with all the positive things came a lot of hate and I chose to avoid all of it. And well, I didn’t want you to see me tagged in the sculpture before I told you myself. Now, my muse returned thanks to all the sightseeing and just being together. But there’s one downside.”

“What is it?”

“My sketchbook is full of doodles of you.” He shoved my chest, straddling my hips.

I snorted. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m going to look at your obsessive art of me to make me feel better.” He stuck his tongue out. “Weirdo.”

“Asshole.” I grabbed his butt with both hands and squeezed.

“Still full of your cum, thanks for asking.” He sat up and wiggled above my dicks. “How many jobs do you have left before Christmas? I’m calculating our time together.”

I pursed my lips, browsing my mental calendar. “Not work, but I promised I’d go to a place upstate near the Adirondacks for a little meet and greet a day before Christmas. And no, it’s not a gallery this time.”

Kert narrowed his eyes. “Are we going skiing?”

I flicked his nipple with a tentacle. “You saw me ice skating. Skiing is a hard pass.”

He hissed, but flicked the other one. “Boo. So what is it?”

“Not very glamorous, but the project gave me a lot of joy. You have to see it to believe it.”

“Okay. No skiing, but I’m excited anyway.” He jumped off the bed and looked at me over his shoulder as he left the room.

I snagged a blanket off the stack at the armchair and followed him as if we were connected by an invisible thread.

He stood in the doorway to the storage room, his back to me, looking at the paintings I’ve amassed over the years.

I wrapped the blanket over his shoulders and hugged him from behind.

“I love them and at the same time, I can’t believe you painted them. Can we hang a few at least while I’m here?” He leaned into me and took my tentacle in his hand.

I kissed the back of his head. “Not narcissistic of you at all.”

“My ass is better in your art than in real life.”

“Not true.” I laughed and nuzzled his neck.

“I love the way you see me. These three will look great in the living room. For now, we can lean them against the wall and properly hang them tomorrow.” He picked one up gently and walked to the room, leaving the blanket behind him.

I grabbed the other two and set them against the bare wall next to the Christmas tree.

Kert put his hands on his hips and nodded in triumph. “I said I’d help you decorate. I consider this a roaring success.”

I admired his square shoulders, his slim waist, and glorious bum with its tail waving in the air. “Yeah. Your ass belongs in my living room.”

“The paintings—” Kert yelped when I squeezed his butt cheeks.

“I meant this one.”

He leaned into me and we stood in an embrace, surrounded by my art and Christmas decorations. That simple moment was so perfect, it would be forever etched in my memory.

“The tree is missing a topper.” Kert wriggled out from my hold and dashed to the bedroom. He returned with a small box full of stuffing paper and pulled out a clay figurine. “I brought it with me in case, hoping you’d let me take charge of your decorations.”

He handed me the lilac-colored star with each arm in the shape of a tentacle with tiny, detailed suckers. “It’s gorgeous.”

While I was admiring the artistry of it, Kert climbed the ladder the kids had used to decorate the tree and extended his hand. “Gimme.”

“I can reach there, you know.”

“I want to do it. You have other places to reach.” With a smirk, he snatched the ornament and strained his lean body to place it on the top.

I traced the back of his thigh with my fingertips up to where it turned into a pert buttock.

Kert looked over his shoulder at me, winked, and stuck his ass out. I bit into the cheek, then kissed it as I slid my finger along his crease. “Are you sore?”

“In a very good way. I could use a massage.” Kert wiggled his bum.

“Like this?” I circled his pucker, pressing in where my cum still lingered.

He moaned, impaling himself.

“I feel like if I come again my dick would fall off.” Despite saying that, he sent his tail to pull me closer.

“It won’t.” I wrapped my tentacle around his hard-on and sent delicate pulsations through it.

“It’s torture.”

“Mmmhmm. That’s the point.” His ass was directly in front of my face, and I nibbled on his fuzzy cheek then kissed it.

“You just gave me an idea for my next painting. I’d keep it to myself too.” I replaced my finger with a lubed tentacle, circling inside his ass slowly.

Kert purred, holding onto the ladder. “Why?”

“I don’t want to expose you. It would be your ass hanging in public.”

“I’ve never been shy. I wouldn’t mind if it was my actual ass, and this one is painted by you.” He flicked his tail in the direction of the paintings. “I understand and appreciate why you kept these to yourself. But don’t do it on my account.” He thrust his butt out, getting more of my tentacle in him. “I hereby give you permission to do whatever you want with my ass. Painted or otherwise.”

A low chuckle bubbled from me. Yes, I loved this crazy krampus. I fucking did. With all three of my hearts.