Destiny's Lovers (24 page)

“For safety,” he said, grinning. “Until we
have eaten, at least.”

Eat? What was wrong with him? Didn’t he know
how much it hurt to want him and be denied? She did not know how to
react to this peculiar treatment, and she was still too
inexperienced in the ways of men to make any protest.

“It would be wise,” Reid told her while
fastening his trousers securely, “for you to cover yourself, too.
Since we are planning to wait.” Still grinning, he ducked through
the hatch and disappeared.

Janina wrung out her hair, twisting it hard
to let the excess moisture drip over the side of the boat. She
picked up her clothes, but decided she did not want to put them on
again. She had worn the same tunic and trousers for days. She
wanted a change. In one of the storage lockers, she found a pale
yellow, lightweight blanket. This she wrapped around herself,
twisting and tying it to hold it tight. It covered her from armpits
to ankles, leaving her shoulders and arms bare. The fabric was thin
but warm, so the evening air did not chill her.

Reid was at the solar unit in the galley,
busily preparing their meal. They were to have several kinds of the
roots Janina had dug and stored, which he had sliced and was
stewing with herbs. There was a kettle of hot dhia brewing for them
to drink. He looked around when she joined him, raising his
eyebrows in appreciation of her costume.

“That’s very seductive,” he said, planting a
kiss on her right shoulder. “Shall we eat on deck? I don’t think it
will be too cool, do you?”

“Reid, I don’t understand what you are
doing,” she began.

“You will, later,” he promised, kissing her
other shoulder. “Just have patience. Will you bring the bread and
the cups?”

She followed him back on deck, where he set
the hot bowl of stew on a bench. The sky was flaming orange and
gold. The tall rocks that formed the inlet were glowing with golden
light on one side, while on the opposite side of the inlet they
were shadowy silhouettes against the radiant sunset. Calm water
lapped quietly at the hull of the boat.

Reid went below again, to reappear with bowls
and spoons and the kettle of hot dhia. As he seated himself beside
her, he leaned over to lightly brush her lips with his. Then he
filled a bowl with stew and handed it to her.

“Eat,” he said. “Enjoy a meal without rocking
around at sea.” There was laughter in his eyes when he looked at
her.

“You are teasing me,” she accused.

“Are you enjoying it?”

“I’m not sure.” The stew was hot and tasty,
the roots still crunchy, as they should be. Refusing to look at
Reid any more, Janina bit into a piece of root, savoring it.

I can tease, too, she thought. When Reid
reached across her for the bread, which she had laid on the bench
next to her, she leaned forward so that her breasts brushed against
his arm. He turned his head to look directly at her. She smiled
innocently, lowering her eyes. Reid settled back on his side of the
bench, munching on a chunk of bread. She thought she heard him
laugh under his breath.

“May I have more stew?” He held out his bowl.
Janina took it from him and leaned forward to pick up the ladle
from the larger bowl. When she did so, her wrapped garment fell
slightly apart, revealing one of her knees and half of a thigh.
While both her hands were occupied in ladling out the stew, Reid
placed one of his hands on her exposed knee, then moved it upward
so that it slid under the edge of the fabric to the top of her leg.
He left his hand there for a moment, fingers spread, one finger
edging provocatively into the hair between her thighs.

Janina nearly dropped the stew. Reid withdrew
his hand to take his bowl from her shaking fingers.

“Thank you,” he said politely, and began to
eat.

It took a few minutes for Janina to regain
her composure and think of a suitably titillating response to what
Reid had just done. Smiling to herself, she rose from the bench and
went to the kettle of dhia, which Reid had set on the deck.

“Perhaps you would like something hot to
drink,” she suggested, kneeling by the kettle. As she moved
downward she made certain her knees pulled on the fabric just
enough to lower the upper edge of her garment until her breasts
were half uncovered. When she leaned over the kettle she knew he
could see the curving space between her breasts. Her amused
excitement at this stimulating game they were playing, coupled with
the rubbing of the fabric against her nipples, made them stand up
noticeably.

She did not look at Reid while she poured out
the dhia and handed him his cup. She thought that if she met his
eyes she would burst out laughing - or she would throw her arms
around him and plead with him to take her at once. Either action
would spoil his pleasure. She would wait, and let him set the pace.
Meanwhile, she would continue to tease him, and to let him tease
her into heightened awareness of his masculinity and of what they
would surely do together before much longer. This game was
exciting, and it was fun.

Reid reached for the cup of dhia she held out
to him, but before he took it he flicked a finger across one of her
hard, tight nipples. She almost erupted into wild laughter. She
almost tore off the blanket so she could fling her naked body into
his arms. She did neither. It took great effort, but she restrained
herself.

“Come sit beside me again,” Reid invited with
apparent calmness.

She rejoined him on the bench at the stern,
but she coyly kept her distance, making certain not to touch him.
Reid laughed and put one arm around her, pulling her back to lie
against him. Giving up coyness, Janina leaned her head on his
shoulder. His arm now lay along the railing behind her.

The sun had set. The sky grew dark, then
lighter again when the moons rose, spreading twin silver trails
across the water.

“They are more than half full,” Janina
observed, trying to think about something other than the strength
of Reid’s shoulder beneath her head. “That will make sailing at
night a little easier.”

“Hmmm.” Reid was nibbling at her earlobe, his
breath warm against her skin. Then she felt his mouth along the
side of her throat. His arm slid off the railing to lift her nearer
leg, separating the fabric again as her knee bent. She felt his
hand stroking from knee to thigh. His other hand moved across her
shoulders, pausing to dip into the hollow space between her
breasts.

“Reid,” she whispered in surrender as he
gently bit at her shoulder.

“I think it is time to clean the dishes,” he
said softly. He sat her up, straightened the blanket over her legs,
and began to collect their bowls. “Will you pull up a bucket of
water to wash them, or shall I?”

In the surge of frustrated desire she now
felt, she was sorely tempted to push both Reid and the dishes into
the sea. Instead, with a toss of her head she flung her hair over
one shoulder and went to draw a bucket of cold water. When she bent
over the bucket to wash their cups, Reid’s arms came around her
from either side. He had a spoon in each hand, and he plunged both
into the water, moving closer to her, letting her feel his hardness
against her back. His fingers laced through hers inside the bucket.
His tongue drew a fiery line from the bared nape of her neck to the
edge of her now-imperiled wrap. She was afraid the blanket would
come loose, leaving her naked for him to tease and play with. When
he reached for the stew bowls, she slipped under his arm and moved
to the far side of the deck where she could adjust her costume in
safety.

“Here.” Reid handed her the clean, damp
dishes, piling one into the other. “Take these below.”

Presented with her back, he ran one hand
across her buttocks, while with the other he lifted her hair to
kiss behind each ear. Janina began to tremble so violently that she
almost fell through the hatchway. Behind her, she heard the splash
of the bucket being emptied. She hastened to put the dishes in
their storage rack.

Reid lit a small solar bulb in the cabin and
then closed the hatch against the suddenly cold night air. The bulb
shed a soft golden light over the little sleeping area. There was
so little room to move that he accidentally brushed against her
several times while he removed his trousers. Or perhaps it was not
by accident.

Now his fingers were busy at the top of her
wrap, unfastening it. When her hands came up to hold it against her
bosom, he let go of it and sat down on one of the bunks.

“Put it on the other bed,” he said.

Janina turned around. For some reason she did
not want him to watch her while she removed the covering. She
pulled the blanket off and folded it carefully, then laid it down,
smoothing it with both hands. She was still unable to face him. She
continued to stand with her back toward him.

He caught her by the hips, pulling her
backward to sit on his lap, adjusting her position until his
distended manhood probed upward between her thighs.

“Now,” he said in her ear, “we will do it
very slowly.”

She could not move. Her head lolled on his
shoulder while he played with her breasts until she cried out,
begging him to stop. His hands ranged across her abdomen, leaving
her trembling with aching desire. He separated her thighs and moved
his hands between them with agonizing slowness. Looking downward,
Janina saw his manhood, huge and hard. Galvanized by the sight, she
caught it between her hands, held the hot, throbbing length and
began to stroke it.

“No,” he whispered hoarsely. “There’s no
hurry. Let me go, Janina. Let me love you this time. Afterward you
may do whatever you want.”

A short time later he told her to stand up.
When she did, on shaky legs, he turned her around to face him and
sat her down again so she was straddling him. And at last she had
what she wanted. He was inside her; he had never filled her so
completely. Her head thrown back, she gripped his shoulders, moving
to an instinctive, sensuous rhythm.

Reid lay back on the narrow bunk with Janina
on top of him, letting her move however she wanted for a while.
Then, just when she thought her heart would stop from the intensity
of her feelings, he moved again, separating them a little, letting
the building tension cool without withdrawing from her completely.
He clasped her in his arms and turned over so that Janina was
beneath him. She felt his weight on her and the full force of him
driving into her, over and over, the tension building again now,
until it carried her out of herself into a glorious, shattering
climax that took both of them at the same instant and left them
drained and quivering long afterward.

* * * * *

They slept until the next day was well begun,
and neither minded the narrowness of their bed. Nor did they rush
to leave their safe harbor.

“You were right,” Janina murmured, her face
against Reid’s shoulder, feeling his hands on her, knowing what he
could do to her. “It can be exciting to wait, and to make love
slowly. But not always. Sometimes there is an urgent need.”

“Urgent,” he whispered, pulling her hard
against him, entering her as though he understood exactly what she
wanted and needed at that moment. “I love you, Janina.”

“Oh, Reid.” But before she could tell him how
much she cared, how much he meant to her, he began to move in her
so that she was unable to speak, and it seemed to her that words
were unnecessary. Their bodies explained everything.

Before they sailed onto the open sea once
more, the sun was as high as it would rise so near to the polar
region at that time of year. The wind was stronger, pushing them
along with the current, but also chilling them. Janina brewed
kettle after kettle of hot dhia for them to drink, and they piled
on every layer of clothing they could find in the lockers. Still
their faces grew red and chapped, and whenever their hands got wet,
their fingers were soon numb.

“Just another day and night after this until
we round the cape.” Reid answered Janina’s unspoken question as the
sun sank below the cliffs.

“Then the weather should become warmer and
the days will grow a little longer as we travel toward the
equator.”

Janina stood next to him, nursing a cup of
hot dhia, trying to warm her hands on it. She scanned the sea
around them as she had done so many times during their voyage,
searching every bit of the ocean as though by keeping a constant
watch she could ward off what she most feared.

She froze. There, just above the water off
their stern, lay something.

She struggled with rising panic, with her
desire to avoid revealing her cowardice to Reid against the need to
warn him of danger, and with her hope that she had been mistaken.
She looked away, then looked back again. It was still there.

“Reid.” He glanced at her, appearing
surprised at her tone. “The sea monster has come for us.”

He looked astern, in the area she indicated,
and shook his head.

“I don’t see anything,” he said. “It’s so
late in the day that the light may play tricks. It could have been
a long shadow cast by an unusually large wave. The sea is
rising.”

“I know what I saw,” she insisted.

“Whatever it was,” he replied, “we can’t do
anything about it except try to sail away from it. The only weapon
we have is a fish spear.”

Janina did not sleep at all that night. She
stayed beside Reid in the stern except for an occasional quick trip
to the galley to refill their cups with dhia. She would not leave
him, not until the sea monster killed them both. Until then, she
would remain by his side, and, so that he would not know how
terrified she was, she would keep silent about the creature she
knew was lurking in the sea, waiting for them.