Page 20 of Only Pleasure Will Do

“When Sir Peter dropped me at the brothel and told me that was my inheritance, I wanted nothing more than to lie down and die.” She’d sat on the crumbling back steps sobbing for an hour. “The woman who was the cook at the time gathered me in her arms and took me inside. She thought I was a new ‘girl,’ which I certainly was, but the new girl in charge of the house.” So scared she’d thrown up into the coal scuttle in the kitchen. But she’d pulled herself together and begun to plan. “I swore I would take what Sir Peter had given me and make my way out of that hellhole.” She stared past Reginal, her gaze fixed on the dark bricks of the wall behind him, remembering. “It took six months and every penny of the meagre funds leftover from my inheritance, but I refurbished Mrs. Brown’s decrepit brothel, and turned it into the most stylish, exclusive, and notorious bagnio since Elizabeth Dennison’s establishment. I wanted…” She couldn’t go on.

“What did you want, Maddy?” His voice was low, soothing.

“I wanted to outsmart Sir Peter. By turning Mrs. Brown’s into the House of Pleasure, I calculated that in ten years, if I saved my money very carefully, I would be able to disappear. Take Pearl and just slip away.” She refocused her gaze on Reginald’s kind, handsome face, and a pang of regret stabbed her heart. If only they could slip away together. “It would, however, take a great deal of money. Much more than Mrs. Brown had been earning. So I began to be very selective about the women I employed. I sent out word that if women of good family, noble or gentry, had fallen on the hardest of times, they should apply to me.”

Reginald’s eyes widened until the blue centers swam in a sea of white. “You mean to tell me all your ladies are women of Society?”

“Not all. There are two or three holdovers from Mrs. Brown. I didn’t have the heart to turn them out into the street.”

“So you allowed them to stay?” Suddenly, she was engulfed in his arms, her breasts pressed to his bare skin, an exquisite sensation of warmth and strength. She stopped thinking and just enjoyed the embrace, savoring the closeness with this singular man.

“Yes.” She enfolded him back, her hands stroking the silky skin of his torso. “They were grateful, but I considered them my teachers, giving me invaluable information about the running of the house. In return, I taught them how to carry themselves, how to speak in a more cultured tone and above all, how to please a man.” She suddenly slipped her hands down to his buttocks and squeezed them in precisely the right spot. His member rose instantly, bumping against her closed legs.

Reginald groaned. “Vixen.”

She chuckled deep in her throat. “During that six months, I learned what men wanted and trained my ladies to deliver exactly that. With the exception of the older girls, I insisted on each woman taking a new identity. A different name and in some cases, a completely different persona. This gave them a mask of sorts to hide behind. It was probable that they would now meet men to whom they’d previously been introduced in society. Their new name might shield them, at least in their own minds, from the shame of offering themselves up to men with whom they’d had an acquaintance.”

Breathing deeply, Reginald brushed her hair aside so he could kiss her neck. “Did that help them?”

“I think it did. Taking on the persona of Amorina Vestry helped me to distance myself from the decisions I had to make. The things I had to do to survive.” The more he caressed her, the more her body heated. Moisture gathered between her legs and an ache that he could easily fill began to form deep inside. She kissed the hollow of his throat, tasting the salt of his skin.

“One thing I impressed upon all the ladies was that if a gentleman took a fancy to them and offered to act as their protector, they should take such an offer immediately. Usually the compensation was far greater than what they could make at the House of Pleasure and in several cases, what began as an offer of temporary protection resulted in a permanent proposal of marriage.” Softly, she blew into his ear then grasped the lobe in her teeth. Exerting just enough pressure, she massaged his flesh with the tip of her tongue before sucking it into her mouth.

He grunted and thrust against her helplessly, his shaft thick and hard against the seam of her thighs.

“Shhh. Not yet,” she crooned, slipping to the side so he rolled onto his back, his eyes dark as obsidian. “Let us make this last at least a little while longer.”

Breathing raggedly, he nodded and closed his eyes. In a moment, his panting had slowed, his body relaxed.

Smiling, Amorina straddled his torso and leaned forward to dangle her breasts just above his mouth. “Open your eyes, Reginald.”

He obeyed, groaning at first glance, then eagerly filling his hands. Kissing first one then the other, he brought her nipples to taut peaks that ached in the most glorious way. When he slipped one into his mouth and sucked it, a streak of fire shot from his mouth directly to her sheath and she hissed in a breath before moaning with pleasure. He switched to the opposite breast and a similar flash of delight raced to her core.

An insistent pressure against her bottom made her smile. Not-so-Little Reginald wanted attention paid to him. With a pang of regret, she rose, but Reginald’s lips lingered on her nipple. She tugged playfully, but he strained to hold the very tip, pulling it gently until an excruciating sensation of not-quite-pain-not-quite-pleasure engulfed her. At last, he released her, staring up with a drowsy look on his face that was usually the calm before the maelstrom.

They were both ready, but there was so much she wanted to experience with this man. This would likely be the only chance she had, therefore she must make it last. She lowered her head and licked his small, dark nipples, scraping her teeth across them just hard enough.

He sucked in a breath and his cock surged up behind her.

Continuing down from his chest, she trailed her tongue along the center of his ribs, lazily meandering from one side to the other, enjoying the taste of him. When at last she could go no further, she moved so she no longer straddled him. His cock, now fully in view, reared up proudly.

Crouching at the end of the bed, she caught his gaze then deliberately grasped him firmly.

He gasped then grinned at her.

His hard, thick member was impressive. Her hands were small, so she’d need to use both to do this correctly. Starting at the base, she ran her fingers up his full length, her thumbs pushing deeply on the underside of his cock, drawing a growl from Reginald. After several such passes, he lay pressed against the bed, clutching the mattress, staring at her, breathing hard. “I thought you said you wanted this to last, Maddy. I don’t know if— Oh, God!”

Without warning, she engulfed him, taking almost all of him into her mouth until his tip bumped the back of her throat. It was a skill not every woman could master, but one that gave a man an intensely pleasurable climax, although she did not intend that for Reginald. Not this time. Sliding up and down his length, sucking his flesh with each pass, she also stroked his sac, already tightening around his swollen balls.

“Sweet Jesus.” The need in Reginald’s voice told her she must stop or risk not being able to share the ultimate pleasure together. The lightening room meant the servants could be here any time. Giving him one last, long lick—which elicited a loud groan from Reginald—she released his cock.

“Maddy. Dear Lord, have you done for me?” He lay back on the bed, the rasp of his breathing filling the small room.

“Not quite yet.” Gaze intent on his red-tinged and sweating face, she rose up over him then slowly lowered herself onto his jutting shaft. His slick member slid easily into her until she sat astride him, fully seated and completely filled. Shuddering with the joy of the fullness within her, she clenched her muscles around him and began to move.

His darkened gaze glittering with a hunger she couldn’t wait to satisfy, Reginald pulled her toward him, and seized her lips. Stabbing his tongue inside her, he simultaneously thrust up into her, touching her deepest core.

“Hmmm.” She purred as he stroked in and out, both below and above, in a rhythm that increased the fire that burned within her. So Reginald had excellent skills as a lover as well.

He grasped her waist, his hands almost spanning her body, and held her suspended just above him as he thrust into her over and over. The coiling sensation that heralded the beginning of her climax was suddenly upon her and she was helpless to stop it. She had so wanted them to crest at the same moment, the ultimate in pleasure. She clenched her muscles around him as he stroked in and out, gripping his hot member as she spiraled quickly toward the peak.

Releasing her mouth, Reginald pulled her down hard onto him just as her body exploded with release. He strained against her, crying out as she grasped him over and over and he spilled his seed deep inside her.

Gasping for breath as she savored the lingering pulsing within, Amorina laid her head on his chest. His heart hammered against her ear, beating like the hooves of a runaway horse. As her body calmed, she raised her head to find Reginald staring up at the ceiling, grinning from ear to ear. She cupped his face and his gaze shifted to her. “I hope you are pleased, Reginald.”

In response, he wound his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “Pleasure does not begin to describe what I’ve just experienced, my dear. Wait.” He shifted his lower body and his spent member slipped out of her. Grabbing the blanket, he pulled it around them then settled back with her cuddled against him.

Snuggled against his strong, muscular body, Amorina relaxed, an aura of protection surrounding her. It was a false sense of security at best, but the safest she’d felt in years. Let Tommy Redmond come. Something in Sir Reginald Matthews’s manner told her that this was a gentleman who lived by the honor of his word. He’d promised to protect her and her daughter, which bound the three of them together—at least for now.