“Shall I don a different mask tonight, Captain? Or are you ready to retire on your own?” I smirk as I stand, the rum making my limbs feel loose and my tongue bold.
Lennox pushes up from the table to offer his arm as we walk to the doors. “I can think of many things I would like to do tonight, none of which are solitary deeds,” he breathes to me as we walk arm in arm into the night air.
Chapter 25
The breeze from the ocean is refreshing, but my dress and shift cling to my flesh with sticky sweat as we walk to the boarding house — I can tell it is never truly cool on Delosia. Head muzzy, and body tingly and warm from the punch, I lean into the Captain like we are lovers out for a romantic stroll. If only our story was that simple.
No one pays us much attention when we enter the boarding house; trysts are happening in the darkened corners, and sailors gamble and drink around the evenly spaced tables in the open courtyard, but eyes don’t linger on me like I am used to. It’s a welcome change. My entire life has been observed in some manner, and the freedom of anonymity is as sweet as the smell of the flowers climbing the walls of the building.
I trip on the stairs as we ascend, and stifle a giggle as Lennox keeps me on my feet. My gaze meets his momentarily, and he is smiling like a fool, surely reflecting my own gleeful expression.
“Well, Captain. Thank you for escorting me to my room,” I tease, holding out my hand to him, looking up through my lashes once we reach my door.
“It was my honor, Mistress.” He kisses my knuckles and his hot breath sends a shiver straight to my core.
“Goodnight, Captain.” With a small curtsey, I enter my room, glancing over my shoulder once before I close the door behind me.
Before the tumbler on my door fully locks in place, the adjoining door swings wide, and his mouth descends on mine. The banter outside our rooms has only inflamed his senses, and he runs his hands down my back, pressing me closer to him as he claims my mouth. Body loose from the punch and mind adrift after my earlier panic, I cling to him as if he is a lifeboat while I’m drowning in the open sea. I gasp as he kisses down my throat, his warm hand holding my hair back to bare my neck to him. If I only have him for a few more days, then I want to savor our time together.
“I want you, my pretty priestess,” he breathes against my neck in between kisses.
“I’m yours,” I reply breathlessly. “Take me.”
Our kisses turn urgent, and I run my tongue along his lower lip before sucking it into my mouth. At my response, he lifts me and carries me to my bed of sunlight and sand, laying me amongst the fresh, creamy linens.
“So fucking beautiful,” he murmurs, looking down at me where I recline against the pillows. He pulls off my boots one at a time, then kisses my calf gently. His own boots are kicked off, and he lays his cutlass on the table with a metallic clang. I giggle at the noise, evidence of his slight drunkenness.
The moment he returns to the bedside, he pushes my skirts up and kneels between my legs. My fingers lace behind his neck, pulling him back to kiss me again, and he is happy to oblige. Our tongues dance while I grip his hair, holding him close to me. His weight presses against me on the bed as we kiss and caress, like lovers with all the time in the world together.
Slowly, mercilessly, he trails kisses down my neck and across the tops of my breasts where they rise above the neckline of my bodice. Unhooking the clasps down the front, he bares the sheer shift I wear beneath the floral dress, continuing his kissing through the thin fabric over my breasts, teasing each nipple before slowly moving down my stomach. I shrug out of the dress quickly, and he pulls it out from under my hips, tossing it to the floor so only my shift remains between us.
My nipples harden, and his grin is lascivious at their rosy peaks. Skin tingling under his touch, he runs his rough hands up my thighs and hips, pushing the fabric of my shift up to my waist, kissing my thighs, slowly alternating between hot breathy kisses and dragging his slick tongue on my fevered skin. I part my legs for him, and he kisses up to the apex of my thighs before sliding his hot tongue between them, tasting me and sucking at the bundle of nerves between my legs in turn. Without a thought, I bite my lip to keep from crying out at his touch while he glides his tongue inside of me before replacing it with his fingers. Rocking my hips against his mouth, I feel my climax approaching.
Before I can stop myself, I cry out at the pleasure when I come, “Oh, fuck!” Lennox pops his head up quickly, and I can’t help but release a breathy laugh at his expression.
“Was I not supposed to come so loudly that all the men here know I’m yours, too?” I ask smartly, blushing at the thought of the men downstairs gambling.
He laughs deeply before sliding back up my body for a kiss, pressing his cock against me, and rubbing it against my sensitive mound.
“I’ll never mind hearing you scream for me, my pretty priestess,” he whispers.
I groan in response, meeting his hips with my own in my desire. Feeling greedy to have him inside me, I hastily pull his shirt from his pants and over his head, then reach for his waistband in desperation. He helps pull them down and settles back over me, teasing my entrance with his hardness, sliding in the wetness he finds there.
Raising up on his knees momentarily, Lennox looks at me with a mischievous smirk. “I hope you have an extra shift.”
Before I have a moment to process his statement, he rips the cotton down the front, exposing my nakedness. I gasp at the vicious action, but find myself even more desirous of him and arch myself to glide him against me again. Lennox flashes me a grin as he leans down to run his teeth across one of my rosy nipples, and I moan with the pleasure it sends through my body. It feels like lightning is streaking through me directly to my core.
“Fucking take me, Billy,” I snarl in his ear, reaching for him.
My hands never make it to his face though; he captures my wrists in one hand, pinning them over me. I buck half-heartedly, biting my lip and writhing my body under him as he holds me firmly. His cock slides against me until I can barely think straight, never releasing my arms, before plunging into me in one stroke. I arch to meet him, gasping at the feel of him, and our mouths are hot against one another, nipping and claiming each other as he thrusts deep into me. My legs wrap around his hips, trying to pull him deeper with each thrust.
Maybe it is the knowledge that we will part soon, or the rum punch releasing my inhibitions, or the sheer weight of the emotions he brings out in me, but I have never wanted to be closer to another human, and I come again hard as he increases the speed of his movements. Waves of pleasure wrack my body, and Lennox follows me over the edge shortly, releasing my wrists, caressing my face with his hands, and nuzzling at my neck.
My arms fold around his neck, holding him against me as we pant in the afterglow. Tonight, we are merely lovers enjoying one another; my other worries sink into the fading blur from the rum and orgasms, and I hold him without hesitation.
* * *
Thin streams of sunlight wash over the room when I wake, and I’m surprised to find Lennox’s sleeping form next to me in my bed. The door between our rooms still stands wide open from last night, our clothing strewn across the floor including my ruined shift. He stayed. A little kernel of sunlight gleams within my heart, and for the first time in a very long time, I allow it to kindle as I lay on my side curled up, watching him.