The Clever Fox: Part Three (The Pleasure Hound Series) Read Free

by one.
    The Awakening sequence, that began with the Goddess on the red earth.
    The Birth of the Sun, which captured the first time Alyss sat for him.
    The Lotus, with his muse still bound inside the cocoon of her petals.
    The Worship, which captured man bowing before Her core.
    And finally, the Butterfly, where his muse awakened and freed herself from the casings that had bound her her whole life.
    “These are simply breathtaking,” the patroness, Lady Jayne, said as she entered the room. “Did you have a model for this?”
    Adom had to clear his throat of the truth. “It's from my imagination.”
    “You have a very vivid mind, Adom.” Lady Jayne’s finger grazed his shoulder.
    Adom stepped to the side beyond her reach. “I’m glad they are to your liking, my lady.”
    “It's simply astonishing that a man could make up something like this?” She indicated the Worship painting.
    In the painting, a woman with skin the color of almonds stood before a man. Her long black hair cascaded in waves down her shoulders. The man’s face was unseen, only the dark curls at the back of his head were visible as the rest disappeared into the earth. Their torsos blended into one, disappearing into the earth as though they sank into its depths or rose from it. The carnal aspects of oral sex were hidden to common eyes, but they were clear to Adom.
    This was the world Adom wanted to live in. A world where a woman opened himself to a man, allowing him to please her, trusting him to take her higher, both of them spreading joy to the earth, making it fertile.
    He hadn’t made it up -the crinkle in Alyss’ eyes. The shape of the O of her mouth as she cried out. The tension in her legs as her orgasm took her. He hadn’t imagined Emet gripping her thighs. That glint of possession in his eyes. The hunger that glistened from his tongue.
    “And then there’s this one.” Lady Jayne indicated the final picture in the line up.
    “It’s a last minute addition,” said Adom. “I know her breasts are apparent, but it's not pornographic. It’s a young woman becoming free, expressing herself and spreading joy into the world.” Women were allowed to paint themselves half nude or fully nude. But when the brush was in a man’s hands it was called lude.
    “I don’t think its pornographic, Adom. In fact, I want one done of myself.”  
    Adom looked around the room, but Geoffri was no longer present. He and Lady Jayne were alone, and she was advancing in words and distance.
    “We could get started now while Geoffri hangs your work. I keep a bedroom upstairs for when I work late hours. It looks as though this portrait will take many hours into the night.”
    “My lady, though I am flattered by your attentions, only my art is for sale and not anything else.”
    “You have principals. I understand.” She looked at the butterfly painting again. “It's just I can’t help but notice this young woman looks so very familiar. She reminds me of Lady Angyla’s daughter. What’s her name?”
    Adom stood by, mute.
    “Oh yes, Alyss that’s it. Though it couldn’t be Lady Alyss. She’s an unbonded female and the daughter of one of the most powerful women in the city. She would never sit for such an erotic painting.”
    She let the words trail off, suggestively. If only she knew what he and Lady Alyss had done together, it would likely make this old cougar blush.
    “This work is from my own imagination.” It wasn’t a lie. It was how he’d seen Alyss the moment he bound her hands and hooked her up onto his rig.
    Lady Jayne squinted. “But it looks so unlike most of your other work. Look at these lines, and this color palette. It's as though an entirely different artist painted this.”
    Lady Jayne’s smile widened to flash shark, white teeth. Beads of sweat pooled at the base of Adom’s neck. What had he been thinking bringing this painting here? He’d wanted to give Alyss a chance to have her work admired by others, to set them both free