Bound to Be a Groom (23 page)

He pulled his hand away slowly, and Pia gasped, then said, “I think that would be the most wonderful life I could ever dream of.” She looked at Anna. “With all of us, together?”

Anna leaned in and kissed her passionately. Without another thought, Sebastian turned to Farleigh and the two of them slammed into another open-mouthed, fiery kiss.

When they finally pulled apart, Farleigh stared at Sebastian’s mouth, then slowly shifted his gaze to look at Pia. “May I?”

Sebastian watched Pia realize Farleigh was asking if he could kiss her, that he was proposing to her in some elemental way. She nodded gently, and he dipped his head down to touch her mouth with his.

He was far more timid than he had been with Sebastian. Pia scowled. “If you plan on kissing me like some delicate flower, you’d best not kiss me at all.”

Sebastian laughed when Farleigh slammed his mouth against hers and grabbed her bare breast with rough possession. She obviously loved the raw, demanding nature of Farleigh’s lovemaking as she arched into his hold and widened her mouth for his penetrating assault.

As they finally pulled away from one another, panting and staring wildly at the unexpected lust in each other’s eyes, Sebastian watched Anna closely.

“I thought I would be so afraid of losing you, Pia,” Anna said quietly, “but this is what we’ve always wanted, isn’t it? To be together?”

Pia’s eyes were wide. “It’s beyond anything I could have imagined. To have so much love.” Anna leaned toward her and kissed her, softly at first, then biting Pia’s lip the way she adored.

Anna turned to Farleigh. “She likes that.”

He rolled his eyes. “I think I’ll be able to sort out what she likes, Anna.”

Sebastian laughed at what he now saw was going to be a glorious lifetime of openness and joy between the four of them. The banter and honesty of a true family, he thought, rather than the formal strictures under which each of them had been raised.

Opening the draped door to the tent wider, Sebastian gestured for the other three to enter. “Let us go in. Shall we?”

The diffused afternoon sunlight created a golden aura around their strong naked bodies and illuminated the fabrics, carpets, and unlit candles that had been spread everywhere. Farleigh came in last. “Well, here we all are,” he began.

Sebastian felt the man’s voice travel down his spine and looked at Anna and Pia to share his excitement. They both smiled at him, and he nodded.

“Let me take a good look at you, Sebastian. Kneel down,” Farleigh ordered, leaning casually against one of the posts of the tent.

He knelt slowly, then clasped his hands behind his neck.

“Ah, yes, you remember. Very nice, Sebastian,” Farleigh said in a low, approving voice. Sebastian’s stiff cock twitched under the other man’s admiration. “And look at you, always at the ready.”

The afternoon air mingled with the sounds of summer leaves and a few birds. It was as if nature, in all of its miraculous variety, wafted around them and through them, touching their skin and declaring them part of the universe.

Sebastian began to feel the warmth of his submission thrum through his veins. He’d been with each of them in turn, and Pia and Anna together, but Farleigh’s presence brought everything into such a strange and wonderful alignment. Of course, he had wondered whether or not his British friend would still be keen to pursue their lively physical relationship, but it was not the type of thing one mentioned in written correspondence about lodging in Mayfair and spending the Season with a duke.

Do you still fancy a right good rogering, then?

But when they had arrived and he’d realized how badly Farleigh wanted him, everything had changed. Anna had turned their mutual attraction into this powerful, desperate thing by forcing them to postpone it. Now Farleigh was implying they might all four be together in the future, forever, that such a thing was even possible.

“He’s even more beautiful than my statue, isn’t he, Pia?”

“Yes, Your Grace. He is.” Pia gasped as Anna leaned in and kissed her neck and then further down, sucking on the tips of her breasts. “Keep looking at them,” Anna whispered to Pia, but the tent was so quiet Sebastian could feel his wife’s hushed words like licks on his backside.

Stepping quietly across the soft bearskin rug, Farleigh began to circle Sebastian’s naked body. Examining. Appreciating. Contemplating. “Whatever am I going to do with you? So many magnificent possibilities.”

Sebastian felt every inch of his skin becoming more and more sensitized. A light touch was going to scorch. Something harsher would bring him far greater pleasure. Pia was moaning softly as Anna began to fondle her between her legs with knowing fingers, her mouth never leaving Pia’s bare breasts. Sebastian wanted to be consumed and released into the world of intense ecstasy that Farleigh’s whip could provide.

As if reading his mind, Farleigh turned to open one of the smaller trunks. “Crop . . . short whip . . . the cat . . .” Farleigh tapped his lip while he contemplated his options.

Sebastian began to shake with desire—watching the pull and strain of Farleigh’s taut muscles as he bent over the trunk—and then forced himself to breathe through his anticipation.

Farleigh chose a short whip and crossed back to the center of the room to show it to Sebastian. Dragging the flexible tip lightly along his jaw, across his forehead, then letting it hover tantalizingly close to his full lips, Farleigh finally asked, “Is this what you want?” Farleigh held it perfectly still until Sebastian bent to place his lips on the fine leather. He let his tongue slip around the braided texture of the narrow handle, knowing it would taste and smell like Farleigh’s sweaty hand.

Pia cried out and Sebastian glanced quickly to see Anna’s lips circling her nipple in much the same way his were circling the leather. When Sebastian returned his gaze to Farleigh’s face, the duke was looking at Pia’s wide, glistening eyes and smiling.

“You like that, Pia?”

“I do,” she whispered. “Very much.”

Then, with feigned impatience, he turned back to Sebastian. “No showing off,” the duke bit out, withdrawing the handle immediately.

“Yes, sir,” Sebastian replied, slipping easily and gratefully into the world of exquisite submissive pleasure.

Anna watched as Farleigh expertly swatted the whip against Sebastian’s perfectly turned arse and strong thighs. Sebastian’s slightly opened lips and closed eyes were a sight to behold. He was an angel, with his hands clasped behind his neck and his arms bent like wings. The pose strained Sebastian’s upper arms delightfully and dipped his lower back into a perfect arc.

Every time the whip slapped against Sebastian’s skin, Anna looked at how the rest of his body rode the initial sting of pain and quickly transformed it into hot, liquid pleasure. She would demand instruction from Farleigh on that particular tool. It was longer than her crop and had a tapering length of hide at the end, like a short drafting whip, rather than the rounded, fold-over tip to which she had become accustomed. Farleigh had a militaristic precision that brought the most superb red stripes to the surface of Sebastian’s immaculate flesh. They were nothing like the small square patterns she loved making with the riding crop; the whip left long, even welts across Sebastian’s skin. The marks looked serious—lasting—as if Farleigh were branding him. Ever since Farleigh had kissed Pia at the entrance to the tent, the entire scene had taken on a weighty permanence, as if all four of them were building the foundation of their future together.

Meanwhile, Anna’s hands roamed Pia’s full breasts, squeezing and kneading, torturing her in that absentminded way Pia adored. Pia squirmed and begged next to her on the lush pillows, like the sweet thing she was. Momentarily turning her eyes away from the glorious spectacle of Farleigh whipping Sebastian into a frenzy of lust, Anna bit Pia’s earlobe and commanded, “Stand up, darling, I want Farleigh to see you come.”

Pia groaned and complied immediately, stretching to her full height, extending her arms up until she could nearly touch the fabric at the ceiling, then letting them rest near the tops of her long, muscled legs.

Farleigh paused for a moment to look at her. “My . . . You are quite something, aren’t you, Patrizia . . .”

Pia stared at him boldly and sniped, “I thought you did not fancy women?”

He swatted the whip through the air with an impatient, repetitive motion. Sebastian seemed to respond as if the quick lashes were connecting with his own skin. Anna felt as though the room were contracting and expanding around her. When she let herself be free of her preconceptions—of her small-minded possessiveness—the possibilities among the four of them were truly endless.

Anna stood up and walked toward Farleigh, the large caftan swishing around her like a gust of powerful wind. His eyes narrowed as if he were about to be challenged.

“I believe Pia just disrespected you, and she is in need of punishment.”

“Anna! No!” Pia cried.

Farleigh smiled. “I think you are quite right, my lady.” He looked over at Pia meaningfully, then back at Anna. “But what about poor Sebastian? He has been so good and deserves his reward.”

Anna began dragging her nails through Sebastian’s sweaty hair. “He is so good, is he not? May I keep him warm for you while you see to Pia?”

Sebastian released a sigh of pleasure.

“Excellent idea.” Farleigh offered her the whip handle.

“Actually,” she said as she walked toward the open trunk that kept the leather items, “I fancy a turn at this suede flogger. I’ve never had the opportunity. Would you mind?”

Farleigh smiled again when he saw Sebastian’s muscles clench and quiver in anticipation. “
Mind
?” He laughed. “Of course not. Have you ever used it on him before? It’s one of his favorites, if I recall correctly. Isn’t it, Seb?”

“Yes, sir.”

Anna loved how Sebastian’s voice had dropped to an even deeper register. He sounded so rutty and wild. She trailed the velvety leather strips along his bunched shoulders and down his spine. It wasn’t as cruel as the cat-o’-nine-tails she’d seen on board the ship they’d taken from Bilbao, which had those menacing knots at the end of each strip. This was going to provide a much softer assault.

“Have you ever used it, Anna?” Farleigh asked.

“No.” Anna fondled the baby-soft suede of the strands as she answered him.

“It is quite a delicate art. Let me show you.” He held his hand over hers and gave a few twitches. “Like a whisk. Do you feel it?” She nodded. “Start lightly and you’ll see the color begin to rise to the surface of his skin. Momentum is key. I suspect you’ll both enjoy lots and lots of practice.” Anna smiled at her new ally. “But I must attend to Pia, it seems. What would you like me to do to her?” Pia gasped, and Anna smiled. Farleigh might be her new best friend.

“A good old-fashioned spanking, if you will.” Anna lifted one small hand. “I’ve never been able to give her what she properly deserves in that department. I’m simply not built for it.”

“Allow me.” He pivoted on his heel and grabbed Pia as she tried to dart out of reach.

“Anna!” she called, but Anna and Pia had negotiated secret words and gestures long ago that would put a stop to their more ambitious play.

“You know the words to say if you want him to stop, my darling. And
Anna
is not one of them.”

Pia groaned, the sound a mixture of trepidation and joy. Farleigh pulled them both onto a pile of pillows and positioned her abdomen across his lap.

“Ready when you are, Lady Anna.” Farleigh waited with one hand slightly raised while Anna whipped the flogger through the air, measuring its heft and power while those vibrating, singing breaths of empty air caused a thrilling response in Sebastian. She watched the way his back muscles bunched and relaxed, and listened to the way his breathing stuttered into a moan of anticipation.

“I believe we’re ready, Your Grace.”

And then they began. Anna started with a succession of light swats across Sebastian’s hard thighs and buttocks while Farleigh made Pia count off spank after spank. Anna’s wrist movements and rhythm had improved considerably since her wedding night, and her control of the flogger was fluid and sure after a few strokes. Sebastian arched his back in the most glorious pleasure as she used the long soft-sueded strips to warm and tighten his skin. She avoided the welts that Farleigh had created, suspecting the intensity might cause Sebastian to lose consciousness.

Meanwhile, the sound of Pia’s desperation reverberated through Anna’s core. Pia’s keening, pleading, guttural responses to Farleigh’s relentless strokes against her bottom were apparently making all of them that much more aroused. She watched as Sebastian’s body rode the waves of pain and pleasure, processed the sounds of Pia’s cries and Farleigh’s smacks, and even Anna’s own labored breathing.

Her rhythm with the flogger became perfectly synchronous with Farleigh’s rhythm against Pia. It was akin to a musical performance, weaving in rests and peaks, fashioning the different notes of desire and agony into a shared symphony.

“Anna . . .” Sebastian whispered.