by Bonnie Dee
“You were very unhappy with him, weren’t you?” Chris rolled to lie by her side, his head propped on one hand.
“Yes. It was a loveless marriage. He was…a cruel man, physically as well as emotionally brutal, and it took me many years after his death to discover that sex could be pleasurable.” Her voice was low and even, unemotional despite the tragedy she was describing.
Chris was horrified. He’d never have imagined that someone as vital and self-possessed as the countess had been subjected to such horrors. What kind of man would take the incredible gift of her love and abuse it? He understood such things went on in the world, but had never discussed them with anyone. For her to share her story with him was astonishing, and it was almost more than he wanted to hear.
“I’m so sorry.” He rested a hand on her flat stomach, wishing he could do something to erase what had happened.
“It was a long time ago. I’ve put those days behind me and now I live my life exactly as I please, something that sufficient funds allow one to do.”
He nodded agreement. If he wasn’t dependent on a stipend, he could pursue his dream of traveling. But if he crossed his father and became a professor at Cambridge, he would be cut off and might never have the money needed to travel the world. University grants weren’t plentiful. “Money may be the root of all evil, but it certainly is necessary.”
She laughed. “It does make life more comfortable.” She ran a hand down his sweat-slicked chest toward his groin. “And speaking of comfort, I shall ring for some bath water. Or better, we might walk down to the lake and take a dip, save my poor maids from heavy labor on such a hot day.”
“I should like that. I enjoy a swim.”
“I believe that.” Her hand slid up his arm, feeling his biceps. “How does a bookish professor gain such muscle?”
“Rowing on the lake in the park nearly every day.”
“Well, it’s built up your arms admirably.” Over and around his shoulders and to his chest her hand roamed idly. His cock stirred weakly in response. “My goodness, I had no idea you looked like this beautiful beneath your clothes. An Adonis. We must buy you tighter fitting jackets and breeches to show off your assets to greater advantage.”
The approval in her voice spurred a warm feeling inside. It was nice to be desired sexually, and not something he’d ever experienced before. While it made him blush, it also pleased him very much.
Her hand trailed down to his groin again and grasped his flaccid penis, stroking it lightly. “I will teach you to dance and to cut a fine figure at a ball. Flirting comes naturally when one is confident in oneself. When I’m finished, you won’t be able to enter a room without all female eyes turning toward you.”
His elation diminished at her words. “I don’t care for any of that. I don’t want to go to social events and only attend occasionally when my mother comes close to an apoplectic fit. Dancing and flirting don’t interest me.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Not at all? My dear, you’re never going to find a wife without putting forth at least a little effort.”
“I don’t want to. I’m perfectly happy in my bachelor life. My work interests me more than listening to the empty-headed chatter of some female…uh, present company excepted, of course.”
“Of course.” The glimmer of amusement around her mouth let him know she was laughing at him inside. “No women for you.”
The irony wasn’t lost on him. “Perhaps not ‘no women’ ever, but whomever I choose would have to be someone very special, someone with whom I could converse and share my thoughts. I don’t care to spend the rest of my life discussing whether the Prince Regent might possibly make an appearance at some function or evaluating the merits of various gowns. I would want a woman of substance.”
“That’s a very tall order. You might have to settle for well bred and biddable. That’s what most men seem to do.” She rolled to her side and pressed a kiss to his chest, as she continued to tug on his burgeoning erection. “Someone who will, mmm, oversee the house and bother you as little as possible while you pursue your important manly affairs.”
His hips lifted toward her touch, and a delicious shiver of lust ran through him from the point where her tongue played with his nipple. When she nipped it between her teeth, he gasped sharply. “Ahh!”
She glanced up, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Perhaps we might postpone our swim for a little longer and I could show you one of the techniques I mentioned for bringing a woman to orgasm—with me as the test subject.”
“I would love to do whatever I can to please you. You’ve given me so much.” Chris spoke the words with complete sincerity. He suddenly realized, as Meredith switched her attention to his other nipple and bit it just as sharply, that this woman was exactly the perfect woman he’d described. It wasn’t only her sensuous nature and sexuality that attracted him to her, but her forthrightness, her intellect and wit and her interest in many subjects. She was perfect, and somehow, miraculously, had entered his life.
Meredith had seen him across a room and recognized qualities in him that attracted her. She’d seen a kindred spirit in him that called to hers. His heart swelled at the idea of it. This was a woman with whom he could actually imagine falling in love. She might just be the one he’d been waiting for all his life.
Chapter Five
Oh no. The puppy dog adoration in Christopher’s eyes was not a good sign. The last thing Meredith needed or wanted was the young man under her tutelage to become besotted with her. That wasn’t at all what Lord Whitby had in mind when he asked her to take him in hand.
Sex was fine. She enjoyed it in all its varied forms, but love was not something in which she indulged or even believed. It was best to disabuse him of notions of romance right away. “Christopher…”
“Please, call me Chris.”
“Yes. Well. I want you to understand before we go any further that this is a pleasant diversion, a dalliance, nothing more. Enjoy yourself, but don’t do yourself the disservice of becoming attached to me. There is no future here.” She smiled as she said it, trying to take the sting from her words, and her hand never lost its grip on his cock, a sure way to get a man to agree to most anything.
“Oh…no. Of course not.” There was a momentary flicker before his blue eyes became calm as a glassy lake. “I’m no sophisticate, but I’m not a child, either. I understand about these kinds of affairs. Naturally there could be nothing besides, um, sexual congress between us.”
She nearly laughed at the stilted phrase, but maintained her composure. “Good. I’m glad that’s understood.”
“Yes.” The word was a bit strangled as he gasped from the pressure of her hand around his penis.
“Now, my sweet. Let me give you a little treat and then I’ll ask for the same favor in return.” She kissed his lips, then slid down the length of his body, kissing his chest, the twitching muscles of his stomach and the tops of his thighs. She nestled her body between his legs and faced his cock, a thick, sturdy length that had already proved more than adequate in fulfilling her. She believed that girth beat out length every time. The delicious stretching of her quim was crucial to her pleasure.
Glancing at his eyes, she made a show of licking her lips and slowly leaning toward the head of his cock, giving him plenty of time to anticipate what she was about to do. His eyes widened and his lips parted as he gave a soft “Oh” of surprise. Bending her head, she took the tip of his penis in her mouth and rolled her tongue over it, tasting the salty musk of semen and sweat.
His eyes nearly closed in pleasure, and he moaned.
Meredith swallowed him deep, then deeper still, taking him in up to the hilt. The fullness of his cock in her mouth was as satisfying as a three-course meal. She longed to bite down, give him a little pain with his delight, but it seemed too soon for that kind of game. She withdrew his length almost completely before sucking it in again. Meanwhile, she worked her hand up and down the base of his shaft and reached between his legs to fondle h
is balls. Within minutes he was groaning and thrusting, his hands threaded through her hair, gripping her head and holding it steady as he pumped into her mouth.
Knowing Chris had probably never experienced anything like this before was a very satisfying feeling. When her husband had forced her to suck him, Meredith had always felt used and demeaned, but since then she’d learned oral sex could give her a powerful charge. She was the one with the control in her hands and mouth, stimulating a lover and guiding him to orgasm. A man was a helpless slave to the desire she brought forth in him, which was both exhilarating and fulfilling for her.
She stopped when Chris’s breath grew harsher and his thrusting more erratic. She didn’t choose to have him come yet and pulled her mouth from his cock, releasing his shaft from her encircling hand.
He groaned in disappointment and continued to thrust against air for a beat or two. His eyes opened to look at her questioningly.
“Not yet.” She smoothed a hand over his hip and down his thigh. “Hold onto that tension. Feel it, enjoy it, but don’t let go yet.” Stretching out beside him, she rested a hand on his chest and gazed into his eyes. “How does it feel?”
“Painful!” he answered promptly. “Aching and yearning for more. I’ve massaged myself to fulfillment before, but this is completely different.”
“Now, you do the same for me.” Taking his hand, she guided it between her legs. “Touch me here. Feel how wet and open I am for you? With every stroke of your fingers my need grows greater. Go between my legs and see what you’re touching, and then I’ll show you what you can do for me.”
He bit his lip and nodded. He sat and moved to kneel between her widespread legs. His poor, blood-suffused cock stuck out at a sharp angle from his body as he knelt there gazing at her feminine assets. His avid examination aroused her. His eyes were like fingers touching her, making her feel voluptuous and completely sexual. Her already melting pussy felt as if it was opening even wider for him. Meredith lifted her hips in anticipation.
Chris reached to touch her labia with a gentle stroke of his fingers that sent fire sizzling through her. He parted the folds and gazed at the dark entrance they concealed. “It’s like a blossom,” he marveled. “Petals shielding the reproductive organs of the flower.” She imagined how her pussy looked to him, glistening wet, plump and pink, the shadowed darkness of her entrance.
“Here.” She touched her finger lightly to her clit, jerking at her own touch. “This is where a woman’s passion may be stirred.” She took her hand away and he followed her lead, tickling the erect nub with his fingertip.
Meredith moaned quietly and shifted.
A smile curved his lips. He touched her again.
Pleasure radiated from the point of contact, but she wanted more than this tentative touch.
He tapped the little button several times, then rotated it in small circles.
“Ah, yes,” she murmured, wiggling in satisfaction. “Like that.”
After he’d manipulated her clit for a short while, he bent to inhale her scent as if her cunt was one of his rare flowers. He hesitated there, several inches away from her, and Meredith raised her hips, offering herself to him. “Please. You may touch me there with your mouth.”
Lowering his head slowly, he pressed a close-mouthed kiss to her pussy. Then he extended his tongue and carefully lapped over her clitoris.
Meredith gasped and rolled on the bed. “More!” she begged. Good heavens, she’d had sex with dozens of people in her life thus far, had experienced cunnilingus performed by experts in the art, but this young man’s hesitant exploration fired her in ways she’d never imagined. It was his very carefulness and uncertainty that set her blood raging.
His hands rested on her hips, fingers holding her labia spread wide as he nuzzled the crevice between. He licked her seam, then flicked his tongue over her clit, at first lightly, then in steady strokes. More flames seared through her, crackling and spreading out from that point like wildfire. She moaned and bucked beneath him, and in mere moments the wildfire turned into a full-fledged fire that consumed her. With a harsh cry, she arched off the bed, nearly knocking him from her. But Chris held onto her hips and kept his mouth fixed to her pussy, relentlessly licking and encouraging every last bit of pleasure from her.
“Oh! Enough!” She had to push his head away when the intensity grew too great. “Enough now. Thank you.”
He let go of her then and propped himself on his elbows, watching her.
Meredith’s eyes opened to meet his intrigued gaze. Her breaths were short and shallow as she recovered from the strong climax and brought herself back under control.
“You achieved fulfillment,” he stated the obvious in an awed tone. “Just like that? It was so easy.”
She smiled. “Sometimes it takes longer, but yes, if a man knows what he’s doing and prepares his paramour appropriately and if her passions are engaged, it can be that simple for a woman to come.” She reached for him. “Now come up here and let’s finish this.”
He crawled up her body, positioned himself at the juncture of her legs and guided his cock inside. A soft sigh escaped him and his eyelids fluttered closed as he buried himself to the hilt.
Meredith considered showing him a new position, flipping them so she was on top or encouraging Chris to take her from behind. But he was already deeply embedded in her, his rhythm mounting so she wrapped her arms and legs around him and cradled him tight as he strove for his climax. How she loved the feel of a man in her arms, the weight and heat of his body, the primitive grunts as his cock pushed and pushed into her as if he wanted to become one with her body.
The remaining sparkles of light inside her gathered and coalesced at a point deep within where the head of his cock stimulated her. She relaxed and allowed herself to rise higher and higher on increasing waves of sensation. The feelings peaked and she hung for a moment, suspended in midair, before plunging down.
At the same time, Chris groaned and froze, shuddering against her. They clung together, separate yet one at that moment of union.
Meredith breathed heavily, her chest compressed by his weight on top of her. She stroked his back and cupped his buttocks, kneading the tight muscles with gentle pressure. The heat in the shuttered room had built along with their passion, and sweat melded their bodies together. It was time for that swim now.
She squirmed a little and Chris rolled to the side, releasing her. He flopped onto his back, blew out a breath and pushed a hand through his hair as he gazed up at the canopy above them. “I shan’t be able to move from this spot for at least an hour,” he claimed. “I haven’t a drop of energy left in me.”
“Oh, I think you can.” She poked him in the ribs. “Think of cool, refreshing water only a short walk away. We can plunge into my pond without a stitch on. There’s no one to see us, and should they catch a glimpse, my servants are discreet.”
“You entice me, madame. Very well.” He rose from the bed and bent to the floor to pick up his clothes, giving her an entrancing view of the play of muscles in his back and ass and long legs. Such a handsome sight. She was quite sure there would be more sexual play in the beauty of nature by her secluded pond. The man would just have to plumb his depths and find another drop or two of energy to expend on her.
• • •
Chris had never imagined the decadence of having sex outdoors on a soft bed of grass or the erotic thrill of pinning a woman against a broad tree trunk while thrusting into her. He’d never fantasized making love in the murky waters of a pond while fishes tickled his legs and mud squelched between his toes. The cool water, the burning sun on his head, the strong legs wrapped around his hips and the hot pussy holding him tight were sensations he couldn’t have dreamed of before the countess entered his life.
The woman was as earthy as a tribal goddess, as ethereal as a spirit. She enthralled and possessed him with her body and her infectious laughter. In one brief day she coaxed him from his chrysalis of circumspection to a full un
furling of his metaphorical wings.
When he woke in her bed the next morning, Chris knew he would never be the same.
He yawned and stretched luxuriously like a wild animal awakening from winter hibernation. His arms and legs sprawled over warm woman flesh, his face slid against tangled hair. How strange it was to awake lying next to someone.
He opened his eyes, eager to see Meredith’s beautiful face again, to catch her in an unguarded moment. Her features were relaxed in sleep, vulnerable, sweet. Her slightly parted lips reminded him of a child’s, and the sweep of her lashes across each cheek invited a kiss to make them flutter open.
But he didn’t kiss her. Not yet. He continued to study her pale skin, the curve of her neck and shoulder, the rise and fall of her breasts as she inhaled and exhaled. She was a precious creation of nature, more intricate and beautiful by far than any plant.
A slight frown creased her forehead then passed away like a scudding cloud. Her eyes moved behind the shield of their lids. What was she seeing? He wished he could share her dreams and protect her from them when they were unpleasant.
Chris caressed the fullness of her bottom lip with his finger and smiled when her mouth moved soundlessly and her eyelashes fluttered.
Her eyes opened. She blinked, focused on him and returned his smile. “Good morning.” Her voice was a frog croak and her smile grew even wider at the ugly sound. “Mm, the pleasures of early morning. You go to bed with a princess and wake with a crone.”
He imagined he should say something about her being a queen, not a crone. Didn’t women like those kinds of compliments? But he wasn’t facile with words, and so he simply leaned to kiss her.
That seemed to make her happy, because she kissed him back, curving a hand around his neck and pulling him closer.
He relaxed into Meredith’s soft, cushiony body, softer than the mattress, softer and warmer than anything he could think of. His erect cock swelled even harder, wanting to sink deep and deeper into her softness. His penis might be new to the pleasures of woman, but it had caught on quickly to what reward awaited it between her thighs.
