Aboard the Lady May Ch. 03

Felix's transition from sleep to consciousness was, as always, instantaneous. Opening his eyes, he blinked once against the pale predawn light, and was wholly alert before he drew his first waking breath. Despite the deep pleasure he took in the warmth of Jamie's still-sleeping body sprawled atop his chest, he became immediately aware of two sources of discomfort. One was his neck, cricked at an awkward angle against a makeshift pillow comprising Jamie's destroyed clothing. The second was his cock, fully erect and throbbing, rising between Jamie's smooth thighs. Thin as the girl was, she didn't provide a thick enough barrier, and the head of his shaft protruded to rub against the rough wool blanket covering them. Felix shifted slightly and winced from the raspy fibers that snagged his sensitive skin.

He toyed briefly with the idea of lifting Jamie, tipping her hips, and using the swell of the ship's movement to softy fuck her awake. It would, he thought, be delicious to coax her swollen folds into permitting his invasion, teasing her, entering by increments as he had the night before. Only the thought of her recently lost virginity kept him from acting on the impulse. The fact that she'd lost her hymen—likely years before—to her physical work as a sailor didn't necessarily preclude any soreness, and, always aware of her past, Felix was as yet reluctant to initiate any sexual contact to which she had not consciously consented.

Administering to her body's needs, however, was another matter entirely. That had to be done, and if Felix could finish before she awoke, he could perhaps spare her the embarrassment to which she seemed particularly susceptible.

Doing his best to move smoothly and silently, Felix tightened the hand that still rested on her backside and raised his other to cradle her head. He rolled then, taking the blanket with them, and landed on his knees so that Jamie lay on her back and he knelt above her, his body arched, hands still beneath her to cushion her landing. Gently extracting his hands, he rose to a kneeling position and paused for a moment to study the girl.

She was still deeply asleep, her short red hair framing her face in choppy waves. Unlike other redheads Felix had known, only a faint trace of freckles smattered her nose and cheekbones, and both her brows and lashes were several shades darker than her copper locks. Beside her bright head, one hand lay palm-up while the other rested in the severe hollow of her stomach. Her abraded breasts, nearly flattened against her chest, rose and fell with her steady breathing. Pathetically thin and bearing multiple dark bruises, her body showed only slight signs of improvement from the day and a half she'd spent on board the Lady May. But she was clean now at least, and deeply relaxed, seemingly at peace. She had a meal inside her—two, in fact—and Felix would see to it that she had as much good food as she could hold. It was one of the few things he could promise her with any measure of certainty.

Hoping to finish before she woke, Felix moved to gather his salve pot, a clean cloth, the wash bucket. The water was cold now, tinged gray-pink with coal soap and Thaniel's blood, but it was all Felix had at hand, and he needed very little water anyway. He dipped the cloth, wrung until only moisture remained, then moved between Jamie's slightly sprawled legs. Wishing he had a pillow to slip beneath her hips, Felix settled instead for one of his hands, tipped up to expose her more fully.

He used the dampened cloth to clean his dried semen from her inner thighs and pubic hair, then wiped between each fold before he covered one finger with the fabric and gently washed inside her body. Jamie shifted at his invasion, moaning softly and opening her thighs slightly wider, making Felix smile at the trust she gave to him unconsciously. Pleased not to see any of her blood on the cloth, he used it then to wash his still semi-hard shaft before tossing it quickly aside.

He'd lowered her to the ground and was fiddling with the lid on the salve pot when Jamie gasped, snapped her legs together, and bolted upright. She blinked rapidly, obviously still disoriented with sleep, then sagged in relief when Felix reached out, shushing her. Setting one big hand on her shoulder, he began to rub it and the back of her neck, while Jamie closed her eyes and breathed deep, waiting for her heart to fall from her throat and settle back into her chest. It took several minutes, then she swallowed once and tilted her cheek to rest against Felix's thick wrist.

"Alright now?" he asked.

Jamie opened her eyes to find Felix's face bent close to hers, his concern evidenced by the deep crease between his eyes. She turned to kiss his wrist, then straightened. "Yes," she said, slightly shaky, still battling the last remnants of panic. "I don't often wake naked with a man between my legs, is all."

Felix smiled despite his slight sense of guilt, then raised the salve pot for her to see. "I'm sorry," he said. "I was trying to use this before you woke, seeing how you hate it so much."

"Felix—" Jamie recoiled, the pleading apparent in her tone.

His hand, still on the back of her neck, slid around to silence her imminent protests. She looked at him, dark blue eyes beseeching over the top of his hand, and he felt the force of her appeal but did not allow it to dissuade him from his intent.

"I don't do this to hurt or shame you," he said. "You do know that, don't you, girl?"

Unable to speak, she nodded, her mouth moving against his hard palm.

"And I won't have you healing improperly," he continued, "becoming ill, hurting for any longer than is necessary."

Jamie's head bowed, but Felix could still read resistance in the rigid lines of her body. The chords in her neck were starkly defined, her back mainmast straight, both hands fisted atop her upraised knees. Taking his hand from her mouth, Felix resumed massaging her neck and shoulders, but she was so tense now there was hardly any give at all to her skin. He waited, hoping she would concede freely, but after several minutes she remained stiff and unyielding.

"Please, Jamie," he whispered, "don't make me force you."

Had it been possible, Jamie would have tightened her muscles further still against Felix's touch. She felt a quick spurt of fury that he would appropriate her pain, that he would take her reluctance to hurt him and use it in such a way that she was forced instead to hurt herself. She unfisted her hands from atop her knees and gripped the joints until they groaned in protest, all the while biting her tongue to keep bitter words from spilling forth.

Then her shoulders slumped, her anger draining away as quickly as it had erupted. As he said, he did not mean to hurt her, and she would rather have his empathy—as imperfect as it must necessarily be—than his indifference. Still, though, she could not quite manage to look at him while he did this.

Moving quickly, not giving her mind the chance to rebel against her body, she rolled to her knees then leaned forward, curled herself into a ball, pressed her forehead against the rough wool blanket while her hands gripped fistfuls of fabric.

Felix, having read her rage as well as its near-instant retreat, opted not to dawdle. His mother'd had a saying about bitter medicine, how it was best swallowed quickly, and though he could not remember its exact wording, he recalled the principle well enough. Then, when he'd coated his index finger in the salve and was just beginning to rim Jamie's bruised rectum, he remembered his grandmother's secret addendum to the adage—the dollop of honey she'd drop in his tonic, winking as she whispered that a touch a sugar couldn't but make the bitter better.

Felix smiled in fond memory of his grandmother and, holding his greased finger still, leaned forward to brush his mouth across Jamie's back. She jumped, surprised by the soft touch, then sighed as Felix's wind-chapped lips began to skim the length of her spine. His free hand stroked her side, counting ribs that felt like coiled rope beneath her skin, then slid further down to touch her belly. Curled tight as she was, Felix struggled for a moment to worm his hand between her stomach and thighs, then succeeded in sliding his hand through to the other side. Taking her opposite hip in hand, Felix raised his forearm, forcing Jamie's backside up while he simultaneously nudged one knee between her calves, widening the space between her thighs.

"Felix," Jamie began, "what—?" But she never completed the question.

Releasing her hip, Felix dragged his hand back across Jamie's stomach, then quickly changed course to angle toward her naked, newly-washed cunt. Still more distressed than excited, she wasn't wet, but there was enough moisture between the soft lips of her sex for Felix to dampen one fingertip, which he then drew higher and used to trace small circles on and around her clit.

Jamie gasped, surprised by the intensity of the touch, and her hips twitched involuntarily away from the unexpected stimulation. The motion, however, served only to force her into firmer contact with the index finger of his other hand, which was still behind her, still slick with liniment, and still poised to penetrate her tender rectum. Sucking in another sharp breath, Jamie reversed the movement, thrusting her pelvis forward, then cried out at the force with which she mashed her clit against Felix's callused fingertip.

"Felix—" she whimpered. Her hands were fisted, gripping wads of the wool blanket, while her sleekly muscled flanks quivered slightly with the repressed desire to move in either one direction or the other. "I don't—" Felix's finger moved on her clit, and she moaned, "Why?"

"Why what, Jamie?" Felix leaned forward then, allowing her to feel the heat of his body along her back, and hoped the sensation made her feel safe rather than trapped. He whispered, "I like to touch you." Dipping briefly back inside her body's entrance, he was pleased to find her slick secretions now flowing freely. "I though you liked it too."

"Yes..." The word came out in a slow hiss as Felix's fingers dragged through her folds, spreading wetness. "I do. But—" She broke off, stiffening as the light pressure against her anus began suddenly to increase.

"But you didn't think I could make you like this," he finished for her, pressing gradually inward as his salved finger rimmed around and around her sore opening. At the same time he flattened the hand in front of her, palming her mound, and began to rock the bone at the base of his thumb back and forth across her clit.

Jamie shook her head, the rough fibers of the wool blanket rasping her forehead. She hadn't thought he could make her like this—and she wasn't sure she wanted him to. Astute as she was, Felix's actions smacked of some intent other than distracting her while he helped her body to heal. She felt as if he were laying the groundwork, beginning to prepare her as quickly as he thought was prudent for her future role on board the Lady May. She didn't blame him for this; she was in fact grateful for his honesty in admitting that his protection could only go so far. At the same time, however, she'd hoped to avoid this truth for another day or two—to revel in the thought of belonging, if only for a moment, to nobody but Felix.

Still, even while the slick finger that gently eased past her sphincter inevitably recalled memories she'd far rather forget, Jamie couldn't keep back her low groan of pleasure or stop her hips from shifting backward, impaling herself a bit more, stopping only when the thick ridge of a knuckle nudged her stretched entrance.

Felix encouraged her backward movement by pressing even more firmly against her mound. Her clit was swollen, firm as a kernel against the base of his thumb, and he concentrated there, increasing the speed of his rocking motion. When he crooked his hand, shifting to slip one finger between the lips of her neglected sex, Jamie shuddered and gripped a fold of the wool blanket between her teeth. Felix began to move his fingers, slowly, thrusting first with one then the other while his opposite hand pulled back, and she bit down hard, closing her eyes as she moaned around the moist fabric in her mouth.

Jamie was lost, her attention turned inward, focused wholly on Felix's touch inside her, behind her, so she didn't notice when the hold's door creaked slowly open.

Felix did.

Reacting instantly, Felix set more of his weight on Jamie's back, forcing her flat, hiding her breasts against the blanket, while at the same time he shifted his hand to fully cover her mound, concealing what was—or wasn't—underneath. He maintained his fingers' steady rhythm inside her, and Jamie shifted against him, her body insistent, seemingly oblivious to Felix's sudden tension, and to his deep sigh of relief when Peter's face peeked around the door's edge.

Peter started, his freckled face flushing red, but made no move to retreat. His eyes were glued to Jamie's sinuously writhing body. All of her secret places were covered by either her position or by Felix's hands, but she was still naked and it was still obvious what Felix was doing to her, and how much she was enjoying it.

Felix cleared his throat once, then a second time before Peter finally raised his gaze from Jamie's nakedness. Felix didn't blame the boy, knowing as he did from Peter's past admission that he'd never touched a woman outside his family, much less seen one fully undressed. Still, Felix knew it would upset Jamie to have another observe her in her moments of passion. She seemed neither shy nor particularly inhibited, but she was, Felix suspected, a deeply private person. She had good cause to be; her life depended on it.

Peter shook his head to break his fascination then smiled an apology at Felix, who merely quirked one brow in question.

Raising the bundle of clothes he'd brought, Peter mouthed, 'Where?,' all the while making an admirable attempt to keep his eyes from flicking back toward Jamie.

Felix shook his head. 'Later,' he mouthed.

Peter nodded in understanding. If he were to leave the clothing now, Felix would have to explain the items' sudden appearance to Jamie after...

Felix held back a chuckle as Peter flushed redder, easily reading the direction of the boy's thoughts. His amusement faded, however, when Peter didn't immediately withdraw, but rather continued to stand there, staring, in the wide open doorway. It was all well and good, in Felix's opinion, to admire a woman, to want her, but it was another matter entirely when a man's lust put her at risk.

Felix cleared his throat roughly and was glad when Peter flinched, recognizing the anger in the sound. 'Close the door,' Felix mouthed, his lips' movement deliberate, and Peter nodded, jumping at once to beat a hasty—and thankfully silent—retreat.

Glad the boy was finally gone, Felix redoubled his efforts to bring Jamie to pleasure. He ceased alternating and began instead to softly stab both fingers inside her at once, filling her cunt and rectum simultaneously, while he used the base of his thumb to keep constant, steady pressure on her clit. Jamie groaned loudly around the blanket in her mouth, and the muscles in her entire body began to tense and tremble.

The entire exchange with Peter had taken less than a minute, but it still seemed miraculous to Felix that Jamie's eyes had remained closed, that she hadn't noticed the change in his demeanor, that she'd stayed wholly unaware of Peter's unwitting interruption. It might not have been disastrous had she become aware of her rapt audience, but it would definitely have curtailed her imminent climax and would also have thrown off the rest of Felix's impromptu plan. He'd more than succeeded in getting her to welcome his finger inside her rectum, but now he waned to see if he could take her even further.

Felix continued to caress her until she was sweating and shivering, until the muscles in both of her passages were fluttering around his fingers, until the muffled sounds coming from her mouth had deepened from soft whimpers into harsh, animal-like grunts.

And then he stopped.

Jamie cried out, her teeth releasing the blanket. She tried to push back against him, but Felix predicted the movement and acted accordingly. Even while she hunched herself backward, seeking the touch that had brought her so close to bursting, Felix's fingers were a heartbeat ahead of her, withdrawing faster than her attempt to keep up with his retreat. When both fingers slipped free, leaving her aching and empty, Jamie let loose a sobbing lungful of air and began mindlessly to twitch her hips from side to side.

The sway of her backside was as mesmerizing to Felix as if he were a sea snake, and she a kelp forest he might hide himself inside. Her unnatural thinness didn't matter. The bruises on her hips that he knew were too small and closely spaced for his hands to have made didn't matter. The abraded lines across her back where her breast band had rubbed didn't matter. None of it was of any consequence. To him, she was lovely. He stared for several moments, unable to break his gaze.

"Felix," Jamie gasped, her frustration evident. "Please, why did you—?"

He gently gripped her hips then, forcing her to stillness, and Jamie stopped talking.

Changing the angle of his body behind her, Felix leaned forward, bending his knees to slide the hot length of his cock between her thighs. They both shivered as he slid forward, his shaft pressing lengthwise between her wet folds, until the broad head rubbed up and over her clit. Then he began slowly to reverse the motion.

"No—" Jamie moaned, thinking he meant to leave her again, but then she sighed in relief when he withdrew only partially before moving forward once more.

This time, when Felix's groin was pressed firmly against Jamie's backside, he leaned forward, arching his large body over her much smaller one, covering her completely. He supported his weight with one forearm propped on the blanked before Jamie's face, and she shifted, wrapping one hand partway around his bicep. She gripped his fingers with her other hand and raised her brow from the damp wool blanket to resettle against the hair-roughened muscle of Felix's forearm.

Felix squeezed her fingers in return, then kissed the side of her head and raised his free hand to tease her clit as his hips resumed their slow thrusting motion. He could feel her beneath him, sweating and trembling, and knew she was still on the brink of release.

"Jamie," he whispered against her ear, then paused to softly bite the fleshy lobe. "Can I come inside you?"

He braced his thumb in front of her clit, then nudged it from behind with the head of his cock. Jamie jerked and pressed her forehead even harder against his forearm.

"Yes!" she gasped, tugging on his fingers that were twisted through her own. "Please."

"You're sure?" he asked, his hands and cock still assaulting her sex from both sides. "You're not sore at all?" He rubbed his cheek against her tousled hair, adding, "I don't want to hurt you, girl."

"Yes," she said, then quickly, "No! I mean, no, I'm not sore. And yes, I'm sure. You won't hurt me."

His hips drew back, and Jamie whimpered, anticipating the heavy pressure against the entrance to her sex. She'd lied to Felix. She was sore. But she didn't care. Even if it did hurt, she knew it couldn't possibly be worse than the hollow throb between her legs and the fierce cramps constricting her muscles into knots. She felt like a pocket watch that was wound to the point of rupture, her body rigid and shaking, ready to shatter.

Felix's slowly dragged his cock backward across her slit, but then instead of beginning to enter her, he continued his retreat, shifting his hips higher to settle the spongy head of his shaft against her liniment-slick anus.