Epilogue
“I’m home.” Katie closed the door behind her and kicked off her boots. In the last month she’d probably spent as much time here as she had in her own apartment. If Cain had it his way, she’d have moved in with him. Hanging up her coat and purse, Katie paused to straighten her sweater. She was getting closer to making a decision, but it was hard to think of giving up the only home she’d ever known.
The sound of toenails was her only warning before Gabriel bounded up behind her and jumped. Now that she had become a regular part of his life, the dog no longer felt the need to be always on his best behavior. “Get down, you brute,” she scolded him mockingly even as she began to tussle with him.
They played in the hallway for a few minutes and Katie was surprised when Cain didn’t appear. He was usually right there to greet her when she arrived from work. Giving the dog one final pat, she began her search. “Cain?”
“In here.” His voice drifted out from the office.
She and Gabriel hurried down the hallway, and Gabriel ran into the room ahead of her. Katie halted in the doorway, amazed by the sight in front of her. Cain was standing in front of a large six-foot square canvas that was set tilted against one wall and surrounded at its base by drop cloths. He was naked from the waist up, with his arms crossed over his massive chest. His bare feet were spread slightly as he stood atop the canvas cloth on the floor. A table had been set up next to the canvas and was filled with what looked like paints and brushes. Bemused, she headed towards Cain. “Have you decided to take up painting?”
“In a manner of speaking.” His enigmatic reply piqued her interest.
“That’s a rather large canvas you’re planning to fill.” Her fingers were itching to pick up a brush and use it. The sheer freedom in having such an expansive work area was enticing.
“You can help me.” His voice was rough and compelling and, as usual, she fell under its spell.
Katie’s gaze moved from the blank canvas to Cain. His long black hair was pulled away from his face and tied at the nape of his neck. The black eye patch seemed to emphasize the harsh planes of his face, and his good eye had that special gleam it usually had when he was aroused. Her eyes traced a path down over his wide shoulders and muscled stomach towards the bulge in his jeans. Yep, he was certainly aroused.
Feeling rather hot, she unbuttoned her sweater and slipped it off her shoulders as she sauntered towards him. “I can help you later,” she whispered seductively as she ran her hands up his hard stomach and wrapped her arms around his neck. Pressing her partially naked torso against his chest, she nipped at his neck and chin.
Cain’s fingers lightly skimmed her back before unhooking the back closure of her bra. She was forced to remove her arms long enough to allow him to pull her bra down her arms. When it was gone, she lightly rubbed her breasts across his chest, loving the feel of his hot skin against hers.
“I want you to help me now.” His hands were tugging at the opening of her jeans, so it took her a moment for his words to sink in.
Slightly disgruntled, she leaned back and looked at him with disbelief. “You want to paint now?”
In answer, he knelt on one knee in front of her, pulled her jeans and underwear down to her ankles, and waited while she stepped out of them. “Oh, yes. I definitely want to paint now.” Cain kissed her stomach, his moist tongue dipping into her belly button while his palms traced upward along the back of her thighs until they cupped her behind.
Holding his shoulders for balance, she studied his intent expression, trying to understand his unusual mood. “If that’s what you really want.” It wasn’t what she desired at the moment, but if Cain wanted to share in her passion for painting, she was more than ready to participate.
Cain led her to the table. “Stand here.”
Slightly bewildered, she wondered what she was doing standing here naked while Cain opened up bottles of paint and squirted colors onto a blank palette. “Am I to be your model?” It had finally occurred to her that he might want to paint her nude.
“In a manner of speaking.” Taking his time, he selected a large brush with a blunt tip and dipped it into the red paint. He moved in front of her and tilted his head to one side and looked her up and down. Katie could feel her skin smoldering under his scrutiny, and her nipples contracted into hard nubs. Smiling slightly, he used his free hand to position her hands on her hips. “Spread your legs a little more.”
Katie complied and then stood still, knowing that it was important to an artist that the subject not move around too much. Her gaze went to the canvas as she wondered where Cain would start his painting. The sudden shock of bristles moving across her breasts made her take a step back. Looking down at herself, she could see the stroke of red paint covering her distended nipple.
“You’ve got to stand still.” When she looked at him, Cain was frowning at her. “How can I paint you if you’re moving?”
Katie took a better look at the paints on the table, and the words “Body Paint” were written boldly across all the tubes. Cain looked so serious standing there, waiting impatiently, that she burst out laughing. Bending over, she clasped her stomach as she laughed even harder. Cain looked totally disgruntled as he waited for her to finish. When she subsided to just giggles, Cain repositioned her with her hands on her hips and her legs spread.
“Don’t move.” Cain waited until she’d nodded her agreement before beginning again.
Like a master painter, he took his time and selected his colors carefully. He returned to the red paint and slowly, meticulously painted both her breasts red. The feel of the delicate fan-shaped bristles caressing her skin was unbelievable arousing. She unconsciously swayed towards the brush as he worked.
Next came the orange. With a flat-headed, camelhair brush, he applied long stripes of the cheerful color to her stomach. The bristles tickled her sides, making her shake with laughter. Cain raised his head, and the tender look in his eye almost moved her to tears. Their love had given him the freedom and comfort to allow him to play, and Katie would stand here all night long if it made him happy.
Sap green was the next color of choice. Using a small housepainter’s brush, he coated her legs from ankle to thigh. Moving behind her, he kissed a trail up her back before applying, first yellow ochre, and then ultramarine in a swirling pattern. He took his time on her behind, making her squirm as the brush moved back and forth over the cleft of her bottom. She was so aroused that she could feel the wetness between her legs and a throbbing ache that longed to be filled.
“Cain, hurry and finish.” Squirming slightly as he continued to paint her bottom violet, she started to turn around, but he stopped her.
“Soon,” he promised.
Returning to her front he picked up a clean fan brush and tested the bristles between his fingers. She wanted those fingers inside her, filling her. The image was potent and she reached out to him, wanting him desperately. She felt almost dizzy with desire.
“Just a little longer,” he crooned as he moved her hands back to her waist. Before she could protest, he positioned himself on his knees in front of her, slid the brush between her legs, and brushed the sensitive skin of her sex.
“Oh, god,” she moaned and opened her legs wider.
“That’s it,” he encouraged. “So pretty and pink already, but I think I’ll add just a touch more.” The brush glided over the folds of her sex, tickling and arousing her at the same time. Taking a small liner brush, he plied it with skill around and around her clitoris until she was sweating and begging him to take her.
“Now, Cain.” She didn’t move her hands from her side, but placed one foot on the top of his shoulder. The position left her wide open to him, and she moved her hips invitingly.
Cain wrapped one arm around her waist to steady her as he grabbed another clean brush with a rounded thick set of bristles. Slowly, he fitted it inside her, swirling it from side to side as he went. Katie had never experienced anything like this in her life a
nd would have collapsed if Cain hadn’t been supporting her.
Giving herself over to the experience, she flexed her hips, taking the brush deeper inside her. Cain pushed it as far in as was comfortable and then removed it with one long, pleasurable stroke to the top of her vagina. Sensation shot through her all the way from her toes to her head. She came immediately, unable to control the sudden explosion inside her. Screaming slightly she collapsed and Cain quickly dropped the brush and lowered her to the floor.
When she finally came back to herself, Cain was leaning over her, grinning like a fool. One hand was idly stroking her heated flesh with his fingers. “So, you’re finger-painting now?” The question popped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Cain burst into laughter and collapsed on the floor next to her.
Grinning, she took advantage of Cain’s momentary distraction to rise up next to him and unbutton his jeans. Before he could stop her, she got to her feet and tugged his jeans and underwear down his legs and threw them aside. “Now it’s my turn.” She fisted her hands on her waist and waited, praying that he’d give up control to her. It was still hard for him to do so, but she did need her way sometimes.
Cain surprised her by making himself comfortable on the canvas drop cloth and stacking his hands underneath his head. “You’re the painter.”
“I certainly am,” she agreed. Having his magnificent body presented to her to do exactly as she pleased was a huge turn-on. With her own body still thrumming contently after her explosive orgasm, she set about to return the favor to Cain.
Taking a small round brush, she dipped it in indigo paint and sat on his stomach. With her legs spread on either side of his chest, her sex was wide open on him. Taking a moment, she shimmied around until she was comfortable, then she began to paint.
The hardest thing he’d ever done was to lie passive on the floor and let her do whatever she wanted to him. He clasped his hands tight behind his head, and his arms corded with muscle as he kept himself still. He could feel her pussy spreading its wetness on his chest, he wanted to throw her on her back and just spend the next hour pounding into her. His cock felt like it was going to explode any minute, so he distracted himself by silently reciting the details of a contract he’d signed today.
Taken off-guard, he flinched when she moved the brush towards his face. She ignored it and started to paint the right side of his face in indigo. He held himself rigid as she worked her way down his face and neck to his chest.
“You’ll look like a barbarian king when I’m finished,” she promised.
Cain didn’t care how he looked as long as she hurried. His endurance was stretched to the limit and he didn’t know how much longer he could allow her to paint him.
Fortunately for both of them, Katie was a professional and wasn’t trying to cover his whole body like he did to her. It was if she sensed he was near the end of his rope, and it was ready frayed. Working in the dark blue, she continued to paint a swirling, slightly Celtic design down his torso, over his thighs and calves, finally finishing at his ankles. The slight scratch of the brush against the hair of his chest and legs was incredibly stimulating. His cock jerked and throbbed begging him to do something. Immediately.
Gritting his teeth, he swallowed hard and waited to see what Katie would do. Cleaning her brush, she returned to sit on the tops of his thighs. “Katie.” It was a request and an order. She had to touch him.
Wielding the brush with care, she swept the length of his dick from the base to the tip. He almost came when she swirled the brush around the tip. Several drops of arousal leaked out of the top and she dipped her brush in it and “painted” her way back down to the base. His testicles were tight against his body and drew even tighter as she brushed his scrotum, taking care to sweep the creases at the top of his thighs.
Cain was enthralled at the picture she made, sitting on him like some naked fairy queen. Painted from the neck down, she was a huge splash of color. Her red breasts swayed as she worked and he was mesmerized by them, wanting no more then to take them into his mouth. He promised himself then that next time he’d find edible paints. Her orange torso and green legs made a perfect frame for the hot, pink flesh between her legs.
The brush flicked the tip of his erection and he erupted into action. Before she knew what was happening, Cain flipped her onto her back and drove into her in one long stroke. She reached her arms up to him, but he jerked away. “I don’t want to smear the paint yet,” he gritted out.
Katie spread her arms out at her sides and gripped the cloth between her fingers. God, he loved this woman, she pleased him like no other, understanding his needs and his moods almost better than he did himself.
On his knees in front of her, he pulled her close so that her thighs were draped over his, and lifted her legs around his waist. She immediately locked her feet behind his back drawing him even further inside her. The heat surrounding his cock was incredible and a groan of pleasure slipped from him.
Wanting to watch her come again, he used his fingers to spread the top part of her sex open, exposing her totally. Lightly, he played his fingers across her clitoris.
“Harder, Cain,” Katie pleaded.
He pressed it harder as he began to move inside her again. At first, the strokes were slow and even, but that didn’t last long. Needing to thrust harder, Cain reluctantly removed his fingers and wrapped his hands around her waist. Levering himself up slightly, he began to thrust hard. His strokes became deeper as he hammered into her.
He could feel her inner muscles clamping around his cock even as he felt himself explode inside of her. Cain came hard and long inside of her, his hot semen spurted deep inside her until there was nothing left inside him. He heard Katie’s scream of release as she came and he closed his eye, letting his head to fall back and allowing the feeling of completion to wash over him.
Swallowing hard, he tipped his head forward and opened his eye. Katie was lying motionless on the floor with her eyes closed, arms flung out by her sides, and her legs sprawled wide open with him still inside her. Smiling at the totally debauched picture she made, he slowly withdrew from her. Grumbling slightly, she opened one eye and glared at him.
“Time to get up.” He staggered to his feet and offered her his hand. She stared at him as if he was out of his mind. “It’s time to paint.”
“I’m doing this under protest,” she told him as she took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.
“I’ll have you cleaned up and tucked in bed in no time,” he promised. “But first, I want a painting of us.”
Leading her to the large canvas, he backed her up against the white sheet and pressed her backwards so that her legs, bottom, and back were against the canvas. Slowly, he turned her, rolling her along the canvas until her breasts and the fronts of her arms and legs were now pressed against it.
A muffled laugh came from her. “You’re crazy.” But she was into the spirit of the project and pushed her arms against the paper. “You’ve got to do it too.”
Cain let go of her and moved to a clear spot and leaned into the canvas. He turned his body from side to side until he figured there was a good impression and stepped back. The pattern of indigo was visible. “Not bad.”
Katie was standing next to him, grinning widely. Paint was smeared across her body, her hair was standing on end, and there was a smudge of blue on her cheek. Reaching over, his thumb swiped at the paint, but ended up only adding to the mess.
Katie stood on her toes and pulled his head down so that she could reach him. Tenderly, she placed a kiss on his ravaged cheek before moving to his lips. “Thank you.” She didn’t say for what, but they both knew. He had trusted her enough to relinquish some of his control to her, share his body openly, and show his playful side.
“Just don’t get used to it,” he responded gruffly as he scooped her into his arms. A whine from the corner had him turning with Katie tight in his grasp. Gabriel was lying safely in the corner with his paw over his eyes
.
“I guess we were too much for his doggy sensibilities,” Katie said laughingly.
“I love you, Katie.” Cain’s voice was thick with emotion as he spoke. She had changed his life so much by accepting his darkness while sharing her light and laughter with him.
“I love you, too.” Snuggling her head on his chest, she wrapped her arms trustingly around his neck and placed a kiss by his heart. Cain wrapped her even tighter in his embrace and carried her from the room, smearing the paint on their two bodies together where they touched.
The picture against the wall was no masterpiece, but it was indeed a testament to their love. The dark blue of his outline was a stark contrast to the vibrant colors of Katie, but somehow they looked right together, felt right together. Just like him and Katie. Cain planned to have it hung tomorrow.
About the author:
N. J. Walters had a mid-life crisis at a fairly young age, gave notice after ten years at her job on a Friday, received a tentative acceptance for her first novel, Annabelle Lee, on the following Sunday.
Happily married for over seventeen years to the love of her life, with his encouragement and support she gave up the job of selling books for the more pleasurable job of writing them. A voracious reader of romances of all kinds, she now spends her days writing, reading and reviewing books. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to do it.
N.J. Walters welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at 1337 Commerce Drive, Stow, Ohio 44224.
Also by N.J. Walters:
Annabelle Lee
Harker’s Journey
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.
Awakening Desires: Katie's Art of Seduction Page 18
