Geared for Pleasure (8 page)

“It is near impossible for me to believe you are as untouched as you seem, unless you
were
hidden in some secret, windowless chamber until yesterday.” He ran a frustrated hand through his dark hair. “My job is to read people. Who they are. What they desire. You confound me, Princess Dare. I know you are hiding something, but what?”

His job was to read people? She knew he could not have the abilities she had, or he would have acted on her conflicted emotions by now. “Nothing. I am hiding nothing.”

He shook his head at her words. “You and I both know better. A suspicious man would believe you a spy sent to drive me insane before you steal my secrets. But which ones? I am in possession of so many.”

Dare had not foreseen that her own suspicions would be turned on her. He thought
her
a spy? “You’re very open about your secrets with a suspected spy. If I
were
one, I would be an incompetent at best not to get what I wanted from you. However, there is a flaw in your suspicions. Unless my plan included skillfully stumbling into an assault and abduction in order to be brought into your presence, allowing myself to be drugged and manhandled, handcuffed and trapped in this cage of a dress for just the chance to speak to you.” She shook her head. “I can assure you I did not ask to be taken so far away from the safety of solid ground and all I know. When we arrive at Two Moon Bay I will depart this admittedly luxurious deathtrap and you’ll have no cause to see me again.”

His brow furrowed. “I will pretend you did not call the Siren a deathtrap because I know you cannot mean it. Are you on the run, Dare? Is someone after you? If you tell me I might be able to help.”

“Other than Lucy Thrice?” She raised one challenging brow, determined not to be swayed by his concern. “Once again, I would be more inclined to answer your questions if you would answer one of mine. Where did your five-day errand take you when you left the Siren?”

Bodhan smiled at her quick rejoinder. It was a wide, wicked smile that should have sent frissons of fear through her body. But it wasn’t fear that made her quiver.

“I see you have been speaking to the ladies. They do love a good secret. I, however, know every answer, or lack of same, comes with a price. And at this moment, it seems neither of us is willing to pay.” He gestured to the cushioned bench beside them, reminding her of its presence. “If you will not answer my questions, and I will not answer yours, we are at an impasse. Come and sit. The view from here serves more than one purpose. I would show you why pleasure is no crime before you leave us.”

She took an instinctive step back, as much as she could, and his smile disappeared. “At some point you will stop treating me as you would Nettles. As though I would hurt you. And then perhaps you will recall that you said you would obey me if I let you leave. My ship, my rules. Will you not honor your word?”

Dare told herself she had to do it for her queen, and it was true. But as she slid around him and lowered herself onto the bench, watching him remove his vest with slow, methodical movements, she silently admitted that it was not the
only
reason.

“
What
are you doing?”

He arched one eyebrow in feigned surprise. “The room is warm, don’t you agree? I simply wish to make us both more comfortable.”

Bodhan let his vest fall to the floor and she shifted in her seat.
What he was doing had the opposite effect of comfort. She bit her lip. “I have no idea what you mean,” she lied, a heated blush spreading across her chest. “My clothing is
far
more constricting than yours and
I
am fine.”

He knelt beside her, so tall his light, piercing eyes were nearly level with hers. Mischievous. “You are? That
is
odd, because if anything, I am warmer than I was a moment ago.” His hands reached for the top buttons of his shirt.

“Wait.” She didn’t sound very commanding, but her words were enough to still his fingers.

He chuckled. “Keep breathing, princess. My sense of humor, I’ve been told, is not as well-honed as I imagine it to be.” He reached for the cushion beside her and lifted the hidden lid beneath it. “There is something I want to show you.”

She studied the open neck of his shirt longingly and noticed the muscles of his forearms bunching, revealed by his rolled-up sleeves. His hand disappeared for a moment, emerging moments later gripping an odd-looking device.

“What is
that
for?” She knew she sounded breathless, but how could she be blamed? Bodhan was at her feet, his dark cheeks flush with sensual knowledge and his arousal washing over her skin like heated oil. It was too much to ask that she resist.

His graveled voice sealed her fate. “Let me show you.”

Please.

Her only saving grace was that she had not uttered the plea aloud.

“Adjust the lenses.”

Dare licked her lower lip, attempting to do as he asked despite her many questions.

Another stolen item. It had to be. The ocularia devices were used exclusively by the Wode. She’d used one herself, to observe the comings and goings around Queen’s Hill. Though it had been more for Idony’s amusement than true surveillance.

Yet this, too, like the gyroscope, was far more advanced than any she’d seen. Or used. Its clarity through this amount of moving water was fascinating. So it had been stolen and then modified? A part of her wanted to ask, wanted to demand a direct answer. Surely if she did, his defenses would raise and this intimate tension between them would cease.

Was that why she remained silent?

He’d placed the ornate brass device on her head and over her eyes, adjusting the leather straps to fit to her comfortably before she could study the layers of multi-hued lenses. His warm, strong hands over hers, he showed her how to adjust it for the clearest view. Dare did not admit there was no need.

She pushed one lens down, and then the other, seeing the world blur and tightly focus accordingly. She looked past the spinning rings and gasped. Life. The sea was full of shadowy moving figures. How had she missed them? In particular, how had she missed the long, sinuous hunterfish and their smaller, more viciously fanged companions that swarmed in schools, hovering just outside the rings? They stayed away as though there were a physical barrier around the Siren, holding them back as the submersible slowly moved through their domain.

Bodhan’s body pressed against her knee, and she could feel his heat through the full fabric of her skirt. “No fear, princess. The sea monsters the sailors shy away from, as well as the fish they hunt, would not survive my Siren’s song. Her tune repels them. The design is so ingenious I am envious I did not invent it. Now, look toward the windows, and tell me what you can make out.”

Dare found the closest window and looked inside. One small adjustment to the ocularia and it was as if she were right outside, peering in. “Oh my.”

His palms were on her thighs now. Had he moved closer? “Describe what you see.”

“A lady from the rooms. The one in pink—”

“Coral,” he interrupted. “We call her Coral. Is she alone?”

“N-No. There are two men with her. One looks just like… Well, he’s dressed as a noble. The other is one of your guards.” She shouldn’t be watching this. She knew it.

And she knew the noble. The youngest son of the Heinwald line. His family would be disgraced if they knew he was in a brothel, shedding his clothes with such swift, shameless haste as Coral and the other man looked on, smiling.

“I should not be watching them.”

Bodhan chuckled. “But you are. And despite your protestations, you aren’t turning away. Interesting. You have stumbled upon the
perfect view, Dare. We wouldn’t want to shock you your first time out with Lavender’s acrobatics or Seraphina’s whips. And yes, you should watch. I will forgive my man James, who is undoubtedly taking his off-duty time to share in Coral’s pleasure with her customer, if you do.” His voice deepened. “No matter what you see, Dare. What you feel. Do
not
look away. What are they doing now?”

No matter what she felt? By watching them? Or the sensation of Bodhan’s own rising arousal as he gripped the fabric of her skirt in his hands?

“They are kissing. The men, both of them, are kissing her. Coral. Taking turns.” She took a flustered breath. “She is sitting on a table and James is letting the other man have his turn while he… Oh, her skirt…”

What was he doing? James had lifted Coral’s skirt, spreading her legs as he sat down at the table between them and… Was he kissing her there? In so intimate a place?

Dare’s body was on fire. A part of her knew she should close her eyes, but she could not. She had to watch. Coral’s ecstatic expression told Dare that she enjoyed the attention. Reveled in it. In fact, it seemed to inspire her to lean toward the noble who stood ready beside them and kiss his lean, pale torso.

“Dare, before I pressed my lips to yours, had you ever been kissed?”

“Never.” Her answer had come quickly. Been too emphatic. But she was far too distracted for caution. For coherent thought. No one had come close to attempting what she saw happening before her eyes. Perhaps it was her duties as Chalice and close ties with the queen. Or her unusual size for a shield guard that kept men away as the Siren repelled the creatures of the deep.

She had never imagined this, let alone wanted to experience it for herself. Until now, she’d had not the first inkling that this kind of
world, these types of feelings, existed. “Never,” she repeated in a soft, regretful whisper.

Bodhan’s fingers caressed her lips tenderly, one slipping just inside her mouth to touch her tongue. It was instinct that closed her lips around him. That sucked in her cheeks and tasted the salt of the sea and something uniquely male. Uniquely Bodhan.

He growled. “I will not lie and say I’m sorry for that. May I kiss you again?”

She tried to turn her head to study him, forgetting the device distorting her view, but he used his palm to keep her facing the noble’s room. “Keep watching. You don’t have to answer. I can see what you want, Dare. Your skin is flushed, your lips are parted… You enjoy watching. I’m glad. It’s something we have in common. You want my kiss as well. Another desire we share. Tell me no if you must, but I find I need to taste you, all of you, more than reason should allow.”

He wasn’t lying. No longer difficult to read, his lust was blinding inside her, merging, intensifying with her own. How could she deny them both? She did not say no, instead moaning softly when he pushed her skirt up to her waist and she heard the tear of the fabric that concealed her sex beneath.

She wanted what he wanted. What Coral was experiencing on the Siren, her back arching off the table as her hand pressed the guard’s head greedily against her.

Just once to not be what she was. To be woman, not Wode. To be Bodhan’s to do with as he would.

She watched the threesome caress and debauch each other, the experience enhanced by Bodhan’s hands sliding up her thighs, spreading them wider for his view.

“Smooth and pale as cream, you are. Nothing to obscure my view. You say you’ve never been kissed? Here as well? Then I will be the
first.” He inhaled sharply, his strong body shuddering slightly against hers. “You smell delicious, princess. What are they doing now?”

It took more time than it should have for her to respond. “Coral is… Her mouth is on the noble’s… Bodhan,
please
.”

She wasn’t sure what she was begging for. For him to touch more of her, to kiss her the way he’d described, or to order her to look away. Either one would be a relief. But he was in no mood for mercy.

“Sucking his cock? James must be jealous. I’m told she can send a man smiling to his grave with that mouth of hers. Can you imagine what it feels like, Dare? To have that power over a man? It
is
power. Most men would spill every secret, toss away every treasure for that kind of pleasure. Trust me, I know.”

Her breasts were heaving as she struggled to catch her breath. “Would you?” She remembered the hardness she had felt pressed against her. Would he want that from her? Want her to take him in her mouth? Why did that thought not horrify her?

Bodhan’s rasping timbre scraped along her spine. “Do not taunt me, Dare. Not when you’re this close, this open.” His fingers slid up the damp slit of fabric and his knuckles pressed against her bare sex. “This wet. I think it’s time for that second kiss. Watch them, but feel me.”

She felt his breath and gasped before his tongue replaced his hand. Was this what James had done? How Coral had felt? Her vision blurred as all her attention centered on the spot where his mouth touched her sex. Licked and sucked her flesh into his mouth, groaning against her skin as though he had never tasted anything as sweet.

Controlling her emotions, separating them from the external so she could use her ability to best aid and comfort the queen, had always been a part of her training. What Bodhan’s mouth was doing to her now took away her control.

She prayed he would continue. He must. She knew there
was more. Just as she’d known the first time he touched her. Hadn’t she been imagining it since then?

She gasped, focusing once more through the ocularia, unable to resist her curiosity. Coral’s mouth had left the noble’s body, and James had lifted his head from between her thighs. None, it seemed, was done with the other, despite the satisfied flush on Coral’s cheeks.

James stood, the panel of his pants spread open, and Coral locked her legs around his waist, pulling him closer.

Dare’s stocking-clad legs had lifted as well, seemingly of their own volition, to rest on Bodhan’s broad shoulders. A reaction he showed his approval of with hands that tightened on her skin, his tongue plunging deeper inside her.
Yes.

James had lifted Coral in his arms, her hips pumping the way Dare’s were, even as the other man came into view, standing behind the girl in pink. “Oh…
Oh my
.”

Bodhan lifted his mouth, his breathing heavy, his forehead pressed against her thigh. “Good girl. You’re still watching.” She felt his smile on her skin. “Pleasure for pleasure’s sake, my princess, debauched and unlawful, leads to endless combinations. Endless delights. She can have them both, take them both. And she loves it.”