The wine must have been sufficient to bring down her previous level of formality to a degree that had opened her to Jason’s accusations. The crew had gathered, in dribs and drabs, as the evening progressed. Finding a CD of Santana, she had let Gaspar show her how to improve her salsa technique. He was good, far better than her instructor back at home. The joviality had been contagious, and everyone relaxed. She had quite forgotten the hour and that Jason was due back. With regret, she wondered if she should have kept to their private deck, hidden from view.
Maria’s outspoken words enabled her natural rebellious spirit to resurface. The Mexican was right. Jason should be made to listen to her as his wife. As such, she was entitled to parity, an equal stage to converse upon. But how to make him be her husband and not her Master?
“I missed my husband, Maria,” she had told the Mexican before she wrote on the notepad. “I yearn for him with all my heart. He doesn’t trust me though, does he?”
Taking a breath, she had written one word. Sometimes, being both his wife and his submissive didn’t balance out. She had to choose which was more important to her. The decision had been easy. She had left the piece of paper on his pillow and quickly walked past the closed door to his office, running upstairs to the sundeck. The stars would keep her company.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him standing under the mast arch—he had come to her.
“I apologise,” he said across the open space. “I missed you terribly. Being alone in the house for two nights, I overreacted to what I saw down below. I forgot I had only provided you with the company of men, without a suitable chaperone.”
She waited. He knelt by her sun bed and took her hand.
“I trust you implicitly. I love you and would like my wife to be with me tonight.”
Gemma wiped back a tear of relief. “Oh, God, Jason. You don’t know what those words mean to me. I only wanted you ever. I need you.”
“I know, babe. Forgive me?” His eyes sparkled in the dim light.
“Yes, of course,” she answered immediately.
The embrace and passionate kisses ended when she found herself on top of him on the sun bed. He handed her the reins. Peeling off her dress, she unzipped his fly and released his erection. She undid the buttons of his shirt and ran her hands down his chest, over his sculptured muscles. She lowered herself onto him and leant back, making him penetrate her deeply to her core. He did nothing to aid her other than to hold her waist while she made love to him.
She knew her sexual strengths well, the pace of her undulating hips, the clenching of her internal muscles, and the angle of her body. They mutually stifled their cries with warm, open-mouthed kisses and, at the end, he held her tight against his chest. Breathless and satiated, they remained in place until the air was too cool for her to bear against her naked skin.
Gemma listened to his heartbeat. “You walk a fine tightrope with me, Jason. My mother contained me in my bedroom, my brother stalked me, and I’ve been held in captivity. Don’t let your control over me become irretrievably suffocating. I’m too fragile. I could have thrown myself off this deck into the sea if you hadn’t come to me this evening. I can’t breathe without you, and yet, sometimes, I struggle when you dominate me.”
“I will try not to suffocate you, Gemma. I know what you are saying. I came back tonight in the mind-set of work.
Expecting you to submit meekly. I forgot you would welcome me back as a wife, too.” He stroked her hair out of her face. “Let’s find somewhere more comfortable to make love.”
They did so on the bed, on and off for most of the night. Between pauses for sleep and moments of sweet-natured pillow talk, they made love as equals. Each took it in turn for the other to direct and lead. Simple, romantic lovemaking and deeply satisfying to the both of them.
Gemma drew back the blinds in the morning. Her husband remained fast asleep. She found he became youthful in his sleep, almost boyish and innocent. Long eyelashes curved down, straight nose, and high cheekbones. She was glad he had been her husband that night, but now she acknowledged he was more to her. She had missed two men over the last few days. One had returned, and she wished the other to make his presence felt.
As he stirred from his slumber, she knelt by his side of the bed and patiently, with head bowed, waited for her Master to wake.
Chapter 22. Dancing for Him
Day Thirteen
“Tell me about Ted.” Jason reclined in his leather chair, wearing cut-off jeans and his “Dare Me” sweatshirt, reclaimed from his wife’s clutches. She had confessed to sleeping in it during his absence.
Captain McKenzie grimaced, running a hand through his greying hair. He sat on one of the suede couches near the desk while Lubinsky stood by the door. The man’s straight-backed military mode reminded him of his own bodyguard back home—the stance he adopted when he had something incendiary to tell Jason.
“Ted is nothing more than a laddie,” said the captain. “Likeable and experienced at what he does. Fancies himself a lady’s man. We all knew this…his harmless banter, trying to impress the rest of the crew. Your wife took offence to his stupid boasting on Tuesday and refused to go on a boat with him. I, foolishly, saw it purely as loose-tongued, inappropriate behaviour on Ted’s part. My Navy background to blame for that. I should have taken the matter more seriously.”
“Go on.” Jason had not seen the captain twitch so much before.
“Enrique came and found me,” pitched in Lubinsky. “Late yesterday afternoon, after I had returned from your wife’s sightseeing tour of the city, he insisted I find Ted and keep him in his cabin until Enrique had spoken to the captain. The young man was with his boats. Very excited, full of himself. I don’t think he had any idea how much trouble he was going to be in. It was only when he was summoned to Captain McKenzie’s room that he became withdrawn.”
The captain continued. “Enrique had informed me that while your wife slept on the sundeck, under the canopy, Ted had, well, to be blunt, had a wank. Masturbated while she slept. Enrique saw him standing over his mess.”
Jason threw back his seat. “Lubinsky, get the boy now!”
Lubinsky stood still, tucking his hands behind his back. “He’s no longer on the boat.”
“Maria said—”