They entered the duke’s private box and Rosalie spun around, raising a hand to Burke. “You cannot be serious. This is madness, even for you.”
He locked the door, leaning against it. “Your dress. Take it off.”
She sucked in a breath, turning away from him to take in the features of the box. It was tiny, with little more than a plush green settee and two chairs. A drink cart sat in one corner. A screen sat in the other to be used for privacy.
The thrum of the growing audience echoed all around. Nothing but a heavy curtain separated them from the front of the box where the opera could be watched. It was pulled closed, leaving them in a semi-darkness lit only by a candelabra on the table and two wall-mounted sconces set with silver reflecting plates.
She spun back around, heart in her throat. “Burke, someone will hear us.”
“Nothing happens until the opera starts,” he said with a wicked grin. “Then the audience will be so enraptured with the delightful overture of Die Zauberflöte, that they will not hear your whimpers and moans. The dress. Take it off.”
She swallowed, heat pooling inside her. “It fastens in the back,” she whispered. “I cannot reach it.”
His smile widened. “Then Tom will have to help you.”
She glanced over her shoulder with a start to see Tom standing at the curtain’s edge. He always looked so handsome in his naval uniform. It set off the narrow cut of his hips. He stepped forward, giving his black cravat a tug as he moved. “Did Burke tell you the plan?”
He came up behind her, pressing his front to her back. She could already feel the hardness of his cock on her hip. His fingers brushed down the line of her spine to the top of her dress. With a few deft pinches along the seam, he opened it.
She sighed with need as he grazed his lips over her exposed shoulders, tracing them up the curve of her neck. He flicked the sheer sleeves off her shoulders, letting the heavy beaded gown slink to the floor. She spun around in his arms, and he claimed her mouth with a hungry kiss. She melted into him, clutching the lapels of his uniform coat.
From the stage came the warning notes announcing that the opera was about to start.
“It’s time to get into position,” Burke said, leaving his sentry post by the door. Like Tom, he was quickly unraveling his cravat.
“The stays and those pretty silk drawers need to come off,” Tom said, his gaze heated as he stroked her hip. “We want you undone, sweet girl. Ours for the taking.”
Swallowing her nerves, she raised her hands to the buttons at her hip. After a moment, she let her drawers slip down her legs, exposing her naked bottom half to the room.
“Don’t forget, this is a punishment,” Burke said, edging closer. “Your pleasure will be secondary to ours tonight. In fact, it will give me the greatest pleasure to watch you squirm, begging us for release.”
“Don’t be cruel,” she said on a breath.
“Don’t run away from me,” he countered.
“Don’t call yourself the other woman where we can hear you,” Tom added.
Burke stepped forward, gripping her chin tight as he tipped her face up. “And don’t ever doubt our constancy again. You are my reason. Everyone has one. A reason to live, to fight, to bend the rules…or break them entirely. You three are mine.”
“Burke—”
“Take off your stays,” he growled, dropping his hand away from her.
Silently, she fumbled with the front of her stays, loosening the laces until she could drop them to the floor.
“Give me a glove,” said Tom, holding out his hand.
She slipped one off, wordlessly handing it to him.
“Good girl. Now, sit on the settee.”
She sat, trying to control the way her stomach flipped. Beyond their box, the crowd simmered to a hush. It sent a shock rippling through her. On the other side of that velvet curtain, several hundred people sat ready to watch an opera. They had no idea she was naked in front of two men, about to be ravaged. Her core was all but weeping with need as she leaned back.
Tom and Burke gave each other a nod. Then they dropped to one knee on either side of her, each taking a hand.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
The first notes of the Overture began, and the crowd clapped. The sound hummed through her as Burke and Tom exchanged a smile.
“We’re going to tie you down,” Tom replied.
She whimpered, squirming on the settee as they began wrapping their cravats around her wrists. Using the frame of the settee as anchor points, they looped their silk cravats through the wooden scroll work, securing her arms out to either side.
“Oh, god,” she whispered, her breasts rising with each breath.
Burke ducked his head, sucking her nipple into his mouth, teasing it with his teeth.
Tom held up her long, white opera glove. “Have you ever seen The Magic Flute, Rose?”
She nodded, heart in her throat, as Burke kissed her other breast, his fingers trailing down her ribs.
“Good, then you won’t mind missing the first half.” Dropping back to his knee, Tom wrapped the glove around her eyes, blindfolding her.
With a gasp, she was immediately plunged into darkness. All her other senses were suddenly heightened as she tried to determine where they might move and what they might do. The sound of the opera meant it was harder to hear them.
Tom leaned in, brushing his lips over her collarbone. “Do you know how beautiful you look like this? Your flushed cheeks, your parted lips…the delicate points of these perfect breasts.” He grazed the back of his hand over her nipple and she sighed, her body coiling tighter.
Then Burke was leaning in, his fingers brushing over her lips. “I can’t wait to sink my cock into this needy mouth.”
“Yes,” she whispered, letting the thrum of the music fill her, driving her excitement higher.
“Patience, little siren. This is a punishment, remember? Feeding you my cock now, when you’re aching for it, would be a treat. We can’t have that. Not yet.”
She sank back against the velvet of the settee.
“I’m going to let Tom play with you for a while,” he teased. “I want to watch him worship you. Maybe we’ll take a break and leave you tied here while I fuck his mouth. You’ll just have to imagine what it looks like.”
“You’re both devils—”
“We are your devils,” he hissed in her ear, smoothing his fingers over her sex, and dipping one finger inside. He groaned, dropping his head to her shoulder. “Fuck, she’s so wet, Tom. Why are you always so wet for us? So needy, so desperate for our cocks.”
She opened her legs wider, silently begging for more, but he pulled away. She sucked in a breath as he swiped his wet finger over her bottom lip. Then he claimed that lip with his mouth, sucking the taste of her onto his tongue.
It was sinful. These men had ruined her. There would be no love, no lust, no passion outside of the heights they carried her to.
Burke shifted away, leaving her with Tom.
“I wish you could feel how hard my cock is for you,” he said in her ear. “Do you want me to untie you so you can put your hands on me?”
“Yes,” she whispered, tugging on the silk ties.
He grabbed her jaw tight, turning her face towards him. “That was a test,” he growled against her lips. “We’ve barely begun, and you want the pleasure to end? Can you not feel how your body is responding without the use of your eyes, your hands? Can you not sense your heightened emotions, your ability to taste, to smell, to feel every little brush against your skin?” He grazed his fingers feather-light down her sternum, around her navel, and down. “You really want this to end, you say the word.”
“Don’t stop. Please, Tom. More—”
He claimed her lips in a kiss. She let him lead, tipping her head back and opening her mouth as he teased with his tongue. He was the most playful kisser of the three. Burke was all passion and fire, wanton lust. James kissed with a hunger. An aching need. He was driven, determined.
James.
Her heart ached. He was missing this. Missing them. God, she needed them all. She needed to feel complete. Tom was right, they were all meant to be together.
Tom pulled her back to the present when he dropped to his knees, pushing her legs wider apart. His mouth latched onto her desperate sex as his hands slid up her sides, cupping her breasts and tweaking her nipples. Her back arched off the settee as she pulled on the binds that kept her hands tied. Tom wrapped his hands around her thighs, tugging her hips to the edge of the settee. She lost herself to the feel of him moving with her, panting for more.
If this is how her men punished her, she made a vow to misbehave more often.
