Chapter 28

Over the next few days they slowly returned to their newfound intimacy and both of them were careful not to bring up the subject of Claude's marriage as not to jeopardize the fragile peace between them.

Aside from that also Stephane's relationship with Rafael improved day by day. The years that separated the brothers and Rafael's travels abroad had made them drift apart. But now Stephane realized that they had more than just the same genetic makeup in common.

What set him into a state of both amusement and alarm was the growing reverence the younger man seemed to have developed for Catherine.
Nowadays his brother's gaze always clung to his wife as soon as she entered a room and it only became unfastened when she left.
He decided to keep an eye on Rafael when dealing with Catherine. Other, much bigger men had already fallen for the charm of the Queen Mother. But she was now a married woman and he was not willing to share what was his alone.

To his delight she reacted receptive to his skills as a lover and equally adventurous and Stephane loved every single second he could spend with his glorious Catherine in a horizontal limbo.
He also enjoyed the times afterwards, when she lay next to him, above him or below him - totally satisfied and still captured in the afterglow of their lovemaking. When he listened to the rapid beating of her heart he felt wholeheartedly happy.

This evening Catherine lay exhausted and naked on her stomach in the center of their bed, her head was resting on her arms she had folded in front of her. She could still feel his phantom touch that had given her the greatest pleasure only a few minutes ago.
Stephane had risen and she heard him behind her, but she was way too lazy to turn around to see what he was doing.
"If only I could keep my hands off of you long enough, I would paint you. In your birthday suit, only wearing that satisfied, sexy little smile so that anyone who looks at the painting would know that its painter loved this heavenly creature mere minutes before."
The mattress gave way when her husband settled next to her and handed her a goblet of wine. Catherine straightened up a bit and took a sip before she looked over her shoulder at her husband in amusement.
"Will you never get tired of flattering me? Even though you already got what you wanted? Twice, if I remember correctly."
"So flattery will get me everywhere nowadays?"

Still laughing, Stephane lay himself down so that his head came to rest on her lower back. He just had to turn it to put a kiss on the gentle swell of her buttcheeks.
"I never get tired of loving you, complimenting you or just admiring your splendiferous ass," he announced and tenderly slapped her bottom with his flat hand only to kiss it better the fraction of a second later.
"You're crazy," she laughed.
"Yeah, crazy about you and that ass!" His answer didn't come as a surprise, but his fingers that slide between her buttocks and started to gently stroke the intimate area between her legs.
"Again?" Catherine asked and moaned. When she tried to turn around, Stephane held her down and knelt over her instead.
"Stay that way, ma Belle."

His fingers stroked her teasingly, sliding back and forth between her slightly spread thighs and butt cheeks until she nearly came undone with desire once again.
No man had ever displayed such finesse as Stephane Narcisse did when it came to amorous play. She didn't want to know exactly where he had learned or rather who had taught him all these things.
Catherine groaned with pleasure when he slid first one, then two fingers inside her heated body. Then all of a sudden she felt a third finger gently probing the entrance of her ass and a startled sound escaped her throat whereupon the pressure disappeared immediately. Stephane breathed a feathery kiss on the base of her neck.
"Trust me," he murmured, circling her sphincter again without penetrating her. "We're not doing anything you're not comfortable with," he assured her, accelerating the effort of his other fingers that were still sliding in and out of her body, stimulating her inner walls at the same time.
Her body that had involuntarily tensed up at the forbidden practice Stephane had initiated relaxed again and soon a new groan escaped her lips.

She felt her husband change his position above her and a second later his fingers were replaced by his talented tongue. He nibbled and licked at her most intimate parts until a well-known tingling sensation started to spread through her lower body – starting at her hyper sensitive clitoris and slowly spreading through her whole body.
When she began to twitch with ecstasy, Catherine once again felt one of his fingers at her butt hole, lazily circling the tight muscle. And then he penetrated her. This strange yet intense feeling of immense fullness - forbidden and sinful at the same time - drove her over the edge until her body was twitching and buckling up under his expert hands and diabolically good tongue.

Stephane was still sucking on her madly throbbing clit what made her flinch again and again. Only when her trembling body came down to earth after what felt like an eternity did he pull his finger out of her rear entrance and embraced her quivering body with a gentle hug.

Catherine needed a moment to collect her senses.
"Did you like that, ma Belle?", he asked her. She took a scrutinizing look at his crotch and his impressive erection that jerked at her attention.
"Well husband, you quite obviously liked it at any rate," she said, still unsure about how to respond to what she had just experienced. Stephane had crossed a boundary that offended common decency.
"I like everything about you," he shoot back, clearly unperturbed by the fact that he had practiced a morally reprehensible act with her. "Don't beat yourself up, Catherine. There's nothing objectionable about anything two consensual lovers may enjoy doing. Everything is allowed that gives both of us pleasure, ma Belle. We do not have to be led astray by wrong morality."
His hands wandered back to her buttocks and he lovingly stroked her warm flesh.

"Well, clearly you are no stranger to this... practice." she said, trying to get to the bottom of this strange situation.
"No I am not, ma Belle. And I've been told that with the right preparation and great care it can be a mindblowing experience for both."
Catherine freed herself from his embrace and stood up. She urgently needed to get some distance between them and this very idea. She discovered her dressing gown on one of the armchairs and tied it protectively around her naked body. Stephane who seemed unaware of her discomfort, straightened up on the bed and studied her attentively.
"You might want to give this some serious thought? Or you can tell me right away that this is totally out of the question, that's also fine for me. I do not want to persuade or force you to do anything you're not willing to do."

Catherine took everything that recently happend between them into consideration. Her husband was a passionate, very giving lover. He liked to experiment and she was sure that this abnormal practice would give him some kind of special pleasure, otherwise he would not have initiated it. Maybe this also explained his obsession for her derriere he favored to caress and pat.

The thought of actually practicing such an act made her shudder. Which woman who was not a prostitute would voluntarily allow herself to be sodomized? The finger that he had put in there, though it had caused no pain, had felt foreign and uncomfortable at the beginning. And it had only been one single finger. The prospect of how his erect penis would feel down there made Catherine swallow hard.
She closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself and to work up the courage for her next words. When she looked up again, Catherine turned to her husband and spoke in an emotionless voice: "Okay, I'll let you do it, Stephane."

At her words, Stephane rose and approached her with an unreadable expression. But she stopped his approach with a single gesture of her hand.
"Under one condition. Claude marries Leith."
His anger, now written all over his face, strained her already tense nerves and she deliberately took a deep breath.
"What the hell does that mean, Catherine?!", her husband snapped, prompting her to get up as well.

"I'm offering you anal sex. That you of all people have to ask." She decided to feign ignorance.
"Please do not insult my intelligence. I do recognize when a woman offers me sexual favors like a common whore, Catherine!" He shouted at her with rage, whereupon Catherine slapped him without further ado.
"How dare you compare me to a whore?" Her voice was cracking with anger.
"Maybe because you're willing to prostitute yourself?" Narcisse tore his shirt off the floor and slipped it over his head and put his leather pants on.

"I simply ask you a favor and in return I am prepared to fulfill one of your sexual fantasies. That's what they call a compromise! That's what men agree upon at their negotiating table - day-to-day. Quid pro quo."
"Come on, this is ridiculous! Since when is a marital bed a negotiating table? God, the very thought that you offer me to accede to something you find disgusting in exchange for my approval for this marriage makes me sick!"
"That's not true, I...", Stephane didn't let her finish but grabbed her arms and pressed her ungently against the wall.
"Don't you dare lying to me. I was watching you, Catherine. Your facial expression spoke volumes. Do you have so little self-respect that you have to determine your own body as means of payment?"

Just as suddenly as he had grabbed her, he released her once again and turned his back to his wife, not only frustrated but mostly disappointed. "It's just like with this Christophe guy, isn't it? Do I even want to know what gross things you did allow him to do to you?"
"Stephane, you are overreacting."
"Save your breath. I can not stand this anymore. Don't wait for me tonight."

Before she could even react, Stephane was already out of the door. Completly perplexed by this evening's occurrence Catherine stared at the closed door. She just couldn't understand why he caused such a stir because of a suggestion she'd made.
In the long run she trusted him. Would she make such an outrageous offer to him otherwise? And didn't life in general and their difficult relationship in particular consist of supply and demand? Give and take and an ongoing battle for dominance and power?

Stephane mastered this game just as good as she did. He did not shy away from blackmail, intrigue or corruption. Not even murder. And now he had the nerve to reproach her because she offered the only remedy most women solely had for pledge - her body?
"You and your damn double standards!" She yelled after him and reached for the first object she could grasp. With pent-up rage she flung the wine carafe against the wall.

I'm a little bit scared of what you might think of this chapter. Well, I love drama and I love it when they are fighting with each other, well, and I love smut - so I couldn't help myself.
I hope I didn't chose something too drastic or too OOC but I needed him to realize that they are not on the same level in their relationship.

I sometimes feel like constantly repeating myself: Many many thanks for your reviews! You are the best. Honestly, this keeps me going.