she followed with, “Apparently, you’re uncircumcised. I commend your parents. I think it’s a barbaric practice.”
He mirrored her sip. “What else did they tell you?”
With a sigh, she took her place on the couch, legs crossed at the knee—a thing her mother would have corrected at once. Ladies cross their legs at the ankle. And stretched back against the pillows until her face pointed up at the ceiling. “Between you and me, I think two or three of them are sweet on you. The rest are angry with me for not fucking you. Unfortunately, they didn’t believe it when I lacked the details. You should have prepared me with a speech. The bondage fetish would have been useful to know.”
Unlike the previous night, he left his couch to plop down at her side. “Are you asking me to tie you up?”
“No, thank you.” If his sitting so near was some kind of test, she was not going to scoot. Not when they had an agreement. “Repetitive doggy style also sounds extremely boring.” Head lolling so her gaze might leave the ceiling and meet his, she asked, “It must be, right? Why not change it up. Laziness? Disinterest? Don’t take this as a compliment, but the man who came up with all these twisted rules that make up the society on this ship… his lack of sexual creativity is a bit disappointing.”
“They did mention that tongue thing. Is that earning me any credit?”
She should not have laughed, couldn’t even blame it on the wine. But it was funny that this man just refused to be insulted by fact. “You should be gentler with them. Maybe assist in their climax if you’re going to get your own. Aren’t pirates supposed to be sexy and wicked in bed?”
From playful to disapproving, he took away her glass and set it down. “As cute as your game is, their time in this room isn’t about pleasure, and you know that.”
“They did mention that you pull out long before climax and finish yourself, with a towel ready and everything so none of your semen gets on them. And if the girl wants, she can give you head instead of fucking for the same amount of tickets. That’s how they try to impress you. Because I think we both know you’re bored of the game you created.”
“If I don’t treat them equally, it upsets the status quo.” And he looked broody when he said it, just the way the women described.
What had been intended to annoy him was actually far more interesting than she expected. “Equally selfish in bed except for the occasional tongue thing? I don’t fuck anyone, and it seems your rules haven’t suffered too much for it.”
“Only Neil.”
Ouch. How could she have forgotten this man murdered someone for nothing more than asking to pay off her debt?
The room suddenly chilly, she stopped lazing and sat up like a proper lady. Legs crossed at the ankle and shoulders straight. “Tell me in detail how I’m supposed to describe our night to the women over breakfast. You can have your status quo. I don’t care if every last soul on this boat thinks I fucked you. Win the pot of tickets. Recycle it into your economy. Did we do it on the bed? On the sofa? Are you a floor kinda guy?”
“Against the wall.” He nodded his chin to a dark corner. “Face-to-face so I could see you. Everyone will expect that for your first time.”
“Did I come?”
“Would you be able to describe it?”
“No…” Eugenia wouldn’t be able to climax if there wasn’t some emotional connection. “That’s not a lie I’d be able to pull off.”
“And now you understand why the men dump their food and beer on the same women they kill themselves to buy. Can’t have the natural female physiological response kick in. There can’t be any ties—why the women don’t cry but some of the men do when the door closes and the night’s entertainment is over.”
“You are a really sick man.” A sick man who had put his hand on her knee.
Who was lifting that hand to pinch her chin as if he might kiss her. “I would be gentle with you, if I could trust you not to breathe a word of it.”
Cocking a brow, she asked, “And what about that natural female physiological response?”
Lips cocked, hazel eyes languid, he said, “You hate me. I don’t think we have a problem there.”
“Which brings us full circle to why on earth you