The widowed girl had been left in her care for the moment and Octavia had seen to getting her something to eat and something to wear. Thankfully the clothes Octavia had first arrived in were a bit big on her and so they fit Josette's more ample curves much better. Josette was still quite slender but a bit more filled out than Octavia. At the knocking, Octavia called out to find out who it was. "What is it?"
Josette jumped at the sound, reaching nervously to tuck her now loose, long, curly, dark locks behind her ears. She bit at her lip, taking a deep breath to try to calm her nerves.
"I'm here to see her. Let me in," Venge called past the door. "Is she alright?" Perhaps she'd know his voice though she'd only heard him say a little.
"She's fine. Go away!" Octavia called back with some amount of sass in her tone. She unlatched the door and opened it a crack to glare at him.
Josette heard the voice through the door and her head tipped slightly, her eyes narrowing. "Is that.. the one called Corvid? The one who pulled me out of the water?"
He heard them both and smiled with a nod though he couldn't see the girl beyond Octavia. "By permission of the Captain, I'm here to see her. Now let me in," he insisted calmly.
Octavia sighed and nearly growled at him and let go of the door to allow him to enter the room. Taking a step back so she could be at the ready should he try anything... well just anything.
He stepped in and nodded his greeting to the woman in the small room with her then turned. "Now... leave me with her," he suggested plainly, raising an eyebrow at the blond girl.
"What?" Octavia asked, giving him a look that said he was crazy if he thought she was leaving. "I'm not leaving."
Josette turned so she was facing the man who came in, she swallowed as he told Octavia to leave. He'd stated he had the Captain's permission to see her and she took a deep breath, it wasn't as if she hadn't heard stories.. She folded her hands together in front of her waist and watched Venge as she waited for him to resolve things with the other girl.
"Well I'm not taking her out there, am I? Beg pardon, I mean that in every sense how it sounded," he said in a thin and quick apology to the other woman. "My affairs and hers are private and unless you have a better suggestion on making that happen...please... ?" He wasn't angry, but he was eager and his indulgences, even in conversation, weren't something he wished to have an audience for.
"It's my room.." Octavia looked from him to Josette and then sighed. "Very well." She was pouting as she left them to their 'private affairs' and went out of the cabin, closing the door behind her.
Josette simply nodded to his apology for the words as he meant them, her fingers toyed with the ring on her hand, slipping it off and setting it on the shelf. If he meant to have her, she would not be wearing her wedding ring when he did. She met Octavia's glance and just gave a single slight nod to the girl, once she'd gone Josette was left standing there... alone with Venge. She licked at her lips, her eyes fixed on him.
"It's better than the black and looks well on you," he said honestly, sliding his rapier free and looking at it closely for wear and sturdiness. "What's your name? Your own, not his," he asked, glancing up from the blade.
"Josette... " She continued to watch him, but didn't flinch or move back as he took out or began to examine his blade. Josie gave him her first name only as he'd asked for hers not her husband's.
He tested the weight of the rapier and presented it to her. "Is this too heavy for you, Josette? I've saved you once it seems, but if I'm unable to do so again, you need something you can manage. Mind you, I've apparently sworn to the Captain, nearly as good as swearing before the Queen herself, that I'm to protect you forthwith, but..." He trusted her implicitly, believing she was noble enough not to run him through with it as soon as it was handed to her.
The confusion was evident on her face as he presented her with the rapier. "You did what?" She asked softly, slowly reaching for it, he seemed completely serious but was this a test? a trick? Josie let her arm adjust to the weight for a moment, lowering it down and then raising it up slowly.
He reached his hand out slowly to hers, helping her wrist with the angle and stepping behind her now that he appeared unarmed. "Like this," he said at her shoulder, showing her how to follow through with a cutting stroke, a short slice side-to-side in the air at some unseen attacker. "I asked for you. In doing so," he explained in the softest whisper by her ear. "I'm to be the only one and to keep the others from you. If you don't care to honor my service, you have my blade, m'lady." She did, and though his rapier was in her hand, he was close enough behind her to assure her, he was quite 'well armed' and prepared to fight for her.
His breath was warm and tickled over her ear. She'd expected something like what he told her so it wasn't a complete shock but part of it was quite surprising to her. Josie turned part way to look over her shoulder at him, she didn't say anything for a moment and simply stared at him. "What's your name? I heard the other man call you Corvid.. was it?"
"Victor, though most call me Venge," he grinned, staying close and watching her turn her gaze on him. "How does it feel?" He asked, meaning the rapier, of course.
She nodded, smiling just a bit. "They call me Josie.. or Jo.. though mother hated such nicknames, she kept insisting I be addressed as Josette only." He probably didn't care to know so much, the others didn't care for her to contribute to the conversation. They told their tales and she was just supposed to listen. She turned back to the blade in her hand, making the motions he'd shown her a few times before answering him. "Different.. I like it." It was something mother would never allow her to do.
"And this?" Her attention was turned to the blade and his to her neck where brushed her hair aside to bare it for a soft kiss. "It's not right that he's left you alone in this world," he sighed, sad for her loss, though he was grateful for it as well.
There was a soft but sudden inhale when he kissed her neck and it was a moment before she answered. "Also different.. and nice." The men her mother had married her off to, hadn't cared to do such things, not bothering with softness or things for her.. or whether she enjoyed it at all or even if they hurt her. As long as they had there pleasure and satisfaction, hers didn't matter. "It wasn't his choice to leave me alone.. and it wasn't mine to marry him." She admitted softly, turning her attention to practicing the movement he'd shown her and trying not to think too much.
"Pity for all that," he remarked, running his fingers down her arm to the blade and pushing it slowly downward. "Josie, you're traveling with a band of pirates. Choice is not something you'll have much of here either, but it is with me."
"I know." She said quietly as she let him lower her hand and the blade. "Well.. I knew all but the last.. with you part." She only turned her head this time to glance at him and then looked to the front again, letting out a soft sigh. "My husband was a pirate."
"Then you know how insatiable and impatient we can be," he admitted. "I speak more for them, the others on board who might try to get past me to get to you. The question is, do I need to fight my way to you as well?"
She laughed ever so softly. "Impatient, yes. Insatiable? Perhaps when it came to loot and drink.. I can only speak of those I knew, not all pirates." The comment was sort of cold despite the laugh, directed at her prior husbands. She looked down to the floor for a moment then back to him behind her. "I have no desire to fight you, Venge. I already like you more and you've been kinder to me than any of them ever were. I will not resist if you wish to take your pleasure from me."
He brushed her cheek and moved around to face her. "If your desire is not to fight, then what do you desire?" His eyes flashed a brilliant blue with promises and delight along with a brief smile of kindness. He reached to take the rapier away to free her hands.
She let him take the rapier, studying his face with a somewhat confused expression on her own. Josette shook her head a little and reached up to begin undoing the borrowed shirt. "Nothing.. mine have never mattered.."
He didn't stop her hands but he didn't stare either. He set the rapier aside and undid the scabbard and belt as well. "They matter now," he said starkly after a moment of consideration when he sat upon the cot to slide his boots free.
"Do they?" She asked softly, watching him though what he removed didn't reveal much to her. The shirt drifted away, gently laid over the simple chair that was in the small room. The next piece went with it and she stood bare in front of him.
He nodded and set his feet to the floor, reaching out for her. "They do matter to me. You don't need to do this," he said, regarding her appreciatively, though not wanting her to feel ashamed, either.
Her face scrounched up a little as her confusion showed, the expression faded to a small pout with her head tipped slightly to one side as she stepped closer to him. "But.. isn't it what you want? What you came for?" Josie licked at her lips, seeming a bit nervous now. "You don't wish to lay with me? You are not attracted to me now that you have seen me?" She motioned to herself and how she was completely exposed to him. She didn't understand, it seemed like he found her attractive, he'd said things that made her think this is what he'd wanted.. but he didn't?
"Actually, I do, very much and I am," he admitted, standing again to meet her where she stood. He'd made a promise in that sort that he wouldn't force, or hurt her. He pulled the knots on his sleeves and pulled his shirt from over his head, dropping it to the floor. "Now that I have seen, I want it even more, but as your choice, you say when and how."
She looked lost, almost bewildered as he told her it was her choice, that she was to say when and how. "I-I.." The tremble started in her lower lip and shifted down through her as she stared up at him. Her fingers flexed and clenched as if trying to find something to steady herself with. "Please.." She whispered. "I can't.. I don't know.. I've never.. It was never my choice.. I don't..." She was truly lost, she had been hardly more than a girl the first time her mother had married her off. She still was a girl really at only nineteen.
He pressed a fingertip to her lip. "Shh. Give me your hands," he said softly, reaching down for them to give her something different to clench hold of.
She blinked, falling silent as he shooshed her, some fear fading in how gently he did it. Her eyes searched his face as she brought her hands up to meet his, clutching them tightly.
He stepped back to the cot again and brought her with him, stopping just before sitting with her. "Then if you don't choose, tell me when to stop," he said, a slight tilt of his head, insistence and caution as he brought her clenched fingers to his trousers. "It's only fair,"
She looked down to where he guided her hands, her tongue ran over her lips again and she swallowed, nodding gently. Her fingers let go of his and nimbly undid his trousers for him, her finger shook a bit as she brought one hand up to touch his abdomen, tracing the contour of muscle there. slowy her hand and her gaze moved up over his chest.
He let the cloth fall to a pile at their feet and noted where the rapier was, ensuring it was within reach. Her fingers were stopped and their direction turned as he watched her eyes move upward to meet his gaze. His hand took hers, pressing downward like he had with the blade in her hand.
"Why.. are you doing this?" She asked, her voice soft, curious as to why he was being so gentle, so patient, showing her and not just throwing her down to rut until he was finished. She let him guide her hand again, though this time there was no blade in her grasp, he was warm and firm.. all over it seemed.
"I wasn't born a pirate," he explained as if it told her everything, though it was only one small part. "The truth? We're still a few days from port, there's just been a storm, and there's a beautiful woman in my lap. I'm in no hurry."
Her eyes took his face in warmly, her teeth kept catching and releasing her lower lip as she studied him and considered a thought that was running through her mind. He had gorgeous eyes and his lips drew her attention, wondering and wanting to taste them. Gathering herself for a moment of braveness and following what she desired, Josie leaned up to kiss him.
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