“I’m okay now,” she said, looking into Fletcher’s eyes.
Once he released her, she turned and hugged Reese. “I’m sorry I got upset. I’m just not used to people looking at my work and even though Payne was kind enough not to criticize them–”
“Hey, girl! None of that now. There is nothing to criticize. I meant every word I said,” Payne cut in to say, his hand on his hip as he shook a pencil at her. “Sorry to break it to you, but you can’t go putting yourself down. Not while I’m standing here. You’re definitely a very talented artist.”
“Really?” Mallory whispered.
“Absolutely true,” Reese was quick to insert her own opinion. “In fact, I’d love to maybe get some framed and hang them around the barn.”
“I was afraid you’d hate the pictures.”
“Hate them? Why would I hate them? I think they’re amazing. You haven’t spent any time with my crew, but I think you caught their personalities perfectly,” Reese said as her tears dried up. “I’d like to buy them, if you’ll sell them to me?”
Mallory blinked, not sure how to answer that question. “Umm, well, I… umm…”
“We can talk about this later. Right now Mallory and I have a date with some ropes,” Fletcher stepped in, smoothing the bumps away.
“Of course. And we have a few more stalls to clean out,” Arlo said, handing Mallory back her sketchbook.
“Reese is right,” Payne said with a wide smile. “I turn my drawings into storyboards for comic strips so they don’t really fit the niche, but I think yours would be perfect as coloring pages for the Littles, but?—"
“No!” Reese shouted, startling Payne who had started nodding his head as if was positive he knew his suggestion was the best one ever stated.
“What? What do you mean, no,” Payne demanded.
Reese giggled at the rather dramatic throwing up of his arms and stomp of his foot.
“Don’t get your feathers in a ruffle,” Reese said. “I didn’t mean no it wasn’t a good idea. It’s a fabulously awesome idea, but I’m thinking bigger.” Her arms flew as wide as Payne’s had as she continued, “Not just pages. The drawings are too adorable for that. Picture this… a book. A coloring book?—”
“Not just a coloring book, a Misfits Zoo coloring book,” Payne said, obviously catching on and beginning to grow as excited about the possibilities for Mallory’s pictures as Reese was.
Mallory was getting overwhelmed by their excitement. “I-I don’t know… um, maybe we’ll l talk in a few days,” she said as she slipped the sketchbook into her bag and grabbed Fletcher’s hand. “Bye.”
“Don’t think you can hide for long. You can consider me Watson and I promise we will hunt you down!” Payne called out which had Mallory think of Sherlock the llama and had her smiling.
“Bye!” Reese giggled and waved wildly as Arlo lifted her onto his hip and carried her into the barn.
Fletcher detoured into the Ranch store instead of heading straight to the Dungeon. Mallory was still so flustered that she didn’t question their change in destination.
When Becky stepped out from behind the counter, he smiled and said, “Do you have sports bras and boy shorts, preferably in red, black or emerald-green? Or maybe a soft pink or skin color would work better.”
Becky looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head. “I’m afraid not. But we could order something online and have it delivered to your room.”
Fletcher nodded. “Let’s do that. My bunny needs proper attire if she’s going to assist me in some upcoming demonstrations. But we can come back later for that. For now, there must be something here we can use in the meantime.”
“Sir?” Mallory blinked and stared at him like he’d begun to speak Greek.
Lifting their linked hands, he brushed a kiss on the back of hers as he met her questioning gaze. It only took a few seconds for her to drop her eyes away.
He leaned down so his mouth was next to her ear and said, “You need a proper outfit if you’re going to be my rope bunny because I don’t want anyone else to see all your beautiful bits and pieces. Those are just for me.”
“But we’ve only been together for twelve hours. You can’t know I’ll be any good as your rope bunny,” she whispered back.
Fletcher smiled at her before he said, “I know, but we’ll go to the Dungeon next so I can prove it to you. But first we need to find you something better to wear.”
Still holding her hand, he led the way deeper into the store to the clothing section for Littles. It took a few minutes of searching, but he finally found what he was looking for. A deep red, snap crotch, sleeveless bodysuit that would show off his ropes beautifully.
Holding it up to her body, he nodded to himself. “This will do perfectly.”
