“What do you want me to do?” she asked, proud of herself for not stuttering. Did she need to be naked? After all, he was disrobing. Did he want her to do the same? Was he going to enter her tonight? Despite the fact that she had agreed to be his mistress, Dory wasn’t certain she was ready for that yet.
Once Jeremy was naked from the waist up, his stockings and shoes gone as well, he returned to the divan. “Just lay there, my darling, and relax. Tonight? This is all about you and your pleasure. I need you to learn what pleasure is and how to accept it before we can go any further.”
“Oh.” Dory was confused but as long as Jeremy knew what he was doing? Well, then she trusted him. Though she was still confused. “How do I do that?”
Frost’s books had only ever depicted the acts themselves and not what led up to the actual events. They had skipped over that part and she now thought that might have been good information to know as well.
Slowly, Jeremy lowered his body back over hers and Dory was shocked to feel the hot, satiny press of his bare skin against hers where her corset didn’t quite cover her. She gasped at the new and thrilling sensation, and then sighed, for she had never experienced anything quite like the whirlwind of feelings he was causing inside her with so simple of a touch.
“Well, simply feeling my naked body against yours is a good place to start,” he chuckled. “I know you’re an innocent, Dory, and for all of your bold fearlessness, I believe these are lines you have never crossed.”
“But I want to,” she reminded him. She did not add that she only wished to cross them with him. That was too much. Even she, in her inexperience, knew that.
Jeremy kissed her lips lightly, teasing her with the tip of his tongue. “And we will. Slowly. Until I know you are ready for more. You need to learn passion, Dory, and I so very much wish to be the man to teach you everything.” He nuzzled the base of her throat. “I don’t just want that, sweet. I crave it.” He traced the tip of a finger down the length of her throat. “Has any man ever touched your breasts, peacock? I know a true gentleman should not, but I also know the men of the ton and how they do not always keep their hands to themselves.”
Dory shook her head. “No. As I said, in general, men do not find me attractive. At least not when I am simply me. Lord Stillborough wanted to touch me…and more, but I wouldn’t allow it. I told him I would unman him with my brother’s sword first before I would agree to such a thing.”
When Jeremy laughed – truly laughed – it was a delightful sound. Rich and full, it was a sound of real joy that came from deep inside of him. The sound wrapped around Dory’s heart and squeezed it tight, though she could not say why. What she did know was that his laugh warmed her in a way all of his gentle, coaxing, teasing, seductive words hadn’t.
Once more, Jeremy’s eyes twinkled. “Ah, my sweet, sweet peacock! This is why you captured my attention. So innocent and yet still so passionate and dangerous at the same time!”
Dory was fairly certain no one had ever described her in those terms before, but she found that she rather liked the juxtaposition of terms. It made her seem both hard and soft at the same time, which in truth, was how she saw herself, at least when she wasn’t holding up the wall at a Society ball.
Deciding to be bold again, she stroked his lips with her fingers. She liked touching him there, though she had no idea why. “Is that what you want to do, my raven? Touch my breasts?”
At her words, Jeremy’s eyes grew dark and serious. “Oh, sweet. I want to do more than touch them. I want to suckle them. I want to feast upon them. On you. I want you to begin to learn how pleasurable the touch of a man can be.”
“So that I can be your mistress in every sense?” Once more, a kernel of doubt crept into Dory’s mind.
“So that we can live out this fantasy together,” he corrected. “Whatever that fantasy might be.”
She nodded and swallowed the bit of fear that was creeping up on her once again. “That’s what I want, Jeremy. You. This fantasy. But mostly you.”
“Then you shall have me,” he breathed, his hot breath caressing her skin like a lover’s touch. “But first? You need to be rid of this.” He traced the top edge of her corset. Then he sat back and waited.
This was the moment Dory had to decide what she wanted. Did she push Jeremy away and say that she had made a mistake and that she was not that sort of woman, or did she offer herself up to him and allow him to do as he pleased. One would maintain her innocence and her suitability for marriage. The other? Would make her a trollop and it would be unlikely that another man would want her.
But she was already very nearly on the shelf and the only man who might marry her was Harry, and he already knew of her wild streak. It would probably not surprise him to learn she was not as innocent as she seemed. And if, in the end, she didn’t wed Harry? Well, Dory rather doubted that she would wed at all. She would rather be alone than remain invisible for the rest of her life.
This man? Jeremy? He saw her. He wanted her. She couldn’t have him, not out there, but she could in here. In this little cocoon they had created. So why not live out the fantasy? It wasn’t as if she had anything else to lose.
“Do you wish to remove the offending garment or should I?” she finally asked, praying that her voice didn’t crack. She was still nervous, but she had made up her mind. She wanted Jeremy. She had wanted him from the first night she had mustered up her courage to walk through the Peacock Door.
This was her chance to have him. She wouldn’t allow this moment to pass her by.
Jeremy’s eyes darkened at her words and his breath hitched. Good. Her brief moment of indecision hadn’t changed his mind either.
“I would be honored, my sweet Dory, if you would allow me the pleasure.”
Dory nodded her permission and Jeremy lifted her back off the divan so that he could reach the corset laces. For the most part, those laces were permanently done up so that she could dress herself without a maid, two small rows of additional laces running down each side so that she could slip into the garment and tighten it on her own.
Those were not the laces he went for, however. No, he chose the ones in the back. The ones that ensured that he would have to be the one to lace her back into her corset before she left. Whenever that was.
“Soft,” he whispered as he nuzzled the side of her neck while his talented fingers continued to undo those unseen laces. “Your skin is so soft. Like silk.”
Dory felt Jeremy’s fingers being to trace the length of her spine as he undid her corset and she whimpered.
“Shh,” he crooned softly. “Just feel, sweet. That’s all I want you to do. Just close your eyes and feel. Trust that I will take care of you.”
Easing back into the divan once more, Dory tried to relax, concentrating on the sound of Jeremy’s breathing and the warm touch his hands on her bare skin. She was convinced she would never be able to relax, but eventually, her eyes drifted closed and she began drifting along in a dream world filled with sensual caresses and light touches.
She could feel his fingers sometimes and then his hands. She felt his breath sliding over her skin as well as the soft stroke of his lips on her increasingly naked body. He nuzzled and nipped, each touch light as a feather and just barely there, coaxing her into a state of relaxation so complete and perfect that she wasn’t even aware of it when he slowly stripped the heavy, whale-boned corset from her body, baring her breasts to his hungry gaze.
Then she felt his breath on those soft globes, her nipples tightening from the heat of his body as he pressed his chest against hers as he swooped in for another deep, tongue-tangling kiss.
“My beautiful, lovely peacock. You are just as delectable as I imagined.”
Slowly, Dory opened her eyes, her body so languid now that it was difficult to move. The air around them had turned thick with desire, and Jeremy’s eyes burned with a raw hunger she had never seen before, at least not directed at her. It was fierce and powerful and yet, everything still f
elt like a dream. His caresses had relaxed her to the point where she felt as if she was floating on a cloud of pure bliss. Every moment she made was slow now, as if her body was not quite her own, and she reached up to cup his cheek with her hand.
“And you are just as talented as I dreamed,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotions she had no idea how to express. “Taste me, Jeremy. I ache to feel you. Please. Teach me. Make me yours.”
Those lines could have been ripped directly from a gothic novel, but Dory didn’t care. She felt as if she was lost in a dream world, a world where it was only her and Jeremy and no one else. Not a care in the world, just pleasure.
“I would be delighted,” he whispered in a ragged voice and Dory groaned as he slid down her body to draw one peaked nipple into his mouth, shattering her soft dream world.
At the touch of his hot mouth on her body, her senses came alive.
When his lips closed around her nipple and began to suck and tug, she arched up with a moan and dug her nails into the bare skin of his back, every part of her vibrant and alive.
“Oh, God! Jeremy!” she cried, but he only laughed and she felt that laughter against her skin, the vibrations sinking down into her bones as her body came awake for the first time in her life.
She had never known a feeling this powerful, one that seemed to snake down the length of her body and make her wet between her legs. If this was only a taste of what was to come? Then she wanted more – now.
“Please, Jeremy,” Dory begged as she writhed beneath him, his mouth suckling at one breast while his talented fingers played with the other. “I need you, please.”
“Shh,” he replied as she switched his mouth’s attentions from one breast to the other. “I know you want more, sweet. I do as well. But if I take you now? Tomorrow you will regret it, as will I. For now, I will give you a taste. Consider this your first lesson, if you like.” Then his eyes flicked up to hers, full of wicked intent. “However, that doesn’t mean you can’t touch me as you please and start to learn my body as I am learning yours.”
Then he returned his attentions back to her breasts and Dory nearly wept from the surge of pleasure that curled her toes as he did so.
Though her mind was still spinning as her body awoke to the sensations crashing through her, she did her best to do as Jeremy had instructed and began exploring his body with her hands. She felt the rough, coarse hair on his chest and the hard muscles beneath. She explored the contours of his broad back and the increased heat of his skin as she worked her way lower towards his waist.
But most of all, she felt the hard press of his erection against her leg and she reached for him instinctively as he continued to feast upon her breasts. And when he groaned against her as she cupped him intimately, Dory felt her first surge of feminine power – and it was magnificent.
She was going to kill him with her inexperience, but oh, what a delightful way to go.
When Jeremy had first opened the door this evening to find Dory waiting on the other side as promised, he could not have imagined that they would end up here, his face buried in her breasts while she toyed with his manhood through two layers of clothing. Actually, he still wasn’t quite certain how they had arrived at this point so quickly, though he wasn’t complaining.
This hadn’t been his intention. His plan had been to take things slowly with his peacock. While she might not be afraid of much, she was still an innocent and untried. She had no idea how her body would react to the touch of a man and Jeremy had no wish to rush her.
Then she had said his partial name and he had removed his mask. She had removed hers and shown him a hint of her vulnerability. After that? Well, things had spiraled out of control until he found himself stripping before her as she watched and then having the distinct pleasure of being the first man to bare her breasts and taste those lovely, sweet globes for himself – something he had only dreamed of doing before.
If he had been a gentleman, he would have stopped this madness long ago. Then again, if he had been a gentleman, it never would have started to begin with. Once he discovered Dory’s true identity, she should have let her go. He shouldn’t have pursued her. He never should have brought her to his suite or proposed that she become his mistress.
But he had and he wasn’t sorry about it. Not one bit.
Dory was an adult who knew her own mind and, from what he had gathered when he looked into her private life, she had never been one to shy away from anything. Nor was she afraid of much. Until she had made her come out, she had done as she pleased when she pleased, without a single hint of caring that she was a lady of breeding. Then, she had been sent away to school and rebellious Dory had disappeared. Proper and sedate Dory had taken her place. He knew that and honestly, given her rank in Society, expected nothing less. And yet the first night they had danced together, he could see rebellious Dory still lurking inside of the proper woman in his arms. That part of her called to him and he had responded in kind. Which, he supposed, was how they had ended up here. Not that he was complaining. Nor was she.
In fact, given the sounds she was making, Dory was rather enjoying herself. As was he.
Her breasts? Oh, they were a delight. Larger than he had first suspected, her nipples were the color of ripe summer berries and the tips hardened delightfully beneath his touch. She was soft and smooth everywhere and she offered herself up to him with almost reckless abandon, arching into him without urging.
She shouldn’t be doing this with him. She should be saving her body and her innocence for the man she would marry someday. Except that Jeremy wasn’t all that certain Dory would ever marry. Harry Greer was the only man who had shown even in a hint of interest in the delectable Dory Tillsbury and if the rumors were true, he was currently busy chasing after another lady who herself was chasing after another man. Which meant that Harry Greer wasn’t as enamored of Dory as everyone assumed.
Jeremy was enamored of her, however. Far more than he should be.
So, what harm could this little affair do, really?
Plenty, actually, but he pushed those thoughts aside for now. He wanted her. She wanted him. Then end.
Therefore, he suckled and licked and teased. He bit the sensitive tips of her breasts before soothing them with his tongue and then suckling her hard again, so hard that she cried out in desire while begging for more. She would likely be bruised in the morning, but at present, he didn’t care. He simply craved more of her and a part of him feared that he would never get enough.
Because she was his. Forever. Until the end of time. She might eventually marry another man and give him children, but deep inside? She would belong to him and him alone. Another might have her body but he would be the only man to have her heart.
He didn’t need her to say the words. He knew it in his heart. Mostly because he felt the same.
Dory Tillsbury was his and always would be.
“Jeremy.” She said his name like it was her salvation and something inside of him tightened. “I need…”
“I know what you need, sweet,” he crooned into her ear as he nipped at the lobe gently. “You need to release for me. Have you ever done that before, sweet?”
He wasn’t surprised when she nodded. “Alone in my bed? Sometimes? I…touch myself.” A quick blush stole up her cheeks. “It is wrong, I know, but…”
Lord, she really would kill him – with desire and need if nothing else.
He pressed a quick kiss to her lips, determined to give her the release she had only ever known by her own hand before. He could make this time so much better for her. He knew he could.
“It is not wrong. It was simply frowned upon by our more puritanical ancestors for reasons I don’t understand and fully disagree with.” With statements like that, it was no wonder Society thought him a rake, but Jeremy didn’t care. “In fact, giving yourself pleasure is very right. So right that I know you enjoyed it, my beautiful peacock.”
Dory nodded as a blush began to creep up her cheeks ag
ain. “I did. It felt good.” This time, her eyes met his and she didn’t seem quite as ashamed as she had been only moments ago.
“Then I will make you feel that way again. And show you how much better it can be when it is my hand touching you,” he vowed.
From the look in her eyes, Jeremy knew that Dory expected he would touch her between her legs – and he would. Eventually. But not this night. No, this night he would bring her to release simply by playing with her breasts, a skill he had perfected over the years.
This time when he took her breast in his mouth, he did so more forcefully. His hands kneaded her other breast without mercy until he could feel her heart racing in her chest. When before he would have pulled back and given her a moment to collect herself, this time, he pressed on, pushing her higher and higher until her legs wrapped around his waist, bringing her soft mound in connection with his hard shaft, his breeches and smalls now long gone.
There she ground against him, but he wouldn’t relent until she was keening and thrashing in his arms, her hips thrusting hard and fast into his, begging him to take her. But he wouldn’t. Not this night.
Instead, Jeremy’s hand caressed Dory’s supple body, learning her dips and curves. He traced her waist with the tips of his fingers, light and teasing caresses meant to drive her mad with longing. When his mouth was not suckling at her breast, his tongue was lapping at the shadowy valley between them before tracing a line down to her navel where he circled her in slow, lazy strokes.
With his hands, he held her in place, pulling her to him and urging her to explore what she could reach of him until her hands were everywhere He nipped at her shoulders and used his thumbs to caress the base of her throat until she moaned, a deep, low sound that went straight to his cock.
The moon had finally peeked out from behind the clouds, bathing the room in a silvery glow and casting shadows across Dory’s soft, lovely skin, paining her in shades of gold and silver. The moonlight mixed with the candlelight, making her look like the goddess she truly was.
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