Bound to You (36 page)

Gina was dressed in her usual uniform of colour-pop jeans and flat boots, only this time she’d chosen an eye-grazing acid yellow. ‘Well at least you’re not going to lose me in a crowd, right?’ she laughed. ‘Anyway, colours are good. We like colours!’

Gina took at her phone and started tapping away at the screen.

‘Who are you messaging?’

‘Oh, just Jake. I got his number off Rebecca.’

‘Gina!!’

‘Come on, you have to say thank you for your picture! Aha, there he is now, over by that rubber jewellery stand. Manners, Nichi!’

I turned in the direction of the stall. Jake looked exactly like his pictures. Crazy blond hair, those sexy hooded eyes. He was slim but perfectly proportioned, leanly muscular, as befitting a man that spent so much of his time tearing up and down mountains, or whizzing about London on skates. He was wearing a red sleeveless tank and black jeans. I was instantly attracted to him.

Gina slid her hand behind me and covertly slapped me on the backside. ‘Off we go!’

Jake clearly knew some of the guys at the stall and was laughing and joking with them over the jewellery, some of which looked far more like bondage wear. Hang on a minute, I recognised these guys. Sapphire and I had once bought some special dildo gags off them from a stall at the London Fetish Fair. Did that mean . . .?

‘Nichi, hi!’ Jake came towards me and kissed me suavely on either cheek. I blushed a brighter pink than the colour of my bra. Thank God you couldn’t see it to compare from the front. He smelled like fresh citrus and old leather. Mmm.

I turned round to Gina. Wasn’t she going to greet him, too? They’d already met, hadn’t they?

‘Hey Gina, how are you doing?’

She gave him a quick smile but it seemed she had things to do.

‘Look, you two, I need to go and meet Rebecca, she’s going to help me select an original sculpture for the restaurant. I’ll call you in an hour and we can have drinks or something. Have fun.’

Gina! She was leaving me? What the hell were Jake and I going to talk about for an hour? I looked back at the rubber jewellery stall. And then up at Jake. He was smiling at me with a slight hint of expectation on his face. The picture. I needed to say something about it.

‘So, Jake, I saw the portrait you did of me, that was really something.’

He grinned and gave a funny little mock bow with his head. ‘You’re welcome. Did you like it?’

‘Well, of course, it’s gorgeous!’ Uh oh. Did that sound as though I thought
I
was gorgeous? ‘I mean, it’s terribly overly flattering but the execution is really something. You’d have made a great Renaissance court artist, you know.’ I said to him.

‘Ha! Now that would have been a job and a half. Although I would probably have abused my position!’

Abused his position?

‘Oh really?’ I ventured. ‘How so?’

‘Oh, you know. Probably just enjoyed ordering my sitters into position too readily.’

I looked at him. He looked straight back at me, and gave a tight-lipped smile. Oh God, Nichi, you can’t think about anything without it being related back to kink! He’s probably a social anarchist who just means he’d have enjoyed bossing about his spoilt aristocratic patrons. Not commanding the beautiful ladies in waiting to bare more shoulder. Think about higher things for once! Think about art!

I cleared my throat and smiled demurely back. ‘Shall we take a look at some of this art then? What’s good? Care to educate me?’

For the next hour or so we wended our way around the fair, comparing the work here with that of our favourite artists. At every second stall, Jake stopped and greeted the holders, many of whom he knew, paying them thoughtful compliments about their work. I’d never watched someone be hugged so enthusiastically by so many friends. It touched me. There was clearly something very special about Jake, and it had nothing to do with his looks.

Suddenly my phone flashed up. It was Gina.

‘How’s it going with Jake?’

‘Fine,’ I replied cryptically. She must have known I couldn’t possibly elucidate in front of him.

‘He hasn’t tied you up yet, then?’

‘What are you talking about?’

I could hear giggling in the background and Gina muttering something to, well, I presumed it must be Rebecca.

‘You know Jake is a kinkster, Nichi? That’s how Rebecca met him. Her company was doing some PR for the kink club and he was one of the fetish models they used. A Master model, might I add . . .’

I turned and looked at Jake as Gina told me this, tightening my phone to my ear to prevent Jake from overhearing this.

‘Why do you think he was looking at the rubber jewellery?’

‘Gina, you have to save me. Get back here right now!’

‘Save you? I’m throwing you at his feet, lady. This man is perfect for you!’

I looked at Jake’s face again. But how could he be a Master? He was so sweet. But then again, those hooded eyes of his. That mouth . . .

Gina spoke again. ‘Anyway, I can see the pair of you now. We’re heading over. Time for drinks!’

‘Everything OK?’ asked Jake, placing his hand on the back of my shoulder in concern.

‘Oh . . . yes . . . Gina’s just coming.’ I gestured up the path. Thank God. I couldn’t get another sentence out.

I’d fired up underneath his fingers.
How
?

Gina and Rebecca arrived, full of excitement about the sculpture they had just purchased for the restaurant. In fact, they’d been toasting it in vodka and Ribena, and were already a little on the inebriated side. ‘Do you want some guys? We need another toast.’

‘Where’s the bottle?’ Gina fiddled around in her bag.

‘Here!’ I laughed, and reached into her bag, pulling out the now half empty container sloshing with the makeshift purple cocktail. ‘I can’t believe you actually mixed Ribena with vodka. I didn’t even do that when I was fifteen!’

‘Well, then, you better make up for it now, Nichi!’ Jake took the spirit bottle off Gina and gave me an order. ‘Take the lid off, Nichi, while I pour the rest of the vodka in.’

‘Jake, careful!’ chastised Rebecca. ‘The whole reason we were decanting it is because you aren’t allowed glass in here.’

‘It’s not a real rule, it’s just about profit-making. No one’s going to try and take this bottle of me, anyway.’ He looked up at me from underneath his hooded eyes and gave me a devilish grin. I felt the bottle in my hands shake. Oh God. I was actually trembling.

‘Oh, how gloriously teenage!’ he pronounced. ‘Although I wouldn’t be an inept teenager again for anything!’

There was a stage set up in a corner of the square. ‘Let’s go check that out,’ suggested Gina. We headed over and discovered some kind of unpalatable ambient noise.

‘It’s this sonic art collective I’ve heard about,’ Jake informed me. ‘I’m not sure how good they are but it’s worth a provisional listen.’ Besides, we couldn’t exactly just drink vodka and Ribena lingering over other people’s paintings.

Jake came up and stood behind me, from time to time placing one hand on my waist as he passed the bottle around. Ten minutes and no lunch later I was already feeling the effects of the alcohol. I was also conscious that Jake had stopped removing his hands from about my waist when he took the bottle back. I could smell his citrus and leather scent even more richly now. Was I imagining it or could I also feel his hot breath on my neck?

Suddenly my phone started ringing. I left Jake, Gina and Rebecca and headed away from the stage to take the call. It was a big commercial radio station I’d never worked for before. Could I come on for a panel debate tonight? I said yes. And then immediately regretted it. If I was to sound even remotely sentient I had to go home right now and sober up. This was the freelance life. Pleasure had to be wound up whenever professional opportunities presented themselves. But why had they called me right now, damn it!

I went back over to the others. ‘Hey guys, I’m so sorry but I’m going to have to go. I just got a radio call. I’m on tonight. I need to go home and prepare.’

‘Nooooo!’ Gina gave me a tipsy hug.

‘Let me walk you to the tube then?’ Jake offered.

It was 4 p.m. on a bright Saturday afternoon. Maybe this wasn’t that kind of walk.

I began to pick my way through the crowds and Jake came up behind me, placing a smooth hand on the back of my neck. I gave the slightest of stumbles over a stack of free art catalogues. He took hold of my hand in a firm grip, then as we came to the edge of the square, entwined his fingers into mine, more sensually.

I didn’t dare look at him. Instead we walked silently up Regent Street, until, waiting to cross over one of the smaller roads, we locked eyes in the reflection of the shop window ahead of us. We both began to laugh at the clichéd romance of it.

Jake turned to me.’ So, Nichi, that picture I did for you, you can have it if you like.’

‘Oh!’ I blushed. ‘That would be lovely, thank you. But don’t you need it for your portrait portfolio?’ We were nearing the top of Oxford Circus now where I was to get on the tube. Jake hesitated with his reply. ‘I lied. I’d already handed in my portfolio. I just wanted to paint you.’

I looked up at him. His hooded eyes had widened, and he licked his just-parted lips. His face was full of longing. Then he brought his mouth back into that delicious wry smile. I gasped and started to laugh softly, as Jake pulled me to him. I slid my hands up around his athletic back as he felt his fingers up underneath my hair, using the lightest grip on it to guide me into him. Then finally he took my face in his hands, and as he brought my mouth up to his, the buses and the shoppers and the noise melted away until all I could sense was Jake’s breath on my lips.

‘Because how else could I have got you to sit for me?’

And then we kissed.