This was seriously out on a limb for a girl who’d slept with exactly two men in her life. And when the bartender poured even more rum on her, this time much farther down, Clementine nearly jumped off the table when Sebastian’s mouth followed the trickles of sticky fluid. She reached down and curled her fingers into his hair, reveling in the warmth she felt deep down in her belly. Clementine moaned out loud as Sebastian slid his tongue ever so slightly beneath the edge of her bikini bottoms without exposing the rest of her; they were secured by nothing and hanging about as low as possible. She could only wish for him to continue where he was headed, but he thankfully kept enough of his wits about him to know when to stop. After lapping his tongue from hip to hip, he dragged it back toward her chin, taking a few final licks on her breasts along the way.
“Had enough?” he whispered into her ear.
“Technically, no,” she said. “But anything more and I’m afraid this might end up on a pay-per-view porn site.”
“At least I’d be able to relive the experience.”
“For an exorbitant fee,” she said. “Besides, it’ll never be quite the same.”
“I know one way we can improve upon it.”
Clementine cocked an eyebrow. “I hope it doesn’t involve a cheering contingent.”
Sebastian shook his head. “I promise you’ll have an audience of only one.”
After tying up the sides of her bikini bottoms, he reached out a hand and pulled her up, helping her down off the bar. All around her, men whistled and cheered, while a few shouted vulgar suggestions, which Clem couldn’t even be too furious about, all things considered. Besides, those Painkillers meant nothing (or no one) would hurt her.
Once upright, Clementine reclaimed her embarrassment and quickly rushed to secure her bikini top around her neck and across her back. Sebastian kept his hand at the small of her back and steered her toward the dock. Once there, they found their dinghy and she quickly hopped in, while Sebastian untied them.
The dinghy soon motored out of sight of the Willy-T and away from sailboats anchored nearby. Sebastian found an empty mooring ball and tied up to it temporarily.
“And here I thought you were going to wine and dine me,” Clem said. “Instead we’re tied up to a ball bobbing in the bay. Not a cocktail or chocolates or even roses to pave the way.”
“I figured it was too soon to return to The Royal Blue,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is walk in on those two going at it.”
“Yep,” she said. “We’d never be able to unsee that.”
Sebastian nodded. “That would be a buzzkill.”
“To say the least. So what’s our plan B then?”
Sebastian turned toward Clementine, pulling her head toward his, their faces just inches apart.
“What say we pick up where we left off?”
“So you’re suggesting we have dinghy sex?” she said. “Right here? In the middle of the ocean in this dinky little dinghy?”
“Stranger things have happened,” he said. “Besides, I take great pride in the cleanliness of my dinghy. You could literally eat off the floor.”
“Clean enough to eat, clean enough to boff, eh? This is sort of like a one-night stand on the ocean.”
“Try it, you might like it,” he said as he planted his lips on hers, his tongue licking the seam of her lips until she opened them and welcomed him in, her tongue tangling with his as their hands grappled along each other’s bodies.
“Back at that bar—that was beyond doubt the sexiest thing I think I’ve ever seen,” he said to her. “You were so amazingly hot.”
“You weren’t too bad yourself,” she said, “once I got over the fact that I had an audience.”
“You’re a wild one,” Sebastian said. “If I had known there were women like you back home in Monaforte, I may never have left.”
Clem shook her head. “Trust me, this is not normal behavior for me. You’re more likely to find me in yoga pants and a workout top, or the opposite, with one of those crazy big hats on top of my head and a tastefully elegant designer dress covering all of this up.” She motioned toward her body with her hands.
“Well, then, I’m grateful you picked tonight to let it all hang out,” he said. “My only regret is we had to stop.” He kissed her long and hard. “And my hope is that we can get back to where we were before we so rudely interrupted.”
She cocked her eyebrow. “Who interrupted us?”
“Decorum.” He kissed her again.
She laughed into his mouth. “I’d say decorum was tossed overboard about two hours ago. At least for me it was.”
“Let’s not argue over niggling details when we can get down to business,” he said, leaning her against the bench on the small rubber boat, pressing his body to hers as they continued to kiss. She reached her hands toward the waistband of his trunks, slipping her fingers beneath the edge. Sebastian grabbed the tie at her neck and tugged, and her top dropped readily, allowing him to return to the scene of the crime. Clem moaned as he locked his lips on a nipple while pinching the other between his thumb and forefinger. Meanwhile, she found and popped the snap to his trunks and shifted them down his lean hips, taking his hard length in her hand and stroking him eagerly.
With a gasp, Sebastian scrambled to untie her swimsuit bottom, allowing his fingers to find their way to her smooth folds, as she cried out from the sensation of his warm flesh right there. He pressed them into her wet center, slowly at first but pumping harder as Clem’s breathing became heavy. She thrust her hips toward him, urging him on.
“Come for me, baby,” he said to her as he reached back to her breast with his mouth while his hand continued to work her, and Clementine broke, calling out his name as she shuddered hard, panting to catch her breath.
“Oh, my God. That was long overdue,” she said. “Please tell me you’ve got a condom in your dinghy.”
Sebastian sighed, laughing out of pure frustration. “That sounds like you’re talking in code. Wish I could say ‘guilty as charged,’ but I did not come prepared. The problem with swim trunks is there’s not much room for gratification preparedness.”
“Crap,” she said. “Then let’s untie this thing and hurry back to the boat. I know where to find a huge stash.”
“All right. But let’s remember exactly where we were. He tugged his trunks back on reluctantly and reached over for one more kiss.
“I think we’ll be able to figure that out.” She gave his package a gentle squeeze.
For the five minutes back to the sailboat, Clementine helped save their place, her hand pressed against the bulge in his trunks.
“God, you’re making me crazy,” he said. “We’re almost there. Five minutes, tops, and I’ll have you right where I want you.”
But as they approached the boat they heard voices talking loudly, and it became readily apparent that satisfaction was no longer immediately guaranteed.
Chapter Four
They quickly tied onto the sailboat and climbed aboard.
“My God, it looks as if someone’s been slaughtered here,” Clementine said when she flicked on a nearby light, revealing a trail of blood leading down the steps. “What’s with the carnage? Pips?” she said, yelling. “Everybody okay?”
Clementine raced down the steps, following the trail of blood, only to come upon her friend, clad in nothing but a white bloodstained sheet.
“What in bloody hell is going on here?” Clementine said just as she heard Sebastian burst out in laughter above them.
Clementine looked up through a hatch in Topher’s cabin to see his brother Zander, of all people, peering down at her.
“Well this must be one hell of a story I can’t wait to hear,” she heard Sebastian say.
“Shut up and don’t laugh,” Topher said.
“Um, I feel very much as if I’m not supposed to be witnessing something here. Only I don’t know quite what it is,” Clementine said, loud enough that the men could hear her through the open hatch. “But
I’m worried about what is bleeding on you, Pippa. Can I help somehow?”
“Cripes, I thought I was going to lose the circulation to my lower half,” Topher said above them.
“I’m pretty sure your lower half took a vote and wouldn’t let that happen, judging by what I saw a few minutes ago,” Pippa said, explaining that he’d been sporting a hard-on despite an unfortunate accident that led him to be stuck headfirst in the hatch, a window opening in the ceiling of his cabin he’d fallen into.
“Ha, ha, very funny,” Topher said.
“Anyone care to enlighten us about what happened?” Sebastian said.
Topher sighed. “It’s a long story. Probably not really relevant to any of you.”
“Are you joking?” Zander asked. “We’re all standing around and you haven’t got any clothes on and minutes ago you were hanging ass over teakettle from a boat hatch with a woodie. If this isn’t a story we need to hear, nothing is. In fact, I need to record this one for posterity.”
“Uh, Zander? What on earth are you doing here?” Clementine said just as Topher flipped out on his brother for trying to videotape him with his phone.
“Toph! No! It’s not worth it!” Pippa shouted from below before she turned to run upstairs to handle things on the deck. But it was too late. All Clem could hear was the sound of Topher charging his brother and the resulting splash into the dark waters below.
~*~
“Okay, so just to get this all straight. You,” Clementine said, pointing at Topher, “heard a motor and thought it was us. And you didn’t want the two of you to be discovered stark naked on the catamaran’s trampoline, so you scurried down the hatch, face-first, to grab a blanket from your berth.”
Topher nodded, a frown on his face, still seething at his brother, who’d climbed back onto the sailboat after drying off and changing clothes.
“And you”—she pointed at Zander—“came all the way here from home to apologize to your brother for giving him such shit about hooking up with Pippa?”
Zander nodded. He had teased his younger brother mercilessly when he learned that Pippa had hooked up with Topher at his brother Adrian’s wedding. “I was feeling badly. After all, Pips is my best friend. And I only meant to tease Toph,” he said. “He’s my brother. That’s what you’re supposed to do with siblings.”
Topher rolled his eyes.
“And now Pippa—who managed to injure herself falling into a hatch in her haste to find something with which to cover herself—has run off to bed, mortified,” she said, cursing her best-laid plans, which had now failed. “And where did Sebastian go?”
“I saw him disappear into his cabin a while ago,” Topher said. “He said the liquor was taking over and he needed some shut-eye.”
“Great,” Clem muttered quietly. “Guess that means it’s time to call it quits.”
With reluctance, she bade good night to the grumbling brothers and excused herself for the rest of what remained of it, knowing full well it was no longer going to be such a good night.
Chapter Five
Clementine grinned as she spied Pippa, who joined them at the breakfast table the next morning.
“Well, look who it is, all glowing and gorgeous this fine morning,” Zander said with a wink.
“The glow could be from the wine,” Pippa said with a pretend grimace.
“Or,” said Clementine, “it could be because you were well and truly—”
“Don’t say it, Clem,” Pippa said, holding up her hands as if to stop her. “Not gonna go there.”
“What?” Clementine pouted indignantly, pretending she was not giving Pippa a hard time. “I was just gonna say ‘rhymes with lucked.’ After all, it took a bit of luck to get to that point.”
Pippa shot Clem a glare. “Please, can we not delve into details here? Bad enough you were all witness to things, but I wouldn’t mind preserving the sanctity of—”
Zander snickered; Sebastian just smiled.
“Children”—Pippa raised her hands as if defeated—“what on earth has you behaving like ten-year-old boys now?”
“Sanctity,” Clementine said. Sighing at their juvenile behavior, she eyed Sebastian and tried to get a read on where he stood, given the events of last night.
“What’s so funny about that word?” Pippa asked.
“Pips. Consider the source. Second half of the word,” Clem said. “Something they saw on you last night before you were properly draped.” She dare not mention a lot of strangers saw the very thing on her at the bar.
Visibly frustrated, Pippa gritted her teeth and pretended to bash her head against the nearest surface—a pole that held up the roof to the cockpit. “Why did I think we could all act like mature adults here?”
“Because you’re female,” Clementine said. “You’re giving them too much credit if you think they’re going to do anything other than titter—sorry—over what happened. They just have to behave like schoolchildren for a while until they find a different distraction.”
“Or get drunk,” Sebastian added. “That usually works.”
“In that case, let’s break out the mimosas,” Pippa said. “I’m starving and thirsty and could use a diversion from this nonsense.”
“Work up an appetite last night, did you?” Zander asked.
“Seriously, Z. Do I give you the fifth degree each time you bang some pathetic royal-sniffing supermodel?”
“Uh, actually, yeah,” he said, laughing.
“Okay, so maybe I do give you a hard time about that,” Pippa said. “But you deserve it because you’re male-whoring around. There’s a difference between spreading your seed, which is your habit, and having adult relations with someone.”
“Right. So let me get this straight,” Zander said, tilting his head. “For me it’s a seedy—excuse the pun—one-night stand, but for you it’s ‘having relations’?”
Clementine caught Pippa looking at her, no doubt for support. “Help me out here, sister,” Pippa said.
Clementine positioned herself in front of Zander, ready to make a point.
“Chicks”—Clem held up a finger—“are classier. We don’t go in for the sleaze thing you guys do. You just want to get your rocks off. We are looking for more connection than that.”
Zander draped his arm around her shoulder. “Okay, now I get it. But just to clarify...Let’s say you have a couple who are out partying and things get a little out of hand, and while doing naked body shots maybe a little too much PDA happens. Is that a special connection?”
Clementine felt the color leave her face. “What did Sebastian say to you?” she practically hissed at him.
“You?” Pippa mouthed to Clem, her eyes wide.
Clementine covered her face with her hand.
“I didn’t say anything to anyone,” Sebastian said. “Promise and cross my heart,” he added, X-ing his finger across his chest.
“What are you talking about Zander?” Pippa asked.
“Let’s just say I made a little pit stop on my way here last night,” he said. “I was thirsty after a long flight, and the place came highly recommended by my dinghy escort.”
Clementine felt her stomach drop. “Oh, my God.”
“What happens at the Willy-T stays at the Willy-T, folks,” Sebastian said with a glare toward Zander. “That’s the number one rule of the place.”
Clementine looked at Sebastian and mouthed, “Really?” He winked at her in reassurance.
“I’m not saying I necessarily saw anything,” Zander said. “I’m just saying it looked as if some people were having a really good time. Like there was quite a ‘special connection.’” He made finger quotes for emphasis.
“Seriously, Clem? Naked body shots?” Pippa whispered to her.
“Stop,” Clem said. “At least I wasn’t nude and bleeding with a guy suspended from the ceiling.”
She suddenly felt Pippa’s elbow in her ribs.
“Okay, so it looks as if the only one who comes out smelling clean after l
ast night is Zander. Irony of ironies. But that’s only because he’s got a ring in his nose now, thanks to Andi,” Pippa said. “Nevertheless, I’ve got enough dirt on him to shut him up for a while, at any rate.”
“In which case, we all agree that none of this ever happened, then?” Clementine said.
“Aw, man,” Zander said, hanging his head. “I was just getting going. This was going to be my entertainment for the day.”
“No more talk or everyone will find out the true story behind you and Andi,” Pippa said. “Besides, you owe it to me for my interventions on your behalf with her.” She looked around. “Where’s Topher? Did he go back to sleep?”
“He seemed agitated earlier.” Sebastian shrugged. “Finally got up from the table and collected his snorkeling gear and dove in.”
“How long ago was that?” Pippa asked.
The three of them looked at each other, and Sebastian thrust out his lower lip. “Maybe an hour? I seem to have lost track of time what with all of this intimate talk.” He jokingly pushed against Pippa’s shoulder.
Pippa quickly removed her cover-up. “I’m going in after him.”
Zander clapped and whistled at the sight. “Pippa’s the man with the plan,” he said.
Clem tried to stop her. “Look, Pips, maybe give Toph a chance to breathe. He was stressed out,” she said. “I’m sure it’s good for him to blow off some steam in the water. He’ll come back and all will be fine.”
Time to lighten things up, thought Clem, as she took a bottle of champagne out of the fridge.
“In the meantime, mimosas, anyone?” She popped the cork and poured a few drinks, shoving one into Sebastian’s hand and hoping she could lubricate him enough to finally finish what they’d started.
Shame of Thrones Page 2