Elegant Sins - Stasia Black Page 0,34

but gentle and considerate at the same time. He could’ve just done a quick couple thrusts and cum to satisfy the Elders, but he’d readied me and brought me with him until I was a quivering, shuddering ball of need beneath him.

“Hi,” I’d ventured quietly.

I wasn’t sure what I expected, but it was more than his curt, “Get dressed. We’ll be late for breakfast if you don’t hurry.”

That was it. Two sentences from the man who had known my body so intimately last night.

I scurried into action, though. Everything was a test, right? I didn’t want to fail on my first day.

So, I quickly showered and got ready. By the time I came out of the bathroom in my towel, a day dress was laid out on the bed for me, along with fresh underthings. I grabbed them and scurried back into the bathroom to change.

When I came back out, Montgomery had the paper folded underneath his elbow. He held out his opposite arm to me. “Shall we?”

It was such a gentlemanly gesture, but there was something off about his voice. He was being weirdly distant, and I didn’t understand why. Had I done something wrong? I couldn’t imagine what it could have been.

Still, I decided to just go with the flow. I took his arm, and he led me down the long hallway, down the grand staircase, to a room with a table that had to be over fifteen feet long. He deposited me at one end and then went all the way to the opposite end where he sat now.

I had to squint to make out his facial features, we were seated so far apart, and that was only if I ducked to look around the enormous flower arrangements set up as a centerpiece in the middle of the table. Not to mention the fact that as soon as he got settled in, he shook out the paper and lifted it in front of his face like a shield between us.

I could only stare at my surroundings.

The dining room was something out of a magazine. The dark mahogany table was waxed and shined to perfection even though it had to be almost as old as the house. Luxurious valances covered the tops of the windows, but the heavier curtains were tied off at the sides, revealing a lighter white curtain that let in more light and billowed in the mid-morning wind.

I appreciated the fresh air and tried to draw as much of it into my lungs as possible, at the same time I dug my toes into the sumptuous rug below. Stay calm and collected. Last night wasn’t so bad. Parts of it had even been… unexpectedly very nice. My cheeks blushed hot remembering shuddering in Montgomery’s arms as I came.

Montgomery acted like he sat among this sort of opulence every morning. Maybe he did. Maybe this was an ordinary Saturday morning for him.

My breakfast usually consisted of grabbing a Pop-Tart on my way out the door because I was running late for my 7 a.m. shift at the diner. We didn’t bother having a dining room table in our trailer because space was tight, and we always ate on the couch while watching TV anyway. Yep, we were that classy.

Ten minutes later, Mrs. Hawthorne was coming in with our food.

I stared down at the halved grapefruit and eggs in tiny little cups the exact size and shape to hold them. But they still had their shells, so how exactly were you supposed to eat the eggs?

I watched on in fascination as Montgomery picked up one of the several spoons laid out beside his napkin. He tapped the egg, then expertly peeled off the top and began to eat the soft-boiled egg within.

But when I tried to repeat the action, all I managed to do was make a web-like fracture in the egg’s shell. I tried again and the whole side of the egg smooshed in. I immediately set the spoon down and pushed the little egg out of the way.

Grapefruit, that I knew how to eat.

Except that I hated grapefruit. It was too sour.

Montgomery grabbed a second spoon and ate the fruit elegantly out of its rind.

Maybe I should give grapefruit a second chance. It might be sweeter than I remembered. I valiantly speared some with my spoon, but apparently I did so too vigorously, because juice squirted all over the front of my dress. I couldn’t help my little yelp of surprise, which finally made Montgomery