Clockwork Heart: Clockwork Love, Book 1 (18 page)

The look his lover returned to him made Conny’s belly warm with want. Johann made his clockwork eye wink at Conny as the corner of his lip turned up in a smile. “Oh yes,” Johann said, turning to Crawley. “It sounds perfect.”

Conny sank into the velvet seats with a smile, biting his lip to try to keep it from becoming a ridiculous grin.

* * * * *

Johann had never been to a party.

There had been festivals in the city square every now and again, but even in simply driving up to the house where Crawley’s merchant’s party was to take place, Johann understood this event would be nothing like those village celebrations. It was not like the bawdy pub Conny and Val loved to frequent in Calais. Neither was it an
elegant
party the Bürgermeister told of attending in Salzburg in honor of the Archduke of Vienna’s visit. This also was evident from the street, because the type of people entering and waving from upper-story balconies didn’t seem like guests who would be allowed within fifty feet of a baron, let alone an archduke.

The host was Portuguese and younger than Johann would have guessed. He looked to be only a little older than Crawley, whom Johann knew to be in his middle thirties. All the successful merchants were fifty or older, their holdings passed down from a father or other relative. But this man had made his own fortune, which was apparently common in Portugal. It paid well, Crawley said, to trade in a nation completely uninvolved in the French-Austrian war.

The merchant’s name was César Mateus, and he stood at the door greeting every guest as they entered. He was tall, though shorter than Johann, and closer to Conny’s body type. He was handsome, but he had a look about him that hinted he was always up to a little bit of trouble. He wore a smartly trimmed beard, but his hair was unfashionably long and hung about his shoulders. Also draped on their host were two men, and both stroked Mateus like a lover. Casually, as if it were nothing at all to run hands over a gentleman as he stood in the foyer of his home. Occasionally Mateus paused to kiss one of them, which generally inspired the other to renew efforts to win a gesture of affection of his own.

Crawley introduced each of them to Señor Mateus. He took pains to talk up both Heng and Olivia as his senior officers, but he lavished praise on Cornelius, naming him as the best tinker in all of Europe. This seemed to interest Mateus, who kissed Conny’s hand and spoke in fairly decent French.

“I look forward to getting to know you better this evening.”

The statement dripped with innuendo, and the merchant’s lips managed to caress Conny’s skin in such a manner that the erotic nature of the gesture overcame Johann’s jealousy and made him ache to watch Mateus kiss other parts of Conny’s body. As they left the foyer and followed the others into the large drawing room where most of the guests gathered, Cornelius leaned in close to whisper in Johann’s ear.

“Don’t worry, darling. I won’t do anything with Mateus or anyone tonight, unless you tell me to.” He slid against Johann’s side like a cat, pausing to kiss his shoulder. “I’ll do whatever you ask of me. That shall be my pleasure. You can tease me, taunt me, display me, share me—or you can simply whisper all the dirty things you want to do to me in whatever language you like, driving me crazy until you can get me alone to have your way with my body. Any way you arrange it, love, it will be a perfect evening.”

Johann wasn’t certain what it was he wanted to have Conny do. He felt very out of place in the grand room of the suave young merchant. There were others with clockwork, but almost all of it was decorative, additions to otherwise perfectly intact body parts. A few pirates had clockwork legs or arms or eyes, but no one else had as much as Johann. This made him stand out, as did his height and his size, as did the fact that a pretty, flirty man held on to his arm at all times.

Conny seemed to sense Johann’s unease and helped him through it. “Darling, let’s find you something to drink or smoke.” He undid the top button of Johann’s shirt and kissed the center of his chest. “You need something to help you relax.”

He well and truly did. Because even this subtle gesture of affection from Conny in front of all these people made him feel exposed—which was ridiculous, as three feet away from them a woman sat on a piano with her ample charms freed casually from her bodice. Olivia and Molly stood on either side of her, not touching the naked breasts but smiling and gesturing at them as they spoke to the woman. Nearby on a sofa a man sat with his head thrown back, mouth open and chest heaving as another man fondled him beneath the waistband of his trousers. Across the room on a small stage, a man in women’s clothing lifted his skirt to reveal his nakedness beneath, and a woman in a man’s suit beside him had her shirt undone and her cunt exposed. She palmed her quim openly, tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth as she leered at a crowd of squealing women and a few tongue-lolling men at her feet.

To feel uncomfortable merely being unbuttoned by Conny was ridiculous in this situation, and yet Johann could not stop feeling shy and embarrassed. He wanted it to end. He wanted to be free and relaxed like these other people. But he was nervous.

“I’m afraid I will make a fool of myself if I drink,” he confessed to Conny.

Conny smiled and kissed the exposed hair above the undone button as he laid waste to another below it. “You won’t be a fool. Even if you are, you’ll be
my
fool.” He stroked Johann’s clockwork arm. “You work so hard. Let tonight be the night you relax and let go. Indulge and have fun.”

Johann wanted to. He wanted this almost as much as he wanted Conny. “Is it safe to do so here, in front of so many strangers? How shall I protect you, if I let down my guard this way?”

For some reason this made Conny go soft and make French coos as he nuzzled Johann’s chest. Then, with a saucy wink, he undid his necktie and tied it tightly around first his left wrist, then Johann’s right. “There. Now we are joined. It will be easy to protect me, as I cannot leave your side. Also, now whatever pleasure we have, we take together. Let us start with a drink. Have you ever had absinthe, darling?”

Johann had not. “Isn’t it strong? I heard soldiers say it can make you so undone you do not know yourself.”

Conny’s grin took up his entire face. “Yes. That’s exactly what it does. It’s wonderful. Best of all when it’s laced, which I’m pleased to announce the Italians do even more so than the French.”

He led Johann to a line of people waiting before a side table, and as they approached, he saw it housed a large glass decanter filled with water and an amazing quantity of ice. The decanter had five spouts from its base and stood on an elegant silver stand. All around the decanter were glasses, bowls of sugar cubes and several flat silver spoons riddled with holes. At the back of the table on a small shelf stood a dazzling array of bottles of various sizes and shapes, all written in French and all containing eerily green liquid.

When it was their turn at the table, Conny worked deftly with his free hand. After placing two glasses before him, he studied the line of bottles carefully before finally selecting two. “We’ll start you with something a bit gentler, my love. The green fairy can be a bit cruel if you aren’t mindful on your first approach.” He poured a small amount of the liquid from the two bottles into each glass, then carefully placed two of the strange spoons over the rim before arranging a sugar square on the top. Humming softly under his breath, he set the glasses under two different spouts and lifted the handle on the spigot. As water drizzled over the cube, Conny settled against Johann and linked the fingers of their joined hands together.

“It takes a moment to prepare.” He gazed fondly at the absinthe as the water slid over the edges of the spoons. “You must sip slowly. It might seem like any drink at first, but it will have you flying soon enough. It’s not uncommon to feel as if you’re in a dream. The world is soft, even magical.” He raised their joined hands to his lips and kissed Johann’s fingers. “But we shall fly tonight together,
mon petit loup.
”

The drink was quite pleasant. It was sweet, though not as sweet as he’d thought it would be, and it tasted of licorice. It did not seem entirely strong, but Johann made himself sip slowly as Conny suggested. This had the effect of forcing him to savor the experience, which wasn’t at all a bad thing.

After several minutes, he felt the absinthe and cocaine begin to affect him. He laughed easier, and in addition to no longer objecting to Conny’s undoing of his clothing, he began to undress his lover as well. When a woman seated nearby pushed up her tits until they spilled out of her dress, he didn’t blush, he laughed and cheered with the rest of the crowd. When a man bent over and pressed a hand over his mouth, wiggling his backside at a group of men, Johann enjoyed watching the man get spanked like a child by his friends.

When someone pushed the man to the floor and pulled out a cock for him to suck, Johann forgot Conny’s warning and drank deeply of the delicious absinthe as he boldly enjoyed the scene unfolding before him.

His glass wasn’t half empty before the room began to float and spin. It wasn’t as alarming an experience as he’d have thought it would be, though at times he could have sworn he saw objects from nearby tables floating away and dance about the room. He tried to set his glass free to join them, but it only clattered to the floor, spilling the remainder of his drink on the carpet.

This made him laugh, and everyone around them joined in, especially Conny.

“I believe my darling clockwork soldier has met the green fairy.” Conny climbed aboard Johann, straddling his legs as he wrapped his free hand around Johann’s neck. “Tell me, love. What do you think of my favorite drink?”

Johann thought absinthe was lovely. It made him feel so free and happy. He had no worries, no cares. Well, outside of one. He touched the open vee of Cornelius’s shirtfront, caressing the smooth planes of his chest. “You have on too many clothes.”

This made the people around them laugh, but though Conny smiled, it was a dark curling of lips, and it was accompanied by Conny drawing both his hands to his chest to undo his buttons. Johann’s tied hand came along for the ride, which meant his fingers brushed every inch of Conny’s skin as it became exposed.

When the last button came undone, Johann couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward and pressed his mouth to Conny’s skin.

He thrilled to hear the crowd cheering them on, and his cock swelled as Conny’s sultry laughs became aching moans. Johann loved knowing everyone watched him kissing his lover’s chest. He wanted them to watch more. So much more.

He began by teasing Conny’s nipples—first with his tongue, then his teeth, and finally his clockwork fingers. Johann already knew Conny loved this best, that his tinker-surgeon took particular thrill in being seduced by the clockwork parts he’d helped create. The crowd seemed to enjoy this too, and so Johann gave everyone what they wanted. He pinched Conny’s nipples with the delicate tips of his clockwork fingers. He ran them all over Conny’s skin, using them to shove his lover’s shirt over his shoulders. Through it all, Conny went softer and more pliant, and when Johann nudged him to stand so he could take Conny’s pants off too, Cornelius obeyed without hesitation.

“Yes, darling.” He arched his hips, pressing his erect cock forward as Johann freed it. “Do what you like with me. I’m yours to command. To undress. To touch. To fuck. What would you wish of me next?”

Johann saw the man who’d been playfully spanked now bent over the arm of a couch, sucking one man while others lined up to slap his now-bright-red bottom in earnest. He wondered what it would feel like to spank Conny. And to do it in front of all these people.

Conny followed his gaze and bit his lip against a grin. “Ooh, Johann. You naughty boy.”

Then he climbed off Johann’s lap and draped himself over Johann’s legs, his naked bottom stuck pertly in the air.

Their bound hands had become twisted, and Johann tried to settle them into a more comfortable position, but it was difficult when he was so distracted by Conny’s upturned ass. He ran his clockwork hand over the soft flesh, the metal sensors reading the sensation differently than his flesh hand would. Their audience seemed to like this—they were all clockwork fetishists in Naples, and this was a treat. A clockwork man caressing the naked bottom of his creator.

Well, Johann would give them more to savor.

He didn’t slap Conny’s bottom, more of a playful, experimental tap, but Conny gasped and arched into his hand, and the growing crowd around them murmured a susurrus of approval. Johann swatted again, harder this time, enough to make Conny’s mounds of flesh shimmer like a pudding. He went in again, spanking the other cheek. Back and forth, harder, then a little harder, fed by Conny’s mewls and wriggles and the audience’s encouragement. He paused to knead at the pinking flesh, pulling at Conny’s cheeks to spy the dark hole tucked inside, until he gave up and spread Conny’s legs open to make the job easier. He ran his metal finger down the cleft, wishing he had their jar of lubricant, because wouldn’t Conny love being fingered by Johann’s clockwork hand in front of all these people.

As if they had heard his wish inside his head, someone appeared with a jar, open and ready for his use.

The crowd applauded as Johann pushed a slicked metal digit into Conny’s body, and Conny spread his legs wider, inviting Johann to give him more. This had become one of their favorite bedtime games, Johann spearing Conny like this. Cornelius had added, in fact, some clever articulations which, with a few easy adjustments, let them bend in a manner that allowed Johann to push them all, even the knuckles, inside.

He wanted to do this now, in front of everyone. The very thought made his cock weep, made him finger faster and deeper inside of Conny.

With the absinthe, there was little hesitation between having this thought and withdrawing his hand and presenting it to Conny to make the adjustments. He didn’t feel self-conscious while he waited, only eager to hear everyone gasp as he pushed, essentially, his entire hand into his lover—and that was what they did. Gasped and
oohed
as Conny cried out, arching into Johann’s thrusts.