The lace shirt was molded to his body and the underwear the site described as boy-shorts didn’t hide anything, but he didn’t even seem to notice. “You look like you found something to occupy your time. Do I get to see?”
“Of course.” Pulling him close, I took his mouth in a slow kiss. When I finally pulled away, I smiled. “You were my focus, though. You were amazing to watch. I never realized how many pictures you have to take to get the right one for the site.”
Lane curled into me, a smile on his face. “This one actually went pretty quickly. Sometimes it’s take after take, adjusting small things to get it all perfect.”
“It’ll be worth it, though. You’re going to look amazing.” My smile widened as I remembered some of the clothing that he’d put on and stripped off. My stalker was perfection dressed or naked. “Who do we see about getting some of those red panties?”
Lane laughed and gave me a teasing grin. “The red ones, huh? I thought you’d like them.”
“Oh yes.” I leaned in and took his mouth again in a quick, heated kiss. “I think I need a private showing of those in every color they have.”
Lane started rubbing one hand over my chest as he nodded. “I think that can be arranged, as long as I get to see what you were so frantically working on.”
His smile turned tender, and he glanced at the paper. “I’ve never seen you work like that. It was like demons were chasing after you.”
“You kept moving, and I had to catch just the right moment. It was maddening.” Reaching over to the side table, I frowned at the paper. “It’s not done yet. I’m going to have to come back and watch again, if that’s alright. It’s the only way to finish it.”
Lane nodded like it wouldn’t be a problem, but he was too curious to give me a real answer. His eyes widened as I brought it around and set it on his lap. Having him see it unfinished was incredibly hard, but I just hoped he could see what it would eventually become.
“Oh…Wilder…” He seemed at a loss for words, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Finally, he looked up at me, tears in his eyes. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s not done, but I think it’ll be perfect when it’s finished.” It had the bones to be something incredible, as long as I could keep the feeling and the integrity of each part.
Lane shook his head. “Baby, even if this is all you ever do of it, it’s absolutely perfect.”
He looked down at the paper like it was a masterpiece in an art gallery, and I tried to see it from his point of view. Lane was kneeling in the center of the page, anchored down by two strong arms that came up from the clouds below him. The tattooed arms kept him steady as the people around him took shape from the clouds. Eli danced beside him in his matching outfit, seductive laughter on his face.
They were the most completed figures, but I’d managed to fit in the rest of his family around him. Shy, sweet young guys who hid in the corners of the page. Firm, strong men who had a don’t-fuck-with-me look as they dressed in sexy lingerie stood guard over the half-hidden forms who weren’t ready to come out and dance across the page like Eli was.
“Wilder, you just don’t understand. This is beautiful. They’re all here.”
“Most of them. I have space for more over here and I know I probably didn’t catch everyone, but it’s coming along.” Figures wrapped around each other and took shape on the page. Eventually, they would be intertwined until it would be almost impossible to pick out one alone. They were meant to be together, not separate.
Lane’s finger hovered over the paper, tracing lines just above it. “It’s going to be like your tattoo. I can already see the words. That’s what I couldn’t figure out.”
He looked up and smiled, his hand moving to my chest instead of the page. “They’re words, aren’t they?”
I nodded and leaned in to kiss him again. “They’re things that make me strong and happy, pieces of my past and things that I want to happen in the future.”
When I’d designed the tattoo, I’d wanted something completely different. After months of doodling and playing around with different options, I’d finally figured out what I’d needed. No one thing would encompass everything I wanted the design to say, so I hadn’t tried to force it. The intricate lines and swirls that wrapped their way across my chest were my life in words and pictures.
One day, Lane would be added. Maybe a name…maybe the swirl of fabric through the lines that were already there to show how he’d wrapped his way through my life. His shy presence and hidden desires had worked their way through my heart and had made a mark on me that would never fade.
Lane opened and closed his mouth several times, but the words didn’t seem to want to come out. Finally, he shook his head and gave me a tender kiss. “That’s beautiful, Wilder.”
“No, what’s going to be beautiful is when I get you added to it as well. You, my love—my sweet, sexy stalker—make me happier than I’ve ever envisioned and stronger than I ever thought possible.” Tears welled up in his eyes, and I leaned close to press my lips to his again. “I love you and nothing will change that.”
A tear slipped down his cheek and he leaned in to kiss me. As he pulled back, his hand came up to cup my face. “I was pulled toward you from the first moment I saw you. Something about you made it impossible to walk away. I kept telling myself it was ridiculous to obsess over someone who could never understand what makes me…me.”
He shrugged like he still couldn’t understand it. “I couldn’t be more thankful that I was wrong. I love you, Wilder. The sweet man who sketches children’s books. The sexy tattoo artist that pulls every eye to him as he walks in the room. The loving man who patiently worked his way into my heart. They’re all pieces of the perfect man I’ve fallen head over heels for, and I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
Staring into his eyes, my heart clenched, and I tightened my arms around him. “You don’t have to, my love. I’m not going anywhere. You’ve tattooed your way into my heart, and I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you with me forever.”
Life took strange turns and sometimes didn’t make sense, but I would be forever grateful to whatever fate put us together. Wrapped in lace, he was the man who I wanted with me for the rest of my life. My sweet love. My sexy stalker. My Lane.
Epilogue
Lane
“For god’s sake, I’m going to die of old age before we get there.” Eli’s drama made me laugh, which was probably what he’d intended.
I should’ve left his teasing alone, but I couldn’t help it. “I’m sure you’ll look fine even with wrinkles and gray hair. The little ones you’ve got don’t make you look too old, so see, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“What!”
Eli had been tugging me down the street, pulling on my arm, but he stopped suddenly, bringing me to a screeching halt. He turned to use the window of a store as a makeshift mirror. “I don’t have wrinkles or gray hairs!”
I shrugged and gave him an exaggerated nod like I was willing to humor the crazy person. “Of course you don’t.”
His face scrunched up, and he tilted his head back and forth trying to see behind him. It was so funny. Fighting to hold in my laughter helped to distract me from the nerves that had been plaguing me for hours.
Finally, he straightened and gave me a death stare. “That’s just mean. I look fine.”
I wasn’t ready to let it go yet. “There’s nothing wrong with going gray. Everyone does eventually. And fine lines add character.”
“Eventually being the key word. I have a long time before eventually comes. And you can go fuck your character.” His gaze darted back to the window.
Laughter burst out of me, startling a few people walking by. The fact that the laughing loon was wearing a skirt and heels probably didn’t help any.
No, I wasn’t going to let myself go down that path.
Aside from a few long looks, and one slightly confused tween boy who’d looked really surpri
sed, there hadn’t been that many reactions. Certainly not as many as I’d pictured…or had nightmares about. Not that I’d told Eli or Wilder about them.
“You’re just trying to distract me.” Eli started pulling me back down the street, shooting daggers at me. “If you’re going to do that, it should be with a dirty joke or a sexy story, not something horrific and mean. I don’t distract you by telling you that you look fat in that skirt, do I?”
“I don’t look fat!”
Okay, that came out a bit too loud.
Several girls walking past us started giggling and shaking their heads, agreeing with me. And one older lady coming out of the used book store we were getting ready to pass made a frustrated sound but glared at Eli, not me.
Then she gave me a smile. “Don’t let your boyfriend tease you, dearie. You look beautiful.”
As she walked away, we both stared after her. “Did she think I was a woman?”
Eli shrugged, completely distracted from the hair comments. “No idea. Maybe?”
Then, tugging me onward, he shrugged again. “That’s not the point. But she was right about you looking great.”
“You’re just saying that because you won.” I hadn’t exactly lost a bet, but the skirt definitely hadn’t been my first choice for outfits. Somehow, Eli had just wormed his way in, and by the time I realized what he’d done, it was time to leave the house, and I was dressed in the damned skirt.
He grinned wickedly but was smart enough not to gloat too boldly. “You came to work last week in a couple of your fun, pretty outfits. This is basically the same thing.”
No, it wasn’t.
Going from my apartment to work or Wilder’s house in something feminine wasn’t the same thing as heading out in public to visit him at work. One was baby steps. The other was a marathon I wasn’t sure I was ready for, no matter what Eli said.
I had to admit that I was trying, but this felt huge. In the weeks since I’d first taken Wilder to work, I’d felt more confident. Not sure enough of myself to go home dressed up as the real me, but I was trying to figure out what felt right. I’d also told my mother no more blind dates because I’d found someone I was falling for. She just immediately switched to wanting to know everything about him and planning on when she could meet him.
Wilder just beamed with pride every time I took a step outside my comfort zone. He made me feel ten feet tall and was actually looking forward to meeting my family.
“You and I live in completely different worlds sometimes.”
Eli put a little wiggle in his step and gave me a coy, teasing look over his shoulder. “But you’re coming over to my side now. Don’t worry, we have sexy lingerie and glitter in all the right places.”
“There is no right place for glitter. God, I still remember that insane shoot. Don’t even say that word around me.”
It’ll be fun, he said.
It’ll be sexy, he said.
It won’t be that messy, he said.
I’d washed off the damned stuff for days.
Eli snickered, still refusing to admit he was wrong. “The pictures were fabulous. We still get people writing in about that shoot.”
“They’ve obviously never tried that crap before, or are writing in to ask how to get that shit off.” Before I could continue my rant, because it was just one of those things I could go on for hours about, we were standing outside the tattoo parlor.
My nerves must have been showing on my face because Eli released my arm and gave me a quick hug. “It’s going to be fine. You worry too much.”
He was right. I knew that, but it still didn’t help. Maybe if it hadn’t taken so long for me to visit the place, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal. But after seeing how well Wilder got along with everyone at Leashes and Lace and how much they loved his tattoos and his artistic side, I didn’t want to be the one to crash and burn.
Wilder had made it clear that Stan was just his boss and not someone he considered family, so it wasn’t like I was meeting his mother or something, but still…Stan was a significant person in his life even if he was just a coworker.
As the days had gone by, it had gotten bigger in my head, so the reasonable part of my brain knew I was too worried, but I couldn’t help it. After the photo shoot, Wilder had every intention of bringing me to work. But Stan had come down with some alien-type flu that had him out for over a week. By the time he’d gotten back to functional, they were so far behind with their customers, Wilder’s schedule had been packed.
I probably could’ve put it off longer, but Eli hadn’t been willing to wait. Once I’d given in about the BDSM photo shoot, he’d taken it as a sign that everything else I was dragging my feet on, as he put it, needed to be addressed.
He was like one of those little yappy dogs that always got their way because they were crazy and a little bit scary looking.
Eli started pushing the door open. “Come on. We’re going to be late if you keep dawdling.”
I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t the one taking forever to leave the house.”
Eli grinned. “I had to make sure you looked just right.”
Before I could respond, we were through the door and Wilder was smiling at me from across the room. “Perfect, right on time.”
I gave Eli a snarky look. “See.”
Turning back to Wilder, I tried to look relaxed and happy to see him. Because I was. I also just had a small, but powerful, tornado in my stomach. “Someone tried to make me late, but I wrangled him over here.”
Eli huffed and Wilder chuckled as he started across the room. He’d been patient while I worked out my feelings on the photo shoot, but he’d never hidden the fact that he liked the idea. I appreciated that he hadn’t downplayed his desires just because I was nervous.
He was understanding and hadn’t pushed, and had even kept Eli from going overboard, but I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about Wilder giving in on something just because of my feelings. I liked that he was strong and knew what he wanted.
Now that it was time for the shoot, I was nervous for a whole new set of reasons. It was going to be sexy and erotic. And probably a little bit exhibitionistic. Eli had never had a problem bouncing around half naked with a hard-on. But I wasn’t that type of person.
Once I’d gotten used to seeing everybody like that at work, it hadn’t been difficult for me. But I just wasn’t sure how it was going to feel in a photo shoot where the purpose was to show my reactions, not just the clothes. Well, my reactions to Wilder.
As long as I thought about it that way, it was easier.
I loved the way Wilder made me feel, and I loved the idea of showing him off. He was artistic, beautiful, and covered in amazing tattoos. Letting people see how I felt about him wouldn’t be hard. I just needed to remember that.
And I needed to remember how much I wanted pictures.
The way his face would go soft and his eyes would go distant as he thought about the sketches he would do from them had my anticipation growing. I’d started to realize that he only got that expression when the project would turn out to be amazing.
Like my picture.
Wilder smiled and put one arm around me before leaning down to kiss my cheek. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Do you want to look around before we go?”
His car was in the shop, so we’d decided that I would pick him up from work. But I knew that if I told him I wasn’t ready to see anything yet, he’d be fine with that. He’d made it clear that I could take my time, and I didn’t have to feel guilty about it. He’d also made it clear, though, how much he loved me and how proud he was to have me by his side.
Nodding, I tried to make my smile bigger and hoped it didn’t look forced. “Of course.”
Eli just started bouncing around excitedly. “Yes, he is.”
Wilder didn’t question it, he just snorted. “Then come on back.”
Moving deeper into the room, I forced myself to look around. The walls were covered in sketches and pictures of tat
toos on people. Where tattooing businesses on television were sometimes shown to be seedy, dark places, this was open and clean and had a very modern, artistic feel to it.
“You’ve got so many beautiful tattoos up there.” I pointed to the wall that had a mix of fanciful and imaginary creatures on it. Fairies seemed to dance up someone’s calf in one, and in another, there was a unicorn that looked so real I wanted to reach out and touch it.
Eli was drawn to a grouping of photos that showed different kind of phoenixes, and he wandered off to look at them. Knowing his background, and from the look on his face, it was easy to picture one of the mythical birds on his body.
Wilder beamed and looked around like a proud parent. “A good portion of them are mine, or at least my designs. I’m glad you like them.”
A snort came from behind Wilder and an older gentleman walked out of a back room I thought might be an office. “All the ones we put up are tattoos you’ve done or designed, and you know it.”
Wilder looked slightly embarrassed; it was sweet. He shook his head at the man. “You do a fabulous job. I just have a wider range of things that I’ve drawn. You just don’t like to practice.”
Wilder turned back to me and gave me a smile. “Lane, I’d like to introduce you to Stan, my boss.”
Stan snorted again. “Only your boss because you won’t be my business partner.”
Wilder laughed. “I’m not going to learn how to do the paperwork, Stan. You’re on your own with that.”
Wilder had mentioned that Stan wanted to take his position from being an employee to a business partner, but he hadn’t seemed to be that enthusiastic about it. I hadn’t really pushed, but the issue seemed to be that he didn’t have enough time in the day to put in the extra hours that the paperwork would require and get all of his illustrating done.
From what he’d said, Stan had made no secret that his primary goal was getting someone else to help run the business side of things. If the paperwork hadn’t been an issue, I thought Wilder would’ve said yes long ago. He clearly loved the business, and watching his face light up as he looked around the room, I knew he thought of it as his.
Lane Page 17
