I suck in a sharp breath and nod. “Okay.”
I reach for one of the red ropes hanging and look up. I have a vague memory of wanting to see her dangling from the ceiling, ropes holding up her breasts then wrapped around her thighs.
She’d be so pretty hanging there, stretching her body, existing in the black space between heaven and hell.
I smile.
Maybe she’s right.
Maybe I’m both Maks and Sim.
Because the idea has me grinning with anticipation as I grab a Gorgone rope and decide to involve her pretty braids in the ties.
“Take off your shirt.” I whisper, “Actually, take your shirt off and mine, leave your sweats on.”
She doesn’t hesitate as our shirts get thrown onto the floor.
“Now,” I say. “Tell me what you want… I know what I want, but this is about you.”
“It’s about us.” She smiles so brightly my chest hurts. “So tell me what you want, and I’ll make myself want it too.”
“Up there.” I point to the bar on the ceiling holding different suspensions, rings, and ropes. “I want you up there like a pretty picture I can keep in my mind forever. I want to tie around your chest, down your legs, and watch you stretch your body.”
“I’m not that athletic.” She laughs a bit. “But you’ll help me?”
“Yes,” I say. “I’ll keep you safe. We’ll start out soft… it’s more about you feeling in control about your experience anyway.”
“Plus, I get a good workout.” She winks.
I laugh and start to tie around her breasts.
It feels familiar.
The knots, the design.
I tie to make sure she can be anchored, and I start to move down her thighs. Each one has a different colored rope as I wrap her legs and create a design around her right ankle.
It’s beautiful.
I know not to suspend her too high considering she’s new, but she doesn’t know that my father is a Shibari Master and has been for years—she’s not dealing with an amateur, and I know how to keep her safe.
Knots and ties are spread around her stomach and back, moving down her legs as I reach for the anchoring ring and tie her arm and her right leg to it, making sure to only suspend her a few feet.
She gasps and looks down at me.
Her body is arched, her leg bent so beautifully it’s like watching live art.
“How do you feel?” I ask.
She arches harder and smiles down. “Sexy.”
“You are.”
“Hey… Maksim…”
“Yeah?” I keep watching.
“Can you show me how to tie you now?”
I nod wordlessly, letting her down and gently taking the ropes off.
I can’t stop touching her.
And then I start kissing her.
I suck on her tongue; it tastes so good in my mouth I could bite it.
My hands reach for her breasts as she flicks open the button of my jeans, ropes still attached to parts of her arms dangling.
No time.
“Now.” She reaches for me. “Before I tie you… Fuck me.”
“You never asked,” I pant. “What the knots all meant.”
I pick her up, put her onto the wood bar in the corner, and tug her sweats down to her ankles. She kicks them off.
“What?” She says between kisses. “Do they mean?”
“All of them…” I whisper, nipping at her lips. “…represent every year I’ve been in love with you.”
She stops kissing me, eyes fill with tears. “What?”
“Every year, since our first insect…” I laugh. “Every year, ever since the trauma I saw with my dad, ever since my nightmares started… he would tell me to tie a new knot, and I’d think of you… and I’d keep doing it… you were always my anchor Izzy. Always.”
She pulls my head down and kisses me so hard I stumble into her, and then I’m going crazy and can’t stop myself from pulling her up far enough to thrust into her.
She pulls back and cries out my name. “I love you so much. No matter what, Maks. No matter what. You’re mine.”
“Ours… apparently.”
She laughs. “You’re you, always.”
“And you’re mine. Always.”
I fill her to the hilt and whisper her name.
She cries out mine.
And I know that no matter what we face.
We have each other.
Her nails scrape down my back, pain explodes as my vision starts to change, and this time, I don’t try to stop it. I just laugh.
Minutes later, she’s beneath me on the table.
I look down.
“What a fun position,” I say.
Her eyes flicker to mine, and then she says, “Hi there.”
“I’m so glad…” I move inside her. “You never said goodbye.”
“Never.”
“I love you.”
I tug her ear with my teeth. “Prove it…”
Epilogue
“The world seems full of good men, even if there are monsters in it.“ —Bram Stokers Dracula
King
Four months later…
I’m fucked.
Like actually fucked.
I check the text again and look away, then back down at the screen. My hands shake.
“Are you coming out tonight?” She asks again.
I don’t know how to answer her.
I love her.