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   The spotlight went out and Eden made her way offstage. Tante awaited, swiping at tears before giving Eden a fierce hug.

   ―Well done,‖ Tante murmured. ―Well done.‖

   On her way to the stage, Azura hissed, ―Sad, sad, sad. So very, very sssad. The men've all gone limp I'm sure. Oh well, I shall roger them up again.‖

   Eden merely smiled. But when Azura took the stage, Eden hissed. ―Snake. She is like a poisonous sssnake in the grasssss.‖

   Standing at her side, Colette giggled.

   ―Hush,‖ Eden said, her hand over her mouth,

stifling laughter.

   Azura, who neither sang nor played an instrument, began her story in a little girl voice. As the girl matured, so did Azura's voice. When she finished, her husky voice promised sensual delights between silken sheets and hot, dripping sheaths.

   Wanting to say something spiteful, Eden sighed. ―I wish I sounded that sultry. I imagine every man and some women, have creamed their pants.‖

   ―You sound sultry, Eden. Sultry
and
shy. Men dislike the obvious.‖ Colette sighed. ―Even if they won't admit it.‖

   Her friend sounded so forlorn, Eden risked asking, ―Have you found any man to your liking?‖

   Colette's face brightened. ―Several in fact. But after tonight's performance, I shan't expect them to line up outside my massage room.‖

   ―Then they shall miss the premier masseuse on Venus.‖

Eden, entering the dining room the next morning, noticed two things at virtually the same moment. First, the courtesans' tables now had three-sided counters around them. Second, Tante sat with Kamal and Kaliq. When they saw her looking at them, Tante's smile widened. The men looked like they wanted to slink under the snowy white tablecloth.

   Taking the not-so-subtle hint that their conversation was private, Eden strolled to the table with her name on it. Picking up the card, she discovered a price list was printed on it. This morning's breakfast would include kissing booths.
Kissing
and
hugging,
Eden amended, reading further and feeling her face heat at the exorbitant cost—especially for French kisses and full-body embraces. But Tante had allowed each kiss would include a
free
piece of fruit. Eden snorted. Tante probably thought free fruit would relieve the men—or their wallets at any rate.

   Curious, Eden went to Azura's station, relieved that her rival's list matched her own. Discovering Colette's and seven other courtesans' kisses were half the cost of hers and Azura's, Eden sent a furious scowl toward Tante's table—her now empty table, damn it!

   Seven giggling young women entering the room prevented her destroying the price lists. Besides, Eden reasoned, Tante would simply announce the prices at breakfast, no doubt souring forty male stomachs in the process. At least Tante allowed the men to kiss who they wanted without having to bid yet again. Not exactly free, but perhaps close enough. And maybe they'd feel grateful to finally touch the women.

   Younger courtesans and their male counterparts entered from the kitchens. They distributed plates filled with various fruits and bowls of gelati and sorbets at each kissing booth. Mouthwatering sauces perfumed the air on their way to the tables set up for the breakfast diners. Eden followed those aromatic sauces until she reached her booth.

   Hearing laughter coming through the dining room doors, Eden snitched a small piece of jicama and chewed it while the men filed in. They obviously had had forewarning about this morning's activities, queuing up at their favorite's station without being prompted. At that point, Azura made her entrance.

   As it was, eight men were already collecting kisses and two others were heading toward Eden. Two more—her men—were missing altogether, leaving Eden to wonder if they were still with Tante.

   Since it seemed Azura wore nothing more than a thong and nipple flowers, her entrance was spectacular enough. Men gaped or poked each other's ribs. The two men headed for Eden veered away to stand in Azura's line. Eden's stomach lurched and sorrow clogged her throat. Refusing to give in to the depressing thought Azura would best her, Eden tilted her chin and forced a smile to her lips.

   Looking apologetic, a Sednan smiled back. With a shrug and a gesture, he marked their height differences. Eden pointed at Colette, delighted when the man grinned and quickly went to her friend. Thereafter Eden steered every man who looked reluctant to pay her rate in Colette's direction. Soon, to Eden's intense satisfaction, the violet-eyed little vixen had more men in her queue than any other courtesan—even Azura.

   Tante began a countdown. ―Ten minutes,
messieurs
. Only ten more minutes.‖ Despite her dulcet tones, to Eden she sounded like a nude-bar barker hustling tourists. Stifling laughter, Eden looked up. Kaliq and Kamal rested their elbows on her counter while they surveyed her trays and bowls. Eden exhaled a sigh. She'd had so much fun steering clients to Colette, she hadn't noticed her own trays remained distressingly full.

   Quirking a dark brow, Kaliq said, ―Which of these delicacies does Eden like better? Strawberries or bananas?‖

   ―Anything dipped in chocolate,‖ Kamal answered before she could.

   ―Someone has been telling tales,‖ Eden muttered, shifting her glare to Tante.

   ―Give us some credit, Eden.‖

   ―We've noticed your preference for anything coated in chocolate.‖

   ―Mmmm! When…‖
did you have time to notice?
She refused to ask them where they'd been for the last hour, instead saying, ―Which delicacy do
you
prefer?‖

   Each man picked up a tray
, t
hen pulled her out the back of her kissing booth.

   Kamal answered first. ―Since we know what happens when we touch each other—‖

   ―We've persuaded Tante to give us a private room,‖ Kaliq finished.

   ―
Give?
'' Eden echoed
,
then laughed. ―Tante doesn't
give
anything.‖

   ―We know.‖

   ―We estimated how many delicacies remained on your trays then—with Tante's expertise— calculated how many of each kind of kiss we wanted.‖

   
By the Goddess, they've paid a small fortune just to
kiss
me!
The thought of their kisses left her breathless.

   ―Which is why she gave us the private room.‖

   Tugging on her hands, leaving the bowls behind, they led her from the dining room and into one Tante used for private scoldings.

   ―This room… I don't know how to turn on the lights.‖

   ―Doesn't matter,‖ one of them said when the door closed, shutting them in total darkness.

   Still holding her hands, they cautiously inched across the carpeted floor. ―Ouch!‖ they all complained.

   ―Coffee table,‖ Eden explained, hoping Tante had left the furniture in place. ―Left or right a few paces
, t
hen forward a pace or two should get us to the couch.‖ Why she was helping them, she had no idea.

   
Yes you do. You want to kiss them. You want them
to kiss you!

   ―Since we're here, let's unload the trays.‖

   She hated the dark, especially when she had nobody to hold her hands. A mew escaped her. The man on her left caught her hand again and guided her around the table. When their knees lightly bumped another obstacle, Eden expelled her held breath. She felt the men sit. They tugged her down. She felt herself falling and prayed for a safe landing. Her bottom landed on hard, warm flesh. Blindly reaching out, she realized her hands had settled between their thighs.

―Mmmm.‖

―Tante did say we could pet.‖

―P-pet?‖

   Holding her hands over their burgeoning cocks, they slid their free hands up her torso to her breasts. When they inched their fingers under her blouse and touched her naked skin, lust scorched her entire body.

   ―No bra,‖ Kaliq muttered—she thought it was his voice—as he teased her stiff nipples.

   ―No panties either. Naughty, naughty, Eden,‖ Kamal scolded, easing his hand between her legs. ―Hot, wet Eden.‖

   ―Ahhh,‖ she moaned when his fingers spread her swollen labia and he thumbed her clit.

   Kaliq sucked her nipple. It felt like he'd connected fire between her breasts and her pussy. She jerked.

   ―We know we aren't hurting you, Eden.‖

   ―I want…I want to be naked. I…want you…naked, too. Bbut first…I nneed you to kkiss me.‖ S
weet Goddess, I am burning!

   ―First you must tell us which fruit you like best, Eden.‖

   ―Kisses and fruit. Remember, Eden?‖

   If they hadn't said her name, she wouldn't have remembered it, let alone… ―Ji-jicama.‖ She knew—thought she knew—it was a root vegetable, but she craved something to crunch. Not cocks, she thought through the lust-haze befuddling her mind.
Hurt…them.

   ―Open your mouth, Eden.‖

   She did
, t
hen closed her lips around something firm and round. Something cool and round rolled up her thigh. S
weet Goddess, do they mean to kiss…

   One man bit off the jicama protruding from her mouth. His lips felt soft yet firm against her own. His tongue swept into her mouth, taking and bringing back the sweet-tart treat. She lost track of what the other one was doing until another cool, round something rubbed her nether lips. Her muscles clenched. But something hot and wet lapped her clit
, t
hen fastened over it and the…

   Her mind went blank. She could only feel them stripping away her blouse and skirt, shucking their shirts and pants. All the while they kissed her. Caressed her. Licked and lapped, sucked and bit her. Melon juices flowed down her throat, over her breasts and into her bellybutton. Questing tongues followed. A cock? Oh yes, she could smell musk. Taste salt. Swallow cream. Hear her moans and theirs become pants of pleasure as she squeezed their balls and cocks. Shouting, their voices blending in perfect harmony, their rapture peaked.

   And when they all descended, her men said, ―
That
, darling, tasty Eden, is petting.‖

Eden flexed her aching fingers. Looking up at the ceiling, today the color of an Earth-blue sky, she said, ―Goddess, were You truly on my side, You'd have delivered Kaliq and Kamal as my first not my last two clients. I doubt my fingers are strong enough now to give them much pleasure.‖

   ―Were She truly on
my
side,‖ Kaliq said from Eden's doorway, ―She would have sent me first to Azura and then to Colette to work out the cramps Azura left in my back. Can you help me?‖

   Hurrying to his side, Eden guided Kaliq's arm over her shoulders
,
then braced to accept his weight. Her concern for his pain overrode the lust she'd come to expect when she touched him. She felt it now as a kind of low-level electrical hum along her skin. Supporting his muscular bulk, she steered him toward her massage table. Easing him down, turning away to collect soothing herbs, she muttered, ―Witch! Hurting a client is unacceptable.‖

   Returning to Kaliq's side, her hands covered with fragrant, healing cream, she found him lying on his back. His cock raised a towel tent between his hairy thighs.

   ―Azura put a cramp in your cock?‖

   Kaliq blushed. ―She tried.‖

   Eden considered reminding him that sexual touching during the massage was forbidden. But he knew that. And so, by the Goddess, did Azura!

   Glancing down, she could only note that Kaliq apparently had not ejaculated. Or—her breath caught in her throat—he had remarkable recovery power.

   ―You'll have to turn over, Kaliq.‖ He frowned and squinched his face in horrific pain. ―I'm not buying your act,
monsieur
. You said Azura put cramps in your back.‖

   ―They've moved to my front,‖ he suggested, waggling his eyebrows and flashing an engaging grin.

   Laughing, Eden motioned him to lie on his stomach. He made a show of his supposed pain. And another of struggling to find a comfortable position for his still rigid cock. She'd caught another brief glimpse of it when he rolled over.

   ―Be gentle,‖ he pleaded, his voice muffled by his arms.

   ―I shall be. And if you behave yourself I'll give you a snack when I finish.‖ He made a lewd suggestion. Whisking the towel off his butt, she lightly spanked him. Just that brief touch made her nipples pearl. It also made Kaliq flush.