Even though she wasn’t attracted to him, it was hard not to notice Ari’s attractiveness, especially not as close up as he currently was, standing there on the stairs as other guests walked by.
A man she recognized from earlier in the morning looked back as he passed her and whistled softly. She blushed and smiled, feeling remarkably more confident than she had when coming downstairs that morning, and then turned her attention back to Ari as his touch jostled her breast a bit more.
She tried to will away the reaction, but heat filled her cheeks as her nipples went from a barely erect state to fiercely tight and tingly. It’d been oddly arousing earlier when he’d painted them a softly shaded pink. He’d hardly seemed to notice as he’d stroked the paint over her skin and used his airbrush to create the smooth, gorgeous effect, but she’d been mortified when her body had reacted to his touch. And not only her nipples, either. She’d written it off as a reaction to all the sex she’d been having, and all the exposure, the public exhibition, she’d seen and been participating in. Surely her body was just having a Pavlovian response to his touch.
Ari backed up, nodded in satisfaction, and then reached up to give one of the bunny ears on her headband a jaunty little twist. “There, that’s better. One last turn for me?”
Violet giggled as she obliged him, lifting her arms and turning, showing off the all-over body painting he’d done for her. Long swaths of a soft gray color adorned her arms, torso, back, ass cheeks, and thighs. A shimmering white graced her upper chest and throat and her midline. Her mound was left bare, except for the blonde curls adorning it, but Ari had still accented it with the soft gray, arrowing toward her pussy, to draw the eyes of any observer.
His work had been quick, and she’d prayed fervently he’d be done down there before he realized she was growing a little wet from the attention. Looking in the mirror earlier, she’d gasped when she’d seen what he’d done with her face, which was where he’d spent most of his time.
She’d expected a cute little Disney-esque bunny face. Something out of Bambi—maybe Thumper’s girlfriend. But no… At first, she hadn’t recognized herself because he’d so altered her appearance.
Ari had painted her into a sexy, big-eyed anime bunny. Using shading, liner, and matching her exact eye color, he’d made her eyes look huge and innocent, just like an anime character, and painted her nose, lips, and chin to create a bunny way sexier than she’d ever seen in any cartoon. If it hadn’t been for her hair, she would’ve thought she was looking at someone else. Even she thought she looked hot as she’d marveled at his handiwork in the full-length mirror. The paint accentuated the sleek slope of her abdomen, from beneath her ribs to the curve of her hips. Even the way he’d accentuated the roundness of her butt cheeks somehow had managed to evoke a giggle from her when she looked at her backside.
Understandably, the paint had the same effect on her that a mask might’ve had for others, releasing some of her fear and inhibitions. After slipping into the bathroom to add the final element of her costume, the damned bunny tail butt plug, she’d tried to ignore the undeniable urge to squirm as the plug shifted and the cottony tail tickled her ass and the tops of her thighs.
She’d gladly accepted his offer when he’d suggested walking her to the stairs. It was reassuring to take those first few steps with a companion, even if it was someone she hadn’t known for long. Ari was someone she could come to count as a friend.
He nodded. “Perfect. I hope you have fun tonight with that exceptionally territorial man of yours.”
“Make that men,” Josh said, his voice a rough, rumbly sound as he reached the landing with Lucas at his side. They both looked put out by the way Ari was stroking her hand.
It’s probably a good thing they didn’t see him fixing the smudge on my breast earlier.
Their gazes were heated as they traveled over her body, and a warm wave of sensation rippled on her skin as if they’d actually touched her, even though their hands were at their sides.
Shaking his head and looking slightly amused, Joseph clapped his hands as he climbed the stairs. “Ari, you’ve outdone yourself. They’re waiting for you in the blue suite in the north wing. Evidently you’ve got a couple more bunnies to paint on your roster this evening.”
Ari nodded at Josh and Lucas, saluted Joseph, and then grinned at Violet before hastening down the corridor in the opposite direction, humming the refrain to “You Can Leave Your Hat On.”
Joseph nodded as he looked her over, and she marveled again that his scrutiny didn’t affect her the way Josh’s and Lucas’s gazes did. She blamed her response to Ari on his proximity and the sheer naughtiness of having her “costume” painted on and decided to not worry about it anymore. Josh and Lucas obviously liked what they saw, going by the laser intensity of their perusal and the bulges growing behind the flies of their snug huntsman breeches.