by Eliza Master
The Shibari Knot
The Shibari Series #3
Eliza Master
Copyright © 2019 by Eliza Master
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover design by Bookbranders.
Contents
1. The Spin
2. The Peretti Ring
3. The Gray Powder
4. Chicago
5. The Limo
6. DNA Proteins
7. Tying Up
8. Nima
9. Gayle and Katrina Collaborate
10. Eggs
11. Originalle
12. The Tea Cup
13. Gayle’s Problem
14. Complications
15. Nima is Herself
16. Birth
17. Renata’s Office
18. Competition
19. Lost
20. Tinder
21. The Playground
22. Introspection
23. Katrina and Jamie
24. Dognapping
25. The Campfire
26. On to Europe
27. China
28. The Show In Amsterdam
29. A Deal Is Made
30. Abramo Gets Involved
31. The Armory
32. Genesis
33. On Their Way
34. Inside the Laboratory
35. Renata and Rose
36. Abramo Sleeps Badly
37. Robert Johnson
38. One Year Later
About the Author
About the Publisher
1
The Spin
Renata arrived early to the theater on Nob Hill and took a seat in the front row to the left, saving a place next to her for Cherise. The pierced girl from Club Destiny had never been a friend, but she had loved Danny too, so tonight they were companions. Renata’s chest tightened at the thought of her lost friend and lover.
Before Danny died, he had recommended Dmitri, whom he called the Shibari Man, to her. Dmitri had left a lasting impression on Renata, as had his beautiful knot arrangements. He was the same shibari master from the only other bondage performance she had seen. Now he was coiling up skeins of thick black rope at the back of the stage.
He was handsome with that chiseled jaw, thought Renata. And he looked muscular under his suit jacket, even if he was a bit thin for her taste. Renata watched closely as Dmitri wound the rope into neat piles as if in a trance. Her gaze penetrated the air, and as if he’d felt a soft tap, Dmitri turned and met her eyes. A connection flashed between the two, making Renata’s heartbeat quicken.
”Thanks for saving me a spot,” Cherise said, as she slipped into the neighboring seat, moving Renata’s coat out of her way.
“Of course, and good to see you,” Renata whispered as the lights began to dim. She turned her attention to the front, where an assistant was placing laminate circles, ruby red and about two feet in diameter, across the stage in a line. In front of the line of circles he placed a wooden plank with five holes. He adjusted the circles, using the plank holes as a guide.
The room was dark now. A DJ stood in the back corner, wearing headphones over one ear and swaying to the beat the music. Light flooded the stage as the sound split into layers of house music. Like attentive children, the audience waited for the show to start. Renata sat on the edge of her chair, anxiously biting a hangnail.
Dmitri the Shibari Man entered the stage barefoot, but was otherwise fully dressed in a blue suit with a tie. A skein of black rope hung in a looped bundle over his shoulders. It looked heavy and was wrapped around him like a snake. Renata observed that the free end hung over his left shoulder, which she knew meant he was right-handed. She checked and saw that the binding knot of the skein was loose; that way, the rope could be pulled out easily for tying without upsetting the remainder of the skein. Like a big cat, Dmitri deftly placed each foot with precision. Renata wondered if he were a trained dancer. She hoped his eyes would flit towards her, but his focus stayed completely on task.
Renata contemplated her own knots. Recently her shibari practice had evolved inward to a very private place. Since she broke up with Alexa, she hadn’t made any close friends to talk to. Sometimes Renata would self-tie herself tighter than she should. She would pull until it hurt, yanking the tears out from inside.
Other days, Renata tied herself sexually, slipping the rope between her legs, usually over thin panties so that she didn’t bruise herself. She’d learned how to tie her pussy from Danny. Damn, she missed that man. After the pussy knot, Renata would tie diamonds around her breasts with one rope line perfectly balanced across each nipple. The nipple rope tie was the hardest to self-tie because she had to estimate the length and then straighten up to see if she got it right. Once achieved, she would pull the rope against her nipples until they hardened. Then she would tug on the pussy knot. If the knot were perfectly placed, it would rub on her clit, unleashing intense feelings of ecstasy. Usually Renata pulled on the ropes while lying on her back with her satin sheets underneath. She liked the doggie position, too, even though she was by herself and it sometimes made her feel lonely.
“Oh, wow!” said Cherise softly. Renata’s focus returned to the stage. Five nearly naked women filed out and stood on a red circle. They were wearing matching ballet slippers and black panties. All of them had nipples painted in the same shade of crimson as the lipstick they wore.
Dmitri circled around the back of the line of ladies as if inspecting them. He reached around the waist of the woman on the far left, who was standing directly in front of Renata. He trailed his hand around the under curve of her breasts, like he was petting a cat or embracing a lover. Then he drew a finger up her body and placed both hands around her neck in a loose stranglehold. The woman tilted her head to the side in response. Then she closed her eyes and opened her mouth in a silent moan. Abruptly, Dmitri released her and moved to the woman in the center. He grabbed her ponytail and jerked her head back, revealing a lily-white neck. Still holding tightly, he reached down into her panties, splayed his fingers over the front of her triangle, and stroked her.
Abruptly, Dmitri removed his hand from the woman’s vulva, but still held her ponytail tight. Then he pointed at the other women individually. In response to his gesture, they knelt and folded onto themselves one by one. Each woman contorted herself into a different body pattern inside her red circle. One held her knees in front, and another lay in the fetal position. The remaining two stayed standing. The woman farthest from Renata posed in a lunge, and the other stood stiffly with her hands by her sides.
Releasing the center woman’s ponytail, Dmitri tied her with the rope on his shoulder. He made hishigata diamonds from her vulva and chistsu up around her breasts, and finished with the free rope ends behind her torso. Renata couldn’t see Dmitri’s back knotting, but she knew it must be the basic kannuki latch.
She appraised the picture before her, memorizing it for later. The ponytail woman stood fully dressed in rope to her knees. Dmitri’s sensuous diamonds along her body made her breasts pop and her nipples stiff. He had left her arms untied, and they floated innocently by her sides.
Dmitri continued tying the same woman. He tied her legs in a double column pattern from another skein, and then brought those ends forward for the audience to see, laying them on the stage. He bowed over them like he was praying, while the audience applauded. Renata thought it rather early for clapping, but joined in anyway.
Next he built a rope ball from the ends and set it on the floor in front of the plank.
It was the size of a baseball and looked like a seeding dandelion. The ball still had two long ends coming from the top, which Dmitri laced through the center hole in the plank in front of the ponytailed woman.
Without lifting the plank, Dmitri inserted the long ends through a metal ring that hung from the ceiling. Renata saw that he would use the ceiling ring as a pulley. Then he pulled the rope tight, which lifted the plank and the tied woman. With perfect precision, Dmitri flipped the girl into suspension without touching her. His ball-knot served as a break between the plank and the tied woman, protecting her. After she was suspended, Dmitri tied the rope ends to a recessed hook in the stage floor and stepped back. The pace of the music increased with an added dubstep beat.
The girl spun slowly, as if she were in amniotic fluid. She folded her arms in without fear or hesitance despite the fact that she was hanging upside down. Dmitri took a deep bow, and the audience clapped enthusiastically. Renata got her phone out and took a photo, impressed by the display of talent before her.
She was mesmerized by the mechanics of Dmitri’s knotting. Some of his knots were similar to hers, but others she had never seen before. She examined Dmitri’s hands. They matched his perfect face, alabaster and hard. His hands flew delicately from girl to girl in the line like a bird hopping gently from perch to perch. As Renata watched Dmitri tie up each woman, she felt a completion inside of her. It felt like the women had needed to be tied.
The middle girl rotated slowly in a womb position, the wooden plank wobbling above her. Dmitri pushed it free for a moment, forcing the ponytail girl into a spin. Her hair flew out like a solid wheel.
Stopping the board abruptly, Dmitri went down the row and secured the rope’s ends to the plank above each of the other four bound women. Each rope had a rope ball as a buffer for the wood plank.
He suspended the women on the right, while the left-end girl dropped into a squat for counterbalance. In a moment, all the women were hanging. The two inner ones were roped into a backbend and hung on their sides. The curve of their bodies opposed each other and faced towards the edges of the board. The outer women were hung upside down with their legs crossed and bound like mermaids.
Dmitri stood next to the ponytail woman in the center and braced his legs. He pushed against the plank hard, twisting it. Renata saw his muscles straining, but his face stayed relaxed. Then Dmitri walked to the edge of the plank and pushed it around several times in a circle, while the five women hung from it. They bobbed as Dmitri wound up the rope. The winding had twisted the rope that fed into the center ring above the ponytail woman; it looked like a black candy cane.
With his hands holding the plank at maximum twist, Dmitri looked into the audience and smiled. Renata clapped, and he looked over at her directly. She felt that same connection as before. Then Dmitri took a deep breath and jumped to the edge of the stage. Standing right in front of Renata, he gave her a little bow. She smiled, but watched the spinning women instead. The pressure released, and the plank went round and round. The two outer girls flew perpendicular like fan blades, and the inner women formed a spinning circle. They spun so quickly that they looked like a flat disk. Meanwhile, the woman in the center spun more slowly.
Renata’s heart opened. She had never seen anything so beautiful and wished she had filmed such artistry. As the spinning slowed, a black curtain dropped from the ceiling and the lights came on.
“Is it over?” Renata whispered to Cherise.
“I think so.” Cherise was scanning the program. “Yeah, it is. I’ve got to go pee—I’ll be right back.” Cherise disappeared. People were shuffling around, but Renata stayed put, soaking in the performance.
“Miss Renata?” Dmitri touched her upper arm gracefully, drawing Renata to the point of contact. It felt like the deep push of a massage. Their eyes met with mutual awareness. Dmitri’s grasp held energy and equine beauty, and he didn’t remove his hand. An electric heat grew on Renata’s arm. She knew from his aggressive gaze that he would not release her until she removed him. His steel blue eyes met her warm hazel ones as he increased the amount of pressure he was exerting. It started to feel like a pinch.
“Danny told me about you,” said Dmitri. Renata watched the contraction of his pupils as he spoke Danny’s name and wondered what their relationship had been like. Danny had loved men and women, and had been kind to all. Had he been Dmitri’s lover? Without faltering, he went on in a sonorous tone, “He said you were different—special—em, good.”
Before replying, Renata dislodged his hand from her arm. She felt like she was removing a serpent. Renata could tell Dmitri wanted to look her up and down but wouldn’t let himself. Instead his eyes stayed completely focused on hers, as if they had agreed on the parameters.
“Yes, I’m different,” Renata said, because it was true. She was enjoying the praise and attention from the shibari man.
“Would you like to try out for our company?” asked Dmitri.
“As a tied girl?” Her words came out louder than she had intended. She was sure Dmitri wanted to bind her. But Renata didn’t trust anyone anymore; she wouldn’t allow herself to be tied and vulnerable. Danny was the only one she had let do that. Anyhow, she didn’t want to be a submissive for this guy, even though he was incredibly handsome.
Dmitri’s face cracked into a smile, and he chuckled. “Not to try out as a tied girl, if you don’t want to. You would like to tie?” His accent was sexy, thought Renata. Dmitri lowered his head and broke eye contact. Then he grinned at Renata, calming her defenses.
“Yes, I can, sir. I do tie,” Renata said formally, like she was in the army. Something about Dmitri put her on edge. She pulled out a personal skein of silk from her purse, finally understanding why she had been carrying the cord around since leaving Brazil. It was a lovely deep teal, a shade greener than the man’s blue eyes. Stored in a silk bag, the cord was smooth, with no loose tendrils.
Carefully, she reached for Dmitri’s hand and drew it forward. She gathered the other one and positioned his palms together with his fingers straight out in prayer position. Dmitri’s skin was milky and soft, and his fingernails had big half moons.
“Hold,” she said, and he did. Renata’s fingers danced around his hands as she knotted them together. In less than a minute she had his hands covered with rings and knots all perfectly tensioned like lace. Renata left only his right pointer free; the gesture was a small gift.
Cherise had returned, and a small circle of onlookers had gathered around.
Renata looked up, noticing the crowd, and smiled. “I can tie, ” she said to the group.
Dmitri raised his tied hands skyward and touched the tip of his pointer fingers to his lower lip, still in prayer position. “I am Dmitri,” he said. Then he pointed his fingertips towards Renata, closed his eyes. Dmitri tipped his head to her in a humble bow.
2
The Peretti Ring
Fortunately, Renata had been able to keep her own work schedule. She took a deep breath. Her sense of smell seemed to be on overdrive—was that a symptom of pregnancy? Luckily the barfing had been at the apartment only—so far.
The weekly cleaners had freshly polished the furniture in Renata’s new corner office. She had heard they used some plant-based cleaning solution, for which Agri-Gen was the supplier. Renata sucked in the immaculate executive air, daring it to set off her nausea. The windows presented a picturesque view over the San Francisco Bay, and the top third of each pane was filled with the expanse of clear, blue sky, with cotton ball clouds dancing across the top of the glass.
Work had become like therapy for Renata; a break from worrying about the pregnancy and her future. And the coffee here was divine. Her mind lingered over the thought of the warm black elixir. She rested her forearms on the clean desk and shifted her focus to her job.
The computer screen glared at Renata, waiting for direction. Yohimbe production stats blinked at her. She stared back as the numbered columns floated in her head. The home pregnancy test had
been positive, and any lingering doubt had vanished with the results of a second stick. Renata had missed two periods, so she must be at least four to six weeks along. And she felt sick constantly. There was still the option of getting an abortion, she reasoned. It would be her second, but the first one had been painful, and she had developed a minor infection afterwards. She had been only nineteen then.
Renata wanted to have this baby, even though she had no idea how she could raise a child. Worse, she wasn’t even sure whose it was. Erik, Adam, and Miguel were all possibilities. Renata was afraid to talk to anyone about that. Of course, she knew the baby was hers, and that was all that mattered. So far Renata hadn’t told a soul about the pregnancy or set up any pre-natal appointments, deciding instead to wait until it was necessary. Besides, she enjoyed the secrecy.
She twirled her new Peretti ring around her middle finger. Saturday she had decided she needed something new; something special. Shopping was one of her favorite pastimes. Renata had been promoted at Agri-Gen as project manager, so her wallet was full. Also, she and Miguel had sold the fertile farmland in Brazil to Agri-Gen for an unexpected profit, resulting in a sizeable bonus and the feeling that she had earned a reward for her hard work.
The Peretti ring was from Tiffany’s: one round diamond set in a braided silver band. Simple, delicate, and understated. Still, the ring was expensive, and she’d wondered if she really needed it. But the lady behind the counter had asked if she were buying for herself, reading Renata perfectly. She told her that the Peretti was a personal ring, a piece one could buy for one’s self. The lady had handed Renata the ring, which fit her perfectly. Renata moved the ring from her right hand to the left ring finger. For a wedding ring, it looked small, but it did look like an engagement ring. Could be convenient for fending off unwanted attention. She’d had to have it, and now it was hers.