An Officer's Honour Read online

  “Will you stay awhile?” James asked the warm skin under his cheek. Alexander was rubbing his thumbs in slow circles under his shirt, making it difficult to grasp at the negatives of their association. He was close enough that he felt rather than heard the rumble of Alexander’s agreement.

  “I will dismiss the servants,” he stated, without making any move to do so.

  After another minute Alexander huffed and pressed a brief kiss to the side of James’ head before getting to his feet and offering a hand to help him stand. “Up now, afore that gentleman butler of yours comes barging in and we have some fast talking to do.”

  James allowed himself to be pulled up, only distantly aware of his state of undress as he leant in for a deep kiss. It grew more passionate as Alexander bent to bite at the tendon where James’ shoulder met his neck, causing James to moan through gritted teeth. Alexander chuckled a little in response, “Come on Jamie, go get rid of them downstairs before they come running up to see what ails you.”

  James blinked himself back to the here and now to find Alexander smirking at him. James scowled in answer and tidied himself up with as much dignity as he could and went down to tell his servants they could have the rest of the day off.

  Mrs Johnston seemed worried he might starve, but he assured her he was quite well, if not a little tired, and that the cold meat and cheese in the larder would do very well for his supper. Finally they left and James returned upstairs, half afraid that Alexander would be gone when he got there.

  Of course he was not gone: he was leafing through a selection of letters that he usually kept in the top drawer of his dresser.

  James sighed, “If you are looking for evidence of an illicit affair with which to blackmail me then you are perhaps not as bright as I thought.”

  Alexander placed the letters back on the dresser and swaggered over to James, “Bright, eh?”

  “Did you or did you not reference a Marcus Aurelius quote not twenty minutes ago? ‘It is not death that man should fear, it is never beginning to live.’”

  Alexander looked a little chagrined at being caught quoting an Roman emperor, then seemed to recover, “It’s good for getting into the breeches of fine, upstanding gentleman such as yourself.” He added a leer and he leaned further into James’ personal space.

  James decided it was far too much effort to react to such ridiculousness and reached to carefully hook a finger through the hoop that pierced Alexander’s left nipple. He tugged a little to bring the other man close enough to kiss but instead spoke directly into Alexander’s ear, “Well, it seems your ruse has worked, Captain Cruise.”

  Alexander shivered a little under his hands and turned his head to seek a kiss, which James gladly gave to him.

  James was intent on getting to the bed and Alexander was intent on relieving him of his clothing. They eventually achieved both goals, and James was set to map every part of the naked skin at his disposal until Alexander flipped him onto his back and put his mouth on James’ cock: then all his plans were lost at sea. He put a hand in Alexander’s hair and arched his back, fighting the need to thrust into that wet heat with all the resolve he could muster. Alexander chuckled around his mouthful, and James

  groaned aloud.

  “Alexander, Alexander,” he chanted, until Alexander unbent from his task.

  “What do you need, Jamie?”

  “Kiss me,” he insisted, and Alexander did. It took only a few more rough pulls to his cock and he came, making a mess of them both. James eventually became aware th

  at Alexander was still hard against his thigh, and looked up to what was possibly the smuggest expression he had seen on any man.

  “Thought I’d killed you for a second there, was going to have a right old time of it explaining it to the Turners, ‘well, you see Lizzie, myself and Captain Thomas were er, wrestling. Yes, wrestling. Naked, o’course, when..…’” Alexander yelped as James flipped their positions.

  “You are the most uncouth…,” He kissed Alexander’s neck, “Ill-mannered…,” his golden hooped nipple, “Indecorous…,” his stomach, “Clodhopping…,” the inside of a bent knee, “Pirate that I have ever had the misfortune to meet.” He looked up as Alexander as he hovered over his hard cock, who offered him a half smile rather than the outrageous leer he was expecting, and touched two fingers to James’ cheek.

  James held his gaze for a second, then bent to lick and suck at his cock. He tried to take it all in his mouth as Alexander had done but had to pull back, coughing a little.

  “Steady, Captain.” Alexander said, and James fought off a laugh: he could not imagine what he will do the next time someone said something similar to him.

  He found his rhythm about the same time as his jaw started to ache, but the power of having Captain Alexander Cruise at his mercy was enough to overcome any discomfort. Alexander, for his part, had been reduced to moaning and pleading for James not to stop.

  “Ah, yes love, like that…” Alexander then put an hand to the side of his face, as if to pull him away.

  “Jamie, Jamie I…” But James was determined to taste him, and swallowed down as Alexander came.

  They dozed a little after, Alexander snoring softly, until James roused him to see if he wished to eat.

  “It is late.”

  “Only for those with a bedtime.” Alexander replied.

  James ignored the comment, saying only that he would get them some supper and putting on his robe to do so.

  “And some rum!” Alexander half yelled after him.

  James took up a bottle of wine and the cheese and bread, to where Alexander was still sprawled on his bed. James kicked the door shut behind him and looked around for somewhere to put his burden down, not often being in the habit of entertaining in his bed chamber.

  Alexander sat up and patted the bed invitingly. James huffed his disapproval but sat down anyway, uncorking the wine and pouring them two generous glasses. Alexander toasted him, then drank down half the glass in one go.

  “What are we drinking to, Jamie?” he asked.

  James paused for a second to think of a goal they could both agree on, “To anchor aweigh, a brisk wind and full sails.”

  Alexander quirked a half smile and toasted James before tossing back the rest of his wine.

  James sipped his more carefully and ate a little whilst Alexander helped himself to another glass.

  “My Commodore is in a relationship with one of the other men,” James found himself confessing.

  Alexander raised an eyebrow, “Aye?” he said.

  “He does not,” James paused to arrange his thoughts, “He does not seem troubled by his choices.”

  Alexander nodded, “That is freedom, Jamie: the power to live how ye wish to, and to let no man judge you for it.”

  “If we all did as we liked there would be chaos.”

  “Know that for sure, do you?” Alexander asked, curiously.

  “Of course. It’s why I try to live by God’s commandments, by the laws of my country.”

  Alexander laughed, not unkindly, “Don’t you think every nation on earth thinks that their gods have given them special rules to live by?

  James paused, an angry retort at the ready. It was fruitless though, Alexander could not see why he struggled with this, why he might be swayed by the lessons he had learnt from the pulpit or the word of English law. Perhaps in the end it was he who was the coward, who could not live for fear of living, and it was Alexander who had the way of it.

  “Tell me about these other gods.” he requested instead.

  Alexander looked surprised for a second before smiling, eyes alight. He told James about the Mexican god Huitzilopochtli: warriors who died in battle and women who died in childbirth were honoured to serve him in his halls. He often took the form of a hummingbird: green and blue, the colour of the sea where the beach dropped into deeper waters. Alexander talked about how his people paid tribute to him by making a statue in his likeness out of honey and nuts, so that w
hen they had finished long days and nights of praying to him, they each ate a part of the statue thus taking a little of the divine into themselves. When he appeared in his true form he was so bright that his people could only look at him through the arrow holes in their shields: only the bravest could see him clearly.

  James was half dozing by the time Alexander ran out of words, but he roused himself enough to ask, “So, does the scourge of the Mediterranean seas often tell bedtime stories?”

  “Shut up and go to sleep,” Alexander mumbled, tangling their legs together easily under the sheets.

  ~

  James woke early as the dawn light was beginning to seep under the drapes.

  They disentangled themselves from the sheets and each other and performed their morning rituals in silence, aware they had little time before the servants arrived and the town awoke.

  Then they were buttoned up and separate, the length of the room and the roll of the wide ocean between them.

  James reached for Alexander as Alexander was stepping in for an embrace.

  “You must find me again,” he said.

  “Aye,” Alexander replied, as serious as James had ever seen him, “I must. I will.”

  And he cupped his hands around James’ face and kissed him, and then once more, and then he was gone.

  Also by Vivienne Cox

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