by Roz Lee
“Yes, you did. I had to do something. You should have seen your face. I don’t think you would have been in as much pain if you’d broken your leg,” she teased.
Ryan leaned in. His tongue swiped at a streak of come dribbling down the side of her neck. “I think you’re right. Poor Thor, I don’t think he knew what to do with us.”
Candace held onto the cock ring, which she dropped into her purse when she got back to her stateroom. Ryan had tried to take it, but she had insisted on keeping it. She set the small bag of creams and oils that Thor had given her, next to the welcome basket. Candace stepped into the shower, giving special attention to her oily backside. Touching herself there brought back heated sensations and longing. Allen hadn’t touched her there.
She turned her face to the spray. Allen had barely touched her. She hadn’t known it at the time, had thought what they did was normal, but after one day on the Lothario, one day spent with Ryan, she realized how wrong sex had been with Allen. At the end, he’d blamed her for his lack of interest, and she’d believed him, but Ryan had been so aroused that even a cock ring hadn’t kept him from coming when she touched him. For the first time in months, Candace began to think that maybe the problem had been Allen’s all along.
She applied a small dab of the special cream to her still sensitive anus and donned the evening’s costume. It took a few minutes to figure out how to get the toga-style garment to cover as much as possible. After a few tugs to close the open sides, she stood back and surveyed herself in the mirror on the back of the bathroom door. Nothing but a length of white fabric, bunched at the shoulder by a gold clasp, and belted at the waist with a gold cord, it didn’t leave much to the imagination. Candace looked through the welcome basket, and found the jar of glitter cream and spread it over her exposed shoulder, along her arms and legs. She dabbed some on her cheeks, swiped gloss on her lips and pronounced herself ready, moments before Ryan knocked on her door.
He wore the same style toga, but the men’s version was longer than the women’s. Candace eyed him up and down, stopping at the hemline. The fabric began to rise like a stage curtain. Ryan shifted, adjusting the fabric and his erection beneath it. “Sorry. It happens every time I see you.”
“I don’t mind, but it must get uncomfortable.”
“A little, but I can live with it. Are you ready to go?”
They ate dinner at a table with two other couples who had met on board and were planning to visit some of the smaller fetish rooms on the lower decks. One of the men kept stroking the back of his partner’s neck throughout dinner. “What goes on on the lower decks?” Candace asked as she and Ryan strolled on the moonlit deck after dinner.
“Lots of things. Mostly specialized sex play. Did you see Chad stroking Pam?”
“Yes. I thought it was kind of sweet.”
“I’m not so sure it was sweet. I think they may be into pet play.”
“What’s pet play?”
“It’s a form of domination sex, sometimes with bondage thrown in. One person is the pet, say a kitten or a dog, and the other is the master. Sometimes they dress the part. Chad could have just been horny, but I’ve seen it before. The petting is a subtle way to remind her of her status, and perhaps what is to come later on.”
Candace had never heard of such a thing. “Really? People do that?”
“There isn’t much people won’t do. You might see people on a leash, or worse, if you keep your eyes open.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope. I haven’t seen a lot of it on the Lothario, but there are rooms below, devoted to almost every sexual proclivity imaginable. Most of the people who use them want to try something new, but occasionally, someone comes on board to openly practice what turns them on.”
“I can’t imagine it. I’ve already seen and done more than I knew existed.”
“I’ll take you down there if you want to see what it’s all about. Does kinky sex interest you?”
“Two days ago I would have said no, but I have to admit I’m curious.”
“I’ll take you down there, but not tonight. We’ll go one morning. There’s less likely to be anyone using the rooms that time of day, and you can look all you want. There are a few classes during the week for some of the more widely practiced ones. You can take a class on bondage techniques, and there’s one on spanking.”
“People enjoy being spanked?”
Ryan swatted her on the ass hard enough to sting and make her squeal. “Sure. I can get you a schoolgirl costume, and when you’re naughty, I can spank you.”
Candace was grateful for the dim light on deck, as her face grew hot. “Would that turn you on?”
Ryan stopped. Candace took another step before she realized he wasn’t beside her. She turned to him. “Everything turns me on if you are involved. I’ll do anything you want. I’ll tie you up, I’ll spank you. I’ll make you my slave, or my pet. I’ll let you do any or all of those things to me.”
“I…” Candace saw and heard his sincerity. “I… uh. I don’t know if any of those things is my cup of tea, but I’ll let you know if I want to give any of them a try.”
Ryan nodded. “Fair enough.” He resumed walking, taking her hand and lacing their fingers together. “I think you should know I’ve had experience with most of those things. It’s been a while now since I’ve done any of it, and I wouldn’t go back to any of it, unless it was for the right reasons.”
“What would be the right reason?”
“To satisfy the woman I love.”
“But you said you’d do them with me.”
“I know.”
Candace stopped now. “Are you implying what I think you are?”
“That I love you? Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”
“I don’t know what to say. You hardly know me.”
“I know enough. I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you. This ship isn’t you, but you’re willing to give it a try. I appreciate that. I’ve known a lot of women who are indiscriminate when it comes to sex, and others who are so uptight they’re afraid to take their clothes off. You aren’t like any of them. You’re real. You’re beautiful, smart, and open to new things. You’re passionate too. I thought you were going to orgasm this afternoon when I put my thumb in your ass. All I thought about when I had my finger inside you was what it would feel like to put my cock inside you, and I knew you were thinking the same thing. That’s why I stopped. When I see you come for the first time, I want to be inside you.”
He wanted to be inside her. He loved her. Allen had said he loved her, but the words had never sounded like they did when Ryan said them. Everything he said had the ring of truth. She had been on the brink of orgasm, and when he’d stopped, she had thought she might die from frustration. She had been wondering what it would feel like to make love to Ryan, she had no idea he had been thinking the same thing. She’d seized the opportunity to touch him, to taste him. Knowing he desired her meant a lot. Allen had rarely been in the mood. Many times, he’d begged off, rather than make love to her, and many times, she’d gone to bed frustrated and thinking she had an unnatural sexual appetite. Everyone knew men wanted it more than women. Right? So if she wanted it more than Allen, there must be something wrong with her. Of course she’d found out the real reason he didn’t want to have sex with her. He was getting more than enough at the office, the gym, and everywhere else in town.
Her friend Karen had a theory, and the more Candace thought about it, the more it made sense. According to Karen, Allen needed a wife to further his career. He needed someone he could point to as evidence of his stability. Candace had looked like the perfect candidate. Attractive and intelligent, her status as a schoolteacher would have reflected well on him. But when it got down to it, they weren’t compatible in bed, and Allen, the weasel, had blamed her.
It made as much sense as anything.
“I don’t know what to say, Ryan. I’m not ready for a relationship right now. I don’t want to
talk about why, not yet, but you were right about my thoughts. I do want you, but I don’t want to rush into a sexual relationship. I didn’t really want to come on this cruise, but my girlfriends said it would be good for me, and I didn’t have the energy to argue, so here I am. This is all so new to me. I’m flattered that you think you love me, but can we just be friends for now?”
“I can live with that.”
“Good, because I do want to see what’s what. I want to go to more classes, with you, and try new things.”
Ryan swept into a deep bow. “Then I’m your man. Your wish is my command, fair lady.
“I command we see the show in the coliseum tonight.”
Candace shifted in her seat. The show had been billed as an acrobatic extravaganza and it was that, and more. Nimble acrobats swung, swooped, bounced, and defied gravity with amazing dexterity, and they did it wearing nothing but elaborate body paint. Having sex, while suspended twenty feet above a stage that rocked with the waves, was simply astonishing.
Ryan leaned in close and whispered in her ear. “I don’t know how those guys climb those things while they have an erection. That’s got to hurt.”
Candace stifled a snicker. “Look at that woman. How does she do that?” The acrobat in question hung face down, parallel to the stage and spread eagle, suspended by cloth ropes around her wrists and ankles. A male acrobat hung upside down, using her legs to hold himself in place while he fucked her. On the stage below, the rest of the team held the trailing ropes steady while contorting themselves into seemingly impossible positions.
“Her? What about him? How does he keep enough blood going uphill to stay up?”
Candace laughed. Ryan was so in awe of the acrobats’ impressive blood pumping skills. “Could you do that?”
“Honey, I can do a lot of things, but that isn’t one of them.”
The troop moved to form a totem pole, each one standing on the shoulders of the man below. The last man braced himself on the knees of the man on bottom and waited while one of the women fitted him with a butt plug that resembled a horsetail. The man began to climb, stopping along the way for each man in the tower to suck his cock, while he sucked the cock of the one above. A few of the men had to bend at the knees to accommodate him, causing the audience to ooh and aah as the tower wavered. The tail hung down and brushed the face of the man below and added humor, as they each made a show of trying to blow the hair out of their face.
Candace noticed the women on stage weren’t watching. They were having their own acrobatic orgy. Several women were arched over backwards with both their feet and hands on the floor. The rest of the women surrounded them, some sucking at their breasts, others lapping between their legs, and one fucked one of the contortionists with a giant dildo. Candace tapped Ryan on the arm and whispered, “Look on stage. See how big that thing is. How does she take that inside her?”
“Is she the same woman that was up on the ropes?”
“I don’t think so. She’s over there.” She pointed to the opposite side of the stage. “What are they doing?”
The women moved to center stage. One moved with her back to the first man in the totem pole and bent at the waist. He placed his hands on her hips and guided her backwards, until he buried his cock in her ass. The next woman climbed on her back, and so on, each man adjusting his height to link up with the woman’s ass, until they formed one unit, top to bottom. The audience applauded. The tower began to move in a slow, undulating rhythm, similiar to the wave in a stadium, but from top to bottom, over and over again as the men worked their cocks in and out of the women. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, the couple at the bottom began to turn in a slow circle while the column continued to fuck like a ribbon in the wind.
“Now that’s impressive,” Ryan said.
“It is indeed.”
Candace and Ryan exited the theatre hand in hand, listening to the other audience members awed comments about the performance. The whole thing would have been impressive enough, but that they managed it all on a stage that swayed with the movement of the ship, made it even more so. Everyone agreed on that point.
They had drinks in the Siren’s Lair, the aptly named Karaoke lounge. Ryan secured a table in the darkest corner, concealed by a curtain of gossamer silk. They could see the passengers trying their luck on the spotlighted stage, but the thin fabric provided privacy. When their drinks were delivered, Ryan pulled the curtain shut and snaked an arm around her waist. Candace slid across the black velvet seat until she sat hip to hip with Ryan.
“I’ve wanted to hold you all evening.”
“I like it. I don’t know what it is about you, but I feel safe when I’m with you. Maybe I’m being too naïve, but I believe I can trust you.”
“You can. I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
Candace leaned in and placed her lips on his. It was all the invitation Ryan needed. He took control of the kiss, showing Candace everything he felt for her in that moment. The kiss was firm, but tender, and Candace parted her lips to let him in. His tongue swooped in, mating with hers in age-old rhythm. He held her face in his hands and plundered. He took, he gave, he showed her what was in his heart, and she responded, taking and giving in equal measure.
“I want you Candace.”
“I want you too, but I can’t, Ryan. Not yet, anyway.”
“Who did this to you? Who sent you running to the Lothario?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I’ll find out sooner or later. I don’t know what the bastard did to you, but I want to make it go away. I want to replace those memories with new ones.”
“I want that too. Soon, Ryan, but not tonight.”
He released her and downed the rest of his drink. “Okay. That wasn’t ice water, but close enough.”
“No, it wasn’t ice water. I haven’t thought about using our code word…well, maybe once this afternoon when Thor had his hands…well, you know. But you touched me, and it went right out of my head.”
Ryan looked at her. His eyes were warm pools of deep water. “I don’t want to think about that. I wanted to murder Eric, that’s Thor’s real name, for touching you. The smarmy bastard was having too much fun at my expense. If there’s any more touching to be done on this cruise, it’s going to be me, and only me, doing it. I don’t think I can stand to see anyone else’s hands on you ever again.”
“I can live with that. Eric, huh?”
“Eric from Indianapolis.”
Candace laughed. “For real? Indianapolis?”
“Yep. I think he has Norse ancestors or something, but he does have a degree in Physical Therapy from a reputable University.”
“Well, that’s good to know.”
They were on more even ground now, the earlier sexual tension gone. “I’ll walk you to your room so you can rest. Tomorrow is another fun filled day at sea, with lots of activities to choose from.” At her door, Ryan named a time to meet for breakfast and kissed her goodnight. He’d curbed his desire, but it simmered below the surface of his kiss, warming Candace to her toes. For the first time, she questioned her decision not to sleep with him this early in their relationship.
Richard was waiting for him when he returned to his stateroom. “Did you forget we have a ship to run?”
“No. I didn’t forget. Whatever needs my attention, will get it tonight. I doubt I’ll be able to sleep with this boner.” He’d been semi-erect since the minute he laid eyes on Candace, and he didn’t know how much more he would be able to take.
“I brought up the purchase orders and the kitchen inventories for you. We need to take on a few more provisions at our next port.” He dropped a stack of file folders on Ryan’s desk. “So when are you going to fuck her?”
“Don’t talk about her that way.” Ryan picked up the top folder and pretended to read the papers inside. “She’s not like the others.”
“How so? She has all the same parts as the others. How is she any different?”
“She just is.”
“That was helpful. I completely understand now.”
Ryan threw the file across his desk. “Leave it alone, Richard. I don’t want to discuss Candace with you.”
“Okay. Let’s discuss the ship, then. Are you going to stay on after this cruise?” Richard stretched his legs out in front and sank lower in the chair with his fingers woven together across his stomach.
Ryan turned his back on his friend and gazed, unseeing, at his reflection in the dark windows. “I don’t know. You know I haven’t been happy for a long time. This life isn’t for me, Richard. I thought it was what I wanted when we came up with the idea, but it wasn’t. It never has been. I want to settle down on dry land, with a good woman, and raise a bunch of kids. I want to coach baseball and mow the yard.”
“And you think Candace is the ‘good woman’ you’re going to do all this with?”
Ryan deflated, his shoulders slumped, and his head dropped between his shoulders. He turned to his friend, his eyes shadowed and vulnerable. “I don’t know. I want her to be. She’s everything I’ve been looking for, and more. She’s sweet. She’s intelligent. She’s beautiful and sexy, and passionate and innocent too. She teaches English to junior high kids who probably know more about sex than she does.”
Richard planted both feet on the floor and rested his elbows on his thighs, lacing his fingers together between his knees. “I hope you’re right, friend.” The room grew quiet as both men contemplated the changes coming in their lives. Richard spoke first. “When we sold R & R for that ridiculous amount of money, and suddenly we could buy anything we wanted, the best clothes, cars, dinner at expensive restaurants, I thought we had it all. What more could we want? The women came out of the woodwork, practically begging to be with us. Not that either one of us did so bad in that area before, but you know what I mean. All of a sudden, we were the hottest things on two legs. Every power hungry, money hungry, desperate woman in the world came knocking at our doors. It was every man’s dream come true, or so I thought.”
