Читать книгу: «Thrill Seekers: Erotic Encounters»

Under the Big Top
Kathleen Tudor

‘He’s still watching you,’ Kris’ best friend whispered. They both giggled, a little loosened up by the wine they’d been drinking and the unusually lively atmosphere of the bar.

‘He’s cute,’ Kris whispered back. The guy in question had been sitting across the bar watching her for about ten minutes, and grinning at her every time she glanced his way. Melanie had tried winking at him, but he’d only smiled politely at her and moved his eyes back to Kris.

‘You should go talk to him.’

‘No way! I can’t just walk up to some random guy!’ But when Kris tried to sneak another peek at him, the cute guy was gone and a serious-looking couple was taking the table he’d been sitting at. ‘Damn, he left,’ she said, surprised at how disappointed she felt to be potentially missing out.

Melanie giggled and then slipped from her stool, something about the bathroom coming out mangled by her mirth. And as she vanished into the crowd, Kris’ mysterious stranger dropped onto the vacated seat and toasted her with his glass.

Kris moved automatically to touch the rim of her wineglass to his, inhaling the scent of whiskey as she used the gesture as an excuse to lean closer. ‘Fancy seeing you here,’ she said, a flush of pleasure rising in her.

‘I’m Daniel,’ he said. ‘You from around here?’

‘Yeah. You’re not?’ She withheld her name on purpose, a tease for making her wait so long before he approached. Daniel … she liked strong names.

‘I’m with the Candy Apple Circus. We’re in town until Tuesday.’ He drank off the rest of his whiskey and eyed her in an obvious challenge, or maybe he was just waiting for her to fawn.

‘I’m Kris,’ she said, shifting her posture to give him a better look at her breasts. ‘What do you do in the circus, Daniel?’

‘Strong man act,’ he said, and it was good that he was grinning, because otherwise she would have accused him of being a bad liar and walked away. ‘Or maybe I’m an animal tamer. Or the ringmaster himself …’

‘Or a clown?’ she teased.

‘Definitely not a clown. I think those guys work harder than anyone else,’ he said, and he surprised her with his sincerity when he said it.

Respect for the clowns, huh? She believed that he was with the circus, at least. No one else would have thought about that, although once he said it she could believe it. After all, they had to do all of the running around and jumping through the whole show, not just one act.

‘So not a clown, and not a strong man. Maybe you shovel elephant poop.’

‘No elephants,’ he said, laughter in his eyes. ‘We have horses, but I don’t shovel their shit, either. Does it matter what I do?’

She shrugged her shoulders and he sighed as if put upon.

‘All right then, I am an assistant tent master. That giant tent that has to go up and come down fast and perfect every time we move. I help make sure it happens. And that it doesn’t collapse the first time somebody hops up and down in the rigging. You can feel free to brush me off now that I’ve told you what a boring job I have.’ He made a comically exaggerated wounded face, and Kris couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Okay, so it’s not as exciting as trapeze guy …’

‘Trapeze guy! Why didn’t I think of that? I could be the Flying Daniel!’

She laughed again as he struck a silly pose. ‘It’s still pretty cool. You must get to see a lot of cool places.’

‘All over the states,’ he agreed. His fingers found hers on the bar, and she let him take her hand. ‘But the tent is home once you let it get under your skin. I could show you.’

She’d seen circuses before, but there was something about being able to see it when the tent was quiet and the lights were out that made her shiver with anticipation. She liked to see things behind the scenes, quiet, with the make-up off and the defences down. She’d been backstage at a television show, once, and the actors all out of character, with their make-up off and their hair a mess had been a revelation to her, and strangely exciting.

‘I want to see,’ she said, and stood with him, letting him pay for her wine along with his whiskey.

She hesitated for a minute when he led her to a beat-up looking truck in the parking lot, but his smile was sweet and disarming. ‘It doesn’t look like much, but it tows great,’ he said. She got in.

The approach to the tent was much as she expected, but the real excitement was driving through the gates off to the side and behind the tent. There, dozens of trailers and motor homes sat parked in neat rows, generators purring. He pulled into a dirt lot filled with cars and mostly trucks, and she was so stunned by the intimacy of the sight that he had time to come around the truck and gallantly open her door for her.

‘Are you going to get into trouble for this?’ she asked.

He shrugged and winked. ‘Not if I don’t get caught. Really, though, there are only a few people who would mind, and they’re all asleep at this hour. Come see.’

Kris tried to take in everything as he led her toward the huge tent. She was hungry for it all, and the sight settled in her belly like a glow of arousal, awakening other kinds of hunger. She took a breath outside the canvas, savouring the moment, then he lifted a flap of the tent and gestured her forward, and Kris stepped into every child’s dream.

The tent was nearly empty except for one man standing in the centre of the ring. She stepped forward with Daniel as the man levitated off the sawdust floor of the centre of the ring, and she realised that he was holding on to some sort of gymnastic rings. ‘Probably Jake,’ Daniel said, not bothering to lower his voice. Kris stepped forward to get a better view.

‘Probably?’

‘They’re a twin act, Jake and Josh. But Josh tends to spend his evenings in more carnal pursuits.’ ‘Probably Jake’ was contorting himself into some pretty impressive shapes, every muscle in his arms bulging as he suspended himself gracefully above the ring floor. He moved through the poses slowly and with control, and the surreal performance in the empty circus tent made Kris feel like she had stepped into a dream.

‘It’s amazing.’

‘I think they’re Family. You know, get born into the circus, trained to balance on the high wire as soon as you can walk, sort of thing.’ The act apparently ended, and ‘Probably Jake’ lowered himself gently to the ground and took a bow toward the centre of the ring, then toward the seats before straightening and turning to his impromptu audience.

‘I’m going to go out and find Josh before he gets himself into too much trouble again. Goodnight, Danny,’ he said. He turned and gave a bowing sort of greeting to Kris, then left through the same flap they’d come in.

Daniel put an arm around her waist and guided her to a small, protected cove beneath the risers. ‘This is where me and the crew stand to watch some nights. It’s got a great view of the action,’ he said, speaking low and right into her ear. The vibrations of his voice sent shivers down Kris’ spine, and she leaned into him.

‘Like your own secret clubhouse. Can I see the stage?’

‘The ring. Come on.’ He stepped forward and offered his hand, leading her out from under the risers and forward, over the raised ring that captured the performance area and into the centre of the ring itself. He let go of her and she moved around the ring slowly, taking in the amazing backdrop from behind which the performers would emerge, the lights and rigging above her, and the rows and rows of empty seats. They seemed focused on her, expectant, and she had a powerful urge to do something magnificent to fill them.

‘It’s amazing,’ she said. He sat on the raised platform that went almost all the way around and she went to him. That hot burn deep in her belly was growing hotter than she could stand, and she wanted to thank him properly for showing her something so marvellous.

Daniel pulled her close to him and swept his tongue over her lips, and she opened for him, allowing his kiss to pass deep inside her and tease at the fires in her belly. She could almost hear the echoes of cheering and applause, and instead of driving her to hide, it made her want to give all the more. She pressed forward, easing over him until Daniel was lying on his back on the two-foot-wide platform and she was lying over him, a smile curving her lips. His hands rested on her waist, and she kissed him again, letting her body press down into his.

‘This place is really incredible,’ she whispered to him. He smiled and stroked his hands up and down her sides.

‘And I get to build it from scratch all over again every time we move. How cool is my job, now?’

‘Very damn cool,’ she said with a laugh that surprised her. She caught his bottom lip between her teeth and bit down gently, and he moaned and pressed his hips up into hers, showing her the extent of his enjoyment of the moment. ‘So where would you bring someone backstage if you wanted to have sex with them?’ she asked into his ear.

He shuddered beneath her before he answered. ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do it backstage. Backstage is a royal mess, with make-up and costumes and props all over the place. Someone would probably end up with a juggling pin up their ass or something,’ he joked. ‘Most people would just go back to their trailer or a sleeper car or something and that would be that. But if I wanted to do it in the tent, I’d do it right here in the middle of the ring.’

She laughed lightly and nipped at his neck. ‘Would you?’

‘Oh, sure. The bigwigs who would be really pissed are all dead asleep this time of night, and it’s great in here. Sheltered. Clean.’ He tucked his hands behind his head and watched her.

‘What if someone walks in?’

‘What if they do? Trailers don’t exactly have soundproof walls. I think we’ve all pretty much heard everyone else going at it at one time or another, so no one’s really shy about sex around here. Unless you’re shy, of course.’

Kris rolled her eyes, but the desire welling up in her – inspired as much by this place as by the sexy and surprising man she found herself with – was impossible to ignore. She could insist they get into his truck and find someplace quiet to go neck, but …

She leaned forward and kissed him again, letting some of the heat inside her out to sear him, too. Then she stood up and wiggled out of her tight top, letting it and her bra drop into the ring. She leaned forward again, and he sat up halfway to meet her, his hands finding her breasts and caressing them gently, kneading and squeezing and leaving her wanting so much more. His mouth moved over her throat and she moaned and pressed into him.

He sat up and pulled her to him, and suddenly she was straddling his lap and his mouth joined his hands on her breasts. ‘Harder,’ she gasped, and he bit down hard enough on one nipple to make her want to come right then and there. She must have made a sound that he approved of, because he immediately moved over to bite down on her other nipple, too. She gasped as the pleasure washed over her, a hot coal bursting into flame and warming her whole body with pleasure. She gripped him tightly, pulling his head toward her body and fisting the back of his shirt with her other hand.

Then he tipped his head back and smiled at her, and the sweet boyishness of that expression made her kiss him on the forehead, the cheeks, the eyes, and finally on the lips. She let the tenderness and pleasure she felt spill out of her into that kiss, her tongue caressing and sweeping through his lips. She teased and tasted him, and let him to do the same to her, embracing the power of a mere kiss to both satisfy and enflame. He was gentle and patient, stoking her fires and using his hands to tease the naked flesh of her back and ribs.

‘I bet you take all the girls to kiss under the big top,’ she teased, and by the way he laughed, she’d caught him by surprise. She sucked his lip into her mouth and kissed him again before he was forced to reply, not really wanting to know if she were the first or the fiftieth woman he’d brought here. Tonight, the magic of the tent belonged to her, and she wrapped herself in it like a warm cloak.

Her fingers found the buttons to the front of his shirt, and she didn’t break the kiss as she started to unfasten them, letting the slow rhythm of the buttons be their own sort of tease. She let her fingers dance over his skin more than they strictly had to, took her time with each button, and teased a little in between, but soon she ran out of buttons to unfasten, and his shirt came down over his shoulders and away.

He was tanned and healthy, his muscles well cut and gorgeous under his shirt. It had also hid a tribal tattoo that went across one pec and partially up over his shoulder. She turned her head to examine it, letting his lips fall to her neck to continue their exploring there as she traced her fingers over the edges of the design.

‘This is beautiful,’ she said, surprised by the art.

‘I found my tribe when I came here,’ he said, placing kisses along her collarbone in-between his words. ‘These people are my family. We’re nomads, but we stick together, take care of each other. That’s rare nowadays.’

‘I can see the appeal,’ she said, leaning forward to let her tongue trace the path that her fingers had just taken. He moaned as her tongue traced the lines on his hot skin, and when she got to the top of his shoulder and bit down, his arms tightened around her and he gasped.

This time it was him moving over her as he pushed her gently back, lying her down on the narrow wooden platform. He kissed his way down her body and stopped at her pants, his hands on the clasp but his eyes on hers. She nodded and he unfastened them, pulling her pants and panties away and dropping them and her shoes off to one side. She expected him to shuck his own pants and climb on top of her, but he leaned forward instead, lying on his belly and greeting her sex with a hot lick.

She moaned softly as he tasted her, thrusting his tongue in deep and then licking softly at her pussy. He sucked one of her lips into his mouth and teased at it with his tongue before pulling away and giving the other side the same treatment. He followed the trail of her moans, repeating the things that pleased her and phasing out anything that didn’t get much of a reaction until she was half-crazy with arousal, her hips bucking up into his mouth against her will.

She turned her head and a moan caught in her throat as she caught the eye of one of the performing twins. He’d come in on the opposite side of the tent, perhaps, and was standing under the risers, half-hidden and unobtrusive, watching. She remembered how he’d left shortly after they had come in and wondered if he had known what was going to happen here tonight, or even if he and Daniel had planned it that way.

But then Daniel sucked her clit into his mouth and her mind went blank with white-hot pleasure. By the time she could think again, she had already realised that she didn’t care why the sexy twin was there or whether he saw her – it aroused her to know that he was watching. She arched up into Daniel’s mouth as he did something magical with her clit, then she turned to meet the twin’s eyes again and lifted her hands to her breasts, caressing her own body as he watched.

She held his hungry gaze for a long minute, but his eyes finally travelled down her body and she imagined that he was watching her lift and caress her breasts, pinch her nipples and tease her fingers over her skin, even as she moaned and writhed from the pleasure that Daniel was expertly giving her.

The twin – Jake? – shifted his stance, and she recognised something in the motion. He was unfastening his pants. Between the pleasure that Daniel was giving, the pleasure she was taking for herself, and this new rush of visual stimulation, Kris was overwhelmed. Her orgasm caught her by surprise, tearing through her in a rush that made her clamp her legs around Daniel’s head and bite her own wrist to keep from screaming.