Educating Aphrodite (5 page)

A hiss of whispers seeped through the thin curtain.

This went beyond anything she’d fantasized about. The music,
the audience, the musky smell of her arousal. Having her lover at her back
stimulating her breasts while her husband pleasured her with his tongue was
nearly more than she could bear.

She thrust her pelvis against Sebastian’s mouth and held
tight to Vincent for support, but the rake seemed to know right when she was at
the edge. He popped the gold balls out of her anus one at a time while
Sebastian latched onto her throbbing clit and sucked.

The blood rushed so quickly through her head she felt faint.

The music hit a zenith and so did she. Her orgasm ripped
through her like wildfire, spreading scalding flames to every nerve ending in
her body.

Sebastian drank down her climax, then caught her by the hips
when she collapsed. Her eyes rolled beneath her lids, her arms wrapped around
his neck, seeking leverage, but he gave her no time to recover before he
plunged his cock into her quivering sheath.

She screamed.

He growled and lifted her nearly off him only to impale her
again and again. When she was certain she would incinerate from the friction,
he wove his fingers through her hair and brought her down hard against his
lips. As he ravaged her mouth, she felt the oiled head of Vincent’s cock press
against her puckered hole.

She flinched and attempted to turn around, but Sebastian lay
flat on his back atop the mattress and dragged her down with him. “Relax.”

There was that word, again. Only this time she welcomed the
prospect. She pressed her breasts against Sebastian’s chest and hooked her arms
under his shoulders as he spread her cheeks for her lover. There was something
wildly erotic about their pose, something carnal, something she wanted to
remember forever.

“Are you ready?” Sebastian asked in a soothing tone, but
Vincent didn’t wait for her response. He pushed the head of his cock past the
tight circle of muscles with a harsh roar.

Her mouth opened, but her cry caught in her throat. Her
fingernails dug into flesh. She sucked in air, hoping to feed her lungs the
oxygen they needed to prevent her from fainting. They remained still for a
moment while she adjusted to the fullness invading her body. Never had she
experienced such pain, such pleasure.

Sebastian found her face beneath her hair. “Are you still
alive, love?” His voice was ragged, yet concerned.

She nodded, and Vincent began to move, thrusting in short
draws an inch at a time until he was buried inside her from root to tip. He
then lifted her hips so Sebastian could fall into rhythm. The feel of their
cocks sliding against each other inside her stimulated her to heights she knew
she would never reach again.

Heavy breathing accompanied slapping flesh and whispered
curses.

“Oh Christ!”

“Oh bloody fuck!”

“Oh! Yes! Yes! Yes!” she hissed and sank her teeth into
Sebastian’s shoulder.

“Come with us.” Sebastian’s hand found its way between their
bodies and touched that hard, aching center of her.

That was all it took.

She surrendered to the sensations clawing at her body when
Sebastian’s hot seed burst against the wall of her womb. White-hot pleasure
pulsed through her again when Vincent slammed his groin against her backside
and emptied his sac deep inside her.

Nearly unconscious, she lay between them waiting for her
orgasm to burn itself out. Eyes closed, she listened to the pounding of
Sebastian’s heart until the music faded away on shimmering chimes.

Then the lights went out.

It was foolish to be nervous after what just happened, but
the way Sebastian stared at her in the small confines of the carriage made her
tremble. Everything was going according to plan. She had him right where she
wanted him. Still, she felt vulnerable sitting before him in only a black cloak
and slippers.

“Are you new to the Piacere Theatre?”

She nodded and pushed back the curtain, curious to know
where Sebastian took his lovers. A full moon cast a silver glow over a rolling
landscape, which told her they’d left the city, but nothing more.

“I’ve not had the pleasure of knowing you before this
night.” Sebastian leaned forward, set his elbows on his knees and pushed the
seam of her cloak off her crossed legs. “Have I?”

She inhaled a shaky breath and shook her head then scolded
herself mentally,
Alexandra Falkner!
You
are supposed to be seducing
him!

“You remind me of someone.” Sebastian trailed a finger over
the curve of her calf.

Panic nearly widened her eyes, but she fought the urge to
swallow, to fidget, to confess. “Do I?”

“You bear a striking resemblance to my wife,” he admitted
and reached for her mask, but she caught his hand and suckled his fingers
before he could expose her.

The salty tang of her sex on his fingers reminded her why
she’d put herself in this position in the first place. Determined to prove she
was capable of satisfying his insatiable appetite, she cast out that cold
lifeless prude who wouldn’t dare dream of having sex in a carriage and slid to
her knees. She unfastened the flap of his trousers and pulled out his
semi-erect cock. “Would your wife do this?”

She took him into her mouth.

“No.” His voice cracked. He dug his fingertips into the edge
of the velvet seat. “I suppose she would not.”

Alexandra used her lips, her tongue, her teeth, and sucked
him until he was raging hard. Then she toyed with him, simply to hear him moan.
She licked his sac like Daphne had taught her and teased him just a bit more
before she forced half his length into her mouth.

“Oh yes,” he hissed and cradled her head. “Do that again.”

She pulled all the way off, grabbed a huge breath, and did
it again and again, each time she managed to take a little more of him into her
throat.

His grip on her hair tightened. His thrusts came quicker,
with less restraint.

She waited for him to give the command, and when he didn’t,
she grabbed hold of his hips, pinched her eyes tight, and opened her mouth
wider, determined to take all of him deep into her throat.

Thankfully, he didn’t do that horrid little thing Vincent
had done in the
modiste’s
dressing chamber. Instead, he raised her off
the floor and set her in his lap.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm, love, but I would rather hear
you purr than gag.” He flushed her legs to his thighs and lifted her backside
so her wet opening was poised just above his cock. “Now ride me.”

She sank down, taking the whole of him into her silky canal
in a single plunge. Her back arched, her palms flattened atop his knees, then
her head fell back as she rolled her hips around him. Oh it felt good. So good.
So right.

He helped her with the movements, but allowed her to set the
pace. She didn’t want a wild frantic ride that ended too quickly. She wanted it
to last, so she made love to him the way she wanted, in long, slow pulls, each
one better than the last, each one edging them closer to ecstasy. Her insides
demanded fulfillment. Her pulse tapped on all her erogenous places, thrumming
deep inside her, ticking against her clit, pecking at her nipples. Still, her
movements were drawn out and unhurried.

She felt the spark that had died between them so long ago
and prayed he felt it too.

“You are so beautiful.” He held her close and caressed her
back with exquisite tenderness when the warmth of her climax cascaded over him.
He joined her, freeing his own release without intensity. And it was
sensational.

“If I live to be a hundred, I’ll never be this close to
heaven.”

She wanted him to know who she was. After all, that had been
the plan. She’d intended to pleasure him beyond compare and then reveal her
identity. What she hadn’t planned on was falling for Vincent.

She couldn’t endanger him. Not now. Not ever. Emotions
battled inside her until the sting of tears burned her eyes. Her mask would
hide them, but naught could be done to prevent the convulsions attacking her
gut.

“Are you crying?” When he pushed her back, she panicked and
pounded on the wall.

“Stop the carriage!” She had to get away from him to protect
Vincent. She wrenched herself off Sebastian, gathered her cloak tight around
her person, then burst out of the carriage. After picking herself up off the
grassy slope, she ran as fast as her slippered feet would carry her.

“Alexandra! Wait!” Sebastian called for her the same moment
she recognized the lights of Pendleton.

She jerked to a stop, confused.

He was upon her in seconds, his mask now gone. “Get back in
the carriage. I’m taking you home.”

“You knew it was me?” She shook her head and backed away
from him. “I don’t understand.”

“Get back in the carriage, love. Please.”

“No.” She couldn’t begin to fathom what was happening, but
somehow felt betrayed. She pulled off her mask, tightened the seams of her
cloak, and glared at the driver—her driver. “George, take the carriage back to
Pendleton. Now!”

The reins snapped and the horses jerked the carriage into
motion.

She stomped in its wake, grinding her teeth. In truth, she
didn’t know why she was angry, only that she was.

“Goddammit, Alexandra!” Sebastian caught her elbow and spun
her around to face him. “I was against this whole farce from the start. I
warned you this would happen. I love you, and you think I’m a bloody
philanderer.”

Her brow pinched tight in the middle. Her head shook. She
had so many questions, but she clung to his last words. “You insult me if you
think I believe you’ve been faithful to me.”

He released his hold on her, scrubbed his face, and sighed.
“The only women I’ve had in my bed in the last seven years are the few you
brought there.”

“Seven years?” Her head spun. Her body felt heavy.

“We’ve been married nearly ten years. You wrote and
choreographed
Aphrodite
to celebrate your thirtieth birthday. How else
do you think you could have learned the dance in four days?”

She held her head with both hands, searching her mind for
answers, but none were there.

“This whole affair was your idea. Five weeks ago you asked
Delacroix to erase the last six years of your life. A task that took several
sessions of hypnosis.”

“This is madness! Why in God’s name would I want to do such
a thing?”

“You wanted to fall in love with me and Delacroix all over
again. But the bastard accidentally set you back nearly seven years.” The
expression on Sebastian’s face was one of regret. “I was not a very good husband
to you then. We grew distant while you carried our first child, and I lost my
way. You went to Delacroix for help and fell in love with him.”

“No. ’Tis not true.” She wasn’t in love with Vincent. Was
she?

“When I uncovered your affair, I felt betrayed, but more by
him than you. We’d been devoted friends for years. Delacroix and I shared many
things before you and I married—including women. A truth I never admitted to
you until you refused to give him up. The prospect of having both of us in your
bed is what saved our marriage. Since then, we’ve become a most unusual, but
happy family.”

“I’m utterly speechless.”

He wiped tears from her cheeks she didn’t know were there.
“Please come back to Pendleton so Delacroix can pull you out of this spell. I
want you to remember that you forgave me and that I love you, and I want you to
remember the children.”

“The children?”

“We have six between the four of us.”

She didn’t know which number shocked her more. “The four of
us?”

“You, me, Delacroix, and Daphne.”

Her mouth opened to respond, then all went black.

* * * * *

“You told her?” Vincent’s question penetrated through the
haze wrapped around Alexandra’s mind.

“She was in tears.”

“Why?”

“I suppose she didn’t want to expose your affair, again. I
told you not to set her back too far. She thinks I’m a lecher and she’s
tormenting herself for being unfaithful.”

She wanted to shush them, but she didn’t possess the
strength to open her eyes.

“You selfish bloody fuck! You weren’t supposed to touch her
until the finale.” Sebastian was angry. The pitch of his voice made her teeth
hurt.

A cool cloth pressed against her forehead, soothing her.
Silk sheets caressed her skin beneath covers that smelled of musk and citrus.
Vincent’s scent, she realized, but when she finally managed to open her eyes,
she found herself lying in Sebastian’s bed. It was much larger than she’d
remembered it. Of course, she hadn’t been in his chamber for over a year.

Or had she?

“Welcome back, Alex.” Daphne smiled down at her and pushed
Alexandra’s hair away from her eyes. “The excitement sent you into a swoon.”

“Why are they shouting?”

“Because they are foolish men. Sebastian hates when you are
upset. And Vincent is making excuses why he couldn’t keep his cock in his
trousers.”

“Christ, man! Did you see her dance?” Through a freestanding
mirror, she watched Vincent pace the carpet. “I couldn’t help myself.”

A small smile lifted Alexandra’s lips. Something about this
scene felt oddly familiar.

“If you hadn’t been off gallivanting in Lexington, you would
have been hard pressed to resist her.”

“Gallivanting?! I was taking care of our children.”

Alexandra ignored their continued rant and prompted Daphne.
“Tell me about the children.”

“Edward is gentle and looks like Sebastian. Elizabeth has
your light hair and loves to dance. Like you.” Daphne set a curl behind
Alexandra’s ear. “Vivian is dark, like me, and has Vincent’s eyes. Marie and
Lydia are nearly three and inseparable. Probably because they were born a month
apart. And Alex is still in the nursery.”

“Is he yours or mine?”

“I gave birth to Alex, Vivian, and Marie, but they are all
ours
.”

Alexandra still struggled to understand the arrangement
completely, but began to think the fantasies she’d had recently were not
fantasies at all. They were past experiences Vincent blocked so she could
relive them anew. “Are we lovers?”

Daphne leaned down and kissed Alexandra quite thoroughly. As
if that wasn’t answer enough, she slipped her silken hand beneath the covers
and massaged Alexandra’s breast. “You tire of conventional ways very quickly.
When Vincent gives you back your memories, you will remember bringing me to
your bed for his birthday five years past. You had planned to keep me for only
a few days, but I never left.”

The men had quieted and were watching them intently, but
were hesitant to approach the bed. Their attention warmed her inside and out,
and the concern weighing heavily on their handsome faces made her feel loved.

As the chimes rang out twelve times, she crawled out of bed
and set herself before Sebastian. He opened his mouth, but she swallowed his
words with a kiss. She then gave Vincent equal attention, watching Sebastian’s
expression through the mirror.

His smile sent a hot thrill over her bare skin and provided
her the self-assurance she needed to explore the spark of wickedness egging her
on. Feeling deliciously amorous, she circled Vincent and stepped before the
mirror, then licked her top lip and traced the curves of her body with
seductive fingertips. “I look fit for thirty. Do I not?”

Vincent arched a black brow. “You look like a woman in need
of spanking.” He turned to Sebastian. “Would you agree?”

Sebastian kicked off his boots. “I’ll hold her down.”

They stripped out of their garments as they chased her
around the chamber, but she didn’t stand a chance of escape for she wanted to
be caught. Laughing playfully, each of them managed to sneak in a solid whack
to her backside before she ended up pinned on her back to the mattress. Daphne
held one hand, Sebastian held the other, while Vincent settled between her
spread legs.

“Have you any final words, sweetling?”

She returned their naughty grins with one of her own and
asked, “What’s next?”