he said. “I hope someday she will ride them again.”
“I do, too,” Nico said. “I’ve always admired her. She seems so strong and dignified.”
Henri tried to think of a neutral comment. “She rides beautifully,” Henri said. “I’m lucky to learn from her horses.”
“Annette—she’s the midwife in the brothel—Annette has actually met her. In the palace, the duchess didn’t come here, of course. I asked what she was like. Annette wouldn’t tell me. She only looked sad. Annette never looks sad, that’s one reason why we…why I…oh, no. You’ll think I’ve turned into Suzette, if I keep on like this. You’re a good listener. Close your eyes.” She poured warm water over his head, then dabbed the drips from his face. She winnowed her fingers through his wet hair. “Your hair is so thick. It’s a pleasure to handle. I miss my own hair, but working here, it’s so much more convenient to keep it clipped. Madame Hubert requires it, anyway.”
“Clipped…it suits you,” he said. “I think so. I think it, it makes you look beautiful.” He could feel a blush scalding his cheeks, but in the dim room he hoped she wouldn’t notice.
“Thank you,” she said. “You’re very kind to say so.” She dug her fingers into his hair again, this time after coating them with soap. The scent of lavender washed over him as she scrubbed his scalp and squeezed the soap through hanks of his hair. He had to work not to moan at the pleasure of it. Each scratch of her fingers seemed to shoot straight to his cock.
“Do you like this?” she asked.
“Oh, yes,” he said. He felt drunk, only better, like being drunk ought to feel.
“Do you have time to stay a little longer?” Nico asked.
She’d sounded lonely when she spoke of Annette. “As long as you want,” he said.
“Sit up, and close your eyes.” She poured rinse water over his head, another hot rush of pleasure, then did it again, and again. Henri felt limp, except for his cock, which he could feel bobbing in the water like an eager puppy.
“Done,” she said. Then, “I would like you to fuck me.”
He began to turn around, but Nico put her hands on his shoulders, preventing him. “You’re wondering why,” she said.
This was true.
Nico began to massage his shoulders, digging strong fingers into the muscles by his neck, and he moaned. “You like that? Good.”
He more than liked it, he had never felt anything so good in his life, except his cock inside a woman’s slippery tunnel. He’d been ready to do anything she wanted after she’d washed his hair. He wasn’t going to tell her to stop, though.
Nico said, “The bathhouse is going to get crowded again later. It always does, after the shows in the house let out. Then we get another rush in the morning. Right now, it’s the only time there’s any privacy, and then you came in, and I’ve seen you. You’re always nice to us. Not like some others.”
“Hmm?” Henri said. He was listening, but her massage was making him sleepy at the same time that it aroused him.
“You don’t grab,” she said. “I like that. So I thought, why shouldn’t you get a reward? And why shouldn’t I have a little something for myself? We can enjoy each other.”
“Anything you want,” Henri said. Surely he was dreaming. No other explanation made sense for a day like this.
“Let’s go in the steam room, then. Have you ever tried it?” She gathered up his towel and a pile of others, tucking them under one arm.
“Costs extra,” he pointed out, standing up slowly. His blood was having trouble reaching his head. It kept getting diverted and pumping into his cock.
Nico held out her hand and he placed his within it. It felt natural to do so. She was like him, she knew what it was like to work all day and then to want to relax. He squeezed her hand and she peeked over her shoulder and smiled at him. She had a wide mouth, almost too large for her face, but somehow just right with her long nose and big brown eyes. When she smiled, her upper lip crinkled and so did the corners of her eyes. He would have followed her anywhere.
The steam room wasn’t very large. All of the walls were tiled, and running with droplets of water. Vapor poured into the room from a pipe near the floor. Through the billowing steam, he could barely see three wide benches placed against the walls.
He took a deep breath and nearly choked, the air was so thick. He began to sweat, or perhaps it was the steam on his skin. He couldn’t tell. “Easy,” Nico said, and then he could breathe, more deeply than he’d ever breathed before. The odor of crushed peppermint stung his nostrils. Relaxation flowed through him.
Nico spread the towels over one of the benches and all at once he understood their purpose. His cock, which had flagged a bit, recovered quickly. Nico turned to him and smiled again. “Would you help me with this?” She plucked at her now-sodden shift.
Henri palmed her breasts through the cloth first, sighing with her as he rubbed the wet fabric against her nipples. “I could eat them like apples,” he said. When he realized what he’d said, he looked away in embarrassment, but Nico giggled and put her hands on either side of his face.
“You are sweet,” she said, and kissed him. A droplet of salty sweat ran off her upper lip and into his mouth, and he swept his tongue after it, moaning low in his throat when she reciprocated, suckling his tongue and making him think of what it would be like to have a mouth on his cock. He ran one hand over the soft spikiness of her cropped hair over and over, but the other didn’t want to let go of her breast. He squeezed it rhythmically as they kissed, sure he’d found the softest thing in the world. It was funny that so soft a thing could make him so hard.
They stopped to breathe, slowly taking in the steam and letting it out again. He helped her drag her wet shift over her head, and then was lost again as he tasted the sweat on her throat and breasts while his hands traced her upper arms, petal-soft skin over muscles hard from labor. In return, Nico gripped and massaged his arms, his shoulders, his back. When her hands wandered down to his buttocks, he pressed his erection into her belly and thrust tantalizing, twisting strokes against her slippery skin.
His skin was wet, too, but felt as if it was on fire. He was going to come in a minute if he wasn’t careful. He pulled away from her, sucking air, and walked toward the bench with the towels, Nico playfully backing toward it as well. The bench caught her behind her knees, and she sat, reaching out her arms for him.
Henri sat next to her and dragged her onto his lap. He had to be inside of her soon, but he couldn’t stop moving against her for that delicious drag of wet bare skin on skin. He writhed against her with his hands, his face, his chest, his thighs. Nico straddled him now, her breasts on a level with his face. He buried his nose between them, where her scent and heat were strongest, and it was like being inside of her. He could feel her heart pounding, racing.
She shoved her belly against his erection, forcing it back against his stomach, and rubbing it between their two slick bodies. Little gasps escaped her, and he darted his tongue into her mouth three times, quickly. “Please, please let me fuck you,” he said. Before he’d quite finished speaking her chapped hand wrapped around his cock and fed it into her cunt. She plunged down and he grunted from feeling her wet cunt lips slap against his balls.
Gripping his shoulders painfully, she writhed on his cock, as if she were trying to find purchase, sucking at him from the inside and then shoving her hips forward. He worked his hand between their bodies and let her grind against the heel of his hand, hoping desperately she would start to move up and down soon; at the same time, he never wanted her to stop this exquisite torture.
“More,” she said. “More, more, fuck me!”
“Yes,” he said. Bracing his feet on the floor, he thrust upward with enough force that she jostled on his lap. Soon she joined in his motion and rode him until