S. Welles - To Ocean's End

Delilah raised her brows in approval. “Again? Where do you find all that energy?”

“Just a side effect of spending quality time with a beautiful woman like you.” My free hand wandered to her breasts and started enjoying itself. Delilah wasn’t the brightest prostitute I’d met but boy did she make up for it with her prowess in bed, along with her looks and playful personality. “Do you think you’ll remember me next time? I’ll be gone for about a year but I try to leave a lasting impression.”

I respected women but I wasn’t loyal to any one of them anymore; just had a few favorites around the globe. After getting cursed, going through several divorces, and then finally outliving the one that wanted to be with me unto death do us part, monogamy lost its appeal. Being promiscuous saved me from falling in love ever again, at least not with a mortal soul. Delilah, though, had become my number one favorite in just five short days. She did have the same hair and smile as Rhode, two traits that had rushed me into picking her over all the other beautiful women at Summer Lotus.

She rolled over and straddle my thighs. “After these last few days, I’ll never forget you, Captain Dyne Lavere. That I promise.” She leaned her curvaceous body forward and planted a kiss on my lips.

My hands broadened their exploration and she sat on my legs. “Good. I have to head back out today.”

She pouted. “Already? Are you sure you can’t stay one more day?”

I massaged her thighs. Her head tilted back ever so slightly as her lips parted. I loved the sight of that. “Duty calls, sadly. I have a reputation to maintain.”

“Which one?” she asked as she pointedly stared at my hard-on.

Two could play at that game. I reached for her inner thighs and started massaging. She spread her legs a little wider and let out a heavy sigh. “My professional one; not my pleasuring one.”

“The other girls at the brothel got so jealous when you picked me over everyone else. Do you know the things people say about you?” She scooted higher up my thighs and began caressing my arms.

I’d picked her because she was the only one with red hair. Just a personal favorite. That and it was just as wavy as Rhode’s. I knew she was avoiding my full mast, just to be delightfully teasing. I switched to using both hands and got another sigh out of her. I also knew about the rumors surrounding me outside the bedroom. How could I not know? Still, I decided to play dumb just to hear the latest tall tales that had been spun. “And what do they say about me?”

“They say that you’re a cursed sailor,” she said, then paused, I guessed, to see if I’d scoff or anything. I kept quiet and just looked into her eyes. “You’ve been around for hundreds of years, have lived to see the end of the world and watched humanity rebuild itself. They also say that danger always seems to find you. Because of this, you go through a crew a year. You use black magic to trick sailors into working for you, then drown them in the sea to please whatever gods are out there.”

That was far enough away from the truth to not care. I smirked. “Is that right?”

She shrugged, making her curls fall behind her shoulders. “I don’t believe any of it. If anything, your libido is your curse. How do you survive such long periods at sea without a woman to keep you warm?”

“Fond thoughts of women like you.” If I wasn’t cursed with longevity, I could have easily fell for her. I was already daydreaming of spending endless days away from my ship just to make sweet love with her, but then I pictured myself still stuck in my forties while she was on her deathbed. Humans needed companionship, romance. It’d been over a hundred years since the last time I’d outlived a wonderful woman. I wanted to believe I had it in me to do that again, but I wasn’t in a hurry to find out.

“Then I shall give you a parting gift, Captain.”

She started to go down on me but I grabbed her butt cheeks and threw her onto the mattress with my legs still between hers. Her bouncing breasts called to my hands. I obliged. And I’ll be damned if I ever let a woman please me before I pleased her. That had subtle repercussions. “Ladies first.”

“Oh, Captain,” she said in a throaty voice.

Another perk of living too long: becoming a sex guru. Made for fun conversation between shipping deliveries when the boys wanted advice. And pleasing women helped curb the pain and yearning for the woman I couldn’t have.

The only downside to vacations was that they ended. All good things came and went. Jessie woke around midmorning, lying naked in the same bed as Mido, she on one side and he on the other. There was a little space between them so she could sleep peacefully.

They hadn’t been able to go all the way over the past few days. They’d tried one more time last night but one good blow to Mido’s temple, which almost knocked him out, and they decided to slow things down. To Jessie’s relief, she was able to reciprocate pleasuring him with her hands. Any other way propelled her into terrible flashbacks. A couple of men had made her choke.

Mido didn’t mind taking things slower. He coached her through many techniques and tricks that he best responded to, and she was rewarded with his satisfied smile and him needing to catch his breath between bouts. And of course lots of kisses and hugs, some chocolates, another trip to the spa, and hours of peaceful time together.

Jessie rolled over to find Mido watching her rest, a contented smile on his face. He hadn’t stopped smiling since their first time in bed together—well, the blow to his head made him stop for a bit, but they’d laughed at that in retrospect. She leaned in and gave him a morning kiss, which turned into multiple kisses. Their behavior would be restrained on the ship, so they had to spend every last bit of energy today. Jessie didn’t want the whole crew to know what they were doing every time they disappeared, so it would be in both their interest to not want to partake in such adult behavior while out to sea. Their kissing turned into heavy breathing and a full make out.

Ah, the joys of the bunny stage. She was going to miss this back on the ship.

They mutually stopped kissing to catch their breath. Mido threw off the sheet. “Shower time.” Before Jessie could so much as nod, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her off into the bathroom. Once the water was running, they hopped in and worked towards putting each other into a sex coma.

The sky was a mix of sun and clouds, and the shore typically windy. Jessie and Mido drank in the scenery while he leisurely worked through a plate of grilled tilapia, and she a grilled chicken panini. Jessie might never see Revivre again, and Mido might not return for at least a year. They were both comfortable saying nothing and just enjoying each other’s company. They’d both verbally agreed that if neither of them had nothing interesting to say, then don’t talk just to talk. However, Mido looked like he had something on his mind.

Just as Jessie finished making that observation, Mido said, “So our next stop is your home. What do you think you’ll do?”

She sized up her sandwich, trying to decide whether or not to take another bite and from where. She was halfway through it and already feeling full. What a heavy question on such a light day. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I kind of don’t want to think about it until we get there.”

“Why not?” He asked the question innocently enough, but it still made Jessie feel like an open book. He had to already know what she was thinking.

She took a bite to stall her answer, and then a sip of lemonade from her perspiring glass. There was no point in stalling, other than to stretch out their time away from the crew. “I don’t want to leave you.”