Chapter 9 #2
Wait, didn’t she know that green gown? She set her glass aside.
It looked like one Caroline had worn one day Simone had seen her in the park.
They’d stopped briefly to talk. A lock of Caroline’s dark hair had slipped from her bun in the breeze and Simone had fought every instinct in her body not to curl the strand around her finger just to memorize the silky feel of it.
The woman turned slightly and Simone’s heart-rate increased further.
The lady in question was wearing a mask in a darker green than the dress, but even with half her face covered, she was instantly recognizable.
It was Caroline. At the Donville Masquerade.
Looking like a flower to be plucked or a gorgeous piece of fruit to be eaten.
And she wasn’t going unnoticed. Men stared, women stared.
When Caroline worried her lower lip with her teeth, Simone came off the chair and started across the room.
What Caroline looked like was a sweet lamb in the middle of a pack of wolves. And with every step, Simone realized she was the biggest, hungriest wolf of all, and if she wasn’t careful, she was going to lose control at last.
Caroline’s hands shook so hard she had to clasp them together as she stared around the heated, pulsating room.
There was so much happening, so much to shock the system, she almost couldn’t focus on any of it.
The Donville Masquerade was certainly far wilder than her silly mind could have imagined.
It was a cacophony of hands and mouths colliding, a symphony of husky laughter and sharp moans.
Mostly there were men and woman tangled together.
When Caroline looked at them, she could see how much they were enjoying themselves, but it made her feel a little…
uncomfortable. There was no desire that sliced through her like it had begun to do when she touched herself and thought of Simone.
This was like being in her own marriage, watching it was something to accept and even endure.
She was preparing to flee the hell entirely when she noticed two women seated together at a table.
Well, a more apt description was that one was seated in the lap of the other. They were talking closely, their mouths almost touching. Then they were touching in a passionate kiss.
Caroline flashed to Simone kissing her like that and her body suddenly felt heavy and hot, her palms started to itch and between her legs came that luscious tingle she always felt right before she gave herself release.
She wanted to be one of those women in that moment, wantonly surrendering to pleasure.
And she knew exactly who the other one would be if that were the scenario.
She felt someone approach from behind her. There was an increase of heat at her back and then the softest whisper of breath against her neck as Simone’s voice whispered, “Well, well, well, my dear. Are you lost?”
Caroline drew in a shaky breath and touched her mask to make sure it was still in place before she turned.
Simone wasn’t wearing a mask. Of course she wouldn’t have to, would she?
She was a courtesan. She was probably here with a lover.
Or looking for a lover. She’d have no trouble finding one when she looked so desperately beautiful in that shockingly red gown.
The neckline dipped almost all the way to her nipples.
A slight wrong move and she’d be flashing the room.
With the moans echoing around her and making her dizzy, Caroline had the wild desire to tug the dress herself. To finally see Simone in some erotic way. To touch her like the others around were touching each other.
“I-I’m just where I wish to be, miss,” she said instead. She wasn’t certain Simone knew who she was, after all. She was wearing a heavy mask that covered half her face. Why would Simone recognize her?
“Are you now?” Simone purred, and looked her up and down. “Please tell me this is your first time here, that you haven’t been seeing me in salons and parks and the dining room of your nieces all this time and then rushing off here.”
Caroline blinked. “I-I don’t think I’m who you think I am.”
Simone let out a low, husky laugh that raced along Caroline’s spine and made her thighs clench. “What name did you give the man at the door when you paid your fee for the night?”
Caroline shifted. She’d been so flustered when they’d asked for a pseudonym, she’d done a rather foolish thing and it would prove Simone knew everything just as she thought she did. “Er, Caro.”
Simone dropped her head and she laughed again.
“Sweetest thing in the world,” she muttered.
“Funny, your name is very much like the friend I think you are, Caro. And so is your dress. And your eyes.” She leaned closer and once again her lips were close to Caroline’s ear.
“And your smell. I’d know that lilac smell in the dark. ”
Caroline couldn’t breathe and her knees felt like they’d give out. She was so hot and tingly that she almost didn’t feel a part of her own body. God, what this woman’s presence did to her.
“Simone,” she whispered, and found herself gripping Simone’s forearm for purchase. But also because she could not go another moment without touching her. When she did, it was like electric energy bound them. She couldn’t let go and she didn’t want to. Not ever again.
Simone’s pupils were dilated so wide there was almost no gray left. Slowly, her hand came around Caroline’s waist, her fingers splaying across her back. Caroline arched helplessly and heard herself let out a little whine.
“Tell me what you’re doing here?”
It spilled out of her without her meaning to say any of it. Because that was what Simone did to her, drew out the truth even when Caroline hadn’t wanted to see it or speak it.
“I turned thirty-nine yesterday,” she whispered. “And I felt…empty. The girls were talking about this place in front of me. I suppose because they think me sexless…”
“I don’t know how anyone could think you sexless,” Simone interrupted, and her lips skimmed Caroline’s ear and sent fire in their wake. “But go on.”
“I didn’t even really decide to come. I just found a mask. I just got into my carriage and had it come here. I just gave my name and my money and went through those big doors. But the moment I stepped inside, I knew it was folly. I don’t belong in a place like this.”
Simone drew back and she stared into Caroline’s eyes. The rest of the room fell away, all the sounds, all the heat, all the people…it was all gone except for her. With a fingertip, she traced Caroline’s cheek along the bottom edge of her velvet mask before she said, “You’re alive. You belong.”
Caroline realized they were swaying to the music together, locked in each other’s arms as they were. Dancing together and it thrilled her down to her curling toes. For a moment they did that, entangled entirely in each other.
“Do you want more?” Simone asked at last.
“Yes,” Caroline squeaked out without thinking or second guessing.
Simone didn’t respond, but took her hand and led her through the crowd, toward…well, Caroline didn’t know. But she wanted to go there. She wanted everything and she could only hope Simone would finally give it.
Consequences be damned.