Love a Sailor by Amanda Sandton

Clara.
    What can she do but thank him for his
kind thought, although I can see from her pinched expression that she is
annoyed. She gives a dismissive shrug and turns back to her conversation with
the Admiral. I’m not hurt by her behavior. Clara loves me, and if she is
displeased by my presence, it’s only because she was hoping for a touch of
glamour in her own right. She’ll come round and be her usual cheerful self
again.
    For what remains of dinner, I chat with
the pleasant couple across from me. Every now and then I feel the Captain’s
eyes on me, and when I glance his way he gives me a secret smile over the heads
of Clara and the Admiral.
    As everyone peels away from the table —
to go to the on-board theater, they say — the Captain gestures to me to remain.
At last we are alone and he moves down to take a seat next to me, pulling the
chair out and sitting down casually with his long legs stretched out and
crossed at the ankle. He puts his arm round my shoulders as if to comfort me.
“That wasn’t too bad, was it? Moira can look after Sukey for you every other
night when it’s your turn to babysit. You’ll have to be at the bottom of my
table, as I have several passengers whom it’s my job to make feel important.
But on your night off, you can sit next to me because your aunt will be
babysitting. She won’t be here to watch us.” He takes his hand away and
caresses my cheek in passing. “Come, I think it’s time we left. We mustn’t
overtax Moira’s indulgence. This is a long voyage.”
    He draws my chair out for me and gives a
quick look round the room to see how many passengers are left. We are the last,
and so he can put his arm round my waist and guide me out with his hand clasped
possessively round my hipbone. He holds me like that, folded against him, until
we reach the corridor to my cabin.
    Two doors up from our suite we pass a
door marked “Linen”. He jerks to a stop, spins round and checks both ways. No
one’s in sight. He opens the door and thrusts me inside, clicking on the light.
I steady myself against a rack of shelves as I almost lose my balance.
    I must look startled for he laughs,
“Sorry about that. Had to be quick. And don’t look so worried. I don’t have any
evil intentions. I just need to kiss you.”
    He doesn’t have to tell me he has no evil
intentions. I never feel scared of the Captain in that way.
    “I don't know what’s got into me,” he
goes on. “I don't know which is worse not seeing you, or seeing you and not
being able to touch you.”
    It’s a tight squeeze inside the cupboard
and he is already touching me, his body against mine from head to foot. He
places his hands on the shelf either side of my head.
    “Now, where did we leave off?” he jokes,
as he surveys my face. “Here, I think.”
    He trails a ribbon of soft kisses from my
chin to my ear. The touch of his lips sets my nerve endings alight and there’s
a delicious stirring deep within me. I am astonished at my involuntary
response. I never thought I could ever feel this way.
    “Or here?” He nibbles my ear and I bow my
head. He chuckles and strokes his tongue behind my ear towards my nape where he
mouth kisses me.
    The sensations he arouses in me make me wriggle
with pleasure. It’s like being tickled, but it’s not childish. It’s sensual in
a grown-up way. He rubs himself against me and inexperienced as I am, I can
tell that he is aroused. In spite of myself, I find myself shrinking back
against the rack.
    As if reading my thoughts, he says,
“Merry, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had it away with someone in this
cupboard, but I made you a promise and I’m sticking to it, so relax and enjoy
this.”
    I take a deep breath and decide I’ll feel
less threatened if I take the initiative, be less passive. I put my hands on
his chest and push him away, not to fend him off, but so that I can see his
face. He quirks an eyebrow at me, “Feeling impatient, young Merry?”
    Smiling, I