Page 28 of A Taste for the Peculiar

A wicked smile branches across Cascade’s face. “But if you win, I will teach you what it’s like — what it should be like — on your first night. I will show you how a lover takes you to bed. I will relish you the way a husband should.” Cascade rests her chin in her hand, eyes sparking. “Does that sound agreeable?”

Avirin’s thighs clamp together before she manages to nod.

Cascade begins discarding and drawing swiftly. “What word would you like to use for safety? One you can speak if you wish for me to stop. If you feel uncomfortable or uncertain.”

Avirin tries to follow the game, but she can hardly keep up with the question, let alone the cards. “— ‘Honey.’ That is the word we use.”

Cascade cuts her eyes toward Lord Riften. He merely smiles. “It was Lady Avirin’s suggestion.”

Cascade hums doubtfully, and in the silence that follows, Avirin realizes it’s her turn. She plays an unimpressive hand.

Cascade moves fluidly through her turn. “There is more to what you’ve asked than mere rutting.” Cascade flips over one of her cards and hones her gaze on Avirin. “It is not one simple act. It requires buildup. Momentum. Escalation.”

Such scientific words feel suddenly sensual. Lord Riften’s fingers begin to move against the back of Avirin’s neck, drawing sultry patterns from her hairline down to the back of her dress.

“It’s your turn, Avirin,” Cascade states.

Avirin jolts out of her reverie, nearly dropping her cards on the floor. She hurries to play her hand, but once she does, she realizes she’s discarded two wildcards.

Cascade fights a smile and snatches them up. “Your husband should prepare you well for your first night together. Or at least, he should have someone do it for him.”

Lord Riften’s fingers wander the neckline of Avirin’s dress, slowing near the front where her breasts perch above the fabric. Gooseflesh rises on Avirin’s skin, but the fingers continue downward, teasing the embellishments of her bodice. Those fingers curl into Avirin’s dress, guiding it upward until it bunches around her waist.

Avirin holds her breath for fear of what noise might escape. Though she’s facing a wall and no one else can see, she is exposed in this room full of people. That knowledge is enough to make the coil inside her wind tighter.

Lord Riften’s mouth finds its way to her ear. “Would you like to use your word?” Their fingers trace Avirin’s inner thigh.

Vehemently, she shakes her head.

Cascade smirks. She takes her time aligning her cards into a singular pile before she sets it aside and folds her hands on the table. “I bet you’re ravishing down there, all soft and sweet. Am I correct, Pye?”

Lord Riften lowers the pad of one finger to the bud between Avirin’s legs.

Avirin whines in the back of her throat, and Cascade hums like the sound itself is delicious. “What do you think? Should I take a look?”

Lord Riften circles Avirin slowly.

A moan catches in her teeth, her lip trembling as she grips the side of the table.

With one finger, Cascade drags one of her cards to the edge and flicks it off. It drifts to the floor and lands so silently that Avirin couldn’t hope to hear it over her racing heart.

Then Cascade bends at the waist, turning her head to peer beneath the table.

All the while, Lord Riften keeps working, making Avirin whine when he nudges her legs open. They part with a slick sound the same time Cascade gasps, “Gods, look at you.”

Cascade lingers beneath the table to watch, and Lord Riften slows his pace, taunting and tormenting Avirin. They give her only a hint of what she needs, using Avirin as a prop to push Cascade toward breaking.

That thought makes Avirin quiver. She can’t hold onto her cards any longer, biting back a groan when they slip out of her hands.

“Are you folding?” Lord Riften teases.

“Already?” Cascade sits upright again, her features positively smug. “No matter. I know exactly what I’ll take for my prize.”

FOURTEEN

Avirin

Cascade doesn’t bother looking at her cards anymore. She keeps them aligned in a singular stack, tracing the decorative shapes engraved on the back, following the bend of an oval until she reaches another overlapping the top. That’s where she focuses her attention, circling the pads of two fingers at the very center.