Later that evening, a manservant knocked at the door and wheeled in a light evening repast of soup and crusty bread rolls, and cinnamon-topped apple strudel with little mounds of cream. After he quietly set the food onto the low table before the couch, Theo dismissed him. The door snicked shut.
She hadn’t realized how hungry she’d become. She looked sideways at Theo. “Would you like me to serve?” It wasn’t a role that came easily to her; at the barracks you were either a soldier or kitchen staff, with no in-betweens.
“No.” He nudged her forward, and she climbed up from where she’d been nestled against him. “Turn.” He indicated with his hand, and she moved until her back was to him.
“What is it?” Then she felt his hands at her back where the dress laced up from bottom to neck.
“No talking. Stay silent unless I ask a question.” His voice had the steely backbone that made her shudder to a halt and her heartbeat thump louder. Her throat dried. She let herself be pulled until she stood between his legs and pressed her neck back as she felt his fingers working there.
He growled. “Still.” And she froze again.
The tie at the neck loosened, then the bodice as he undid the dress, opening it all the way down to her bottom. He kissed the center of her back and gently slid the fabric down her back and arms, baring her upper breasts, then her nipples to the cool air until at last she was nude to the waist. She strove to keep her mouth closed despite the quickening of her breaths.
“Close your eyes,” he said, and he kissed along her spine. A tingling blaze centered on where his soft lips pressed on her skin.
In the darkness of her mind, the light touch of cloth and fingers magnified. He drew the dress and then the lace and wire-stiffened petticoat to the floor. She stood there naked, wondering what he intended. From somewhere a wisp of breeze riffled her pubic hair. Was this to be his punishment?
He smoothed his hands from her upper arms to her shoulders and down her back, stopping a moment or two at her waist to rest his heavy palms on her hips. His thumbs revolved in feather-soft circles before he brought them round onto her buttocks, caressing the shape of her ass over and over, fingers flicking across the split. She heard the hiss of skin on skin, felt his calluses. His thumbs slid along the crease between each globe and on down to her outer thighs, then her inner, so very close to where her labia swelled.
She bit her lip, holding back a soft moan as her vagina twitched. A line of moisture leaked out, and she felt her labia part.
He kept on feeling her thighs and buttocks, shaping his hand against her rather than massaging. Every so often his warm fingers wandered excruciatingly close to her mound.
“Are you wet, Claire?”
She sucked air through her nose. Just the question made her clench down there again.
“Answer me.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Turn,” he said.
She faced him, eyes still shut, but her breathing came faster. Her nipples puckered. Though his hands hadn’t done anything more intimate to her and only rested on her thighs, she was acutely aware of her nudity. A few inches away, he’d be looking at her with his mouth and tongue close to her breasts. He gripped tighter, kept her still. She imagined him probing through her slickness and quivered.
“Lovely.” The word was said so quietly she almost missed it. She let her eyelids open the teeniest crack.
“Claire.” She jammed her eyelids down, but he slid his hands up the front of her and tweaked each nipple, once.
“I’m going to shave you down there, dear.”
She swallowed. Eyes still shut. Mustn’t speak. What did he mean? Oh. Surely not…
“What do you think of that?” And yes, his fingers curled in her pubic hair and pulled.
“There, sir? That would be wicked! People could see my…”
“Who? Who could see? Unless you go about undressed, and that will only happen when I wish it to, in front of people of similar mind to myself.” He tugged again at her hair. “Those who would appreciate this scrumptious body.”
Her mouth was open. She shut it. “Sir, jokes.” She scowled. “As for going about in front of others—”
“Silence. Open your eyes.”
She did so. He regarded her steadily. “For that nasty expression”—his lips curved in a malicious smile—“I shall make certain to fulfill both of those options as soon as possible.”
She spluttered and went to speak.
“Say another word and I’ll gag you. Mmm, plus perhaps, you’d look good on a leash?”
Glaring…glaring would be bad. She blinked fast and held it in. How dare he threaten so? Yet, it made knees turn to water.
Oh, she adored him when he threatened and blackmailed.
Her * naked…and how did he mean the rest of her to be? Entirely naked before these others? Her imagination ran wild, and she saw herself paraded before a crowd, her lower body bared, a mask upon her face, and a leash around her neck. Heat swept through her.