Your Desire by Francis Drake, Dee S. Knight Page B

His tone, slightly warmer, arrested her backward movement. He said something in a low voice to the woman beside him, and she disappeared. Then he held the door open, stepping back at the same time he extended his hand to her.
    Just as when she’d first seen him, she had no alternative but to take it.
    He pulled her inside and closed the door. “I’m painting,” was all he said. He turned and walked toward the far end of the huge room. She followed.
    He pointed to the right. “Kitchen. Help yourself to whatever. I’ll be another hour or two.”
    Looking around curiously as she walked behind him, Derica took in the mismatched furniture littered with books and magazines, clothes and shoes, and the basic jumble that seemed to make up his home. The table in the kitchen showed empty pizza boxes and beer cans, and there were dishes in the sink. Partitioned from sight was what she assumed was his bedroom, since she didn’t see a bed anywhere else.
    The farthest area of the loft was obviously his studio. It occupied the most space and was the brightest section, with skylights slanted into the roof, supplementing a bank of walled windows. Stacks of canvasses lined one wall, a workbench filled another.
    Near the third, positioned to benefit most from the light, was a set or exhibit. Three poles draped in pink chiffon formed a tent. On a sumptuous pallet covered in rose-leaf green colored chiffon and richly braided pillows, lay a young woman. She’d been wrong. There were two women here with him, both naked.
    The woman on the pallet had each foot tied with a strip of satin to the pole nearest it. Her eyes were covered. The same material secured her hands, which were suspended up and back toward the head pole by the Asian woman Derica had seen from the hall.
    Kailen had already resumed his position behind an easel and had paintbrush in hand. “Derica, this is Noelani and Fauve. Fauve can’t see you since she’s blindfolded, but that won’t stop her from making comments about what she thinks you look like. Girls, this is Derica.”
    “Hello, Derica,” the petite Asian-looking woman said with a smile. In one hand she held Fauve’s hands aloft. In her other hand she held a peacock feather positioned at Fauve’s shaven pussy, as though she were teasing it. The thought made Derica squirm and her groin tighten with anticipation of what the activity would bring.
    “Derica, hello. Kailen has told us nothing about you, but I’ll bet you’re just beautiful, since Kailen only makes time for beautiful women. What do you do? How did you meet?”
    The woman who was at the mercy of satin and feather appeared to be gorgeous. She was tall, judging by the length of the pallet she occupied. Her luxuriant red hair waved below the blindfold to her shoulders, and although her form was slender, her breasts were full, tipped with dark pink nipples. “By the way, he’s been a bear all week. If you’re the reason, we certainly hope you’re here to straighten him out.”
    “Shut up, Fauve,” Kailen said, but without heat.
    “Yes, master,” she answered with a giggle, matched by Noelani’s.
    He turned to her. “I can’t talk now. I only have the right light for a while longer. You want to wait?”
    “Oh, yes. Will it bother you if I watch?”
    “No.” And he faced the easel again, to work.
    It was the last he said to her for almost two hours, when he called an end to the day’s work. During that time her emotions had run the full gamut. Fear that he’d reject her, primarily, but also hurt that he seemed so cavalier about her visit. As though it was nothing special, nothing that excited him.
    When she’d seen the models, jealousy had overwhelmed her. They were beautiful and naked, and claimed all of his attention. But she’d finally seen that Kailen’s concentration was for his work, not his models, and gradually she relaxed enough to watch what he was doing. She’d also looked around his studio and discovered that his current