LATER, MUCH LATER,they lay tangled together in the dark, both breathing hard, both overwhelmed by what they’d just shared.
Evianne’s head was on his chest, her fingers tracing lazy patterns on his skin, and Veil was trying to process the fact that this was his life now.
“Veil?” Her voice was soft in the darkness.
“Mmm?”
“I...”
He watched her lips move with interest. It seemed as if she wanted to say his name?
“What is it, darling?”
The endearment caught her off guard, her cheeks turning pink once again. “I just...wanted to say your name.”
“I’d like to hear you say it, too,” he said solemnly.
And so her lips moved once again, and finally—
“Vi...”
“You can do it,” he encouraged her.
“Virile—”
Silence.
Veil stared at her.
She stared back, mortified.
Did he just hear her say—
A gasp suddenly spilled past her lips, and his lips curved as she buried her face in his chest.
“I didn’t mean to say that, honest!”
She struggled at first when he tried to make her look at him, but her gaze eventually lifted to his, and he couldn’t help chuckling at the look on her face.
“It’s fine, darling,” he said soothingly, and then he waited for her body to gradually relax before adding, “You were just speaking the truth—”
His wife could only gasp as he rolled her to her back in an instant.
“And I’m always more than willing to prove it, too.”
She choked back a laugh, but this soon turned into a little whimper as he suited action to words.
Virile, indeed.
****
FOCUS ON THE LEATHER, not the hands.
Krizette adjusted the angle of her camera, but her gaze kept drifting back to where it shouldn’t.
Long fingers that moved with unhurried precision. The needle piercing through vegan leather in a rhythm that was almost hypnotic. In, pull, tighten. In, pull, tighten. Each stitch deliberately placed, the thread drawn taut with just the right amount of tension.
This was supposed to be R&D documentation. Two months into her job at Young Leather Company, and Krizette had filmed dozens of these sessions. She knew the drill. Capture the process. Note the techniques. Archive for future reference.
