His Canvas

by Tymber Dalton

  “How we doing?”

  Her brilliant smile, her sparkling blue eyes, he wanted to let her fly all night but knew her body would begin to protest at some point, if it wasn’t already.

  “I think I’m ready to get down.”

  He gave her a smile in return. “Had enough?”

  “It’s starting to get a little pinchy. And I’m sure others want to play.”

  “Don’t worry about others. My focus is on you.”

  “Thank you for this.”

  “Like I told you, I’ll never say no to you. This was a privilege.” He unfastened the suspension ropes and slowly belayed her down, until she had her feet under her.

  “Don’t let go of me yet,” he said as he worked to untie the suspension ropes from her harness.

  “Why not?”

  He smiled. “Because I want to make sure you’re steady. I would feel horrible if I got you down safely just to have you crash on me because I didn’t pay attention.”

  Chelbie had already fetched a towel and light fleece throw blanket from the supply of them the club provided and swooped in when he motioned to her to drape the blanket around Mallory.

  “Take her to one of the couches and make sure there’s room for all three of us. I’ll be there in a minute.”

  “What about the harnesses?” Chelbie asked.

  “I want to clear the rig.” He quickly coiled and gathered his other ropes. He’d leave the ring up, at least for now, and let someone else use it. Some riggers didn’t bring their own rings and it always made him nervous watching people rely solely on a carabiner. When others tried to get his attention to talk, likely to ask for a turn with him, he politely held up a hand and pointed to where Chelbie had gotten Mallory settled on one of the aftercare couches.

  Others might think his scene was done, but he wasn’t.

  Not by a long shot. The energy exchange he’d experienced during their tie had felt like nothing he’d experienced in a long, long time. Crisp, fresh, joyful. Beyond the rote mechanics of the tie and the pride in a job well done and another happy customer, so to speak.

  He had felt vested, immersed, drawn into it with her, the rest of the club and attendees fading away outside his range of perception until she was the sole focus and content of his universe.

  He grabbed his bags and headed over to the couch, even happier when Mallory nestled against his side when he sat next to her and draped his arm around her shoulders.

  “So?” he asked.

  Eyes closed, she wore a dreamy smile he suspected was one of her subspace tells. She nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Oh, that’s so cute. You think you’re done.”

  Chelbie let out a snort but didn’t say anything. It was a common line amongst many of the Tops at their club.

  “We’re not?” Mallory asked.

  “Well, not unless you want to go home wearing a rope harness, no.”

  Actually the thought of her doing just that, wearing not just his T-shirt home but his ropes, too, threatened to stiffen his cock again.

  “Oh.” She sounded a little disappointed.

  He coaxed her into lying on her back, her head in his lap, her legs draped over Chelbie. Lacing his fingers through hers, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Doesn’t mean we can’t do other ties tonight. I’ll even fly you again, if you want.”

  * * * *

  Mallory opened her eyes to find herself staring into Kel’s brown gaze. When had she ended up in his lap? She didn’t know and didn’t care.

  She also didn’t want to read more into this. Because she knew damn well he didn’t usually do aftercare on his rope bottoms. Many didn’t even need it, but the few who did, normally their partners or friends shuttled them off to take care of it.

  Yet, here he was.

  Holding. My. Hand.

  Her thoughts swirled, eddied, flowed, emotions bubbling and bursting and retreating as she struggled to deal with this.

  Oooh, yeah. I’m deep.

  She’d never recalled hitting subspace this hard before with anyone else. And she didn’t even hit subspace on a reliable basis. Sometimes she did, sometimes she didn’t.

  This was…

  Sigh.

  She could stay curled up in Kel’s lap all night. Would, too, if he let her.

  When she started to sit up a few minutes later, painfully aware that she was now hogging his time, he laid his other hand on her shoulder to stay her movements.

  “No rush,” he said. “Let’s just chill out.”

  Well, I’m dang sure not going to argue.

  Chapter Ten

  Kel didn’t play with anyone else that night but her. Mallory didn’t know if he was trying to be nice or genuinely had wanted to play with her.

  For the sake of her dignity, she’d take him at his word that he was having as much fun as she was.

  After untying the chest and hip harnesses, he’d sat there with her on the couch, showing her other ties, working with her, joking around and keeping her laughing.

  It was a night she’d cherish in her memories.

  When Mallory and Chelbie finally returned to Chelbie’s house a little after 2:00 am, Mallory hunted for her cell phone again just to remember Chelbie had it.

  “Dammit, I forgot my charger.”

  “I’ll put it on mine for you,” Chelbie told her. “Just go to bed and don’t worry about reality.”

  She leaned against the doorway of Chelbie’s room. “Do you think he had fun?”

  “Who, Kel?”

  “Yeah.”

  Chelbie arched an eyebrow at her. “I think the man was damn sure enjoying himself. I watched him while he flew you. I think his smile was nearly as big as yours. He was really getting off on how much fun you were having.”

  “I know I shouldn’t read anything into that.”

  “Then don’t. Take it for what it was, a great night.” She smiled. “And take the man at his word that he wants to play with you again. He doesn’t strike me as the type to say something like that if he doesn’t mean it.”

  “I’m so tired and brain-fried I’m going to agree with you without argument.”

  “I think Hell just froze over.” But Chelbie grinned. “Now go get some sleep.”

  Mallory awakened late the next morning in the guest room of Chelbie’s house and experienced a moment of disorientation before the events of the previous night came flooding back to her.

  Shivering, she rubbed her hands up and down her arms, wishing the textured ligature marks had lasted throughout the night. She held her arms up and stared at them, where the ropes had been, spotting no sign of bruising.

  Damn.

  She loved having marks. It was always a visual reminder to her of the play, of the feelings she’d experienced, the blissful calm that inhabited her brain during those short mental vacations.

  She wished Kel had marked her.

  In a way that would have lasted more than an hour or two.

  She got up to use the bathroom, meeting up with Chelbie in the hallway.

  “How you doing?” Chelbie asked her.

  Mallory nodded, smiling before bursting into unexpected tears.

  Chelbie shuttled her into her room and down onto the bed. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  “I…” She shrugged, then shook her head, and shrugged again.

  Chelbie gently laughed as she held her. “It was that good, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  Her friend slowly rocked her, comforting her. “It’s okay. Get it out of your system and don’t try to hold it in. We’ll get ourselves showered and dressed and go out for a little pancake coma action to combat your subdrop. How’s that sound?”

  Mallory nodded.

  “Good. I’ll—”

  They both looked up at the sound of Mallory’s phone ringing from on top of the dresser, where Chelbie had plugged it into her charger when they returned home. Before Mallory could react, Chelbie had reached for it, frowning, then grinning when she looked at the screen and
answered.

  “Hi, Kel.” Chelbie backed away as Mallory lunged, trying to wrest the phone from her. “How are you this morning?” Chelbie held an arm out, leaning back just out of Mallory’s reach. “We just got up and were discussing going out for brunch. I think she’s a little subdroppy. Would you like to join us?”

  Mallory flopped onto the bed, mortified.

  “That would be fantastic,” Chelbie said. She gave him her address. “We’ll be ready when you get here. See you then.” She ended the call and dropped the phone onto the mattress beside her friend. “You’re welcome. Get up and get moving. He’ll be here in thirty minutes.”

  “I am going to kill you,” Mallory mumbled into the mattress.

  Chelbie leaned in and kissed her cheek. “No you won’t. You looove me. Just promise me if I meet a guy and have trouble saying hi to him that you’ll kick me in the ass and make it happen.”

  Mallory sat up. “Why did you tell him I’m dropping?”

  Chelbie sank down onto the bed next to her. Her tone gentled. “Because you are,” she said. “I’ve seen you get a little droppy before, but not this bad. I can see it in your face, in your body language. And the crying, duh. As your bestie, trust me when I say we need to nip this in the bud before you get too deep. Hey, he sounded very concerned when he asked how you were, even before I told him. Humor me.” She stood and started gathering stuff for her shower. “I’ll shower in my ’rents’ bathroom. You take mine. Chop-chop, girlie. Time’s ticking.”

  There wasn’t anything to do but let Chelbie have her way.

  Denying she wanted to see Kel would have been a damned lie, anyway.

  They were ready to go when he arrived. Chelbie settled the matter of what vehicle they’d take by declaring Mallory had shotgun in Kel’s truck and making a beeline for the backseat of the extended cab.

  Mallory’s face flushed as Kel took her hands. “You all right?” he asked.

  “I’m…yeah. I’ll be okay.”

  “Ignore her,” Chelbie called from the backseat. “She doesn’t want to admit she’s dropping.”

  Mallory risked a glance up into his face and spotted a warm, kind smile.

  He squeezed her hands, holding them against his chest. “If you two aren’t busy this afternoon, I’d really like to go back to the club and work with you some more.”

  “But they’re closed today.”

  “Well, since I happen to be the landlord, and I happen to have a key to the place, and I happen to be best friends with the owner and have his permission to use it anytime I need it, I’d say it’ll be all right. What do you say? Please? Sometimes a little hair of the dog helps derail subdrop.”

  “She says yes,” Chelbie called out. “Let’s go eat. Pancakes are calling my name in a loud and lonely way.”

  Mallory nodded. “Okay. Thank you.” It would be a great excuse to not think about whatever shitstorm awaited her when she finally forced herself to return home.

  He pulled her in for a hug and it took every ounce of her will not to melt against his body and start crying right there. Usually she only got this emotional after fighting with her uncle. The rest of her life, normally, she could deal with anything else in a fairly straightforward way.

  “I don’t want you to think I’m creeping on you,” he said, low enough Chelbie couldn’t overhear. “I mean it. But I’d like to get to know you better and spend more time with you. I had fun last night, and I really enjoyed scening with you.”

  He sounded sincere. “Thank you. I did, too.”

  “Good.” He finally released her. “Let’s go grab a bite to eat and then we can go have a relaxing afternoon.” They got into his truck.

  “Oh, thank gaaawwd,” Chelbie said. “I thought she’d never chill out and get past her fear with you.” She leaned forward over the seat back. “I know your rep, dude,” she said. “You’re a good guy. That’s why I trust you with her. You hurt her in the bad way? They’ll never find your body.”

  Mallory groaned as she fastened her seat belt. “Did I warn you my best friend is an overprotective whacko?”

  He smiled. “The best friends usually are,” he said.

  Chelbie grinned. “Hah,” she said to Mallory before she sat back and fastened her seat belt.

  * * * *

  Kel had spent a restless night trying to sleep, unsuccessful at getting thoughts of Mal out of his mind.

  Even when he did fall asleep, he dreamed about her, of having her naked, his ropes on her, and…more.

  Marking her.

  Owning her.

  Taking her sweet, creamy flesh and turning her into his canvas.

  Even rubbing one out in the shower when he got up hadn’t helped take his mind off her. He didn’t want to call her too early to check up on her, wake her up, but finally, around eleven, he couldn’t make himself wait any longer. He’d have to risk pissing her off by waking her up.

  He’d been a little surprised when Chelbie had answered, then delighted to be invited to brunch with them.

  And protectively concerned when Chelbie told him Mal was going through subdrop. He’d worried she might from how deep she’d gone into subspace the night before and how long she’d stayed there.

  What he wanted to do was curl up in a bed with her and hold her, soothe her, comfort her.

  I really have got to get a handle on this.

  He barely knew her. She barely knew him. Considering what he’d gone through with Krystal, jumping into a relationship with someone he just met was out of the question. And he wasn’t a casual sex kind of guy, either. If he couldn’t have a relationship with someone, he wasn’t interested in just a one-night stand with them.

  Mallory was someone he suspected he could have a relationship with.

  Anything worth having is worth waiting for.

  Breakfast was wonderful. When they returned to the club, Mallory pulled his T-shirt out of her bag. “I’m sorry I forgot to give this back to you last night.”

  He smiled. “You can wear it again today, if you’d like.”

  The smile she gave him in return lit his soul.

  While she changed, he went into the office and pulled up his personal playlist on the club’s computer and turned on the sound system. Steely Dan softly filled the air. Today would be about getting to know Mallory better. Letting her get to know him.

  And, hopefully, cementing the start of what might turn into a relationship.

  Chelbie sat across the space, on one of the couches, working on her laptop and not really paying attention to what the two of them were doing. Fine by him, because he wanted Mal’s entire focus on him.

  He started with them both sitting, playing with some more artistic ties he usually didn’t use in the normal course of rigging at the club. They took longer to tie, and while functional, he usually had too many people waiting for a turn to spend the extra time being fancy.

  “It’s nice not to have to rush,” he said.

  She looked up into his face. “I hope I’m not keeping you from work or anything,” she softly said.

  “Not at all. If it hadn’t been for this, I’d just be sitting around and watching TV or reading today. I try to take at least one day off a week to recharge. Being self-employed, sometimes it feels like I work harder, and more hours, than I ever did working for someone else.”

  “I hope I can get to the point someday that I can be self-employed.”

  “You’ve got the talent. Your work is amazing. Sometimes I get requests from customers to do things I can’t and have to farm out.” He made a point of meeting her gaze, unblinking. “Now I know who to call to bring in to do that for me.”

  “Who?”

  He reached out and gently touched the tip of her nose. “Silly.”

  She lit up, gorgeous. “Thank you.”

  He suspected from her tone of voice that she still surfed the edge of subspace a little. That she felt that depth of rapport with him didn’t help him hold his lizard brain in check.

  From across
the room, Mal’s phone rang in her purse. Chelbie dove for it before Mal could even react.

  “Oh, no you don’t,” Chelbie called out, holding it up after she’d silenced it. “You keep your tushy right there with Kel. Real world isn’t allowed in here today.”

  When Mal pulled her focus back to him, a dark cloud of worry seemed to have settled over her that hadn’t been there moments before. “Are you all right?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “It was probably my uncle, wanting to know where I am.”

  “Worried about you?”

  “Hah. Not likely. More worried about my nonexistent grad school application. I told him yesterday that I wouldn’t be home until late today.” Her gaze dropped to her hands, which lay clasped in her lap. “I really need to nut up and move out. I keep making excuses to myself. But I know everyone’s right. I need to figure out how to hire an attorney and find out what’s left in the trust, if anything, and move out so I can be done with him.”

  Kel went out on a limb. “Would you and Chelbie like to have dinner with me tonight? Next door at my place. I’ll cook.”

  Her gaze rose to meet his again. “You live next door?”

  “I thought everyone knew that.” He pointed a finger at the club’s back wall. “On the other side. I have an upstairs apartment.”

  He didn’t know where her hesitation sprang from. He finally added, “I meant what I said. I’d like to spend time getting to know you.”

  “Say yes,” Chelbie called out from the other side of the room. He hadn’t realized she’d been able to hear them, much less had been listening to them.

  Mal smiled. “Yes.”

  “Atta girl,” Chelbie said.

  Chapter Eleven

  They spent several hours at the club. The more time Mallory spent talking with Kel, just being around him, the more his calm energy settled and relaxed her.

  She was even able to not think about going home later that night.

  Add in the fact that Mallory couldn’t have loved Chelbie any more for the way she mostly stayed quiet and out of the way, yet providing that extra layer of emotional security, and it was a perfect afternoon.