The guests were all treated to the scrumptious sight of Lydia’s welted, crimson bottom below her loosened corset. Her breasts had escaped the silk and bone confines as well, and the pert mounds, embellished with rosy crests, bounced deliciously with every thrust of Preston’s stiff member. Perspiration and exertion dampened her white skin, polishing it like rain-kissed marble.
She leaned forward, her back arching as she struggled to take the length of Preston’s hard flesh into her mouth. Her lips stretched over the shaft before he pulled himself from her and commanded in a husky voice that she suckle his dangling testicles.
A little moan escaped her as her tongue flickered out to caress the taut globes. She took the twin sacs between her lips, sucking them lightly until Preston grasped his penis in his fist and guided it back into her mouth.
His fingers clamped into her hair as she worked her mouth up and down on him, little murmurs escaping her as she bathed his erect stalk with saliva and the heat of her tongue. Moisture flowed between her thighs, causing her to press her legs together and squirm, still craving the release that had been so abruptly denied.
The musky, heady scent of Preston filled her nostrils like a potent aphrodisiac, and she wondered fleetingly what kind of psychological force rested behind her compliant suckling of the man who was so intent on punishing and humiliating her.
Preston’s breathing came in quick pants as he began nearing the apex of his pleasure. Lydia sensed the expanding tension of his body, and with the strange need to please him she began increasing the stroking movements of her lips and tongue. The flavors of him fused with the incessant burning of her punished bottom and the restriction of her arms. The multiple sensations conspired to drive all other thoughts from her mind, focusing her entire being on carnal desire.
Preston pushed forward, increasing the pace of his thrusts until he gave a grunt and spurted milky liquids into her mouth. Lydia pulled back slightly as his emissions slid down her throat as the hardness of his shaft began to ebb. She stroked her tongue over him before he eased away from her, his blue eyes filled with satisfaction as he looked down at her subservient, kneeling figure.
He stroked a hand through her hair, which had become loosened from its fancy upsweep, and damp strands clung to her face and neck.
Lydia gave him a beseeching look. Her arms and shoulders were painfully rigid from their enforced position behind her back, and she moaned with relief when he bent to unlash her wrists.
Unable to stop herself, she bent forward and pressed her hands to the floor, closing her eyes as the tension in her muscles abated. She wanted to sink down onto the carpet and let it absorb her lingering shock and pain, but then Preston stroked her bruised rump.
‘So, Lydia,’ he said smoothly, ‘you haven’t been with a woman since Cassie, have you?’
Lydia swallowed hard and shook her head. Apprehension flickered inside her as she realized that he wasn’t finished with this erotic display.
‘I didn’t think so,’ he said. ‘Sit up, please.’
Wincing, she rose to her knees again, embarrassment scorching her as she realized the guests were still watching her. She had become so immersed in her task she had almost forgotten she was on full display. The men had their erect cocks projecting from their groins, some stroking them with unhidden excitement. The women were nearly naked, although the sight of them failed to provide Lydia with any degree of comfort.
She looked at Odette, who moved to stand in front of her. She had a boyish figure with slim hips and small breasts capped with pink nipples, and brown curls that glistened with moisture concealed her sex. Lydia’s heart began to pound as she sensed what Preston had in mind.
‘Why don’t we see if you remember how to pleasure a woman as well as you pleasure me?’ he suggested.
Lydia let out her breath on a moan as Odette stretched out before her, spreading her firm thighs to reveal the moist, pink creases of her sex. A memory of Cassie with her plump breasts and slim body appeared in her mind. Arousal spun through her so swiftly that her hands shook as she placed them carefully upon Odette’s raised knees.
Odette lifted her head to give Lydia a wicked smile. ‘Show me the talents of your pretty tongue, Lydia.’
Wondering how much more of this she could endure, Lydia bent and pressed her lips against the other’s spread cleft. The musky flavor of Preston’s emissions still lingered on her tongue, mingling with the feminine honey coating Odette’s secret lips, and the cocktail of tastes caused a renewed bolt of excitement to wind through her. She stroked her tongue over the intimate pleats, satisfaction rising in her at the sound of Odette’s breathy groans. Some latent knowledge of how to please a woman returned with full force, as she remembered what erotic manipulations had aroused Cassie the most thoroughly.
She dipped her tongue into the fissure of Odette’s body, and then sealed her lips gently around the turgid bud barely concealed by her folds. Lydia’s position of crouching before the other woman caused her buttocks to protrude, creating a highly inviting display of rounded flesh. She gasped with surprise when she felt a man put his hands on her upturned cheeks and part them wider without the slightest compunction. Although her body had been aching for a masculine penetration, she balked when she failed to recognize the man’s touch, and only Preston’s harsh ‘Lydia!’ prevented her from withdrawing in panic. So she curled her hands underneath Odette’s thighs, stiffening with both anticipation and alarm when the bulging knob of a penis began rubbing against her exposed lips. She groaned, lowering her mouth again as the man began to slowly push into her body.
The delicious feeling of being filled by an erect male from behind while performing cunnilingus sent her into a tailspin of sensations. Whimpers came from her throat as the man began a slow plundering of her, his shaft moving with oiled ease. His hands clutched her stinging bottom cheeks, eliciting a whole new wave of pain that only served to enhance her fierce tension. She had never felt so wanton, so immodestly exposed and penetrated.
Although her body throbbed with the increasing need for release, she forced herself to concentrate on bestowing pleasure. She continued licking and sucking Odette, her fingers digging into the woman’s firm thighs as she felt her begin to tense with urgency. Odette writhed lusciously underneath the delectation of Lydia’s tongue. Her foamy fluids painted Lydia’s lips, her legs rising as she let out a loud shriek and shook with intense vibrations.
The man started pumping into Lydia with increasing force, each thrust accompanied by a husky bellow. Lydia moaned and clutched at Odette to try and retain her position, wishing the man would see fit to rub the throbbing bud of her feminine center. His cock slapped wetly against her flesh before he succumbed to his own orgasm with a growl of rapture.
Both the man and Odette didn’t move for a long moment, leaving Lydia in her crouched position still desperately craving release.
She straightened, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath and turned to look at the man who had pleasured himself with her. He was in his early forties with blond hair, and he gave her bottom a light slap as he moved away. Lydia couldn’t look at any of the other people, but sensed their attention on her was beginning to wane as they began focusing on each other.
Lydia finally lifted her hesitant gaze to Preston, who was lounging in a chair near the fireplace. He gave her a lazy smile before turning towards the lushly plump woman beside him, who was massaging his flaccid penis to another erection, Lydia startled by the flash of jealousy that sparked to life inside her. While she had never expected that any of the three men would please themselves only with her, it was decidedly unnerving to see them engaged in erotic activities with other women. She could understand her jealousy where Gabriel was concerned, but she hadn’t imagined she would ever feel the same way about Preston.
Tearing her gaze from him, she wiped her damp hair away from her forehead and adjusted her corset to cover her
breasts, just as Odette got to her knees to kiss her. It was lovely, and she brushed her palms audaciously over Odette’s small breasts, shivering at the feel of her taut nipples.
‘You do know how to use your mouth, my precious,’ Odette murmured, stroking her tongue over Lydia’s lower lip before easing away. She stretched luxuriously and went to a leather settee where a handsome man dressed as a cowboy was lounging, and within seconds the two were kissing and groping each other.
Feeling strangely bereft with the attention no longer focused on her, Lydia rose slowly to her feet. She put her hand on a nearby table to brace herself against a wave of dizziness, and although she longed to press her thighs together to quell the ache of her womanly core, she forced herself to retain her self-control. She put her hands on her bottom, feeling the heat of the cane still burning into her skin, the welts branding her with the evidence of her punishment. She wished she could return to her room, but suspected that her request would be refused.
‘Lydia.’
She turned to find Kruin standing beside her. She steeled herself against a harsh word or criticism, but to her surprise he put his heavy arm around her shoulders. He didn’t draw her towards him, but the mere weight of his arm calmed the tension still gripping her.
‘You did very well,’ Kruin said, his expression one of approval. ‘The kind of compliance you displayed this evening is exactly what we had hoped of you.’
Lydia stared at him in shock as a lump of emotion rose in her throat. She had lost track of the number of times she had wished for his approval, and now here he was bestowing it upon her after a particularly difficult scene. Tears filled her eyes again. She wanted to press her face against his broad chest and sob, but he still appeared too foreboding for such an emotional display. She swallowed hard, wishing he would never take his protective arm from her shoulders.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered hoarsely. ‘I’ve so… thank you.’
Kruin nodded. ‘You are not required to stay at the party unless you want to. You may return to your room if you like.’
Relief rose in Lydia like a tidal wave. Although she still wanted to ask him for permission to assuage her sensual excitement, she couldn’t find the courage to ask, especially not after he had actually praised her performance.
‘Yes,’ she murmured. ‘I’ll go.’ She left the room, feeling as if her soul had suddenly sprouted wings.
Chapter 13
Lydia rested her head against the back of the overstuffed chair and gazed out the window. The sun had risen halfway over the horizon, creating a reddish-gold sheen over the gardens. The Chinese lanterns swayed in a gentle breeze as the delicate paper covers captured the morning light. Several articles of clothing lay strewn over the garden’s flagstone paths – a flimsy skirt, a man’s crumpled white shirt, a lacy piece of lingerie. Lydia thought they were like mementos of the previous evening’s libidinous activities.
She shifted, wincing as her sore bottom chafed against the chair. She had massaged a healing cream into her skin after returning to her room last night, then fell almost immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep.
She had woken before dawn, taken a long hot shower, and had been sitting in the window chair for the last hour. Although she was still emotionally and physically exhausted, she was unable to sleep any longer. Her bottom continued to burn, but alone in the quiet of her room she didn’t mind the discomfort terribly much.
In fact, she was currently rather enjoying the stinging sensation caused by the pressure of the chair, for it reminded her that not only had she successfully endured Preston’s collective punishment, but that she’d done well enough to earn Kruin’s approval too, the thought made the welts on her bottom feel like medals of honor.
There was a knock on the bedroom door, breaking into her thoughts, and she unfolded herself from the plush chair by the window, tugging her bathrobe more closely around her body as she went to open it.
‘Good morning.’ Gabriel stood on the landing, his eyes brilliantly green in the light of the rising sun. He wore jeans and a blue, chambray shirt that looked deliciously soft and faded from many washes. ‘Your door was locked.’
‘Yes, I locked it last night.’
‘You’re never to lock your door here,’ Gabriel said, with a hint of steel as he entered the room. ‘You should know that by now.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she apologized. ‘With so many people in the house, I was nervous.’
‘Don’t do it again.’
‘No, I won’t.’
Gabriel went to the closet and removed a floral cotton dress, which he tossed onto the bed. ‘So did you enjoy yourself last night?’
‘Not particularly.’
His eyebrows rose. ‘Not even the slightest bit?’
Lydia thought of Kruin. ‘Well, there was some good to it, but overall, I found it quite unpleasant.’ She couldn’t prevent herself from adding, ‘I’m sure you don’t feel the same way, though.’
He didn’t respond, gesturing for her to remove her robe and dress. Lydia obeyed, appreciating the looseness of the lightweight material all the more after her confining costume last night.
‘So how did you spend your evening?’ Gabriel asked.
She shrugged and went to the dressing table. ‘Conversing, a bit of dancing, although that dress and corset made it difficult to move. I tried some of the food. And of course Preston subjected me to one of his little scenarios. In front of a group of people, no less.’
Gabriel frowned slightly. ‘What did he do?’
Lydia grasped the folds of her dress and pulled it up over her hips to show him her bruised buttocks. Despite the delivery by several different people, the pattern of welts was lovely and uniform, each red mark spread evenly across her cheeks and modulated by the stripes of her pale skin.
At any other time she would have been hesitant and shy about revealing the evidence of her punishment to him, but this morning she wanted him to see what she had endured while he’d been so engrossed with his willing Cleopatra.
Gabriel looked at her welts for a moment without response, and then Lydia let the dress fall again to cover herself. She reached for her brush and began stroking it through her hair.
‘Kruin was there,’ she remarked. ‘Didn’t he tell you what happened?’
‘I haven’t seen him yet,’ Gabriel said. ‘How did you do?’
‘It hurt like hell. But I did everything right. Even Kruin said I did well.’
‘Really?’ He appeared rather impressed. ‘High praise, indeed.’
Lydia smiled slightly at the memory. ‘I thought so, too.’
He looked as if he wanted to ask her more about the incident, but then he merely nodded towards her sandals. ‘If you’re ready, breakfast is waiting.’
Lydia slipped into her comfortable, strappy footwear and followed him downstairs. The scents of crisp bacon, rich coffee and buttery croissants drifted from the kitchen, causing her stomach to rumble with hungry anticipation. But she stopped on the stairs when she heard unfamiliar voices emerging from the solarium. Gabriel turned to look at her.
‘Who is that?’ she asked.
‘Just a few of the guests from last night.’
‘What?’ Lydia stared at him in shock, her hand going to her throat.
‘Don’t worry,’ Gabriel said reassuringly. ‘They aren’t wearing masks, but believe me when I tell you they’re more worried about you knowing who they are than the other way around. None of them have any idea who you are.’
‘Gabriel, I can’t—’
‘Yes, you can,’ he interrupted. ‘And you will. After what you went through last night, you hardly have a reason to hesitate now. I imagine this is mild by comparison.’
‘Gabriel, nothing about this situation is mild,’ she said.
‘I know, but you’ve been handling it quite well so far, and you’ll continue
to do so.’
He held out his hand, Lydia drew in a deep breath, and somewhat reassured by his words she slipped her fingers into his.
Six guests were gathered in the dining room, four men and two women who wore luxurious silken robes. They sat around the table in languid comfort, sipping dark, fragrant coffee and filling their plates from dishes set out on the sideboard.
There were platters of flaky pastries and bowls of juicy fruit – fat strawberries, cherries, and blueberries, savory melon slices, chunks of sweet pineapple. Crystal carafes of freshly squeezed orange juice were lined up, heated platters of scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and thick, buttered toast rested beside them, along with dishes of crunchy granola and creamy yogurt.
Lydia stopped in the doorway. Preston and Kruin were eating at their usual places, and they both gave her brief nods of welcome. She saw Helen, divested of her Cleopatra costume and accoutrements. The folds of her robe were parted to reveal her cleavage, and she gave Lydia a smile that seemed to indicate more than a simple greeting.
Lydia wondered with another stab of jealousy if Helen had spent the entire night with Gabriel, but dismissing the thought she turned her attention to a man who was helping himself to a generous serving of eggs. His back was to her, but she recognized him immediately.
When he turned and saw her standing there, Wallace gave her an inscrutable smile. He wore a cotton robe that was barely closed by a straining cotton belt, revealing his plump, hairy stomach and skinny legs. She also caught an unfortunate glimpse of his limp penis dangling between his thighs.
‘Well, good morning, Lydia,’ Wallace said as he settled at the table. ‘You’re a pleasant sight to start the day.’
You’re not, Lydia wanted to retort, but suppressed the words just in time. Instead she muttered a greeting in return, including the other guests in her words as she went to pour herself a cup of coffee. She filled her plate with food and sat down next to Gabriel, trying not to wince as discomfort stabbed her caned flesh. To her relief none of the guests were paying either her or each other much attention, as they were engrossed either in their food or reading a newspaper. Furthermore, they all appeared rather exhausted from the previous night’s activities.
To Disappear Page 17