A Rose Between the Thornes (12 page)

“My clothes? You have my clothes here?”

He nodded. “You would not have found them with ease.” He paused, and Sophia was fascinated by the play of his muscles as he lifted his arms above his head and stretched. “You look uncomfortable. If as I suspect you have only that jacket and those pantaloons on, you
are
not comfortable. Here, stand up let me play ladies maid.”

Sophia did as she was asked, and he began to undo the buttons on her jacket. As his fingers scraped the side of her breasts, Sophia shivered. Even such an innocent touch sent tiny pinpricks of pleasure through her. He of course noticed, but she thought, chose to misinterpret her movements.

“Cold, love? Later, if you so desire, we can warm you up.”

“In a myriad of ways,” Nat added as he knelt at her feet. “Hold on to me once you are able and I will remove these boots. How did you keep them on?”

“Straw in the toes,” Sophia said. Once the jacket was unbuttoned, Jasper slid it off her arms and she held on to Nat as directed. Jasper began rubbing her back in the erotic circles he made to perfection. Her quim grew heavy and her curls damp. Her body had no intention of denying that any touch by her men sent a gush of skin-tingling arousal through her. As both men were intent on undressing her, she decided not to protest. She suspected it would be futile, and as their intent was her wish, why complain how the end result was achieved.

Jasper trailed his fingers down her spine and rubbed the top of the indentation in her arse. Red-hot molten lava engulfed her and she moaned.

“Green,” she said and stopped on a whimper as his finger teased her nether hole under the pantaloons.
Did I really say green? Am I so wanton as to encourage him now?
Sophia accepted the plain truth. She wanted these men. It was up to her to prove it.

“Green,” she said again. “I want you. Both of you only need to touch me and I go up in flames. I cannot envisage life without you in it. With me. Others manage. Look at...” she broke off. She could not name names.

Jasper said nothing, Nat whistled between his teeth and threw both boots across the floor and peeled the pantaloons down her legs to then cast them in the same direction.

“We know,” Jasper said. “They protected you from anyone ever thinking you would be free and available. Arms up.” The change of subject startled Sophia but she did as he said and felt the soft wool of her dress slide over her sensitized body. “Damn, I forgot slippers.”

“I’ll get them.” Nat stood up. “Don’t start without me.”

“Start what?” Sophia asked as Jasper buttoned her dress.

“Anything.”

Jasper laughed. “We will wait. Look, I am doing something alien to me. Fastening a ladies buttons, not opening them.”

Sophia stood motionless as she enjoyed the soft touch, his breath on her neck, and the soft kisses he pressed on her nape as he placed her shawl over her shoulders.

“Your hair, I will not attempt to dress,” he said. “Not without combs and a brandy to fortify me. Sit, love, and when Nat returns we will talk.”

Sophia put her hands to her hair and groaned. It was a bird’s nest. She reckoned it would take an hour to untangle it. She sat down once more in the end chair, and smiled at his look of interrogation.

“I wish to see you both clearly. Here it will be easier, unless we sit in a circle?”

In reply, Jasper repositioned the other two chairs.

“That looks better.” Nathaniel returned carrying a pair of velvet slippers under his uninjured arm. “Here you are love, these will keep your feet warm.” Sophia’s legs were lifted in turn and her feet covered. He was right, she felt much warmer. The shawl protected her arms from the chilly air that seeped under the door. Otherwise the fire kept the room cozy.

“So who begins?” she asked once they were all seated. “I have stated what I want. What?” Both men looked at her with amusement. “What have I said? Oh.” She put her hands to her cheeks. “I am being somewhat forward am I not? Well, why not? You may be the dominant ones, but I am no wallflower. I have needs and wants that you two have unleashed, and choose to say so.”

“And pleased we are,” Jasper said. “Because it seems our needs and wants mesh in perfect harmony. However, it is not simple, Rose. If we do go forward, life may not be easy. To live as three openly will be impossible. Even those of our friends who we know have a committed ménage, are circumspect. We want you, and we need you. But as you know, the fact we are twins complicates things even more. Nat and I do nothing to each other, ever. We are not that way inclined. The only person we fuck is you. Together, separately, or watching. You receive our bodies, you touch us, you make us come.”

Sophia nodded. That she understood, and was grateful. She knew some men were lovers, had no problem with that idea, for why ever should they not be if they so desired. But not her twins. She acknowledged she was selfish enough to want it this way.

“I want all of this, so what is our problem? You have this lodge, I have my home. Ah...town.” She thought for a while. “I see that could be difficult, but others manage, why not us?”

“Can you see a certain lady, or two gentlemen, taking kindly to us swanning in to your niece’s establishment and saying by the by we are off to fuck with our lady? We are more likely to have our brain blown out than our cocks milked.”

“I see no reason why not,” Sophia argued. “After all they...ah...” She lapsed into silence. Loyalty forbade her to say more.

Jasper came to her rescue. “They are, we know they are, but for us to do the same, in your niece’s house? Oh no. It may be your home, but it is not ours. If you truly wish us then we need a base.”

By the look in his eye, Sophia was sure if he had not already acquired one, he had one in mind.

“I have said I want to be with you. Both of you. Why are you hesitating?”

Jasper stood. “Come with us. Let us show you something. Then and only then, will you be able to say green.” His face was serious. Nat opened the door and stood back to let her pass him. She did so and waited. A curtain blocked her view.

“No blindfold this time?” she said in a light voice, although her heart was thudding.

“No need,” Nat answered her. He lifted the curtain to show her the staircase beyond. “You know where you are. As an aside, where did you hide from us and find the clothes?”

She had wondered when either of them would bother to ask that question.

“In the armoire in your bathing chamber.”

Nat looked amused and his lips quirked. “It was locked, as was the door to the servants’ stairs. It seems you have hidden depths, Rose.”

“I have a hoyden-youth and a hair pin. And please do not call me Rose.” They climbed the stairs three abreast.

“One day you will tell us why you do not like your given name. And perhaps you will work out why it is so apt for us together.” Nat said. He stopped outside a door. “Jas?”

“Are you ready for this, Rose? This is our life, our love, and we hope it will be yours. Remember your colors. If you see anything you wish to discuss then ask. If anything is abhorrent, or at anytime you wish to stop and leave...”

She nodded. “I have my colors fixed. I will not forget them. Now let me see what it is you enjoy.”

Nathaniel pushed the door open and she took a deep breath. This was it.

At first glance it was the same room they had loved in. On a second it was different. There was a bed, that was true, and it was overlarge. The fire glowed low in the grate, and the lamps and candles flickered, showing and hiding the rest of the furniture. It was that which was different. Sophia gulped. All of a sudden it was hard to swallow. This was such as she had only read of in books, or seen on those secret pamphlets that circulated the Ton.

“Is this the same room?” she asked. Jasper, who had followed Nat into the room, shook his head.

“This is where we had hoped to bring you next. This is our true playroom. Unused, and we have realized, if you do not wish to be with us, it will remain that way.”

Sophia wandered to a waist-high wooden bench. The top was padded and at each end there was a set of leather shackles. Her quim twitched and tightened. She knew what those restraints meant.

“Has this been used?”

“Not yet. This is all for us, if you so choose. We wanted to start afresh. This—” he touched the bench—”we designed with you in mind.”

Sophia looked up from the base of the bench where she had been studying more elaborate leather ties. “Why?”

Jasper ran his fingers over the soft padding. The sight as each digit stroked the material made her mouth dry. Such a simple movement, but so erotic. It was as if he stroked her skin. The fine hairs on her arms stood on end.

“To see you spread-eagled and restrained, open for our touch, is high on my list of desires. To watch as Nat fucks you, and you take me in your mouth is another. All our toys are designed to enable us to fulfill our innermost desires. This...” He picked up a long-tailed flogger and swished it through the air. “Will caress your skin, or inflame it, and these...” He touched a series of silk blindfolds and ropes. “Will cover you, tie you, and enhance your body. Love, we can send you to such heights you will never have dreamed of. Stretch you, push you to what you thought were your limits and beyond. This—” he picked up a smooth carved piece of jade and caressed it. Red hot lava ran through Sophia as she noticed it was shaped like a man’s staff. A very aroused one. “This,” he continued. “Is to fill wherever we are not.” He stopped talking and waited for her to answer. Outside a cockerel crowed, and Sophia saw with a start it was almost light.

“Hmm.” She played for time. What he had described to her had made her wet and quivering with arousal. However, Sophia knew there were things she had to say. “This is all for me? So what about you? Do I get to return any favors? No, do not speak yet or I will lose my nerve. You tie me, spank or flog me. Fill me with you or your proxies, and withhold my orgasm until you so decree I come. What about you? Do I return the favor?” She knew that was not in her nature, but was interested to see the answer. What she knew was she would go willingly with these men, and do as they asked. They would never hurt her, but fulfill her. Life would not be easy, but it would be worth it. Nevertheless she had to know if they would give up their dominance for her. She thought not.

Nathaniel glanced at Jasper, and Sophia decided they were communicating in the unspoken way some twins did.

“Well?”

“Not as such. We are dominant, Rose; that is our nature. However, we are prepared to cede some things to you. It seems only fair,” Jasper said, a faint smile on his lips. “You will choose our playthings at times, direct the show, and decree if we are three. But, I am always dominant, I could be no less. Nat also, though to a lesser degree.” His voice changed. “Your color, Rose?”

His change of subject confused her. Then she remembered.

“Oh, green.” He nodded, as if satisfied. To her left Nathaniel stood, silent but watchful.

Her skin prickled; something was about to happen. The muscles in Jasper’s arms were corded and firm as he picked up a set of velvet and leather flails, and ran it over his wrist. Apprehension made her skin crawl as if a thousand ants marched across her body. Surely he would not use that on her? A hand was one thing, she relished that pleasure. But a whip? It would hurt. Sophia had long decided she had no stomach for pain, ever since she had fallen out of a tree and broken her arm. The agony as the arm had been reset had stayed with her.

“Amber.”

Jasper looked astonished, and she saw the brief flicker of hurt in his eyes before he masked it. Nathaniel made as if to step towards her, but a flick of Jasper’s wrist stopped him. The army of ants became termites. Her stomach turned and Sophia swayed. Why, when she knew they would not harm her had she spoken out?
Because I fear myself not them.

“Amber? What do you wish to discuss, Rose?” He might have been asking her for a dance, so mild was his voice. However, Sophia thought it was a front. She turned full circle around the room, her somber grey dress flaring out as she did, her hair making a halo around her face.

Sophia hesitated. How could she admit the thought of those thongs across her scared her so, even as her juices gushed? Why did her thoughts and body confuse her so? She had limitation by using her safe words and he had promised her overall control. So why was she behaving thus?

“I am waiting.”

“As am I.” Nathaniel moved to stand next to his twin. Together they exuded confidence, and she discovered to her amazement, comfort, safety, and... And what? Excitement; her arousal? Jasper had not stopped running the flail over his wrist, and each soft swish sounded loud in her mind.

“Pain,” she said hoping she didn’t sound as confused as she felt. Surely she didn’t
want
to feel those strips of material on her body?
But what difference is that to the feel of bindings holding me? To be spanked and aroused that way? Why is one acceptable and making my nipples hard, at the thought? Am I deluding myself?

“Pain,” she said again. “You picked that up.” She indicated the flail. “And I panicked. I remembered when I broke my arm and how it felt to have it set, and...oh lord...” Her heart beat faster and blood rushed to her head. Her scalp tingled and she had a ringing noise in her ears. “I remember, oh sweet lord, my father thrashed me for being so stupid. He used a flail, it hurt.” She was sobbing and felt her face wet with tears. “It hurt...” The world went black.

She came round on the bed, a man each side of her.

“Wha... Oh, I remember, oh no.” How could she have equated Jasper with her father? She knew they were chalk and cheese. Sophia struggled to get up. Her dress had been loosened and it fell from her shoulders. Good, it made what she wanted to do so much easier. With the memory of her father now out in the open, a weight she hadn’t known she was carrying lifted from her. That time was over; it was the present she had to embrace.

Sophia stiffened her shoulders and smiled at her men. “I am green, my lords, and I wish to show you. May I?”