I shook my head. “Nah.”
She took a step back, throwing her hands in the hand almost halting at something, “I’m a little confused.”
“About?”
“You.”
I walked toward her. “Explain.”
“Who are you? Why are you the way you are? Do people see you as this dark cloud that you’re perceived to be? Or are you the type of man that cares too deeply that it scares people?”
“You know who I am.”
“Barely.”
“Well, that’s kind of why you’re here, Amelia.” I took her hand, bringing it to my lips to kiss it slowly before dragging her to the enormous canvas for the little date I had planned. “Some days can be dark. When I was in the field, some days were endless, itwas one thing after another. They never tell you that war is truly a hell until you live it. The army was my way to escape. I had very little family, very little drive, and then being recruited to go through trauma medical education.” I paused, the memories of the life before this flooded very quickly. I wasn’t ready. But a gentle brush from Amelia’s hand pulled me back to the present.
“Sugar, you don’t have to go back to those memories.” Her voice remained soft.
“It’s okay. Just hard sometimes. When you lose the amount of people I did, that will barely scratch the surface.” I had a plan after all, and this was part of it. “You trust me?”
Her eyes scrunched. “Um, I feel like I should be saying no, but yeah, I trust you. Why?”
Before she could question my intentions further, I snapped a cuff that was tied around one of the structured poles. “Because I’m ready to paint my next masterpiece.”
“And that requires a leather cuff and a huge canvas… yeah, I trust you.” She rolled her eyes. Her curious eyes drifted from side to side, trying to piece together the truth of what was going to happen.
I chuckled, finding a pair of shears, “Are you fond of this t-shirt?” I opened and closed the shears a few times.
“Don’t you dare!” she yelled, but it was too late, I had to cut the fabric of her old t-shirt, needing my other canvas with some room for the art I had envisioned. The little squeak that came from her was too damn adorable.
She huffed out, “Now what? Why am I feeling like a prisoner?”
“Do you?”
“I mean, no, but if you wanted to explore a kinky side, I’m sure we’d be having a discussion.”
“Good to know, peaches. Now, just trust me, please. I’d hate to stuff something in that pretty little mouth of yours.” Heat rose to her cheeks, and suddenly she quietened down.
All I wanted from her was for her to give in a hundred percent and allow us to be what I know she needed and what I dreamed of.
I adjusted her to center her in the middle of the canvas. I had already painted the canvas a darkish midnight blue, because what I had in store, the real beauty would be shone. Warm light cascaded around her, making her skin look even softer. “To answer your question, I wanted to show you a piece of me that a lot will never see.” I turned away grabbing the palette of paint I set out and chose an array of different size brushes.
The chain jingled for a few moments as Amelia became more antsy, waiting for the next move. I loved bringing her to the edge, it just made her pleasure even sweeter. As I turned, she kept looking up and down her body, like she was uncomfortable or even self-conscious. Never did I want her to hide her body from me.
“You ready?”
“For what?”
“To become a masterpiece,” I teased, but she bit her lower lip thinking of accepting it.
I kept her standing still as I bent down with paint on a brush and leaned to the side of her and started to press the color to the canvas. Every passing movement brushed against her skin. The tiny chill bumps skimmed across my arms as I moved.
Color started to surround her, highlighting every curve of her body. She shivered as I moved down her legs. Between every dip of the brush and pressing it back to the canvas, I fought off the thought of kissing her, tempting her. But that wouldn’t be until later. I had her there, and she wasn’t going anywhere.
“River,” she called out, breaking my focus for a moment. “Why do you need an outlet like this?”
I sighed. “I was an angry man, okay, I still am. After a certain number of years and training with the army, I got out. Too manyghosts came back, and I couldn’t stay any longer. Once my time was up, I left and more importantly, I never went back home. I was a nobody from Louisiana. There was nothing. Spent a couple of years doing underground fighting and it wasn’t enough.”
