The Devil's Match (The Devil DeVere #4)(32)

“Kilif?”

“Your woman’s sheath. The control of which is another skill you must master.”

“What do you mean?”

“You must learn to relax the body and squeeze only the muscles inside the kilif. If you learn this command of your inner muscles, you will command both his pleasure...and your own. Use your fingers or use the phallus to practice this skill. The most expert of women can bring a man to completion simply by milking his kam?? with her kilif alone. Master this, and he will belong to you and no other.”

“You have done this?” Diana asked. With him?

“Never with Efendi,” Salime answered the unvoiced question.

The notion that DeVere exercised at least some discretion with his various consorts gave Diana some small satisfaction. She had known the wonder of his kam?? in her kilif, and she found the thought of doing so again uncontrollably arousing. While initially disgruntled about losing the wager, Diana now reasoned that there was no harm in enjoying the penalty—as long as she remained in control. Thus, she listened and watched raptly, resolved to master all of what Salime shared.

“When we go to the hammam, he will lie on the hot marble, and you will begin the massage with hands prepared with warm oil. You will knead, soothe, and rub, working slowly and deliberately from feet to neck and then back to the buttocks where you will linger with increasing intimacy.

“When he is thoroughly relaxed, he will turn over onto his back, and you will repeat the motions, rubbing the warm oil into his skin, advancing slowly toward the inner thighs and lower belly. Do this well and without touching the pleasure organ, and you will have him in a state of full arousal, heightened to an increased intensity as he anticipates your touch upon his kam??.

“You will firmly massage the bone above the kam?? and then attend to his testis, kneading gently, for some men are very sensitive while others enjoy firmer handling. Behind his testis, use smooth downward strokes toward the ‘sacred spot.’ Circle and probe gently with your fingers, for mastering this technique affords him pleasure and can also be used to forestall emission. Do you comprehend, Khanum?”

“Yes, I follow you,” Diana replied.

“To massage the kam??, place one hand just so.” Salime wrapped her fingers firmly around the base of the phallus. “Gently squeeze and pull upward, sliding completely off. Repeat with the other hand, squeezing and pulling. Slowly. Sliding completely off. Continue on, and after a time, change directions, sliding your hand downward. When his breathing quickens, change the technique again, taking the kam?? between both hands and rubbing it briskly back and forth, as if to start a fire.” She handed the object to Diana. “You do it.”

The artificial phallus was hard and smooth yet warm in her hands from Salime’s touch. Diana closed her eyes and imagined it was DeVere, an image that heated her insides, exciting a place that had been dormant far too long.

“When his excitation increases again, you must massage the head with the palm of your hand,” Salime instructed, demonstrating with a rotation of her wrist. Diana repeated the motion as if she were juicing a lemon. “The variation of these techniques will bring him closer and closer to bo?alma, but if you feel the hardening of the testis, you must forestall this event by either moving to the sacred spot or by squeezing and holding the tip of the kam??.

“If you hold back his bo?alma six times, his final emission will be powerful and his rapture intense and complete.” Salime regarded her steadily. “I can instruct you in the ways of pleasure, Khanum, but when the time comes, you must be prepared to do all as I teach you.”

“You do not waste your time, Salime.”

“Also understand that I do this not for you but only for Efendi, for his happiness.”

“I understand,” Diana said.

Salime regarded Diana with narrowed eyes. “We shall see. Come now.” She rose and led Diana into an adjacent dressing room littered with silk scarves and various articles of richly embroidered clothing. Sizing Diana up, she handed her a pair of diaphanous, Turkish trousers in violet with a matching silver-embroidered tunic, a type of girdle ornamented with bronze coins, and a pair of slippers with silver bells. “Put those on. You must learn to dance.”

After an hour of intense instruction that made every muscle in Diana’s body scream, Salime remarked, “You dance with the grace and agility of a gravid camel! You must practice and come back tomorrow. You have much to learn.”

“Of course,” Diana said with humility. The dance Salime had performed with its rhythmic hip gyrations and obscenely erotic undulations had amazed and mesmerized her. She could easily imagine the seductive power of such a dance and wanted desperately to master it.

Salime added several silk scarves and veils to the other garb piled in Diana’s arms. “You must wear these when I send for you if you wish to remain unknown. Be certain to fully cover your head and face.”

“Thank you, Salime.”

The woman answered with a snort.

Diana departed the brothel feeling somehow more alive, self-confident, and more aware of her feminine allure than she had ever been before.

***

The opportunity to ply her new skills came sooner than Diana expected.

“Those heathens have returned, my lady,” said Polly. She handed Diana a message that Salime awaited her outside in a hackney.