by Dee Brice
Something in his voice made her look at him more closely. “You don’t want to have sex with me, do you?” Caught between feeling insulted by his lack of sexual interest and total relief that he didn’t want her, a laugh burst from her. She suddenly felt lighter, knowing she could give her love to Adrian and Walker while not cheating on them.
“You are a very sensual woman, Diane. I’d be a fool to refuse you…were you truly interested in me as a lover rather than as a weapon to make your true loves jealous.”
She stiffened and shot him a glare she knew would destroy all that youthful swagger. “I’m not that kind of woman.”
His brief grin infuriated her yet also gave her pause. She, modern Diane de Bourgh, would not deliberately play one man against the other. But what might Diane de Vesay or—assuming she might have married Walker at some point in their lives—Diane Mornay do?
Choosing her words so as not to further insult the young man, she said, “I think you brought me here so we’d have privacy.” She laughed at that obvious statement, then went on. “Not for a tryst, but so you can tell me things about my lovers you don’t want them to know I know.”
Jason flushed but nodded. Holding out his hand, he led her deeper inside the folly and saw her seated. She plumped pillows before settling against them. Jason knelt across from her, pouring pale tea into small cups. Raising his, he clinked it with hers in a silent toast.
Diane found her patience slipping. “Once Walker and Adrian find us gone, they’ll come looking,” she warned. Unless they obeyed the rules for once and left her alone until Sunday. As if they would!
Leaning against his own pillows, Jason nodded but frowned at his cup. Was he reading tealeaves or was what he had to say so horrible he couldn’t tell her? About to snap, he looked up at her and she held her silence.
“First, I regret misleading you,” he muttered as if strangling on the words.
“Misleading me?” she echoed. “Say rather you played on my vanity. Lied about who you are and why you’re here. Revealed yourself as yet another man who cannot say I’m sorry.”
He looked as if he’d rather swallow ground glass. Indignant, as well.
“I am—” A cheeky grin preceded a rueful shrug. “Regretful.”
“Geez, Jason. You act as if I asked you to say you love me.”
“Which I shall have no problem saying…to the right woman.”
Diane suddenly wanted to find him the perfect mate, but had no idea where to look. Not even among her acquaintances in her own time. Smothering a sigh, she said, “Tell me what you are and why you’re here.”
“I’m here to keep Walker and Adrian from fucking—pardon me, from screwing—up their lives yet again. Yours, as well.”
“Mine? I’m not part of this fiasco. I just keep getting dragged into these scenarios. But I’m not part of them. Not really.”
“Aren’t you?” With that, he stood and held out his hand once more.
Wary and off balance, she stood. Refusing his hand, she followed him to the steaming pool where he paused.
Sweeping his hand over it, he said, “Take your leisure here, milady, whilst I prepare the next phase.” He held up a bar of soap and smiled encouragement for her to take it. “The soap is unscented, but finely milled. I doubt it will harm your delicate skin.”
Finding her voice at last, she said, “You aren’t coming in? Joining me, I mean?” She waited until he’d turned away before she stripped off her clothes then slid into the tub.
“Later, perhaps. For now relax while I prepare the next phase.”
As if! She’d been in the pool only a couple of minutes and even though the warm water soothed her, curiosity about his preparations compelled her to follow him to the bed. He turned, toweling extended to encompass her in warmth. His body heat added to her feeling so relaxed she could barely stand. “I have become far too predictable,” she said, laughing.
“Curiosity is a very human trait,” he countered, guiding her to the bed.
Something in his voice prompted her to say, “Meaning you aren’t human?”
With another of his bone-melting smiles, he gestured at his lower body. “As you can see, Diane, I am every inch human. An aroused and willing male.” He nodded at the bed.
Slanting him a cautionary look, she climbed up, surprised by the firm mattress. “Nothing beyond kisses,” she reminded him.
“Milady, we both know you indulged in more than kisses with my rivals.”
Her entire body blushed, but she nodded. “In truth, we indulged in everything short of…penetration.” Which fell a little short of complete disclosure if one considered locations other than vaginal and anal orifices. “Besides, you took yourself out of the competition and no longer have rivals.”
A cut-crystal bottle appeared in Jason’s hand as if conjured from thin air. “Close your eyes, Diane, so I may begin the next phase.”
“Of what? My seduction? Do you think to break your own rules?”
He flinched as if she had insulted him and his sense of honor.
“Close your eyes,” he repeated, his voice and expression brooking neither argument nor delay. She obeyed. Seconds later a familiar scent reached her nostrils. “What is this?” His tone demanded she answer.
“Roses. As strong as the aroma is, a highly concentrated distillation.”
“Very good.” He dabbed it on one wrist, then placed her arm beneath her breasts. Wafting something under her nose, he asked her to identify it as well.
“Lavender and…violets, I think.”
He anointed her other wrist and positioned that arm at her waist. Ambergris and musk followed. Several times she demanded to know what he intended to do. He ignored her questions—so what else was new?—saying only that she should relax. Which was difficult enough and got worse when he stroked something she could barely feel over her forehead, nose and chin, then up from the soles of her feet to her nipples.
“Can you tell me what this is?” His voice, warm and moist, tickled her ear.
“N-no.”
“Or this?”
“Only that it feels heavier and…I don’t know. As if it has nubs.”
“Very good. Your skin is as sensitive as it appears, responsive to feathers and raw silk. You enjoy being touched.”
Since her nipples felt as though they stood at attention and she could smell hints of her growing arousal, she nodded her agreement. “Will you tell me what purpose these serve?”
“Open your legs, my lady.”
Every instinct urged her to run. Yet her mind and body demanded she stay. That staying would teach her something about herself that she’d never known before. If she left, she might never know. She opened her legs. He rewarded her with a sweet kiss to her lips.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“I know that! Why aren’t you doing…something?”
“Because you are in control, Diane. Isn’t that what you want? What you have always wanted?”
She tried to shift away, but couldn’t. The mattress seemed to inhibit all her attempts to move. She shoved at his hand on her shoulder, but failed to budge it at all. Frustrated, she glared at him.
“I don’t know what to do,” she complained, hysteria in her voice. Her heart began to race as she struggled to breathe. Which only increased her panic.
“Do what your body tells you,” he advised. “For once listen to it and not your mind.”
“That’s all I have done! Ever since I met Walker and Adrian, all I’ve done is listen to my body and look where it’s led me.” She looked down her body to his hand cupping just below her breast. Glaring up at him once more, she said, “Are you suggesting I use your hand as I would a…a vibrator? Do you even know what that is?”
His restrained laugh shook his shoulders while the rest of him remained utterly still. “Even when your body gives you satisfaction, it isn’t enough. Until you relinquish control completely, you’ll never find what you most want.”
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br /> “You’re asking me to trust you,” she said, sounding incredulous and dismissive. Mostly because he had her pegged like hops to their growing supports. Yes, she’d relinquished a lot of control when she had sex—made love—with her men. Yet she’d also held back a tiny portion that allowed her to, what? Maintain the illusion of not needing them?
Need equated to her mother and her inability to live without a man in her life. Was that what Diane strove to prove to herself? That she didn’t need anyone—especially not any man?
A soft smile touched his generous lips, but sadness filled his eyes. “I am asking you to trust yourself.”
“I do!” He cocked a brow, a smile now in his eyes. Her gaze shifted to his hand. She chewed on her upper lip, wondering what to do. “I don’t understand what my masturbating will prove.” And yet, unable to fight off her own lust, she began to pleasure herself. Her eyes on his face, she sought approval for what she was doing, but found nothing more than mild interest in his expression.
To hell with him! To hell with all men.
But that was Jason’s point, wasn’t it? That she could masturbate until she made herself sore, but it would never feel as good as it did with a partner. As the pleasure built, she pressed her fingers deep inside her pussy and writhed.
“OhGodohGodohGod!” she screamed as her body shattered and the world went black.
Chapter Seventeen
Jason almost choked on the grape he’d just plucked off Diane’s pert nipple. Walker and Adrian stood at each side of the dragon screen that divided the folly, their expressions stern, speculative and jealous. With Diane undressed and supine over Jason’s naked thighs any protestations as to what they hadn’t done would sound suspect. He admitted he rather enjoyed holding the upper hand for once, having information neither older man had. If they knew or even guessed, all of them would be where and when they belonged. More, he’d confessed something Diane needed to know so she wouldn’t wonder why he hadn’t…they hadn’t and wouldn’t…
He shifted his legs. Diane opened her eyes and followed his gaze to their visitors. He gave her high marks for aplomb. She simply sat up and leaned into the curve of his arm, making no attempt to cover her nakedness. Not that she had any reason to hide. They’d all seen her without her clothes. Had held and touched her when she wore nothing but skin and long, silken hair.
“Your Grace, de Vesay.” She greeted the newcomers, standing to don a silk robe that matched her green eyes. “I hadn’t expected to see you until Sunday.”
With her slight emphasis on Sunday, Adrian had enough good sense to look sheepish. Walker, on the other hand, seemed his usual toplofty, master-of-all-he- surveyed self. He and Diane locked gazes. For all the good that did, beyond filling the air with combustible sexual energy.
“There’s no way to avoid this, Diane,” Walker told her as he untied his black robe, keeping the wide sash in one hand. “Not if you want to go home.”
She tilted her chin. “I may have changed my mind about that. Here I seem to have power I don’t have in my own world.”
Adrian slanted Jason a damning look. “Couldn’t keep your mouth shut for a few days more?”
Jason shrugged and flashed a teeth-bared grin. “She deserved to know.”
“We would have told her—”
“On Sunday,” she interrupted, her voice dripping sarcasm. “Maybe.” With an impatient toss of her head, she paced to a low brass table surrounded with plump pillows in jewel-bright colors. Sinking gracefully to her knees, she lifted tops off covered trays. Steam rose from most, filling the air with mouthwatering aromas.
“I’m not playing geisha, gentlemen. If you want something to eat or drink you can serve yourself.”
Slipping into his own robe, Jason noticed they were all color-coded to match their eyes. He in brown, Adrian in blue, Walker and Diane in black and green. For a moment he wondered if some nefarious purpose lay beneath the choice of colors or if the masters of time had developed a sense of humor. With a mental shrug he joined the others, sitting where he could observe Adrian and Walker. Diane’s thigh pressed against his. Did she need support or only warmth? Or was it yet another game to keep the other men off balance? If that, they all could be stuck here for a long, long time.
With studied indifference each filled a plate. Diane nibbled on a prawn. Walker and Adrian showed off, each using chopsticks on noodles and slurping them into their mouths. Jason poured beer into his glass, then leaned back to await what might happen next.
In the height of bad manners, Walker pointed his chopsticks at Diane and said, “You’ll soon tire of this society’s strictures.”
Shrugging, she bit into a barbequed rib.
“More,” Adrian said, “you’ll miss sunny beaches and surfing.”
She laughed. “I body-surfed. Once, when I was sixteen. I have no desire to spend time on sand. Even without wind, those tiny little grains get into places they don’t belong. Moreover, I’m fond of my pale complexion and intend to keep it. Parasols and wide-brimmed hats work for me.”
“Indoor plumbing. Long soaks in jetted tubs,” Walker countered, his black eyes lightening as he teased.
Adrian stuck his oar in. “Kick-ass stilettos.”
“I guess you mean fuck-me heels,” she corrected, a sly grin curving her lips. She licked off barbeque sauce, raising the sexual energy another notch.
“Sexy lingerie,” Jason offered, winning a longing sigh and a full smile from her. Playing this particular game paid back his elders for their ridicule.
“Having your books published.” Walker didn’t even look at her as he fired that deadly shot straight into her heart.
Rinsing her hands, she wiped them on a damask napkin, then dabbed her lips. “As to that…sales have gone down that indoor toilet I’m so fond of.”
“You know how to fix that problem,” Adrian said.
They all nodded. Even Diane.
“Lose control. Let my emotions rule me.”
For a long time no one said a word. Then Walker murmured, “Only long enough so you can draw on those emotions when you need them.”
She chewed her lower lip, her gaze seeming focused on the fingers clenching then unclenching around her napkin. Everything fell still and silent. At last she looked up—at what Jason couldn’t decide, but not at any of them.
In a voice so soft they all leaned toward her she whispered, “What if I never get it back?” A breathless laugh followed as her eyes glazed. “Will you stay with me when all I spout is gibberish? Will you hold me when all I can do is cry?”
As one, they moved. Jason to her back, Walker and Adrian to either side. They surrounded her, for once overcoming their discomfort with her tears. For once realizing they had to relinquish their need to protect her or bend her to their will. For once not jealous of each other as they each gave her a part of himself.
“Love me,” she whispered, her eyes drifting shut.
As if magic had interceded on their behalf, her body shifted so they could easily remove her robe. Their own robes soon followed while they fondled and stroked and caressed the woman they loved.
Diane felt Jason slide out from behind her as either Adrian or Walker took his place. For a moment panic tightened every muscle until Jason whispered, “I promised you, Diane.” With that, he kissed her, his lips so soft on her cheek she might have only dreamed them. Her eyes still closed, she reached out and stroked her fingertips down his cheek. Silk slid up her belly to her breasts then to her chin.
“You needn’t blindfold me,” she murmured, adding, “And if I scream there’s no one but us to hear.”
As if they had sung together for eons, their soft laughter blended until she could no longer distinguish one from the others. Just as she couldn’t tell who paid tribute to her breasts while another opened her legs to stroke her inner thighs and kiss her belly.
She floated on a sea of sensations. Stubble lightly abrading her cheek. A rough velvet tongue lapping her nipples, sucking the peaks into
his mouth, nipping then soothing. The ache for her men to continue as they were felt at odds with her pussy’s growing need to have them fill her. Tongues or fingers or cocks, she didn’t care as long as they fulfilled her cravings.
A symphony of sighs, her own included, added to her feelings of well-being, along with simmering anticipation. She wanted to rush to the precipice of climax, then balance at its edge for…forever. Always waiting. Always needing. Always…
“Ohh.” A moan escaped her lips as she succumbed to tiny sparks of pleasure in her pussy. A precursor of bliss yet to come.
Not yet.
Male musk neared. A kiss of dew parted her lips to taste salty cream. Opening her mouth, she licked, trusting whoever’s cock she laved would not shove it down her throat. Trusting she wouldn’t need her hands to restrain him, she touched the men at her sides. Soft groans welcomed her caresses. Velvet-clad poles glided up and down in her fingers, their pubic nests rubbing along her thighs as they rocked back and forth. Their hands skimmed her parted legs and made brief forays into her curls.
One man slid down her body and kissed behind her knees, then up her inner thighs. She wished for another pair of hands so she could stroke their cocks while holding herself open. Exposing her double set of blushing lips that quivered with need. Exposing the cream that flooded her pussy and bedewed her mons’ curls and folds. Exposing how much she craved them.
“…perfume?” someone muttered.
“Collect what remains…once you have tongued her to climax.”
Jason. She recognized his voice. His breath hissed out, verifying he’d remained at her head. Head-to-head, but not in the way she’d imagined earlier. The thought made her chuckle.
Her gasp melded with more moans as the lover between her legs touched his tongue to the tip of her clit. She bucked and his lips seemed to encompass her from nub to channel. His clever tongue darted, stroked, plunged until she lost control and let her climax claim her. Behind her closed eyes pictures of wheat fields swaying in the wind roiled. High-rise buildings tumbled like dominos, an earthquake rumbling in the earth’s core and leaving nothing standing. Something cool pressed at her channel. Wanting to see what her lovers were doing, her eyelids fluttered, but she couldn’t fight the rapture still crashing through her.