Hi guys, sorry for the long period of silence. I experienced some catastrophic life events (things are ok now though!), so this story got pushed to the side.

Let me know what you think via reviews or private messages. I am also open to suggestions for scenes or situations if there is something you want to see. I don't bite. Honestly! Also, writing from the man's perspective is incredibly fun. I recommend all fellow writers to try it if they haven't before.

Not much lemony goodness in this chapter, but there is definitely more coming soon.

Toodles!

Before she had a chance to move further away from me, I caught her by the wrist and pulled her towards me. "No, I don't think you will."

I pulled her closer and caught a brief flicker of annoyance on her face. "Well, this is a sight," I muttered mostly to myself as I looked upon her sullied face and chest.

"I'm far from incapacitated, my dear, and I would love to leave you in such a state, but I am much kinder than that." I staggered upright and picked her up again, smearing the mess on her chest in a most obscene manner.

I opened the door carefully with one hand and walked out into the hallway. I was headed toward my private bathing chamber.

"How often do you have parties like this?" she asked feigning curiosity. I thought for a moment before responding, "Perhaps once or twice a week. More often near holidays. Why do you ask?"

"Hm, you just seemed like you weren't having that great of a time, " she said rather plainly. Well, why don't you put a point on it? "Tonight was an off night. You should come during the spring. I typically host a masquerade ball then that is much more entertaining."

We arrived at the bathroom and I set her down on her feet, so I could open the door. "You can use my private bath chambers to freshen up. I have had a state of the art water heater installed and you won't even need to get a servant to heat up the bath."

She walked over to the tub and turned the knob to fill it up. "I've never seen one of these before. When did they start installing them in homes?" She looked over the pipes leading out of the tub and into the wall nearby with genuine interest this time.

"Ah, well, it was quite expensive and I assure you that it's the only one in the city of Bloodstone. I had it installed a few months ago. How long have you been at sea if you haven't even seen a proper bathroom?"

She walked over to a large vanity table on one side of the room, turning her back to me, and after finding a rag to rub her face with she began examining some bottles and containers, opening one and smelling. "Hm, it took us about two months to get here."

I stepped over towards her, my eyes widening slightly. "Good heavens, where in Albion were you sailing from?"

She smelled a few more bottles of oil before settling on one, "May I use this? And it wasn't Albion." She shook the small bottle of jasmine scented oil in my direction while she spoke, finally looking back towards me.

I squinted for a moment. If it wasn't Albion, then where? Samarkand? Or Aurora? "You came from the desert continent? And yes, you can use it."

She simply responded with a languid, "Mhmm," before pouring a generous amount of oil into the steaming bath and turning the knob in the other direction. She bent down to remove her stockings and then proceeded to step up to the tub and get in it.

I moved closer to the tub in case she slipped. I couldn't manage to hide my curiosity about the woman's travels and used getting her a towel as an excuse to stay a moment longer. "What exactly were you doing out there?"

She slid into the tub, letting the water rise up to her chin as she closed her eyes. "I was trading and mingling with the locals. Are you going to stand there and watch me the entire time or…?" She let her question linger in the air.

The arrogant look on her face somewhat brought me back into the present. "No, I should go see to my other guests." Meaning, I should go kick them out of my bedroom before the sun comes up.

I checked my appearance in the mirror before leaving. Flawless as usual, but frazzled. Good enough. I glanced towards the woman once more before walking out the door. She was still leaned back with her eyes closed, so I left her there and closed the door behind me.

I walked towards my butler's quarters and gave the door a few raps. He appeared at the doorway, looking drowsy. "Yes, Master Reaver?"

"Please remove my guests from my chambers and straighten it up in there before I go to bed. Also, before that, send someone down to the docks and to get any information on any ships that have arrived into port within the last week."

He nodded. "Yes, Master Reaver, at once."

I turned and went back upstairs. I was beginning to feel a bit fatigued. I hadn't intended to stay up the entire night, but such things happen. I walked back towards the bathroom, fearing for a moment that the woman in my tub had fallen asleep in the bath. Instead, I heard a soft lilting voice coming from the doorway, but I was unable to make out the words being sung through the thick wooden door.

I stopped there for a moment and listened before knocking softly on the door and entering. When I opened the door, she was standing next to the tub wrapped in one of the towels. She turned around to look at me, "Were they alright? That took a bit longer than I thought it would." She eyed me curiously before removing the towel from around her torso to dry her hair.

"Oh, they're fine. I was asking my butler to tidy up the room for us."

"For us?" she arched an eyebrow as she wrapped the towel around her shoulders.

"You must be tired and it is almost morning. It is unlikely you could find a room in a tavern at this hour, so you can stay here. With me." This wasn't necessarily true, but it sounded much more polite than, "I want to question you more and ravage you senseless."

"Oh, alright. You've twisted my arm," she sighed somewhat over dramatically. Although she was attempting to hide it, she appeared a bit tired.

Our attention quickly shifted to the sounds of a scuffle down the hall. I quickly told her to stay put and headed out down the hall towards where the noise was coming from. It was one of the women from earlier.

"What exactly is the problem here?" I asked sternly.

"This ruddy bastard won't let me go back to get my clothes! And my head feels like it's going to explode!" she yelled back in response. I reached down for my Dragonstomper. Damn, I left it in the study.

"Perhaps you were too slow removing yourself from my floor. You should just go before this gets bad for you."

A voice came from behind me. She had followed me. "You can use this," she said as she flung her towel towards the other woman, hitting her square in the face, elicting a michevious chuckle from the redhead.

The angered woman ripped the towel from her head. "You stupid bitch! How dare you embarrass me!" The woman moved towards her, arms extended to grab at any flesh she could reach (and there was a lot she could grab).

I attempted to move in front of the redhead, but instead she sidestepped me and stepped forward into the woman's reach. She had just barely touched her chest before her hands were parried and the redhead struck down on her collarbone, sending her to one knee and to the floor.

"I hope I cracked it, you stupid cow. Who goes after someone's tits? What's wrong with people these days?" She held her hand up across her right breast where the woman had left a small claw mark while the other woman lay in the floor whimpering.

She stepped away from the woman and towards the stairs, glancing back at me to say, "I'll see you upstairs," and then heading up.

I moved towards the woman on the floor quickly while the butler hoisted her up by her arms. "You are lucky she is the one that struck you and not me. Now get up and get out before I decide to change that."

I walked upstairs to my bedroom and found her chatting to one of my younger male servant. As I entered the room I heard her say, "I apologize for my lack of clothing. I hope you do not mind." The young boy reddened and then noticed me in the doorway before responding, "No, my lady, I do not mind. Most of Master Reaver's guests get naked at some point in time during their stay."

Her eyebrows raised at this and she looked from the boy to me, "Oh, is that so?"

I looked at the boy sternly and said, "That's enough. Leave." Then I turned towards her again, "What can I say? They get naked whether I ask them to or not."

"I don't hear you complaining."

"Why should I? I don't remember asking you to get naked and that seems to have worked out in my favor," I whispered as I stepped in front of her, placing a hand on the curvature of her back. "I'm not sure if I said so earlier, but you are quite beautiful."

She grinned up at me, "Ah, you liked it when I broke that woman's collarbone. Is that it?" I smiled slyly down at her, "I was startled. In a good way. But…" I eyed the small scratch on her breast that was bleeding just a bit, "You were injured in combat."

She laughed at this and pushed me on my chest, creating some distance between us. "You are incorrigible. Let's go to sleep. I need to take care of some business in a few hours."

I didn't like the sound of that, but I removed my pants and climbed in bed after her. She rolled over on her side so that her back was facing me and I moved to lay behind her, my chest (as well as other things) pressed against her back.