Hidden Paradise

chapter TWENTY-THREE



Lou

When the next dance ended, Lou curtsied to Chris, her partner, who made an elaborate, flourishing bow in return. From farther down the set, Mac watched her.

“Turning in already?” Chris asked as she retrieved her fan, reticule and gloves from a chair at the side of the room. The fan and reticule had become a nuisance, bouncing around on her wrist, and the gloves, although she liked the soft cream kidskin, made her too hot.

“I think so. Thanks for the dance.” She was so tempted to tell him about the big discovery, but of course she couldn’t. Instead, she kissed his cheek.

“It’s been an honor to see you get your groove back, Mrs. Connolly,” Chris said, “even though I expected you to dance until dawn. It’s only midnight. But I daresay you have other fish to fry.”

“I wouldn’t put it quite that way.” She smiled and looked around for Peter, but he was deep in conversation with a group of people she didn’t know. “Say good-night to Peter for me and I’ll see you at a more civilized hour tomorrow. Tonight has been a triumph. You’re both brilliant.”

She spent a little time chatting to people she knew and others she had met that night, declining offers of another dance. When the music started, she went in search of Rob and found him on the terrace, hand in hand with Di, executing a mock country dance.

She stood and watched, remembering how only a few days ago she had seen Mac dance here alone. Rob and Di stepped in time to the music, then broke away into their own rhythm, he furling her into his side and then out again, turning her under his arm. They were well matched; both of them knew how to move. Di gyrated around him in a Bollywood-inspired, hip-swaying move, arms arched overhead. He copied the move back to her. They laughed, joined face-to-face, arms around each other’s waists, and then picked up the country dance steps again.

Rob knew Lou was there; they exchanged a brief glance of understanding. She liked that he kept dancing and admired the deft, graceful way he partnered Di, deferring to her when she wanted to attempt a fancy dance move—a bit of hip-hop now, sexy, brash—and making a response that was all masculine, all his own.

Their audience, some of the waiters and kitchen staff, clapped in time and called encouragement. The scent of marijuana was strong on the air.

Lou smiled and left them to it. He’d arrive in her room when he was ready, and she felt for the first time that she was not altogether welcome there—Upstairs eavesdropping on Downstairs’ amusements.

A footman stood guard at the bottom of the stairs to dissuade the curious from exploring upstairs where the guests stayed. He bowed and unhooked the silken rope at the bottom of the stairs to admit her.

It was a matter of discomfort to her that she still had trouble distinguishing the footmen from each other, but that was the point, wasn’t it? The matched set of handsome young men, so enthusiastically selected by Peter, their wigs making them look even more alike to the modern eye.

In her room, she took a shower and considered how to put her nervous gentlemen callers at ease. The Regency wardrobe did not extend to sexy negligees. It was an era when women looked sexier dressed than undressed, except for the floating draperies of classical figures. She had nothing that approximated floating draperies or the zephyrs necessary to keep them afloat.

Clad in a towel, she debated putting on rosewater or lavender perfume, both of which she now associated with wholesome clean white linen.

The tap at the servants’ door made her jump out of her skin. “Who’s there?” she asked. She had no doubt that later in the night as the company became drunker there would be some rowdy explorations of the house.

“It’s me,” Mac replied.

“Not coming through the window tonight?” she asked as she let him in.

“That was my grand romantic gesture. It seemed to work. For the moment, anyway.” He sprawled on one elbow on the bed, very obviously wearing only his silk dressing gown.

“It did. It was very clever of you to arrange the thunderstorm, too.”

“You look very…clean.” He chose the word carefully.

She sighed. “What do you suggest?”

“The top part of your gown,” he said with a leer. “The lace thing.”

“It might be a bit sweaty.” She picked up the gown, which she’d folded and laid over a chair.

“We won’t mind.”

She went into the bathroom with the overdress and slipped it over her head. “I don’t know, Mac,” she said. “It looks a bit slutty.”

“Great.”

“I mean, real slutty. Adult triple-X slutty.”

“Even better. Come on out, honey, show me what you’ve got.”

She took another look at herself in the mirror. The overdress didn’t even fit properly without her corset, but hung with the clasp at breast level, and it certainly didn’t cover anything. If anything it framed her pubic hair, but that, she decided, was appropriate for Oral Sex 101.

She emerged from the bathroom.

“Fantastic,” Mac said. “Do you think he’ll mind if we start without him?”

“I don’t think it would be polite,” she said.

They both burst out laughing. It was nice to laugh with him, relieving the tension they both felt.

“We could play chess,” she suggested. “I have a chessboard.”

“With you dressed like that? I won’t even remember the moves.”

She sat on the bed beside him. “I wish I could call the States now.”

“Me, too. I’m so grateful you came up with this to distract us, Lou, because I won’t get a wink of sleep.”

“My pleasure.”

Another nervous burst of laughter.

“He’s probably late because he’s jerking off in the shower to give himself some staying power,” Mac suggested.

“There you go, ruining my fantasy,” she said. “Don’t be mean to him, Mac. He’s probably just as nervous as you are.”

“Hell, I’m not nervous.”

A tap at the servants’ door, and Lou noticed how Mac, who wasn’t at all nervous, sat up straighter and pulled his dressing gown closed.

She opened the door. Rob, wearing boxers and an unbuttoned long-sleeved shirt, a bottle of champagne in one hand and wineglasses in the other, gaped at her.

“Uh,” he said.

She caught the bottle before it crashed to the floor and pulled him inside. “Great to see you, too.”

“Sorry,” he said. He bent to kiss her cheek. “All the blood suddenly rushed from my head. Oh, hi, Mac.”

“Let’s have a drink,” she said, leading Rob to the bed. “Look, guys, I haven’t done this before, so let’s try and relax.”

Rob looked at her, then at Mac, as he eased off the champagne cork, catching the foamy liquid into a glass that he handed to Lou.

“Thanks.” She patted his thigh as he poured two more glassfuls.

He shifted at her touch. She glanced down at a very impressive erection, then sideways to another. Two very impressive erections. Now what?

She put her glass aside, having taken one sip. Champagne, for all its innocuous bubbly silliness, was an unreliable friend for her. She sat demurely—or as demurely as her ridiculously revealing outfit allowed—legs tucked to one side. She needed to get them past this initial awkwardness, do something to release the heat and tension that built in the room.

She rolled onto her knees and kissed Rob, hard and openmouthed, trailing one hand down to his crotch. Then Mac, scraping her hard nipples over the roughness of his chest as she pulled his dressing gown open. The bed moved as Rob leaned in and took her breasts in his hands. His lips nuzzled her neck, finding a spot that sent shivers down her body. Mac’s mouth opened to hers, dark, delicious, and that must surely be his hand stroking the inside of her thigh, flirting with her pubic hair. His finger dipped briefly to her *.

An image popped into her mind of an old circus photo that had fascinated her as a child—a woman in jodhpurs and with a Clara Bow mouth and rigidly waved platinum hair wielding a whip and chair to control two enormous tigers. These were her tigers, her two huge wild beasts, hers to tame, whose purrs might turn to snarls in a heartbeat.

Mac released her mouth. “I hear you want to learn about oral,” he said to Rob. “Okay, kid, watch this. Then you can take a turn.”

Lou scooted up to the head of the bed, spreading her legs wide.

Rob had shucked his boxers. He stared at her, his cock dark and rigid, a drop of liquid at the tip, as he knelt beside her. She drew his hands back to her breasts and watched his fingers circle and squeeze her nipples.

Mac moved between her legs. “See here.” His voice was a low, sexy rumble. His thumb pushed her apart, revealed her folds. “This is her *, this cute little pink ridge. I could make her come pretty fast, but I think we should keep her on the edge for a bit.” He lowered his head. His tongue rasped, rough, exciting on the sensitive head of her *. Her legs jerked involuntarily at the pressure.

“Or like this.” He lapped at her like a cat with a saucer of cream, swift delicate strokes, building a rhythm. She reached to caress the rough silk of his head and with the other hand ran a finger slowly up the length of Rob’s cock.

He gasped and moved away. “Too much, Lou.”

Mac’s hand slid casually on his own cock. He gestured to Rob and moved to Lou’s other side. “Here, your turn.”

Rob slid between Lou’s legs, gazing at her exposed sex. He lowered his head to kiss her thighs and work his way upward and inward. His tongue was warm and gentle, a silken swirl, a persistent thrum.

Mac shifted and laid a hand above Lou’s pubis, fingers spread, pulling her open. “Is that good, Lou?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

Mac’s mouth landed on hers, licked at her lips and descended to kiss and suck one nipple, then the other. “You want Rob to make you come, honey?”

She wanted to close her eyes and roll her head back and let the impending orgasm crash over her, engulf her. At the same time, she wanted to watch everything they did, Mac’s dark head at her breast, Rob’s between her thighs, Mac’s spread-eagled hand, pulling her taut, the glimpses of wet pink skin below Rob’s lapping tongue.

“He’s a natural,” Mac murmured against her breast. “Come for us, Lou.”

Yes, she was almost there, her breath coming short, legs rising, and she reached to clutch Rob’s head, greedy, frantic, and then, oh, yes, she was there, there, now.

She floated back to earth.

“Was that okay?” Rob said.

“Amazing.” She beckoned. “Come here.”

Still on his elbows, he blushed. “Um, actually it was good for me, too. I, um, when you came…”

She smiled when he raised himself to a kneeling position. “It’s okay. I’m very flattered. You know, Rob, I think it’s the first time I’ve seen you without an erection.”

“Make the most of it. It won’t last for long.” He leaned to kiss her and she reached down to receive his swelling cock in her hand.

“Do I get some of the action?” Mac pushed him aside. He turned Lou’s face to his and touched his lips to hers. His kiss was slow and tentative. He sighed and rested his face against her neck.

“What is it?”

“I didn’t know how jealous I’d feel,” he muttered.

“Look, mate.” Rob put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m jealous of you because you got there first—sorry, Lou, that sounds bad, but you know what I mean—and at a guess, I’d say you’re jealous of me because she fancies me and I get perpetual hard-ons. That’s just biology. It’s my age, so I’m informed.”

“The gospel according to Rob,” Mac said.

“If you like,” Rob said. His hand lay on Mac’s shoulder still. They were touching each other, not in a sexual way, but at least in acknowledgment of each other’s presence.

“Want a f*cking lesson?” Mac asked.

“It’s okay, I think I know how to do that,” Rob said with great politeness.

Lou smothered a giggle.

“We’ll ask the lady what she wants,” Mac said. “Lou?”

“I think I want to do this,” she said. She gave Rob a quick kiss on the lips and pushed Mac against the head of the bed. His erection lay dark and heavy against his belly; a shining thread of translucency hung at the tip. She reached her tongue out to lap at it and Mac groaned.

“Rob,” she said, “you know where the condoms are.”

She ran her tongue up and down the ridges of Mac’s erection and saw his belly tauten as he sucked in a deep breath. He raised a hand and caressed her head, smiling into her eyes. “Whatever you want, Lou, but let me come soon. I’m dying here.”

A shy cough from behind her. “Lou, who gets the condom?”

“You do, sweetie. This may take some coordination.” She positioned herself on her knees, butt raised, hands on either side of Mac’s hips, and smiled encouragement over her shoulder at Rob, who knelt, rolling the condom over his new erection. He grinned back, excited and flushed.

“You’re looking worried, Lou,” Mac said.

“Just thinking, Mac.”

“Probably not the best thing to do under the circumstances. It’s probably going to be clumsy, but I can guarantee at least two of us will get off. You, Mrs. Connolly, may have to wait your turn.”

She lay a finger over Mac’s lips as, behind her, Rob fumbled and pushed, finally sliding home. She let out a moan—he felt even bigger than usual.

“Okay, Lou?” Rob asked.

“Oh, yes. Absolutely.” She smiled into Mac’s eyes, to reassure herself as much as him, and bent her head to his cock again, taking him deep into her mouth with as much care and love as she could give. He gave a great groan of appreciation. Now, this wasn’t tiger taming, this was a trapeze act, maintaining an awareness of Rob thrusting into her while attending to Mac, who moaned and writhed beneath her. She braced one arm against the bed, balanced, and caressed Mac’s tightening balls, her finger probing beyond. He was so close, his torso arching, hips rising to meet her caress.

“Coming,” he gasped.

Inside her, Rob swelled, hesitated, drew back, plunged.

Mac made that soft sound she knew so well as he fell helpless into his orgasm. She choked a little, ungraceful, at the sudden rush, his cock jerking again and again in her mouth. He murmured her name, hands relaxing on her head, stroking her hair back.

She raised her head to smile at him, and he swiped his thumb at the side of her mouth where semen had dribbled out. “Messy girl.”

“That was really hot.” Rob, panting, collapsed sideways across Mac’s calves.

“Get the hell off me,” Mac said in a friendly way. He reached for a pillow and tossed it to Rob before pulling Lou into his arms and kissing her. “You okay?”

“Yes. You are, too, I guess?”

He smiled back at her, lazy, sated, loving.

Rob yawned. “Do I get a kiss, too?”

“Sure.” Lou reached for him and, to her delight, Mac threw his arm over Rob’s shoulders, drawing him close to them.

Rob tilted her head to his, his kiss sweet and tender, then turned his mouth to Mac’s. A moment of hesitation, then their lips met in a kiss that surprised Lou both by its duration and its masculine tenderness.

“You little perv,” Mac said with affection, ruffling Rob’s hair.