Authors Note: I managed to cut this down to an R rating by hacking out a lot of the content in the second half. If you want to read the unadulterated version go to adultfanfiction.net. I put romance novels, late night programming, and the internet to blame for this one. Oh yeah, and my lack of a social life and an abundance of caffinated beverages.
Summary: Umm, Maeve needs a shower, so she borrows Sinbad's.
by Barbara C.
The water sluiced over his head sending rivulets of water down his bare skin. He closed his eyes and lifted his face up to welcome pulse of the waterfall. His thoughts left his body for a moment while he remembered his earlier confrontation with Maeve.
It didn't matter how long they had been at sea. It was still too long. The sun beat down upon those on deck, the heat remained inside the cabins below deck, and there was no escaping the beautiful weather that was predicted to remain throughout the season. Everyone was sticky with sweat, water was rationed for drinking only, and it wasn't as if anyone was going to jump overboard with no land in site. Besides, either the salt or the sharks would have gotten to them. With the flaring temperature tempers soared, as did the stench aboard The Nomad.
"We have to reach port soon," Maeve complained. "My hair is so filthy, I'm pretty sure I have things crawling around in it. And whatever doesn't itch when it plasters itself to my neck just tangles." She lifted a strand and cringed in disgust. "Maybe I'll just hack it all off."
"Water, water everywhere and not a drop to...bathe in," Firouz mumbled.
All the complaints being issued were to no one in particular.
"I can just imagine a tribe of nymphets splashing around in a cool, clear stream wearing nothing but..."
"Ugh!" Maeve threw Doubar a look of disgust and rose from her seat. "If any wants me for anything I'll be down below."
Below deck, she found Sinbad pouring over some maps. "What are you doing?"
He didn't raise his eyes from the papers in front of him. "Looking for something."
"Would you mind if I asked what?"
"No."
It was a moment before she asked again, "What?" Sometimes the man could be soooo frustrating.
"I could have sworn there was an island out this way; not very large. I've never stopped there, but I doubt we'd make it to port before people start hallucinating or something. I... Here it is!" The captain jumped up.
Pushing past the sorceress, he bolted up the short flight of stairs. Maeve could hear orders being issued and a course being plotted for the island. All right, she'd let them do the work. In the mean time, it was too hot for her to do anything other than sleep. Not wanting to lay in her hot, stale, and confined quarters, she laid down on her back on one of the long benches. Within minutes, she drifted off into peaceful sleep.
Sinbad came back down soon after, he wanted to apologize to Maeve about completely ignoring her when she came down, but... That was odd, she wasn't in the main cabin. Maybe she was in her own quarters, he checked. No, she wasn't in there either. It was then that he noticed the toe of a boot protruding about knee level from behind the table. He walked around to the far side and found the sleeping beauty.
He knelt near her head and studied her. He had heard her comments about her hair over the past few days. It was a mess, but he didn't think it was crawling with bugs yet, he ran a clean ship. Still, it was beautiful. Sinbad cringed in remembrance at her threats to cut it. Not these beautiful locks, he'd die before he would let her do something like that. He rolled a gnarled strand of auburn between his fingers. His gaze traveled to her face then. So peaceful, so beautiful, he thought. Her eyelashes looked like smudges of soot high on her cheeks. Lovely, he thought lightly tracing a brow with his thumb. Her nose was perfectly shaped and her mouth, perfect for kissing. He was only mildly shocked by these thoughts. They'd been plaguing him for weeks now, but now, to have her only a breath away from him...
He leaned down to brush a kiss across her slightly parted lips.
She sighed in her sleep.
The captain jerked back not knowing if it was a sign that she was waking or not. He couldn't believe what he'd been doing. She could have woken up at any moment! What if she had? She would have probably started screaming and hollering and drawn the attention of everyone on board. Their friendship would have been over and...Maeve blinked her eyes awake and smiled at him, a light blush tinting her cheeks. If only she had known what he was thinking at that moment, Sinbad thought, her blush would have been much, much brighter.
If only he knew what she was thinking, Maeve thought, her blush brightened a fraction as she remembered the erotic dream she woke from. They had been in a room. The walls were very flat, not stone, and painted in the color of the palest yellow. A marble fireplace, she had seen one once before, dominated one end of the large room, while a large canopy-bed covered with diaphanous white fabric dominated the other. Sunlight streamed in through the windows.
Maeve nearly groaned at the memory. There were only the two of them in the room, on the bed. They were both naked. She couldn't see what the captain had looked like because of the sheet covering his lower body, but it didn't seem to matter because his upper torso was enough to drive her crazy! He was touching her in places she had only dreamed and was doing wondrous things to her face and then... She awoke.
"Hi. I...uh, I came down to apologize for ignoring you earlier and also to tell you that we should reach the island sometime tomorrow."
"Oh, okay. Thanks and apology accepted."
He stood and backed up to allow her room to sit up. The two stared at each other awkwardly in silence for a few moments before their gazes broke and Sinbad hurried back up on deck.
It was the heat, they both thought individually.
That's the first half. It can stand alone pretty well, but it isn't the whole story. In fact it was written as a one pager not in parts, because this was all a flashback scene. Originally this was posted alone on FF.net because the remainder of the story is pretty much one long sex scene. (FF.net has moral issues pertaining to sex.)
As I said above, I managed to nix a lot of content out of the next half to fit it into an R rating. Proceed to the next chapter or read the original at adultfanfiction.net.