He opened wary eyes. “Absolutely.”
“You know me so well. Now take off your shirt.”
With shaking hands, he dragged the shirt over his head and dropped it to the tiled floor. He felt like he possessed ten thumbs, and not particularly deft ones at that. Thank God, he wasn’t wearing a neck cloth. The braziers warmed the air, but the sensual purpose in Helena’s eyes set him shivering in anticipation.
“Are you cold?” She moved around him like an art connoisseur admiring a statue. Except this connoisseur had bare feet and looked likely to fall out of her shirt any moment.
“Anything but.”
On the tiles, her feet were soundless. But he knew to the second when she padded close behind him, even before her breath warmed his nape. Every nerve went on alert, but she didn’t touch him. Instead he heard her inhale deeply.
“Why do you always smell so good? I believe I could live on the air around you.”
“Hel…” he bit out. “Stop teasing me.”
“I’ve only started,” she whispered in his ear and nipped his earlobe.
Need juddered through him. “For pity’s sake.”
“No pity.” She trailed one finger along his bare shoulder, and his cock swelled in immediate answer. “Sit down, and I’ll help with your boots.”
Giddy with rising desire, he let her lead him to the platform in the alcove. She pulled him round to face her, then pushed. When he collapsed among the pillows, she stood tall over him, a commanding, gorgeous mistress well worth the winning.
He adored her lack of shyness. Still, he wasn’t quite ready to surrender his accustomed mastery. “You know, it would be dashed easy for you to sit on me.”
Her laugh was sheer temptation. “Why the rush?”
His hips bumped up, his rod straining against the front of his breeches. “I’m a simple creature. Show me a brandy, and I want to drink it. Show me a chunk of roast beef, and I want to eat it. Show me a comely woman, and I want to—”
“I can imagine,” she hurried to say, before he reached the profane ending. “But you’re not getting your way.”
“Helena,” he growled in dismay, flopping back.
“Yet.”
Yet…
West could live with “yet.” He smiled up at the ceiling where fat amoretti circled a complacent Zeus. Above the window, a large swan eyed a fat blonde’s abundant charms with lascivious intent. Once such a woman might have roused his interest. These days, his taste was for domineering brunettes.
He couldn’t help thinking he had the advantage over the king of the gods. Even if his mistress meant to test him before welcoming him to paradise.
His attention turned to Helena as she dropped to her knees. The skirt preserved her modesty, but did nothing to rein in his unruly imagination. Fresh desire jolted him.
With characteristic competence, she tugged at his boots. Seeing her kneeling sparked inevitable fantasies of her mouth on his cock. As she moved to his other boot, he speculated on how long he’d need to banish her inhibitions. Today’s startling role reversal hinted that she might enjoy a daring variation or two.
Including that one.
He’d drifted off so thoroughly into a dream of Helena pleasuring him that her voice came as a shock. “Don’t go to sleep.”
His gaze fixed on Leda’s plump nakedness. Yes, he was definitely ahead of Zeus. At least today. “I’ve had two interrupted nights, you know.”
“You didn’t seem to mind at the time.” Those adept hands ripped at the buttons on his breeches. No shyness indeed. Praise every angel in heaven. “Lift your hips.”
He obeyed with alacrity. One long tug, and he lay naked before her, back resting on the divan, legs spread across the tiles on either side of her, cock hard against his belly.
“I like your body very much,” she murmured. With a few quick movements, she released her hair. That moment when it unfurled from contained elegance to lavish profusion always stole his breath. “Although someone needs to feed you up.”
West didn’t want to think about his illness. He didn’t want to think at all. “The only thing I want to eat right now is you.”