for the butler’s job. Miri could see why Lydia needed a new butler. The temporary doorman laughed out loud and shut the door in her face.
Not one to give up easily, Miri had made the trip to the back door, memorizing the hidey-holes of the guards stationed along the way. When she’d presented Beau this time, she’d received a sympathetic look from a kitchen worker along with a suggestion.
“Don’t bother applying. Lydia only hires pretty boys to do her butlering.”
Wearing shaggy brown hair topped by a floppy hat, Beau was country for sure. The young bounty hunter always made a point of drawling and smoking and keeping Miri’s face mostly concealed so that folks remembered the thick accent instead of more telling features like her eyes.
Having a wolf trot beside her probably had a lot to do with leaving an impression too. In that light, it had been easy to see that her Beau disguise wasn’t the right fit for Lydia’s doorman. Grumbling at the expense, she’d visited Osgood’s Theatrical Supplies and invested in a suit and a new hairpiece.
Already having spent more than she wanted, she’d shaved costs by renting a stall for Possum in the town livery, then sleeping in it too. In her opinion, with Ketchum sprawled outside the stall on guard, she was about the safest person in Hell’s Half Acre.
The next morning Miri had knocked on the door as Calvin, a young gentleman wearing a vest, black frock coat, a gold pocket watch, dark sideburns and neatly trimmed hair. This time she’d been ushered to the brothel owner’s office, where she was subjected to her first fondling.
“No padding at all,” Lydia had purred, feeling Miri’s shoulders and admiring the way the coattails hung in the back. “Calvin, you’ll do.”
Lydia had explained that her place was high class and her employee at the entrance had to dress accordingly. She’d been more concerned with appearance than protection. She’d introduced Miri to two of the men she employed to handle what she called incidents and made it clear that Calvin was only expected to be polite and answer the door.
And just look who Calvin invited in. Miri buttoned Deacon’s shirt, loving the subtle smell of tobacco and soap clinging to it. If he has one of his cigars after dinner I’ll beg for a puff. She watched, mesmerized, as Deacon peeled the white cover from the suite’s table to reveal a setting for two. Deftly he turned the wineglasses upright, filled each one with sparkling brew and handed her a glass.
It probably isn’t much different than beer. She hesitated.
He picked up a strawberry and swirled it in the liquid, then held it to her lips.
“Oh.” The flavor burst over her tongue as she sank her teeth into the juicy fruit.
She nibbled her way to the green stem then licked his fingers, gratified to hear him stifle a groan.
He deftly unbuttoned her shirt and brushed the sides apart, displaying her breasts. Heat coiled in her belly, anticipating what he might do next. He swirled another strawberry in the wine, then rubbed it over her nipple before licking the drops of liquid from her now turgid peak.
His engorged shaft pushed against loosely buttoned pants. Before she could change her mind, she reached down and freed his hard length. As he suckled her breast, she pushed him down on one of the armless dining room chairs, straddling him and sinking down on his cock.
Miri cupped her breasts so that he might better suckle while he gripped her hips and set the tempo of their ride.
“Tender?” he asked her as she tightened the walls of her channel around his hard length.
“Hurts good.” She told him the truth and that seemed to free some restraint he’d been under. He nipped her breast then applied suction to the tip, sending hot bolts of lust radiating from her nipple to her sex.
She spread her thighs and flexed her knees, raising and lowering herself on his shaft, each thrust allowing deeper penetration until his cock head lodged against her