Lorelei James - Unwound

She couldn’t take her eyes off him. Every brush of his fingertips as he wound the rope around her back, every hard tug of the rope over her crisscrossed arms. Every loop and knot precisely placed with such a loving touch. He even stopped to kiss her shoulder, which was a rare reaction from him when he was in the Zen zone as he bound her. Then he kissed the tips of each of her fingers, spread out like starfish over her chest. He caressed her thighs every time he reached for a new rope.

Normally the binding process sent her into a fuzzy headspace. Not tonight. Tonight it wasn’t about sensuality, but comfort.

Not comfort for her, but for him. Putting him in a place where he had total control over her. Where he could soothe her, cherish her, protect her.

With each new section he added, Amery saw him coming back to himself.

Her arms were numb, but she couldn’t break the unity between them.

Finally Ronin lifted his head and gazed into her eyes. “Done.”

Amery glanced down at the plain tan ropes that covered her from shoulders to belly. On the outside, the design resembled a messy, misshapen spiderweb, but on the inside, over the center of her torso, was an exquisite flower, with perfectly shaped petals.

Ronin stared at her bound, pleasure and gratitude on his face.

She blinked back tears. She did this for him. Letting him use her body as a canvas, as a cushion, as a haven, as the chance to create something beautiful and special.

“So unbelievably lovely,” he said softly.

“The rope work is stunning. Does the pattern have a name?”

His darkly golden haze hooked hers. “No. I combined two patterns. But I’m thinking of naming it . . . Absolution.”

“Ronin. You don’t need absolution for anything.”

“But you gave it to me anyway.” He softly kissed her swollen mouth. “Thank you.”

RONIN and Amery arrived at Twisted an hour before the demonstration. His mind was on setting up the riggings since it’d been a while since he’d done a suspension.

But walking through the club took time. Not because they stopped to observe the various scenes in progress, but due to the curiosity from other members about where he’d been in recent months. After the third such question, Amery sweetly piped in, “He’s just been so darn busy with his new rope partner. I’ve got him all tied up in knots.”

Crazy, wonderful woman.

Amery remained close to his side, not as tense as he’d expected, until some of his former rope partners approached him—in the guise of checking her out.

“Master Black. You’ve been missed.”

“Thank you for saying so, but I’m certain you’ve not been lacking partners in my absence.”

“I’d hoped to be on your call list when you decided to give another demonstration.”

“I’ll let Knox know you’re interested.”

The voluptuous blonde never glanced at Amery, but not as a sign of respect. “Thank you.”

Amery turned and put her lips on his ear.

Before she could speak, he said, “She is exactly Knox’s type, and he dabbles in shibari.”

“Good. I don’t like the way these women fawn all over you.”

“I didn’t notice.” He kissed her temple. “I don’t see anyone but you.”

“That comment is so getting you laid later,” she murmured.

The small ready room had been set up the way he preferred. Usually he prepared alone and he met the model on stage. Or if he’d needed a binding and sex encounter, he booked a different, private room. So it was a little strange he and Amery were in here together.

He dropped his bag of ropes by the door and watched as she hung up the suit bag with the two outfit choices.

She rubbed her arms and checked out the space.

“Are you cold? There’s a blanket on the table.”

“Ronin, I’m fine.”

He stepped in front of her and nudged her face up to look into her eyes. “Tonight, more than ever, you need to be completely honest with me about how you’re feeling. This is a suspension binding. There comes a point that it will be unsafe to untie you if you’re having an issue.”

“I’ve come up with a way around that.” She lowered her lashes. “If it pleases Master Black.”

Such a smart-ass. “Tell me.”

“I know in many traditional shibari and kinbaku bindings, the model is blindfolded. You should blindfold me.”

Once again he tipped her face up. “You sure? You’ve never wanted that before.”

“It’ll be easier to concentrate on what you’re doing to me if I’m not looking wide-eyed at the audience.” She placed her hand on his chest. “I realize this won’t be like other times between us. Not only because I won’t be naked.”

“At least this time you didn’t say naked and dangling in the air like a slab of beef.”

She smiled. “So whichever outfit you choose for me to wear, I have a blindfold.”

“Amery, I told you I’d let you choose.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to pick.”

The one he chose was a no-brainer. “The bodysuit.”

“Would you like the blindfold now?”

“Yes, because I need to check out the stage.”

Amery unzipped the suit bag and pulled out a long section of white satin.

His gaze locked on to the wide strip, and he realized it was the tie from her robe she wore into the practice room. Touched by her need to stay connected to him outside of this public display, he closed his eyes and rubbed the satin against his lips. “Perfect.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Anxious. I always look forward to binding you.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ll see you out there.”

He bowed to her. Then he grabbed his duffel bag and headed to the big room that contained a staging area.

Ronin had utilized the space dozens of times over the past few years. Hardware had been provided, but he preferred to use his own. He double-checked the lighting, glad to see the owner had installed Ronin’s requested changes. Merrick McBride ran a top-notch club. He’d apologized repeatedly for his manager’s indiscretion with Naomi and had assured Ronin any breach in club security had been fixed.

He grabbed a ladder and climbed up to affix the rings to the chains for this suspension. He tested the swing ratio before pushing the remaining chains out of the way.

All set.

Now he had to decide whether to bind her hands above her head in a gauntlet with the dedicated body rope or just bind them in a quick tie with plain rope. He crouched down and unloaded his rope bundles from his duffel bag. He’d already seared the rope ends and folded each length in half to ensure faster connection times when he needed to add more rope. He preferred to work with shorter sections, especially in this case, since he intended to create the knotted version of the full-body tortoise.

If he wrapped the gauntlet-type tie on her from the ankle down, completely around each foot, she’d have no balance. But that played perfectly into the theme.

That decided, he divided the rope coils for easy access. Then he retreated to the far corner of the staging area hidden by a curtain and searched for his calm center.

In this situation, Ronin had mastered the ability to block everything out. So he heard nothing but the sound of his own breathing. His mind stayed focused on the pattern, so he wouldn’t be thinking about it when he bound her. He mentally finished the tie twice before Knox approached him.

“The room is full. They’re ready for you.”

“Merrick approved the camera?” The club owner had asked if there was anything he could do for Ronin to make up for the Naomi situation, and Ronin had requested that he be allowed a video camera in the room for this binding. Cameras, phones, any type of device that could send images outside the club were expressly forbidden.

Knox crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes. But I’m uncomfortable with this, so I can’t imagine how upset Amery will be when she finds out. You should’ve asked her permission.”

“I don’t need her worried about being on film. She and I are the only ones who will ever see the video. Now that she’s decided she wants to be blindfolded, it’ll be her chance to see how exquisite she looks in this binding.”

“Still think this is gonna come back on you, Sensei. But Merrick agreed—just this one time—and provided a camera that is encrypted. I’ll show you where the recorder is.” He took Ronin to the side and pointed to a chair in the front row marked off as reserved. “There.”

“I don’t see it.”

“That’s the point.” Knox pulled a small fob out of his pocket. “The recording is going and has a limit of two hours. Push the yellow button when you’re ready to change the lighting. I’m bringing Amery in now.”

Ronin stretched out his muscles, rolling his shoulders and bending forward and sideways. He performed a couple of jumping frogs as the lights dimmed. Closing his eyes, he inhaled. On the exhale, he opened his eyes and walked onto the stage. He heard the murmurs of the crowd, but their faces were a blur in the darkness.

When he saw Amery on her knees on the mat, her head bowed, wearing a kimono, his body stirred, his heart leaped, and his head swam with one thought: That beautiful woman is mine.

The bright stage lights came up, and the audience faded away; it was just the two of them, ready to get tangled up together. He studied her. The overhead lights put an extra sheen on her red-gold hair. Her chest heaved as she breathed much too quickly. The tight clasp of her fingers resting on her lap revealed her nervousness—but only to him.

He circled her twice before softly commanding, “Stand.”