Michelle Styles - The Gladiator's Honor

His hands gently nudged her thighs apart and became entangled in her curls. One finger touched her innermost spot and then retreated. A stab of fear coursed through her. What would he find there? Would he become angry like Lucius had? Julia steeled herself for rejection. But he kissed a forefinger, then touched her lips. The need within her deepened.

She tugged at his shoulders and he moved back up her body until the tip of him was positioned between her thighs.

'Are you ready?' His voice was barely recognizable.

She stiffened, knowing what was coming next and fearing the pain that had always come with it. She worried her earlier experiences had spoilt her for ever. And she hated to think that he might be disappointed in her. But how to tell him? She wanted to go on, her body demanded it, but she was nervous about the ultimate joining. She wanted him to experience what she was. Her fingers reached out and touched the smooth curls on his head where they caressed his forehead.

He raised his head, his dark eyes boring into her, reaching her soul. 'I only want to give you pleasure, Julia. You are giving me so much. See what you are doing to me. Feel what you are doing.'

He gently took her hand and brought it down to his shaft, urged her to touch it, to explore its smooth hardness. It felt like warm marble. A shudder of excitement coursed through her body. She had caused this. He wanted her. He was here because he wanted to taste her, to kiss her, to make love to her. He was not here because it was his duty. He was here because he desired her and wanted to give her pleasure.

She drew his face towards hers and recaptured his mouth, parting her lips and inviting his tongue to enter and take possession of her. He groaned in the back of his throat. Their tongues touched, tasted and tormented each other until she felt the warmth between her legs grow hot and slick.

With each stroke of his tongue, her fears receded until they became consumed in the flame he was stoking inside her. Every nerve in her body tingled as if it was on fire. She felt his probing fingers enter her secret place once again and shuddered with pleasure as they slipped in and out, faster and faster. Her back arched, demanding more. She wanted everything. Her legs parted. She moaned in the back of her throat and she felt the whole length of him enter her and her body stretched to envelope him.

Then he lay still, with his pulsating warmth buried deep within her as if that was all he desired. But Julia knew it was not enough. Not nearly enough. She needed more. She wanted to feel the pleasure that comes with joining. With an age-old instinct, she began to move her hips, feeling the length of him within her, increasing her need for him.

Always when she was married, she had dreaded this bit and had tried to lie as still as possible, but now she knew she wanted it to last for ever. She wanted to feel the rhythm of his body, this feeling of soaring and yet being as close to someone as possible. This is what the poets wrote about. This was why the gods came down to earth. This was what it meant to be a woman.

She moved her hips faster and he responded, matching her stroke for stroke. She rode the crest with him until the shuddering finish, a finish where she heard a cry and found it impossible to tell from whose breath it had been torn as he plunged deep within her body.

Later, in the circle of his arms, Julia trailed her hand in the cool water of the bath. A languor filled her; although her body ached in places she never dreamt possible, she had never felt this satisfied, this alive before. This was what lovemaking was supposed to feel like. At last, she understood why the poets praised it. Her encounters with Lucius had never made her feel this way.

She had assumed her failure with Lucius had been her fault, but she now knew that for a lie. She had not failed with Valens. What passed between them was beyond all her imaginings.

'It appears I have delayed you,' she said, her lips curving as she remembered the pleasure and it was pleasure he had given her.

Valens gave a smile and pushed a tendril of hair back from her forehead.

'Would that you could always delay me like this,' he said, pulling her close and running a hand down her body. Then he heaved a sigh and straightened. 'But I fear you are correct, the water will be only enough to wash the sweat from my brow. Luckily I found another way to ease my ache.'

Always . A thrill of excitement followed by a stab of fear ran through Julia. She wanted to think no further than his arms, but she had to. She wanted this to more than just one encounter. She knew that this was the man she wanted to be with for ever, but her father would never allow a liaison with a slave. It was a scandal for a Roman woman of patrician descent to be involved with a plebeian, a common man, let alone a slave.

The story Claudia had imparted about Marcia Augustina and her lover rose in her mind and a shudder ran through her soul. Exile, a living death and the lover had died. Julia gazed over Valens's naked shoulder towards the dolphins frolicking on the wall. Never to see Rome again or to hear her father's voice. To lose her identity and cease to be a member of the Julius family. Despite the passion she had just experienced, she wasn't sure she was ready for that. She had to be sensible.

Gladiators were for one night was Claudia's motto. It had to be hers as well. She would have to become like the other women who followed the sport. She stood up and started dressing, a small action to bring normality back to her world.

'You are thinking deep thoughts,' he said, catching her hand; his thumb traced small circles on the inside of her wrist, sending sensation after sensation up her arm. Her knees started to turn liquid and she was certain she'd press herself against him, demanding.

'Just thoughts,' she replied and wondered if there was anything she could do, any way she could get him to be a citizen instead of a gladiator. If he wasn't a slave, there was the slimmest of chances she could persuade her father to accept the union. Then she would not have to face the awful spectre of leaving everything she held dear. Her hands trembled as she tried to fasten her belt. 'Mainly about how we depart from this place and what happens after that'

'You should go first. Now,' he said, his face turning grave. He took the belt from her unresisting hand and tightened it about her chest 'Dinner will be soon and your stepmother will be expecting your presence.'

Their gazes met and held.

Julia swallowed hard. She should go, but her feet refused to move. She wanted to stay wrapped in this cocoon of safety, not to face what lay out there.

'I want to stay with you,' she whispered and lay her head against his chest 'A little while longer.'

He shook his head before planting a kiss on her forehead.

'You must go.' He gave her hand a squeeze and rubbed his thumb against her swollen lips. 'There will be time to be together, I promise, but for now…'

Julia felt the colour rise in her cheeks. He made it sound as if this meant more to him than a quick tumble. For now, that was enough. It would have to be enough. Until she figured out a way. There had to be a way.

'Sleep tight, my gladiator,' she said, gathering her things in her arms. 'May no Furies invade your dreams tonight'

'Should I encounter one, I know where to find a cure.' He opened the bathroom door, and quickly glanced outside. 'Now go while there is no one about and before your stepmother decides to investigate where you are.'

Julia walked quickly away from the bath suite, vowing with each tap of her sandal that one day she would not skulk in the corners with Valens, but would stand by his side.

Valens stared after Julia's slim figure as she flitted across the courtyard. With each step, he watched the curve of her ankle appear and disappear. She stopped in the doorway and looked back, her gaze meeting his. The tide of passion began to rise again in Valens's body. He longed to go to her and bring her back into this enchanted room.