How She Draped My Net Around Her Ch. 05

I was working in my office – I had just received the reviews on one of the research papers that I had submitted a couple of months ago. In general, the comments were positive; two reviewers and the editor were praising our work; only pointed out some textual details. However, the third reviewer was extremely annoying – no question who this reviewer was...

Complaints about methods that we used; about the statistics; about the need to refer to conflicting theories, even though they had been debunked ages ago... Nothing I couldn't refute in the rebuttal, but it totally spoiled my good mood from the weekend; another weekend with Anita.

Actually, it had been, so to say, the first 'normal' time together with Anita – no 'funny games', just she and I, a restaurant, the cinema, my house, lots of wine, and she and I... It was a good confirmation of the quality of our relationship – even at this early stage; kinky games are fun – more than fun – but this weekend had shown that they were no constraints for a good time together.

On the other hand, the weekend had also confirmed Anita's point of view – one taking the lead over the other isn't necessarily a bad thing. It took quite some adjustment from my side, and I certainly didn't master it yet, but at the first point of decision – which restaurant to go – Anita had made clear to me: "You make the decisions, you tell me your choice, and if I have problems with your choice, I will let you know. Otherwise, I will follow, without saying; without complaining afterwards."

This didn't imply Anita to be docile and brainless – we had lots of fun deciding which movie to watch – she didn't hold back, criticizing my choices, and we did end up watching some chickflick... And also the rest of the weekend she made herself known. But for most of the time, when it came to making day-to-day decisions, it was up to me.

Yes, I could see this working, but it would take time; a lot of time. To make this work, I needed to know Anita way better than I did now, so I could make the right decisions. But especially last weekend, it had become clear that we could be a good match...

While I tried to focus once more on the manuscript, Anita stepped in. I only noticed her, when she stood right next to my desk. I must have looked up annoyed, as she flinched and moved back from me. But in a glance, I could see she wasn't doing well, and immediately my annoyance turned into anxiety.

"Hi Anita, how are you today?"

"Good, but... may I ... but how are you?"

"I'm fine. A bit annoyed by these reviews, but nothing special. But what is on your mind?"

Anita hesitated.

"Is something wrong? Something about what happened during the weekend?" I started to worry.

Anita shook her head, and then, staggering, "May I ask for another Safe-Word?"

I was aghast. Where did this come from; what did she have in mind? Totally confused, I nodded. Go ahead.

"May I add 'Hold Me'?"

I could see Anita was about to collapse. I quickly moved to close the door. I took her hand, sat down and drew her on my lap; my arms around her. She wrapped her arms around my neck, desperately pulling me tight. Her face in my neck, her own shoulders jerking; I could feel her crying, silently.

Where did this come from? Someone died? I asked her, but she didn't reply; only shook her head.

I softly stroked her back, not a clue of what to say. Instinctively I softly rocked my body, moving her with me, like you would do to a small child. I stroked her back; her hair; my nose took in the smell of her hair – the smell I had learned to appreciate only so recently.

We sat there for an eternity.

When the shaking of her body waned, I loosened my arms a bit, trying to get a little distance from her; an opportunity to look her in the face. But when I loosened up, she drew me tighter, not willing to let me go.

I stroked her hair, and told her I love her. I told her how beautiful she was; how she meant the world for me; how I wanted to protect her, take care of her, love her... Slowly, I could feel her relax a bit.

Eventually, she let me go. She sat on my lap, face to the ground, silently, twisting her foot.

I could see she was still not ok. Again, I asked her what was wrong, but she shook her head. "No..."

"Come," I said, "I will take you home."

"No! We can't!" she replied, panicking. "We have work to do."

"My work can wait. Do you have anything running now, something that you need to turn off?"

Anita replied negative, and meekly followed me; first to her room, to fetch her coat and her bag, and then to my car. Fortunately, it had been raining this morning, so I had come by car this day.

"Your house or my house?" I asked, observing her carefully.

"Your house. Please, take me with you!" she replied, despair sounding through her voice.

The traffic was light, and quickly we arrived at my place. We went straight to the sofa. Once we were seated, Anita started crying again, her arms tightly around me, and all I could do was holding her. Still no clue what this was about, I knew nothing better to do than holding her tight, stroking her, and whispering how much I loved her, and how I cared for her. To others, they may seem empty words after only having been a few days together, but my whole being was saturated by my feelings, my desire for union with Anita.

Finally, she seemed to calm down a little again. When I looked at the clock, I was stunned – literally hours had passed, it was four o'clock... And with this information came the recognition of emptiness in my stomach.

So far, not a word had passed her lips, and it seemed unwise to ask again for the cause of her sadness. Instead, I asked if she was hungry too. She shrugged.

Carefully, I pushed her body a bit away, stood up, and then carefully guided her down on the sofa – made her lie down. Both of my legs were senseless, and I stumbled to the toilet first, and then to the kitchen.

There was some left-over macaroni in the freezer; quickly warmed in the microwave. When I came back in the living room, Anita was still lying on the sofa, apathetic. She didn't even look up when I sat down on the edge of the sofa, trying not to disturb her. I did ask her to get up, but Anita remained motionless. I wondered if I should pull her up or not, but finally, I decided against it.

"You need to eat something" I whispered, but Anita shook her head.

When I held a spoon of macaroni in front of her mouth, she kept it tightly closed, shaking her head, barely visible.

I didn't want to force her, so all I could do was eat myself, trying every now and then to tempt her, but she kept refusing. So, finally, I put the plate away.

"But I do want you to drink something!"

Anita remained impassive, but I went to the kitchen, to make coffee and tea.

When I came back, she still laid just the way I'd left her. I placed her tea on the table, and asked her to sit up. She remained motionless.

I tried to apply some pressure, tried to lift her up, but she didn't comply. So I first drank my coffee and then told her once more to sit up. Still, Anita didn't react, but this time I didn't give in and pulled her up. Halfhearted, she tried to fence me off, but I didn't let her go. So finally she sat up, and I forced the tea in her hands.

Carefully I watched her, making sure nothing went wrong with the mug, shaking in her hands. But finally she started drinking, careful not to burn herself, and then I relaxed a bit.

Slowly, Anita drank her tea, and it seemed to go down well. The shaking receded a bit.

When the tea was done, she silently held the mug out towards me; I took it away from her.

"Do you want more?'

Anita shook her head.

"Maybe some food?"

Again, a head-shake.

Anita started to lie down again, but I stopped her. "Do you want to go to bed?"

Wordlessly, Anita nodded.

I held out my hands to her, and pulled her up from the sofa. With my arm around her shoulders, I guided her to the bedroom. She prepared to lie down, but I stopped her.

"First take off your clothes!"

Anita remained impassive, but didn't object when I started taking off her clothes.

Then, when she was stripped to her underwear, I told her: "We'll take a shower first."

It was scary – no reaction whatsoever. I also took off my clothes, and guided her to the shower. I turned on the water, took off her underwear, and then placed her on the toilet. Apathetic, she relieved herself. When the temperature was right, I helped her from the toilet seat and guided her under the warm water. Carefully, I washed her body, and she let me do it. When I thought she was thoroughly warmed up, I carefully toweled her down, quickly dried myself as well, and guided her back to the bedroom.

I helped her into a t-shirt of me and lay her onto the bed. Then, finally, she spoke for the first time – "Stay with me!"

I quickly went to the toilet, brushed my teeth, and then joined Anita. I wrapped myself around her, she snuggled herself even tighter against me. A deep sigh, and her body relaxed. It didn't take long until her calm breathing indicated she was asleep.

I tried to loosen our embrace, make myself more comfortable, but her frantic reaction retained me. And so I lied still, wondering what had gone into her. Was this what her period looked like? What went on in her head – was she mental??? Was it a problem?

Hours passed away. Every movement from me was met with a desperate reaction from her side. How would I get through this night... But eventually I must have fallen asleep.



I woke up by the movement of Anita, turning away from my arms. The first thought, going through my mind, was "Don't go away!" and instinctively, I tried to keep her with me. Anita's eyes scanned my face, my sleepy eyes, and she then she pleaded "Please, Ruben, I have to go..."

I noticed the lightness in her voice, but it didn't fully sink through – "Why?"

"Because I HAVE to go; to the toilet!" The despair of the day before, was replaced by shyness, with a hint of, perhaps, regained happiness? And so I let her go.

"You're not coming back in bed?" I asked, inviting, but Anita rejected, friendly but stern; "It's been eight o'clock already. Time to go."

"Coffee first?" I asked, pleading.

"I'll prepare your coffee, but I won't come back to bed. You'll have to get out, to get your drink." She sounded just like the Anita I had learned to know over the past ten days. I couldn't put my mind around her sudden change – another sudden change.

I washed, got dressed, and went downstairs, where coffee and tea were waiting in the kitchen. And where Anita was preparing some sandwiches for both of us. I took my coffee and drank it, standing in the kitchen, watching Anita. Of course, she noticed – I wasn't hiding – and it was obvious what was on my mind. But she held off. "I'm sorry, but I can't explain; not now," she answered my unspoken question. "Maybe next week" and that was it. I sensed it was better not to push through.

We finished our drinks, lunch was prepared, and we left. I dropped Anita at her house, she would change clothes, and I moved on to work. For now, our relationship was just between the two of us – there was no need to show up at work together...



The rest of the week, everything went as usual – we didn't see much of each other, but that was the way we both wanted it. Of course, I kept an eye on Anita, but everything seemed ok, like nothing had happened earlier that week. And then it was Friday five o'clock.

To me, it seemed like a tacit agreement that we would spend the weekend together, but when I got to Anita's office, her place was empty. She had left. I called her, and, fortunately, she took the phone. She told me she wasn't feeling well, and preferred to be alone for the moment. "No, nothing to worry about."

I thought about what to do next, and decided still to go to her house. I wanted to be sure she was ok, given her unexplained break-down earlier that week, and at least, I could check if she needed something.

So I drove to her house, and rang the doorbell. Anita opened the door, and she wasn't surprised to see me. "I'm sorry, but I'm really not feeling well at the moment. Maybe we can see each other next week again?"

I could see she had been crying again.

"Can I just come in for a moment? Just one minute? Can I help you with something? Do you need anything?"

I could see Anita preparing, gathering strength, but then her body sank in, and she hurried inside. All I could do was to enter and follow her.

She sat down at the dinner table, elbows on the table top, her hands covering her eyes. Of course, I didn't know what to say – I had no clue about what was going on. I stood behind her, and wrapped my arms around her body. However, to me, it looked different from earlier this week – she didn't express the same apathy. Then – I have no idea where this came from – I whispered in her ear "A wise woman once told me, that it is a matter of trust – you need to give people all the time they need, to share their deepest feelings."

Anita stood up, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed me; silently, her face still wet from her tears. Then she went outside, to have a cigarette.



I ordered two pizzas from the pizza delivery. Anita seemed ravished – in no time she had finished hers, and it didn't take much persuasion to let her finish another quarter of mine. I wondered if she had been eating properly earlier this week. Then, we flipped through the channels of the TV, but nothing caught our interest.

And again, Anita's mood seemed completely changed at the blink of an eye. I watched her, and once more I could recognize the fun-loving, kink-seeking girl I learned to know; a bit tired maybe, and perhaps a bit more modest than before, but all despair seemed to have left her. I quickly peeked at her bookshelf, and then excused myself.

I didn't go to the toilet, but went to her bedroom instead; the ropes where at the same place as where they had been the first time. Back into the living room, I grabbed the "Shibari you can use" book from the shelf – from the moment I had seen that book, it had been on my mind, and as soon as possible, I had ordered the e-book version for myself.

Anita watched me, intrigued; probably thrilled by the sight of the rope.

"I'd always wanted to improve my Scouting skills!" I explained, grinning like a naughty boy.

"You want me to take off my clothes?" Anita asked, insecure, but I shook my head.

"I think you should take off your watch, and if you could just take off your pull-over; maybe you can put on a T-shirt instead? I only want to try some knots, nothing special."

Anita went to her bedroom, getting a shirt, while I took some scissors from the kitchen. I could see her suspicious looks towards the scissors when she came back, but I quickly flipped through the book, showing her the page with the warning, always to have your safety shears ready.

In the evenings at home, I had read the e-book version from A to Z, and I had even tried some of the knots with the rope of my bathrobe... which was not very well suited for that purpose. So I moved to the first page of the step-by-step instructions. I showed Anita what I had in mind, and asked if she was ready for being a study object – she didn't object at all, but eagerly offered her wrists instead.

The instructions were simple, but I was very careful. I knew that bondage was one of Anita's great fantasies – perhaps the biggest of all – and I didn't want to spoil this by impatience, carelessness or foolishness. Also, Anita's rope was very long – probably ten meters – while, for this example they suggested three to five meter long rope. So, at every move I made, I asked her if she was ok; if the rope was not too tight; if it wasn't uncomfortable...

First, Anita was just laughing at my insecurity, but after a while, she grew annoyed. "Just get on with it – trust me, I will tell you when things are not ok."

It didn't take long until I had the first knot around her wrist. I was excited, and so was Anita. It was nothing fancy, nothing elaborate, but we both identified it as a portal to more. I had tied her up before, on our first night together, but this was different, as this was rope for the sake of rope. I carefully pulled the rope, testing if it didn't move, and then I dragged Anita around the room; both grinning excited.

I carefully untied the rope, and made the same tie again. And again.

Then I moved on to the next example – a tie for both wrists together. Again, the instructions where clear and the procedure simple; it didn't take long until Anita's wrists where tied more or less similar to the pictures in the book. And once more, this was celebrated by a parade through the living room. It was obvious; we both immensely enjoyed this activity.

Although, ... 'it didn't take long'... When I looked at the clock, I was amazed how much time had gone since we had started – no wonder I was getting thirsty. I asked Anita what she wanted to have, and we took a short break, sipping our cokes, Anita with both hands tied together... Both of us were eager to continue.

First, I once more tested the single wrist tie, without consulting the instructions, and then the two-wrist tie. The latter one took a bit more time, also because there was a variation in which both hands were separated from each other by a wrapped-up piece of rope.

I knew what example came next, and probably Anita knew it too, but I told her to have a look at it – a Chest Harness.

The first picture was straight to the point; it was the woman – the beauty that Anita had drawn so perfectly – this time posing with ropes tied around her bare chest.

"Would you like to go on with this?" I asked, looking hopeful to Anita, "or should we continue another time?"

Anita was excited too, and told me to go on.

I quickly untied her wrists – too quickly. While pulling the ropes, I didn't pay enough attention and the rope ran too fast and too rough over her skin, making Anita suck in some air; rope burn. I was shocked, and profoundly apologized, while Anita tried to ensure me it was nothing.

More careful now, I unwounded the rest of the rope, until finally, Anita was released. A small, red stripe marked her wrist; I licked it, trying to lessen the pain with a bit of spittle. It didn't seem too serious, but still, I felt very bad about it – I hadn't been serious enough about what I was doing, and so I caused harm... I once more apologized, making Anita reply "Honestly, it is nothing. I've had worse! Let's get on with it. We both enjoy this, so don't spoil it now!" I once more looked at her wrist, kissed it apologetically, but Anita told me bluntly to move on.

Hesitantly, I looked from the picture to Anita and back. "If you want, you can keep your shirt on..." I mumbled, remembering some other pictures in the book, where women were tied while still wearing clothes; but to be honest...

Luckily, Anita felt the same, and without hesitation, without spending a word, she took off both her T-shirt and her bra.

As ever, I was in awe, looking at her beautiful body; Anita seemed totally at ease; looking sassily back at me.

"Do I need to be aware of breast implants, sensitive nipples or piercings?" I asked, jokingly, pointing out to the text in the book. Anita sincerely shook her head, without a trace of humor. Now she looked serious – solemnly again. I could see she was a bit nervous; for her, this was clearly not something to joke about.

I asked Anita to sit next to me, and we went through the various steps together. The text was clear, and so where the photos. "Promise me you'll tell me, if your skin gets stuck between the rope, or if I pull it too tight!" I beseeched Anita, who replied with a solemn; "I will!"