Aphrodite's Reward Ch. 02

Davos lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. It was the second real bed he'd been on today, and even more comfortable than the first. Laughter and raised voices drifted into his room from downstairs, but not so loudly as to distract or annoy him. The thick, rich lumber used to build this inn blunted most of the noise. The muffled tones of a bard who'd already earned more than his night's supper kept the remaining noise pleasant enough.

Only two nights from an attack that would have razed their city, he thought, and they are in high spirits once again. It must be nice to be rich.

He let out a sigh. That was unfair. Though the patrons of the inn were clearly of wealthier means than most in the city--Edward had insisted that Davos stay at the finest inn Loewen had to offer--Davos could not know how much these people had lost in the siege. Perhaps they had all lost friends and loved ones, and the high spirits served to push back the darkness of grief and fear. Perhaps this was just how Loewen dealt with tragedy, and he'd find the same attitudes in the less elegant inns if he cared to go out and compare.

Regardless, he didn't get up off the soft bed. He just looked up at the ceiling.

Four years at sea. Terrifying storms, tedious days, the same old food night after night, laughable pay and muscles sore from simply holding himself upright as the ship rose and crash in the waves. Davos could count the number of nights he'd slept in a bed on land over the course any given year on his fingers and toes. He'd fought pirates, rival crews, goblins on distant isles and even a genuine sea monster or two. It wasn't all bad; there was much to love about the life despite all its hardships. Davos saw more of the world than most people ever dreamed of, he learned valuable skills and had plenty of wild stories to tell.

He didn't feel like telling any stories tonight. The inn was abuzz about his presence. Patrons had argued over who got to buy him dinner, and drinks, and whom he might sit beside. Women cast him come-hither glances--wealthy women wearing wedding rings among them, as well as their unwed daughters--with a frequency he'd never found before. People told him how he had saved their businesses. Their friends. The temples.

Davos could get to like that sort of reception, but just now he couldn't handle being in such a crowd. He excused himself politely, citing a soreness of his injuries that he did not actually feel, and headed upstairs.

The room was his for the next several nights. Unsure as to when the king and queen would see Davos--a thought that the young man still couldn't process--Edward wanted to ensure that Davos wouldn't have to worry about finding a place to stay while he waited. Meals were covered, and indeed several people seemed inclined to pay even further forward for them.

Until today, his belongings consisted of his cutlass, the clothes he wore and the old rags in his small sea chest on the Dolphin. When he was conscripted, there were a handful of silvers in his pockets and a few handfuls more in his chest. Now he had a new coinpurse filled with gold, also courtesy of the king's steward. It didn't make him a rich man, but it was far more than he'd made in all four years as a sailor put together--and that with comfortable lodgings, new clothes and meals paid forward for some time, and random strangers happy to buy him drinks.

He could get used to this sort of living quickly, and that was what scared him. Once it passed, as all things did, would he miss it? Would he be bitter? Would that thought prevent him from enjoying it while it lasted?

The knock at his door drew him from his thoughts. He rose from the bed and walked to the door on bare feet, still dressed in his new loose white shirt and breeches, though his belt hung from a chair across the room. Anyone calling on him at this hour shouldn't expect a man to be fully dressed, should they?

The lovely woman at the door had caught his eye many times that night. She had a decade and more on him, to be sure. She must have been a wicked beauty as a young woman. Time had softened her features without diminishing them in any way. Her light blue eyes and white-blonde locks complimented a smile that was equally gentle and confident. "Forgive me if I'm disturbing you, sir," said the tavern maid, "but my shift is over for the night, and I thought to check on the room and see if you wanted anything before it got too late."

Her tones and her smile charmed him immediately. She didn't come off as a humble maid. He liked that. "No, everything's fine, thank you," Davos replied. "Everything here is... lovely," he said, his eyes taking in the shape of her. From the glimmer in her eye, she caught the double-meaning in his answer. He hadn't even intended one, but he didn't mind the reaction at all. The thought occurred to him that it might be good to let the innkeeper know that he'd been well-attended; it never hurt to compliment someone's staff. "What's your name, again?"

"Juliana, sir," she replied, nodding a bit rather than bowing. Her eyes never left his.

"I would ask you not to call me 'sir,' though," he smiled back. "I'm a working sort, not that I'm offended or anything. I just don't want to go putting on airs. Call me Davos."

"Mm, afraid the gentry won't like it if you forget your place?" she teased.

"It's less about what they think and more about respect for my peers."

Juliana chuckled. "Well, as a fellow working sort, then, I'll gladly embrace your humble nature, Davos... though you'll forgive me if I slip and call you 'sir' when in the presence of our loftier guests. I wouldn't want them to think of you as part of the common rabble."

"That's considerate of you, thank you," he replied.

"I'd have thought a young man like yourself would stay up later in the taverns. Have you not found the crowd to your liking?" Juliana asked.

Davos shrugged and gestured for her to come inside, as the conversation didn't seem to be drawing to a close. He certainly didn't mind... but as Juliana walked past, treating him to the scent of her perfume and another sight of her figure, Davos wondered when he'd picked up such good manners. He knew instinctively that he should invite her in, that talking in the doorway for more than a moment was rude... but it wasn't as if he'd been trained in the local etiquette.

He also wondered what sort of tavern maid could afford perfume. Then again, this was the nicest tavern in the city, and Juliana had great charm. She probably did quite well on tips alone.

"After everything that's happened to me in the last few days, I feel like I could stand to avoid crowds and adjust a little more quietly," he admitted. "Everyone else has had two days to let things settle. I apparently slept right through that time. I'm not quite up for a big party yet." He paused. "I don't mind the current company, though."

Juliana took the compliment for what it was. "I can understand the need for quieter surroundings, then," she nodded, "though I don't want to intrude."

"Oh, if only I could have more such intrusions," he chuckled.

"I'd hoped as much," she smiled back. "For myself... I'm sure you've already heard it said many times, and will hear it even more, but I wanted to thank you for what you did during the battle. I would have lost loved ones had it gone on any longer. I might have lost everything."

Davos shrugged. "I didn't exactly have a grand plan to save the day."

"Again with the humble corrections," she teased, stepping forward to close the distance between them. He noted the way she looked him up and down with an appraising glance. "I've heard the story from witnesses. Important people come here all the time. Whether you planned it out in advance or not, what you did took quick thinking and courage, and no small amount of prowess."

He just smiled. "Thank you," he said. His eyes met hers. "I can't complain about where that night has landed me, or the company it placed me with."

"More compliments," Juliana observed, "like those I found in your eyes downstairs. I have to admit, I looked forward to this little errand tonight with a bit of hope."

"What sort of hope?" Davos asked. He stepped closer, too, knowing instinctively that he would be welcome in her personal space. Davos wasn't averse to such situations, but he'd never flirted so heavily or so quickly with someone he'd just met. Usually he needed more time to get to know a woman and sense whether his overtures would be gladly received before he dared make any. With Juliana, everything just felt right.

He sensed that she'd made her decisions before she even came up to his room.

"Hope that you would appreciate my company," she answered softly. "Hope that you would perhaps want to banish all that blood and toil with something... life-affirming. Something pleasant."

The prospect sounded as irresistible as her lips and that bare, smooth neck. "I hate to even ask, but--"

"I'm not the sort of company one pays for, no," Juliana replied without the slightest reproach or irritation. "We don't forbid that here in Loewen, but I am not in that line of work. But I don't blame you for asking."

"That's good to know," Davos said. He didn't tell her that he couldn't have turned her down if she'd answered differently. He just kissed her.

She felt exactly the way she looked: soft and alluring, a mix of gentleness and fiery hunger that swept around him with a shameless embrace. The feeling of her breasts against him only stoked his arousal, as did those lips and that tongue that teased and explored his mouth.

Juliana was not shy with her hands. They were under Davos's shirt before he had a chance to catch his breath. She let out a little noise of approval at the feeling of his taut muscles. Her fingernails scraped lightly against his skin, exciting him further.

She pulled away from him, backing toward the bed with a come-hither gaze that he could not ignore. The drawstrings of her bodice were already in his grasp. She kept moving backward, gladly letting the knot unravel and then beckoning to him with a finger once the job was done.

As he stepped up to meet her again, Juliana sat on the bed. She stopped him with her hands on his hips, looked up at him and smiled. Her hands reached under his shirt again, but they explored the waistband of his breeches rather than his flesh. "You should get rid of this shirt," she winked. Davos obeyed, and by the time he had the garment off he found his breeches unlaced and sagging. "Oh," Juliana murmured. "As I'd hoped."

The flesh she found waiting for her there was, of course, erect and stiff. Davos thought for a moment that it seemed more substantial than usual, too, but then her hand stroked him and her breath fell across the head of his cock and such thoughts fled from his mind. All he knew was her touch and the beauty of her face.

Her lips trailed a circle of kisses around his shaft just below the head before her kiss enveloped that sensitive flesh. Davos let out a sigh of appreciation for the wet warmth that brought him into her mouth. Juliana paused only to look up at him with a smile in her eyes before she welcomed more of him into her, bringing as much as she could of his cock into her mouth. Her fingers encircled the base of his shaft, giving him small squeezes and strokes to enhance his bliss since she couldn't take him all the way—which was its own exciting revelation.

He'd been with women before, but only a handful of times. He'd had one or two kiss his cock in a bit of naughty play, but never did anyone lavish such attention and oral pleasure upon him. The longer Juliana carried on, stroking him with both her hand and her mouth, the better the sensations got.

Selfish reactions eventually got the better of him. Davos's hips tentatively pushed forward as his body longed to go deeper into this already amazing pleasure. It didn't bother his partner at all. He felt a little laugh all along his cock, and then felt her free hand grip his ass to let him know he was welcome to express his urges even if Juliana couldn't accommodate them. She continued to suck his cock, and when his hands caressed her shoulders and her hair, she let him know with a single gaze that this, too, was appreciated.

"You will... let me... return the favor... right?" he breathed.

Juliana made a deliberate show of pulling back from him as if to emphasize his length and her enjoyment of it. "Would you like to do so now?" she asked. "We have all night long."

In truth, Davos would have loved nothing more than to let Juliana continue until he'd lost all control, but something compelled him to put that off. "I think I'd like to start this off right," he said.

Juliana sat up straight then, loosening the drawstrings of her bodice. Davos helped her with that and explored her skin with his fingers at the same time, finding every bit of her just as soft and welcoming just as her kiss. Juliana's sexy confidence blended with a compassion and warmth that made him long to please her. Soon, out of her bodice and wrapped in his arms, the two kissed and caressed their way to mutual nudity and excitement.

He took his time with his partner. Juliana deserved a long, indulgent bout of love-making. Davos decided that based on nothing but this sole encounter, but she had already made his night and he wanted to reciprocate. He mapped out her body with his hands, avoiding her breasts and her groin at first both to tease her and to savor the rest of her before moving on. Eventually, those most sensitive and enticing parts of her body were too much to ignore.

The bed offered enough room for Davos to lay Juliana out on her back so he could slip down to lie with his shoulders at her thighs. The older woman watched with eager approval as he stroked and kissed the inner sides of her legs and used the warmth of his breath to tease the short, well-groomed triangle of hair over her lips. Davos kept his cool and moved with deliberate slowness, making the most of her anticipation.

When his lips first touched hers, Juliana sucked in a sharp breath and then released it with shuddering tones of approval. He found the tasted of her appealing enough to keep him going. Davos continued with light, gentle probing with his tongue and his lips, giving him a chance to learn what pleased her. He had never practiced this with a woman before--the few times he'd been with someone, she was either put off by the thought or the tryst simply didn't take such a direction--but Davos picked up on his partner's cues swiftly.

Juliana seemed at once energized and immobilized by the ecstasy of his kiss. She whimpered when his lips or his tongue eased off and gasped when his touch intensified. Davos played with her a while, learning his way around her labia and the rest of her tender flesh. He caught on quickly to the sensitivity of her clit, and before long he focused his attention there with a slow, constant motion of licks.

Out of curiosity, he brushed his finger against and between the lips of her pussy as he licked and kissed. He saw that she liked this, too. His exploration brought him to quick discoveries that eluded many men. Juliana seemed utterly swept away by the pleasures he gave her, which caused Davos further excitement.

He had no idea of the speed and grace with which his skill grew in those long, enjoyable minutes. For all Davos knew, all men picked up on these lessons just as quickly once they gave this a try. What mattered to him was the pleasure he gave his partner and the appreciative, pleading messages in her eyes and her breath. His free hand roamed her body, tracing against her belly, cupping and kneading her breasts and ending with two fingers sucked greedily into her mouth.

Davos continued. He found just the right strokes with his tongue and realized that Juliana loved the brush of his curved finger up against her inner flesh. He kept up a steady pace with both motions and saw Juliana's enjoyment build. He continued this attention in response to her wordless wishes until her panting breath intensified. It seemed as if she might explode--he was familiar with the concept, of course, but he'd never gotten a woman there through this sort of treatment.

Juliana gasped, whined and then crested with a loud moan of blissful relief. Her body throbbed under Davos's touch. He felt her sex tighten around his finger and felt her grow wetter between her legs. Davos wanted to keep her in such a state as long as he could, and stretched the moment out much longer than he realized. He knew when to ease off on his attentions and let her come down from that high, but even that was a ride of pleasure Juliana hardly expected.

When the spasms of climax subsided and she had control of herself once more, Juliana laughed with affection and surprise. "Gods, that was wonderful!" she huffed. "How did you learn to do that?"

"You're my first," Davos confessed, gracefully wiping off his mouth, "at least in this. I've been with a woman before, but..." he shrugged. "Was this unusual?"

Again, Juliana laughed with joy. She reached for him and drew him up to lie against her, which he did gladly. The feel of her naked body against his was a luxury. He felt as if this woman had been made to be loved. "I've enjoyed that particular sort of fun in the past," she told him, "but you... you're good at that."

She favored him with a kiss before he could speak, wrapping her arms around him with heated desire and shameless appreciation. She felt vulnerable in his embrace, which only aroused Davos more. The whole world had fallen away from him and his partner from the moment they got to the bed; to Davos, there was just Juliana and whatever the night would bring.

"I'll be happy to do that for you again," he offered.

Her eyes danced. She clearly liked the sound of that. "Perhaps later," she said, "but now I want something we can share." He felt her hand drift to his hard, erect cock. "I want to experience this."

They laughed together, caressed and groped and wrestled a little until Davos got between her legs. The first brush of his cock against her wet lips brought all of her playful struggles to an immediate halt. It felt too good to tease anymore. Davos slid against her, coating himself with her juices before making his first tentative push. He was so stiff and firm he didn't need a guiding hand; Davos simply drew her legs up around his hips and pushed.

Virtually everything about her seemed to welcome him: her embrace, her eyes, her voice as she moaned and most of all the wet embrace of her pussy around his cock. She drew up her legs around his waist as he slowly penetrated to the base of his tool and stayed there for a moment to savor their union. As he backed out, Juliana seemed to shake, but her legs tightened before he got too far. She all but squeezed him right back into her, and her sex seemed to squeeze his in turn as he invaded her once again.

Within only a few strokes, this coupling became better than any Davos had enjoyed in the past. His partner felt so good at every turn, matched his desires and showed every appreciation for him. Davos's head swam with pleasure as he thrust into her again and again, wanting to bring her to another climax as good as her first.

Once again, his technique and talent grew in leaps and bounds without conscious effort or forethought. Observing his partner's needs came naturally to him, as did a sense of when to be gentle and when to give in to the selfish urge to fuck. When that need got the better of him--and Juliana as well--he took her wrists in his hands, pinned them to the pillow over her head and leaned back a little to allow his hips to slam forward into her in a constant assault of ecstasy.

Juliana surrendered completely to him. Her legs fell away, remaining parted to give him all the access he could want. Soon her breath warned Davos of the climax that approached. He realized he was not so close to satisfaction himself, and so he was all too happy to continue pushing her along. When he fucked her into her wild release of tension and joy, he slowed long enough to savor the moment as he had with their first union. As he had while he pleased her with his mouth earlier, he fell into a lazy but indulgent pace of stimulation to let her come down from that peak, but he didn't want to end it here. He wasn't done.