Privateer (The Five Kingdoms #1)

by Robin Roseau

  "You can enact the revenge you have planned," she said.

  "Oh, that is definitely happening."

  "Or you can help me out of my suit."

  "I'll be doing that, too, Rani," I told her.

  "No," she said. "You won't. You have to pick." She grinned at me but didn't resist when I caught her arm, pulling her towards me. We treaded water, staring at each other. Her eyes sparkled at me.

  "I could help you out of the suit then dunk you the way I planned," I said.

  "You could," she said. "And if you do, you will make me angry. What will it be, Sorri? My naked, willing body, or a good dunking?"

  I growled at her. She grinned as I began pealing the suit off of her. She squirmed helpfully and moments later, I held her suit in my hands.

  "You may go lay that out on the rocks," she said. "And bring the soap."

  Rani waited in the pool for me, treading water slowly. Her swimming was so much better than it had been; I was very proud of her. I laid her suit out then stripped out of mine while she watched.

  "You have a beautiful body, Sorri," she told me from the water. "Will you pose in the sun for me?"

  I turned to face her. She was watching me, her eyes hooded, a smile on her lips. Her praise warmed me. I never would have imagined she would be as playful as she had turned out to be.

  "What do you like most about my body?" I asked her.

  "I don't know," she said. "I like the complete package. I'll tell you while you bathe me."

  I grabbed the soap and dived in, surfacing directly in front of her. We swam to the rocks near the waterfall, finding a place to sit with the water to Rani's chin; it was somewhat shallower on me.

  "Turn around," she ordered.

  "I can't bathe you if I turn around." I reached for her.

  "No!" she said. "Turn around. You asked a question. Turn around and then come closer."

  Obediently I rotated, sitting on the rocks with my back to her, then backed up until I sat against her. She wrapped her legs around me and clasped her ankles in front of me, holding me in place in front of her.

  "I've never been playful with a lover like I am with you," she said into my ear.

  "That has nothing to do with my body," I replied, looking over my shoulder at her.

  "I know. It's because you're such a tease," I said. "I am responding to it." She pulled my mouth to her, taking a kiss from over my shoulder. It was a short kiss, but sweet.

  "You weren't like this with Mori?"

  "No. I was very serious. She was less work in some ways though."

  "I am a lot of work?" I had never thought of myself that way.

  "You have me at a severe disadvantage," she said. "I don't like it, so I struggle very hard to keep the upper hand for balance."

  I leaned against her, saying, "Mmmm" while I thought about it. "Why?"

  "You're so dominant, Sorri. You would absorb me, and there would be nothing left of me but your plaything. I don't think either of us would like that."

  "I don't think that's a fair prediction," I replied.

  "Well, I don't think I could handle it. I am very independent; I've had to be. It's hard enough answering to you as Captain. You have all the power, and I don't like it. Consider me the scrappy little dog barking her head off at the big mastiff."

  "Am I a mastiff?" I asked, grinning.

  "Yes. I don't know. Yes?"

  I laid my head backwards on her shoulder. It worked better when she sat in front of me, but this was okay, leaving us cheek-to-cheek.

  "You were going to tell me about my body," I told her.

  She chuckled. "Yes." She pushed me forward until I was sitting upright. "All right." She ran her hands across my shoulders. It felt good. "You are so much bigger than I am, and so strong."

  "You like that?"

  "Not by itself." Then she ran her fingers up into my hair. "But you have these feminine touches." She began to unbraid my hair and ran her fingers through it, fluffing out the wet hair. It was long enough to brush my shoulders, long and straight. "I'll braid it again later," she said. Then she reached around me, her fingers caressing my breasts.

  "You are fuller than I am," she said. "I like these. This is some of your smoothest skin."

  "I have rough skin," I said.

  "From days in the salt spray and sun," she said. "It's not your best feature when taken by itself, but it emphasizes your strength, and that makes it part of the entire package."

  She ran her hands to my biceps. "You have strong arms, and when you hold me, you're very warm. When you move, I can see the muscles, and I like that, too." She leaned further, but she couldn't reach my hands. She tugged on my right arm, and I reached up so she could clasp my hand. "Your hands are strong, as well. And you are able to be strong with me when you want to be, or when you need to be, but you are gentle when I want you to be, too." She traced my fingers. "Your fingers are long and rough."

  "Rough hands don't sound like something to be proud of."

  "I'm not complaining," she said. "They are a hint of your character, of who you are. And when you caress me, it tingles. I like it. Now turn around.

  I rotated, and she clasped my legs to pull me against her so my legs were now wrapped around her instead of hers around me.

  "I am so much smaller than you are-"

  "I love your size," I said immediately.

  "But we fit together," she said. "When we stand up, I can lay my head here." She pressed her palm against the front of my shoulder. "Or I can tip my head and press against you a little and place my lips here." She caressed my neck. She leaned forward and kissed my neck.

  "I like watching you on the deck of your ship," she said. "Your body naturally moves with the motion, but you look so still and so in command."

  "I thought you didn't like the way I am in command."

  "I don't like answering to you. That's not the same thing. I like when other people do."

  I laughed. "Hypocrite."

  She smiled. "Maybe. I like knowing you're strong," she replied. "I also like knowing you let me tame you." Then she looked down and grew silent. I waited, and she never looked up, and her smiled disappeared.

  I reached with a finger and lifted her chin. "What just happened?"

  She looked back down. "I still don't know if you're acting, playing a joke on the naive, lonely hostage. I haven't found any notches in your headboard."

  "Oh honey," I said. "No. No notches. No acting." I leaned in and stole a quick kiss.

  She smiled shyly for a moment, then physically shook a little and pulled me into a more meaningful kiss, wrapping her arms around my neck. We were both breathless by the time she released me.

  "I choose to believe you are exactly what you seem, Sorri. Sometimes it just catches up to me that I have no way to be sure."

  "Except time."

  "Yes." She caressed my cheek "I like the way you treat me, now," she said. "You teach me about the ship without being condescending about it, but you don't talk over my head, either."

  "I've had practice, most of it spent on people nowhere near as smart as you are, Rani."

  "I like that you appreciate my intellect."

  "It's your best feature," I replied immediately.

  "Not my hair?"

  "Your hair is nice," I said. I reached past her and freed her hair from its braid. She kissed my shoulder while I did it. Soon, her wild hair was spread all over her shoulders. "I like your hair." I caressed her hip under the water. "I like your curves." I moved a hand up and held one of her pert breasts.

  "Those are small," she said.

  I tweaked the nipple.

  "Ouch!" she complained. "What was that for?"

  "I thought you didn't believe in false modesty. Neither do I."

  "Well, they are small. It just happens that if they were any larger, they would be out of place on my body. Don't do that again. I don't like it."

  I studied her face.

  "Sorri, I am serious. If I tease you with words, then
you may tease me back with words. You must not physically punish me." She paused. "Except with tickles. Nice tickles only!"

  "There are nice tickles?" I asked.

  "There are. Would you care for a demonstration of the difference?"

  "No," I said immediately. "I think I know the difference."

  "If I get physical with you, then it is permission to get physical with me. But you're much bigger and stronger, and I do not want you if you are a bully."

  She pulled me to another kiss, one that left us both moaning for more.

  "Oh god, Rani!" I said, reaching for her.

  "Not yet, Sorri," she said. "I am going to bathe you, then you may bathe me." She picked up the soap. "Give me a foot."

  She took her time bathing me. She washed one foot, rinsed it, and kissed each toe. Then she gently bit along the edge of my foot, which tickled horribly, and she soon had me screeching.

  "Stop it!" I finally yelled. And as soon as I did, her mouth stilled, then she kissed the top of my foot and my ankle.

  "That's all it took?" I asked once I had caught my breath.

  "You could have pulled your foot away any time you wanted," she said, reaching under the water for the other foot. "Why didn't you?"

  "The other side of what you said a few minutes ago," I explained. "If I were doing that to your foot, you wouldn't get free. I don't want to be a bully."

  She finished washing my second foot, kissing the toes when she was done.

  "Stand up," she ordered. Once I stood, out of the water from above the knees, she began lingeringly washing her way up my body. She did my front, then ordered me to turn around and washed my back and arms. Then her leg stole between my legs. I held still, trembling a little, and she giggled behind me.

  "Rinse," she said. "Then I am washing your hair."

  I sat back down in the water and let soap rinse from my body. She sat down behind me, wrapping her legs around me again. I clasped her ankles and began caressing her feet under the water while she slowly washed my hair.

  "Go rinse off and come back," she said.

  When I returned, she handed me the soap. I bade her to lie back in the water, and I pulled her over my knees so she was reclined across my lap, her body half out of the water. I washed carefully, watching her expression. She closed her eyes and appeared very pleased with the attention. I made her sit when I washed her back, and then I washed her hair as well, taking my time.

  It was such a simple thing, bathing together, but I remember every moment.

  Her skin wasn't at all like mine. She had seen a lot of sun and salt spray in the last week, and I knew the weather was taking a toll, but she was soft and smooth, her legs silky. She had burned a little from the sun, mostly her face and shoulders, but when I asked, she told me it didn't sting, and I could tell she would be lightly tanned in another few days.

  "You are perfect," I whispered to her.

  "Not hardly," she replied. "But I am glad you enjoy what you see." She pulled me into a kiss then glanced at the waterfall.

  "Does it hurt to sit in it?"

  "No," I said. "It is brisk, but I like it." I pulled her to her feet and drew her under the cascading water.

  She laughed, lifting her face to the water, then snorted and shook her head before laughing again. She turned to face me, pulling me fully under the water, then she began kissing me, her tongue thrusting itself into my mouth.

  We shifted, the water landing on our shoulders, not our heads, and we kissed. She was warm and wet and lithe, and my arms were full of her delightful curves.

  Her hands roamed over my body now, touching, searching. She cupped a breast, then pulled away from the kiss and looked where she was touching me. "You're so beautiful," she said.

  "I'm not."

  "I think you're like a goddess," she said. Her mouth lowered to my breast, and she drew me into her mouth. I arched my back as her teeth nipped at me for a moment, then she was sucking, driving me insane with the sensation. I clutched at her, then reached for the back of her neck and pulled her more fully against me.

  Her hands began to roam again, touching me here, touching me there. I squirmed, and she giggled, but her hands didn't stop moving.

  Twice I tried to turn the tables, but each time she captured my hands and placed them on her shoulders. "No, no," she said.

  She pulled me down into the water, not directly under the flow from the waterfall, but where we were splashed by the spray, and captured my mouth again.

  She slipped between my legs, still kissing me, and then her hand slid down. I knew where it was going, and I spread my legs for her. She entered me, her hand underwater, two fingers sliding inside me, and I gasped.

  "Mine," she whispered into my ear. "Say it!"

  "Yours," I gasped at her, her clever fingers teasing me, her thumb finding my clit and rubbing against it deliciously.

  "Promise," she said.

  "Yours," I said. "I promise, Rani. Yours."

  "Good," she said. Her lips moved to my shoulder, and she began to suck. I knew she would leave a mark, and I didn't care.

  "Don't stop," I said.

  "I won't," she said, pulling her mouth away just for a moment before she latched back on.

  Her lips sucked fiercely against my skin while her fingers teased me, and soon I couldn't stop squirming.

  She was such a woman of extremes, I could never grow tired of her. She was so sharp, her tongue cutting, her eyes piercing and fierce. When I had first seen her, I thought perhaps she was one of those beauties accustomed to getting what she wanted from her looks. To find the truth, that she only got what she earned, had impressed me. To then find her so pleasingly passionate was intoxicating.

  She took from me, but she gave back far more than she took.

  The water continued to splash us, and we both should have been cold, but I was hot, flushed, and together we began splashing as my body bucked to her touches. She reached behind me with her free hand, and a finger invaded my backside, surprising me. I stilled and she laughed.

  "Oh god," I said. Both her hands were moving now, one hand very slowly, pressing deeper into me, the other sliding in and out, her thumb continuing to press and rub against my clit.

  She had my number, that was for sure, this wild vixen.

  "Mine," she said again. "Mine."

  "Yes, Rani." I agreed. "Oh god- Rani. Rani!"

  "Come for me, Sorri," she said. "Surrender to me. Surrender your passion to me."

  And I did, the orgasm building and then bursting as she pressed deeply into me. I arched my back and screamed, my body clutching around her fingers, squeezing them tightly. I shuddered, over and over, then clutched for her, pulling her against me as my body continued to shudder.

  Finally I grew still, and she withdrew her hands, leaving me feeling empty.

  "Mine," she whispered. "Promise me."

  "Yours, Rani," I gasped, panting. "Yours."

  She held me for a while, then drew me to the warmth of the sun.

  * * * *

  "Glora," I said several hours. "Very well done today. And as your reward, I would like you to take Rani up the beach for a few minutes."

  "Oh now there's a reward for you," Glora muttered. "Come on, Rani."

  Several minutes later, Rani was gesticulating wildly, and I could hear her tone, but not make out the words. I watched carefully, and I saw her slump when it was over. Glora immediately pulled her into her arms. The two were laughing by the time they returned to me.

  "Time to swim in the pool," I said. "Rani, will you let me braid your hair?"

  "That would be lovely."

  Later, clean and fresh, she tried to get frisky in our pavilion. "No, no," I said, fending her off.

  "But we're already naked. How convenient." She reached for me, and I moved away.

  "I will do anything to you that you like later," I told her.

  "What if I want to do things to you?"

  "That too."

  "Anything I want?"

&n
bsp; "Yes."

  She grinned. "All right."

  "Stand there and close your eyes. I am going to dress you. Do I need to blindfold you, or will you behave."

  "You know you want to blindfold me," she said.

  "I do, but I don't want you to think I don't trust you."

  "I will promise to close my eyes, but if you prefer to blindfold me, I won't be offended."

  I grinned. "Close your eyes."

  She closed them obediently. I collected all the packages I had hidden earlier and opened them. I selected a silk scarf that Krissa had bought for me and wrapped it around Rani's eyes.

  "It's so soft!" she said. "And smooth." She reached up with her hands and caressed the cloth. "Oh, I haven't worn this one before."

  "It's new, and it's for you."

  "What color is it?"

  "White. Everything I have for you is white."

  "What is the material?"

  "Silk."

  "Ohhhh. Thank you, Sorri. Will you kiss me?" She reached out for me as if she were trying to pull me into a kiss, but her hand found my chest and she began caressing and teasing.

  "Stop that," I said, stepping up to her. I gave her a nice kiss, and she groped my ass.

  "You're like a teenager," I told her. "Have you no self-discipline."

  "I have ample self-discipline," she replied. "But I have a fantastic lover around whom I do not wish to exercise any restraint but the restraints I wrap around her wrists."

  "Ha ha," I said. "Funny."

  "I'm serious." She grinned. "You told me I could do anything I want to you tonight."

  "Oh shit."

  "Oh shit indeed." She giggled. "I presume I am not attending dinner dressed like this."

  I pulled on some of my own clothes then selected her next item, a set of silk underthings. She wriggled into them and caressed the fabric. Then she grabbed my hand, reaching blindly for it, and set it on her breast. "Do you like how it feels?"

  I caressed and teased her for a few minutes, causing her to squirm. We kissed for a while, then I pulled away.

  "I like your hands," she said. "So strong, but you know how to be gentle, too."

  Last, I slipped a dress over her head. It was white silk, smooth and shiny. It ended at her knees and should feel cool and comfortable.

  "You may open your eyes," I told her, removing the scarf from her eyes.