Double Jeopardy Page 3

  Chapter Five

  A full day passed before Chloe felt the absence of Lucien. Before she felt she could catch her breath and relax. Her imagination had him lurking around corners, spying on her every action.

  After he’d walked away from her the day before and gotten into the car that had been waiting at the curb, she’d fled to the solitude of her room, letting the cook know she wasn’t feeling well and that she was going to take to her bed for the rest of the day. She had very little time to plan her future, and she had no clue where she should begin.

  She hadn’t even gone down to welcome Antoine when he’d arrived to see if he needed help settling in. Lucien’s warning was stamped in her memory, and in her heightened state of arousal she was afraid to be in the same room with Antoine without her lust showing. He’d moved into Lucien’s suite of rooms, and he was still asleep when she started her chores the next morning.

  She couldn’t go back to South Carolina where her family was still located. They didn’t need another mouth to feed anyway. Maybe she’d head out to California. She could hitch rides or even steal one of the cars Lucien had parked in the back of the house. She’d be long gone by the time he returned to notice its absence. It was a sound idea. Of course, she had no idea what she’d do once she got to California. If only she could get money along with the car, her troubles would be easier to overcome.

  Chloe went into the kitchen feeling lighter of heart now that she’d made a final decision. The new cook stood with her back to the door, frying bacon and checking the oven every few seconds so the biscuits wouldn’t burn.

  “Good mornin’,” the cook said without turning around.

  She was an older woman, her hair silvered and curled tightly around her head. She been born, raised and widowed in Nawlins, as she liked to say in her thick accent, just as her mama had before her.

  “Mistah Rousseau’s breakfast will be ready here in a bit. Now that yer feelin’ better, I’ll have ya take his tray up to his room.”

  The last thing Chloe wanted to do was be in a bedroom with Antoine Rousseau, but she couldn’t protest without alerting the cook that there was something wrong. So she took the tray silently and headed up the stairs. The temptation to leave it outside the door, knock, and then run away was overwhelming, but she gathered her resolve and prepared to face him head on.

  “Come in,” he said when she knocked on the door.

  Chloe entered the room as quickly as possible, prepared to deposit the tray and make her exit.

  “Thank you, Ms. Monroe,” he said from a chair in front of the fireplace that flanked one wall. He had a newspaper spread over his lap and his feet propped on an ottoman. Thankfully, he was fully dressed for the day.

  She brought the tray of food over and set it up on the small table next to him. She could see him out of the corner of her eye. His dark hair was longer than the popular style and he had it tied at the back of his neck rakishly. A dark stubble covered his face and he watched her lazily with eyes that were black as night. Eyes she’d seen glazed with passion.

  Her hands shook as she set out the cup and saucer for his coffee and her face flushed with desire. If she was leaving anyway, did it matter what Lucien’s rules were? Of course, there was another problem. Lucien had told her that Antoine only liked men.

  “Why don’t you join me, Ms. Monroe? There’s more than enough food for both of us and you’re looking a bit peaked.”

  “No, I couldn’t, sir,” Chloe said quietly and hurried her tasks so she could leave the room. “I have too much to do today.”

  “I insist,” he said, putting his paper aside. “I am quite curious about you, Ms. Monroe.”

  Chloe sat down in the chair across from him, her hands gripping her knees tightly.

  “I’m just a maid, sir.”

  “I seriously doubt that, Ms. Monroe.” He smiled charmingly, but it didn’t make her feel at ease. “I recognized your scent when you leaned down to place the tray. You’re Lucien’s other lover, are you not?”

  She froze and the color drained from her face. She couldn’t tell if he was angry that Lucien had another lover. Antoine’s expression was merely one of curiosity.

  “You have no reason to fear me. Just as I know you have no reason to worry that I might tell Lucien that you watch the two of us make love from the small hole in the wall over there,” he said, pointing toward the very spot.

  Chloe stood abruptly and crossed her arms around her middle, protecting herself from what was sure to come. She’d have to leave immediately, not even taking the time to pack her meager belongings.

  “Did you know that Lucien warned me to stay away from you before he left?” Antoine asked softly.

  “But I don’t understand,” Chloe finally said. “I don’t understand you or him either one.”

  “I’m beginning to feel the same way.”

  He stood slowly and she moved back a step, only to hit the edge of the very chair she’d just vacated. He came closer and took her hand gently before placing his lips on the inside of her palm.

  “You fascinate me, Chloe Monroe. I wish to know everything about you in the few days we have together. I don’t care about Lucien’s orders or his wrath. A few days to get to know you better is all that I’m asking.”

  “This is a trick. He warned me of your preference for men, and that you’d be reporting my actions to him on his return.” The kiss to her palm had done strange things to her insides. It was something that Lucien’s touch lacked—the gentleness of a lover who really cared—not just a quick fuck.

  “I have no preference in men or women,” Antoine said candidly. “I’m attracted to the person, not their gender. And you are very attractive to me. As far as reporting back to Lucien,” he said shrugging, “Lucien lost my complete loyalty more than a year ago. He’s done some terrible things in his line of work, but I’ve had to be careful in showing my disapproval in case he decides he no longer needs my services in a permanent manner. I’ve been planning to leave Lucien’s business for a long time now, and I think I’ve finally found the incentive I need to cut ties once and for all.”

  Chloe blinked owlishly at him, part of her wanting to believe him, the other not sure she could trust anyone but herself.

  “Do you know why Lucien warned us away from one another?”

  She shook her head silently.

  “Lucien is a very perceptive person. He reads people well, otherwise he wouldn’t have done so well in his business ventures. He could see the wanting in my eyes on the few occasions you and I crossed paths. And I bet he could see the same wanting in yours. Do you think of me while he fucks you?”

  Chloe closed her eyes against the direct questions and felt her pussy clinch in anticipation. How could this man know her secrets?

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Yes, what?”

  “Yes, I think of you when he fucks me. It’s your name I have to stop myself from calling out.” Chloe finally opened her eyes and looked at him frankly, the fear of Lucien’s wrath giving way to more basic emotions.

  “And it is you I think of every time his mouth’s around my cock or his fist pumps me to completion,” he said softly.

  Chloe waited for the lust showing in his eyes to take over his actions. She expected him to rip at her clothes and leave bruises on her pale skin as Lucien so often did. So when he touched his lips gently to hers, it took her by surprise.

  His mouth roamed over hers lazily, savoring the unique flavor. He drifted upward and paid the same attention to her eyelids, nose and cheeks, worshipping her. Chloe reveled in the attention. When she tried to touch him, to undress him, he stopped her hands and continued his gentle assault to her body.

  “I don’t want this to end before I’ve barely started,” he said in explanation to her surprised look. “Let me love you for a while.”

  He led her towards the bed he’d shared so many nights with Lucien. The sheets were dark blue this time and silky soft against her skin as he laid her bac
k against the covers. Her dress and undergarments were carefully removed until she lay naked on the bed in front of him—a goddess rising from the deepest part of the ocean. Enticing. Enchanting.

  His hands and lips touched every part of her body until she was writhing beneath him in desperation, and when his tongue delved into her secret place and caressed the swollen nub of her womanhood, she was lost to him. She opened herself to him with no reservations as he lapped at her pussy, fed on her juices. And when she cried out, it was Antoine’s name she was finally able to speak.

  Antoine was enraptured by the woman splayed before him, so completely lost to her pleasure. Her beauty was astonishing and her taste was sweet on his lips, but his cock was straining against the buttons of his trousers, and he knew he had to end the sweet torture.

  He discarded his clothes quickly and came back to her on the bed, where she looked at him out of half closed eyes that were lazy with satisfaction. She opened her arms to him and he fitted his body against hers, wondering when the last time was that he felt so attuned to another. Their bodies melded together perfectly and he closed his mouth around her plump breast, laving the nipple and drawing out their pleasure a little longer.

  “Now, Antoine,” Chloe demanded. “I can’t wait any longer.”

  “No, Chére. Nor can I.”

  His cock was thick and hung full between his thighs as he prodded her entrance. Her gasps were like music to his ears, and when he pushed all the way inside of her, he felt as if he’d finally come home. He moved slowly, drawing out each sigh and moan of pleasure. Sweat beaded on his brow and his breath began to labor, but he kept himself in check, waiting for her to find her own release before he sought his.

  “Oh, God. Antoine,” she moaned as her hips rose and fell in tandem with his thrusts.

  Her legs were like a vise around his hips and her nails sunk into his shoulders as she arched against him, desperate for release. Her cries grew louder and her movements more abandoned until Antoine felt the spasms begin around his cock, starting softly and then milking him tighter and tighter until he couldn’t hold back any longer.

  “I’m coming,” he said against her ear.

  “Yesssss!”

  He thrust hard—one, two, three times—and he felt the come boil in his balls and shoot from his cock in thick spurts, coating her insides and causing her to have another small orgasm. He shuddered against her one last time and dropped his head to the hollow of her throat, panting for breath. Her body was lax beneath his and her eyes closed, so he rolled them both to the side, careful not to dislodge his softening penis from her sheath. They both fell into a satisfied sleep.

  Chapter Six

  Chloe awoke surrounded by warm water and wrapped in aroused male.

  Antoine had carried her to the bath and already soaped her body by the time she was fully awake. The butterfly kisses at the back of her neck and the soft cloth rubbing in circles over her breasts shot her into sudden arousal.

  She turned to face him and kissed him deeply, running her hands over his naked chest and hard stomach and reveling in the beauty of his body. It was hard to ignore the hardness of his cock as it prodded her belly, but when she tried to take it in her grasp he held her off and continued to wash them both.

  When had a man ever been so concerned with her needs? Even her husband hadn’t paid her as much attention as Antoine had over the past few hours. Samuel had been an amazing lover, but to him she was a temptress, a seductress, and it always seemed as if she had a role to play. With Lucien it was the same, except to him she was a servant, a slave to his needs and his own seductions.

  “When will I get to touch you?” she asked.

  “We have forever. Don’t be greedy.”

  He picked her up from the tub and placed her on a soft mat. He dried her with one of the plush, heated towels from Lucien’s bathroom, starting with her feet and then moving his way up her body until he’d reached her hair.

  She shivered under his touch, and when he led her back toward the bed her sensitized pussy was more than ready to be filled. He pushed her down gently and she watched out of hooded eyes as he lit candles around the room. The sweet smell of beeswax filled the air, and when he came back over to her he held a small bottle in his hand. His prick was at full attention and she licked her lips at the thought of taking him in her mouth.

  “Turn over,” he whispered and joined her on the bed.

  She did as he asked and let him position her so her arms and legs were spread out at her sides. A drizzle of something cold hit her back and she shivered as goosebumps pricked her flesh. But the liquid soon turned warm as his hands began rubbing it into her skin, massaging the muscles of her back and buttocks. He took care with every part of her, rubbing from the tips of her fingers to the sensitive flesh between her toes. Her pussy was sopping with arousal, but he stayed away from the area.

  “Antoine, please. I’ll die if I don’t have you. Can’t you see my need for you?”

  “Yes. I can see the moisture of desire between your legs. Your wetness clings to your delicate folds and glitters like diamonds. You’re so beautiful.”

  She turned her head and watched as he stroked his cock with his slick hand before gathering two pillows from the head of the bed and placing them under her stomach. It opened her to him—her legs spread and her lush, moist lips open like the morning petals on a rose.

  He nipped the flesh at the back of her knee and slid his tongue up her leg to the indentation where her buttocks and thigh met. He sucked on the skin there hard enough to leave a red spot before moving onto his target. Her scent was musky and decadent, her desire filling his nostrils as his mouth longed to taste. He gave her no warning, but plunged his tongue into her, spreading her apart with his hands as he lapped at her juices.

  Chloe screamed beneath him and her hands clutched the silky sheets until she thought they’d surely shred beneath her fingers. The climax overwhelmed her, but Antoine didn’t slow down, no matter how much she begged. He circled her clitoris with his tongue and flicked it quickly, bringing her to the edge before slowing into long, pleasurable licks up and down her entire slit. His finger slid in silkily to the hilt and when he added a second and curled them gently inside her, explosions rocketed through her skull.

  “Ohmigod!” she screamed. “It’s too much.”

  “No, it’s never enough,” he assured her, keeping up the pressure of his fingers while sucking her clitoris, swallowing each pulse of her orgasm.

  He removed his fingers and she gave a shuddering sigh of relief, but it was only short lived as his mouth replaced them. He continued probing her gently with his tongue, but when he moved away from her slit to the puckered rosebud of her anus, she realized how exposed she truly was. His tongue circled the tiny hole and sent new sensations shooting up her spine.

  “Has Lucien ever taken you here?” he asked, dipping a finger into her sopping cunt and then using the lubricated digit to circle her anal passage.

  “N…no,” she said, longing for the sweet torture she was about to experience.

  He slipped his finger in slowly and she felt the tight passage stretch as his finger worked its way inside her.

  “You have a body made for loving. It would be a shame not to take you every way possible. Do you know how tight your ass would feel against my cock?”

  She couldn’t answer. He’d slipped a second finger inside the passage and was pushing and pulling, stretching and lubricating the tiny hole, no doubt to accommodate his massive cock.

  “It feels different than a pussy. It’s not as wet and there’s more friction, so every thrust is more sensitive.”

  “Mmmmm,” Chloe moaned. “Yessss.”

  Antoine removed his fingers and gave the cheek of her ass one last nip before settling on his knees behind her. The veins in his cock were prominent and the head full and red. His sac lay heavy between his thighs and the thought of filling her with his come almost had him releasing too soon. His hand rested on her hip and he
took his shaft in his hand, rubbing it up and down the wet lips of her pussy.

  Chloe writhed and pushed against him, hoping to feel the bulbous head enter her, but Antoine teased her with his cock while rubbing her back, belly and breasts with his other hand. He pushed into her slowly and he felt her walls close around him, allowing his cock reluctant passage despite her wetness.

  “God, you feel so good. So big,” she moaned.

  He felt the end of her womb and knew he could go no further, so he pulled back slowly, grabbed her hips in each hand and rammed himself to the hilt again and again.

  “Fuck, Chloe, your pussy is squeezing me so tight.”

  Chloe was lost to everything except the sensations in her cunt. His balls slapped against her ass and his prick hit the sensitive spot inside her with every thrust. Her ears buzzed until she thought she was surely drowning and her sight went dark. He kicked her legs further apart and hunched over her so he could reach her aching nipples, and he took each of them between his fingers and clamped down.

  Animal noises came from deep within as the pulses started at the base of her spine, shooting through every sensitive nerve ending she had until her pussy flooded Antoine’s cock with an orgasm that left her close to death.

  He slowed his thrusts and gave her a minute to recover, kissing the nape of her neck and nibbling up and down her spine. He pulled out of her, removed the pillows and turned her to her back.

  “Mmmm, what are you doing?” Chloe asked sleepily.

  “I’m not finished with you yet.”

  “I can see that,” she said, eyeing the glistening cock that had brought her so much pleasure. “What can I do to help?”

  “Just lay back and enjoy. My time will come.”

  He took a moment to study her in the soft glow of candlelight. Several of the candles had already gutted themselves out and the fire in the fireplace had died down to red embers. Antoine didn’t know if it was afternoon or night, only that he was destined to be with this woman. She was his match on every level, though his gut clenched when he thought of what her answer might be to his proposition.