“Decided what?” he asked, taking out another butterfly and watching, with no small amount of fascination, as her shining hair slowly tumbled to her shoulders.
“That I’m to be your whore.”
So deep in his study of her hair he was startled by her words and his eyes moved from her hair to hers.
“Why would you say that?”
She slid his zipper down. This, evidently, was her answer.
With one hand, he found more clips and also bobby pins which he pulled out as well. The other hand he wrapped around the back of her neck.
He didn’t take his eyes from hers.
“Lovers disrobe each other, Leah,” he said softly.
He heard her heart bump unevenly, she tore her eyes from his, looking at his shoulder as she slid her hands along his waist and tugged his pants down.
They barely hit the floor before he stepped out of them, had her cradled in his arms and at the side of the bed. He yanked back the covers, depositing her in it. He dropped her hair bobs on her bedside table, moved over her and settled at her side.
“Sit up and turn your back to me,” he demanded, she hesitated again before she complied, bringing the covers up to her chest as she did so.
His hands went back to her hair.
“How many pins do you have in here, sweetling?” he muttered as all the butterflies were out but there seemed hundreds of pins still in.
“I have a lot of hair,” she whispered.
He stopped pulling out pins, his hand moving to her neck, across her throat, and down. He curled his fingers around her upper arm and pulled her back to his chest, his face buried in her thick, soft, now wildly wavy hair.
“Mm,” he murmured into the locks, “that you do.”
Her hands came up, fingers sliding into her hair. “I’ll finish it.”
He pulled back, letting her go and pushed her hands away.
“I’ll do it.”
She blindly batted at his hands. “It won’t take me a second.”
“I said I’ll do it.”
“Really –”
He leaned in deep, taking her with him and dumping the pins and clips on the nightstand. Then he caught her wrists in a tight hold and pulled them around, crossing them at her front.
Against her ear he repeated firmly, “I’ll do it.”
She stiffened a second before her body went slack.
“Okay,” she whispered.
She pulled the covers up to hide herself and then sat still as he finished with the pins.
After some time his fingers slid through her hair, searching for any pins he’d left behind. Finding none, he deposited the last of them with the others. His hands going back to her hair, he gathered it all in his fists. Transferring it to one, he pulled it aside and kissed her bare shoulder.
She trembled against his lips. He smiled against her skin.
“Can I go to sleep now?” she asked.