Sensation of the Seas

by Cyndi Redding

  “You will not touch me.”

  Vicki stepped off the table, sighed, and reached for her clothes. “May I talk to him?”

  “I hope you can. I’ll give you two a minute.” The nurse stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her.

  Vicki faced him, hands on her naked hips. “Miklos!”

  “I know what you’re going to say, Vicki.”

  “Oh, yeah? What?”

  “That I have to be treated too. Otherwise we cannot have sex. But, you can’t expect me to take off my clothes in front of a strange woman.”

  “It’s all right. She’s a health professional. It’s not as if she’s going to ask you to have a go. She probably sees five or six cocks a day.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Well she can go without seeing mine.”

  Vicky shook her head. “I’ll get the nurse.”

  * * *

  By the time they had finished with their exams, they had missed breakfast. It was nearly eight o’clock and they had to get up to the top deck to report for work. Vicki experienced slight relief from the itching, but the inner folds of her labia were still uncomfortable. She’d have to plaster on that fake smile and do her best to ignore it.

  Miklos, on the other hand had been too stubborn to let the nurse wash and treat the area. He just grabbed the tube of ointment and said he would use it himself.

  During the workday, Vicki tried to get a glimpse of Miklos from time to time to see how he was doing. Each time she looked in, he turned away from her. Sometimes, he didn’t know she was watching and seemed to be subtly scratching himself, either on the equipment or with a quick rub of his hand. She certainly hoped Gizela wouldn’t catch him doing that. Either way, it was going to be a long day for both of them.

  If she didn’t know better she would have thought that Miklos was angry with her, but for what? Did he blame her for the rash? Was he still upset that she laughed with the nurse about their sexual escapades?

  She longed to talk with him, but he wouldn’t take any more chances with their jobs and ignored her whenever she appeared at the window.

  At last, the one thing she didn’t want to happen, happened. Gizela had snuck up behind her and just as she realized it and whipped around, she saw Gizela’s eyes grow in shock and heard her gasp. Her expression became hard. “Filthy gypsy,” she muttered, and stormed off without even telling Vicki to get back to work.

  When Vicki turned back to the window she saw Miklos scratching his crotch as if he was going to rub it raw.

  * * *

  Miklos grabbed Vicki after work and nearly dragged her to his cabin saying he needed to speak to her in private. He had hardly looked at her all the way there, and she was overcome with dread. When they arrived, he paced furiously and occasionally looked up only to glare at her with glittering black eyes.

  “For god’s sake, Miklos, what is it?”

  “I tried to put this behind me, Vicki. But, I cannot get over your deception. You lied. You said you waited for me.”

  She froze. How did he know?

  “Do not deny it. Any lies you tell me now will only make it worse.”

  She hung her head and wondered what she could say in her defense, and at the same time, why she had to defend herself at all. “As soon as I knew you existed, I waited for you.”

  Miklos paced back and forth, which took all of two seconds in the tiny cabin.

  “So, you waited a whole two weeks? Before that, you allowed others to enter your most sacred place--our sacred place? You gave away your precious purity to another man. You didn’t think about your future husband and his desire to be the one man to know you so intimately. You didn’t think about saving your womb for his seed and his children.”

  She threw her hands in the air. “Why can’t you understand? This is a different world from the one you know…The other men came along before I knew you...I was protected. I used birth control. No one else’s ‘seed’ has ever...”

  “Don’t lie to me,” he roared.

  Vicky began to tremble. “Miklos. I’m yours now. Once I saw you, I was ruined for other men.”

  “Before you ‘saw’ me you never considered a sexual union as sacred? It was my looks that kept you faithful to the idea of fucking only your husband? What if I was ugly? Would you fuck as many men as possible before getting tied down?”

  “No! Miklos, in the modern world, women are sexual beings.” She knew she was treading a fine line. “I’d have slept with you first and last had you’d showed up earlier.”

  “I came as soon and as quickly as I could. There’s a reason for this and I don’t know what it is, but I wish I did. God may be punishing me for turning my back on my tribe and its traditions. Perhaps I should have stayed and married as our families decided.”

  “Don’t say that!”

  “Romani boys and girls usually marry young, but you must understand I had the sight. I was allowed to postpone my usual responsibilities while I trained with my grandfather. I was betrothed to my young cousin to give me time to learn what I needed to in order to become the tribe’s next holy man. And then my visions led me to you.

  I forsook my betrothed cousin, disappointed our families, and walked away from my whole tribe because I knew you were somewhere in this world, and you were my destiny. I walked through mountains and valleys. I crossed seas. I trusted my ancestors and my visions to lead me to you. I remained abstinent until I was married to you. I waited for you.”

  His eyes shimmered. Vicki had never seen him cry and never expected to.

  He suddenly reverted to anger and pointed at her. “No Roma woman would think of having casual sex as you did.”

  “Well, what if she did? What if, for some reason, she didn’t get the bloody visions until she was about to meet the man she was supposed to love? What if she didn’t even know she had a bloody destiny? What then?”

  “She would wait until marriage. It wouldn’t happen any other way.” Miklos thudded into the chair that stood between Vicki and the path he had been pacing.

  “Fine. What if something unusual happened and she didn’t?”

  He stared at her with intense anger. “Her husband would either reject her or punish her.”

  Vicki sat tentatively on the edge of his bed and glanced at the distraught man she loved with all her heart. He couldn’t reject her. Not now, not when she was completely gob smacked in love with him. How would she live without him?

  Was there was nothing she could say or do to help? He had to get over this! Maybe there is something...

  Vicki stood, pulled down her shorts and panties, and leaned over his lap.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Presenting myself for punishment. Spank me, as hard and as long as you wish. Get the resentment out of your system. Let me know how I disappointed you, how I hurt you, and then forgive me so we can go on without this between us...please.”

  Miklos was silent for an inordinate amount of time. When she felt his hand rest on her buttocks, she braced herself and waited for the slap, yet nothing followed.

  “Go ahead, Miklos. If it will make you feel better and help us get past this--never to mention my past again--go ahead. I mean it. Spank me. Spank me hard.”

  Still, nothing happened.

  She got up, kicked off the shorts that fell around her ankles and pulled the hairbrush from her pocketbook and handed it to him. She returned to her pose over his lap and stuck her bum in the air for him to paddle.

  Finally, he said, “You want me to spank you? As punishment?”

  “Yes. The hairbrush should save your hand, so you can give me a wicked paddling.”

  “And if I decided to do this, how much and how hard?”

  She turned enough to see his face. “Haven’t you ever been spanked before?”

  His dark brows knit. “Yes, I have, but for taking my sister’s toy or not coming when I was called. The only serious thing I did as an adult resulted in my banishment.”

  “Don’t banish me,
Miklos. Spank me good, and then forgive me. At least two minutes. Hard enough to hurt afterwards when I sit down, so I’ll remember how I hurt you and never mislead you again.” She never would have believed in a million years that she’d be begging a man to flog her, but that’s how desperate she had become.

  She waited another long moment, then slap. He was using his hand. Then a harder slap, and another harder slap. She grit her teeth, determined not to make a sound even though she knew shortly she’d be experiencing the sting of a rapidly repeated, open-hand spanking. She held on for the rest of it and heard him counting under his breath. His hand came down on her harder than ever before and she could feel his anger in the intensity of his wallop.

  He must be counting out the full one hundred and twenty. Fuck! She’d be red and sore for a week! Hang in there, Vicki. His hand came down faster, but just as hard. 30-31-32-33... They had just begun, and already she could feel her ass burning. His hand was big, and it often hit both cheeks at once.

  He switched to the hairbrush at number forty-five and continued hitting her bottom even harder. Dear God! Her eyes began to water. The smaller surface could only hit one cheek or the other so he went back and forth between the two. Tears flowed as she experienced a searing, stinging, white-hot pain, as she had never felt before.

  Suddenly, at the count of one hundred, he stopped. Her ass was on fire and she was crying. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t stop. Even over the sound of her own sobs, she heard an unfamiliar sound. He was sniffling.

  “Vicki, I cannot do this. I love you.” His voice was shaking and she could hear the pain in his heart. “I love you too much to really hurt you, and your bottom is raw.”

  She turned and through her tear filled eyes saw his head hung in shame. His eyes were closed, but leaking. She pushed herself up and sat on his lap. A sharp, hot knife stabbed her buttocks, but she didn’t care. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “I’m so sorry, Miklos. Sincerely sorry. You’ll never have to worry about me hiding anything from you again. I’ll never lie to you. I’ll never hide anything from you. You have a right to be angry because I mislead you. I lied to you, and I understand that now.”

  Miklos said, “I wish you had waited for me, but you didn’t. Another man or men have been inside you, and as much as I hate it, that can’t be changed.”

  “No. No one has ever been where you have, Miklos--in my heart. I’ve never loved anyone but you. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse, but it’s the truth.”

  He buried his face in her rumpled shirt right over her heart and shook. They held each other in a desperate grip as if they had to prevent anything from ripping them apart. Then without warning, he asked her to leave.

  Chapter Ten

  Even the next morning, Vicki didn’t know if he was over it or not. Her mind was a jumble. Her bottom was sore and bruised, but it didn’t matter as much as agonizing about their future--they might not make it through this. He was so hurt and she needed him to accept what had happened, let go of his resentment, and treat her as he had before.

  What did she really do? How did she know he’d be coming along sometime in the future and that he’d be so bloody old-fashioned?

  She hung out with Simone in the crew mess, pacing as she nibbled on a piece of dry toast. She hoped and prayed he would join them and give her some hint of where they stood. When he didn’t arrive at his usual time, she apologized to Simone for cutting their breakfast short and went to look for him. Simone had been looking at her as if she had gone off her kadoova, but there was no hiding her anxiety.

  She tossed the toast in the garbage and hurried off, desperate to find him. When there was no response to her knock on his cabin door she was lost. The library and bar were closed. It was too early for work. Where could he be?

  Vicki returned to her cabin, dejected. Upon opening her door and strolling in, she jumped and gasped. A large figure was bending over and rifling through her bedding.

  He whirled around.

  “Miklos! What are you doing here?”

  “I--I was looking for something I may have lost.”

  “What did it look like?”

  “Um, it’s not important.”

  “Well, why did you think it might be in my bed?”

  “I thought I might have lost it that night when...”

  She smiled at the memory and with a coy expression finished his thought. “The time we shagged in the shower?” She dearly hoped he’d remember their sexual adventures the same way she did. They had made some incredible, wicked memories already in their short time together.

  He hung his head and said, “We need to talk.”

  Uh oh. This is it. He’s either going to forgive me or tell me to choof off.

  “Can we go up to the top deck? I need to breathe.”

  Vicki nodded and picked up her key card.

  Their ride up the service elevator was silent. She was dying to know what was going on in his handsome head. He glanced over at her a couple of times, but his serious expression never changed.

  For the first time, she thought their relationship was doomed. She could barely breathe. When the doors opened, he waited for her to exit and then followed. He moved around her quickly to open the heavy double door to the outside and hold it for her. They continued walking into the fresh morning ocean air, and Vicki leaned against the railing facing him. Miklos gazed out to sea.

  “I’m sorry for my conduct recently. I--I should not have been so angry with you for something you did long ago. I considered it a lie when you didn’t tell me before we married. I’m afraid there is something I hid from you too.”

  Vicki felt prickles up her back. What hadn’t he told her?

  A couple of early morning joggers rounded the bow of the ship and passed by them. After they were far down the deck, Miklos continued.

  “I’m afraid I put a spell on you.”

  She was too shocked to speak.

  He turned toward her and took her hand. “It was a love spell from a charmed amulet. I was trying to find it under your mattress where I placed it the night I asked you to marry me, and you didn’t accept. I had to get rid of it.”

  He paused and took a deep breath. “I’m a Chovihano, Vicki. A Romani Shaman. A powerful witch. There are things I can do--people I can help--futures I can see--fates I can alter. I practiced and honed my skills to help me find you. The power grew beyond what I ever imagined, and now there are even minds I can read--well, one.”

  Vicki took a step backward. “Is that what you were doing when you knew I called you my ‘bloody husband’ in my head? Reading my mind?”

  “Yes. It scared me too, my love. That had never happened to me before.”

  “And you had me under a spell? Why? I would have loved you anyway, Miklos. Instead I was manipulated into acting in ways I never would have. I’ve been looking at myself and wondering where Vicki went.”

  “I didn’t know it was a spell. My grandfather had found a willow tendril that naturally grew in a knot shaped like a heart and had given it to my grandmother as a wedding gift. I thought it would be good luck to give it to you when I asked you to marry me. When you didn’t accept right away, I placed it where I could find it and give it to you later. My grandmother always said she was the luckiest woman alive because she married my grandfather. He too was a Chovihano.”

  Miklos touched her face and looked into the depths of her ocean blue eyes. “I should have trusted destiny. The visions led me to you, and I’m sure you would have loved me as completely as I loved you, even if it took you some time. I searched for you for so long. Went through so much hardship for you, and I thought I’d die if you made me wait longer.”

  Vicki sucked in a deep breath and at last found her voice. “And you didn’t know about this--spell?”

  “I didn’t. Remember the other Roms we met on our wedding day?”

  She nodded.

  “I asked them to show me how to use the Internet. I was able to contact an
other Chovihano that way. Since I had anonymity, I asked him about the willow knot because I suspected something had gone wrong.”

  “So what happened? What did he say?”

  “The willow knot was a charm. It has power locked within it. I unknowingly unlocked that power and charged it with the wish to marry you, hold you, and make love to you every day and every night. I carried it with me for luck hoping to make my dreams come true. I thought I would make your dreams come true too, so I wanted to give it to you as soon as I had accomplished my dream of finding you, as a token of how much our union meant to me.”

  “So what happened? It was so full of your desire that it made me a nympho?”

  He hung his head, but a brief smile flit over his face. “Yes--but I wanted to find the willow knot and toss it into the sea to nullify its power.”

  She eyed him with suspicion. “Why? So you could fuck me senseless and then leave me when you found out about my past?”

  He pulled a small black velvet box from his pocket. “No. I wanted it so I could give you this and let you accept or reject me based upon how you really feel. I still need to know.”

  Just as she opened it, Gizela and two of the security staff burst through the doors.

  Vicki looked down at the gold band with her mouth open. She had been forgiven. Moreover, he still loved and wanted her.

  Gizela ordered, “Don’t put that ring on your finger. It may be stolen property.”

  Vicki looked from Gizela to Miklos and saw his face redden with outrage.

  “What are you saying, Gizela?”

  “Miklos or Domenic or whatever your name is, it’s over.”

  Gizela pointed at him, but spoke to the two men who flanked her. “That’s the filthy gypsy. Take him to the brig.”

  “No!” Vicki grabbed onto his arm and tried to drag him away. It was as if she had hold of a ten-story building. He didn’t budge.

  “I have done nothing wrong. I can produce the receipt. It’s in my cabin.”

  “You probably stole that too. Explain why one of the passengers lost his watch in the locker room. He came to me first thing yesterday morning saying he left it there the night before but it was gone.”