Polly opened the door a crack. She wore a wide smile and her eyes were bright with happiness.

“She’s almost ready,” Polly said.

A voice from inside the room said something unintelligible.

“Ah, she’s ready,” Polly said.

Then she shut the door in their faces.

“Bridesmaids,” Madame said, shaking her head in constrained amusement. “In the old days the whole wedding party would have watched the consummation. That’s how the tradition of catching a garter started. You’re lucky to have only me in the room. Unless you’re an exhibitionist. Are you?”

“I’m anything I need to be to avoid being murdered by you,” Kingsley said.

Madame patted his cheek yet again. “That’s the spirit, my boy.”

Polly opened the door again. She came out with Louise and Nadine. All three of them kissed Madame on the lips and then Kingsley on each cheek.

Nadine told him “Many blessings” and Louise whispered a quick “Merci beaucoup” and Polly gave him a wink and said, “Go get her, tiger.”

“My first time wasn’t nearly this elaborate,” he said to Madame.

“You should have had a better first time then.”

Considering his first time had been on a kitchen floor, and had lasted under ninety seconds, Kingsley couldn’t argue with that.

Madame led him through the door. Kingsley glanced around, taking in his surroundings. The walls were covered in gold wallpaper decorated with black flowers. The bed, heaped high with silk pillows and luxurious coverings, was as large as any he’d ever seen. The curtains were drawn to let in the view of the winter night and the dark forest just outside the window. And Colette sat on the edge of the window seat wearing a gown of pale gold, with her long black hair swept over one shoulder. She had her feet tucked under her and her face turned to the cloud-kissed moon.

She looked so painfully young at that moment, Kingsley nearly spun on his heel and walked straight out of the room. But then she turned and smiled at him and she looked so wildly wickedly desirable, he decided to stay.

“I should be ashamed of myself,” he whispered to Madame.

“We all should be,” she said, patting his back. With a lift of her chin, she indicated he should go forward, and he did as ordered because it was impossible to stay rooted in place with that girl within walking distance. He went to her and sat down across from her in the window seat.

“You,” he pointed at her. “You tricked me.”

She blushed and briefly buried her face against her knees before peeking up at him again. “I didn’t mean to,” she said as she rested her chin on her crossed arms over her knees.

“So you didn’t need to use my phone?” he asked.

Her blush deepened.

“I thought so,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her in playful annoyance.

“I only wanted to meet you,” she said. “Madame said she liked your voice. We drove in to take a peek at you. I liked what I peeked. And I think you liked peeking at me, too.”

“What gave you that idea?” he demanded.

“You offered to circumcise yourself with a Swiss Army knife for me. But I bet you say that to all the girls.”

Kingsley slid his hand along the window seat toward her. He crooked his finger and Colette slowly lowered her hand to his and let him touch her.

“You’re nervous,” he said, feeling her fingers shake.

“A little.”

“What about Georges?” he asked. “Is he nervous?”

She thrust out her chin to display her beauty mark which she’d tried to convince him was a tick. “He’s fine,” Colette said. “He’s very experienced.”

“My kind of man,” Kingsley said. “I should kiss him in congratulations.”

“He’d like that.”

Kingsley leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss onto her chin. When that went well, he moved his lips to her lips. He could tell she was nervous from the dryness of her mouth when he kissed her, but soon she warmed to him. She lowered her legs so she could push closer to him, and when he put his arm around her lower back she murmured a little sound of pleasure.

“You like that?” he asked, pausing between kisses.

“I was wondering what your arms would feel like on me,” she said. “It’s better than I thought.”

“What else were you wondering?” he said. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Madame turning down the covers on the bed and smoothing the sheets.

“A few things,” she said.

“Such as?”

“Why are you so handsome?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Trick question, right? If I answer that, I’m admitting I’m handsome.”

“Not a trick question.”

“Oh, then the answer is I’m handsome because you think I’m handsome and yours is the only opinion that matters. What else were you wondering?”

“Have you ever been with a virgin?”

“A few.”

“How many?”

“Let’s just say I made a lot of big brothers very very angry at me during high school. I’m lucky to be alive.”

She laughed.

“I’m not kidding. One of the big brothers tried to stab me. I seduced so many girls my grandparents shipped me off to an all-boys school to save my life.”

“How terrible,” she said, grinning.

“Not really. I found a boy to sleep with there.”

Colette’s laugh was so light and airy it floated to the sky, parted the clouds and the room filled with moonlight.

“What else were you wondering?” he asked when her laughter faded.

“I was wondering,” she said, her voice soft and tender, “what you would feel like inside me.”

Kingsley slowly nodded. “A good thing to wonder,” he said. “I wondered that, too. Should we find out?”

She grinned again and nodded. “Let’s.”

Kingsley stood up first and before she could stand he gently lifted her off the window bench and carried her to the bed.

He lay her back against a pile of gold and red pillows.

“I’ll go anytime you tell me, Colette,” Madame said as she took a seat in a red velvet wing chair near the bed.

“Can she stay?” Colette asked Kingsley.

“Of course. Anything you want.” He stroked her face, her burning red cheek. She was alive to his touch, excited and beaming and breathless. A very good combination. He wanted her to enjoy this, wanted her to be ready and not only ready but desperate for him.

“I’m going to give you a magic number,” he said to her. “That number is five.”

He held up his hand, all five fingers.

“Five? That’s the magic number?” she asked. “Why?”

“Because let’s say you’re at one right now,” he said and held up only one finger. “I’m not going to make love to you until you’re at a five. We’ll start at number one and when you tell me ‘five,’ then I’ll be inside you. Not on one. Not on two. Not on three. Not on four. Only on five. Understand?”

“I understand,” she said. “But.”

“But what?”

“I think I’m already on three.”

Kingsley turned to Madame who was sitting with her legs crossed in the chair, placid as a woman watching the evening news.

“I’m never leaving here,” Kingsley said. “And you can’t make me.”

“Be good and we might let you stay,” Madame said. She waved her hand, indicating he needed to give Colette his full attention. He was more than happy to obey that order.

“Don’t move,” he told Colette as he stood up again.

“Ever?” she asked.

“For the next ten seconds.”

She leaned back into the pillows and watched him as he shed his tuxedo jacket, pulled off the bow tie, and opened the collar.

“Much better,” she said when he sat next to her on the bed again. “I’m not sure how to undo a bowtie, but I do know how to do this.”

Colette lifted her delicate hands to his shirt and undid a single button. Then the button beneath it. She slipped her hands under the fabric and touched his upper chest, his collarbone and neck. He reveled in the curiosity of her fingers. Her touch sent shivers dancing over his skin. She slipped one hand into his hair and stroked it and he turned his head and his lips met the satiny skin of her wrist. He covered her hand with his own and licked and nibbled at her wrist until he heard her gasp.

“What was that?” he said, smiling at her.

“I said ‘five.’ ”

“I think you’re skipping ahead a few numbers.”

“Tell that to my body,” she said.

Kingsley slid both arms around her back, lifted her and laid her down flat onto the bed. He buried his head between her tender young breasts and loudly said, “You’re skipping ahead a few numbers.”

Her laughter reverberated through her and under him. And while her laugh was lovely and vibrant, what he wanted to hear from her was more gasping, more moaning. He untied the gold ribbon at the bodice of her gown and pulled the fabric loose, baring her breasts to him.

Abruptly she stopped laughing.

Her nipples were a warm dusky red like her lips and just as kissable. His cock, already hard, stiffened further at the sight of them. He licked the left one as he stroked the right softly with the pad of his thumb. Licked and stroked, stroked and sucked. Colette panted as he kissed and fondled her nipples, even digging her hand into his hair again to hold his head against her chest. No need for that. He had no intention of stopping anytime soon. He drew a nipple into his mouth, teasing it very gently with his teeth before kneading the now stiff tip over and over again with his tongue. With his hand he massaged her other breast, holding it and molding it to his palm. Her nipples were very hard and the flesh of her chest flushed scarlet. The urge to take his cock out of his trousers, mount her and pound her was growing stronger. He ignored the fantasy. They would get there soon enough, especially if she kept breathing like that, moaning like that…

His hand didn’t leave her breast but his lips traveled up to her long neck to nibble on her earlobe.

“Are you wet?” he asked her, a question for her ears only.

“I think so. But maybe you should check to be sure,” she said.

With his mouth still on her neck, he reached down and gathered the fabric of her gown in his hands, slowly dragging it over her knees and up her thighs and to her lower stomach. He touched that first, and felt it quiver under the flat of his hand. His thumb traced a circle around her navel and even dipped inside to make her tense and smile again. He moved his hand along her leg and lifted it over his hip to open her up for him. He caught her mouth in another kiss and when she breathed against his lips he lowered his hand and cupped her. She was hot against his palm, her desire incandescent. He slid one finger along the seam of her vulva and found it damp. He slid it along the seam again, a little deeper this time and found her wetness waiting for him. Her labia were slick and she offered no resistance at all when he slid his finger into her body.

Their mouths were still joined when he penetrated her so he could taste her gasping with his tongue. She was burning hot inside and wet enough he probably could have entered her that second without hurting her.

He broke the kiss and smiled into her shining eyes.

“Now what’s the number?” he asked.

Between breaths Colette spoke a number.

“Six.”