The Slave (Free Men Book 1)(25)

     



 

"Oh?" I didn't like how breathy my tone sounded, but I couldn't control  the spike of lust racing through my veins. Knowing Kai had been watching  had been hot. It had been the hottest, most depraved, most debauched  thing I'd ever done in my life.

Some men might enjoy their slaves performing in public, but our master  had always jealously guarded our time together. Not a passing guard or  even the mistress had ever seen us being anything other than absolutely  proper around one another, no matter the entire household knew my  purpose. I had assumed him-not shy, exactly, but possessed of a certain  sense of propriety. Perhaps all he'd been missing was the right audience  all along.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN





The next morning found us in the pool barely past second sunrise. I had  gained some confidence in the water, and while I doubted I would ever be  as strong or fearless a swimmer as Kai, I could at least get my face  wet without flying into a panic. We stripped and Kai dived in, surfacing  in a burst of spray, the water droplets shining in his short hair like  diamonds. He shook his head, sending a rainbow of splashes outward, and I  smiled to see him so carefree.

I took a seat on the stone flags, my feet in the water, content for the  moment to watch him swim. Once I got in, he would become too engrossed  with my lesson to enjoy himself, and we had the whole day ahead of us to  spend on furthering my education. I hoped a little time fooling around  would show Kai it was possible to be a slave and still be happy, that  the two states weren't mutually exclusive.

"What have we here?"

I started at the sound of Master's deep voice, but before I had  half-risen to greet him, he sat beside me, pulling the wide legs of his  trousers up above his knees and putting his feet in the water.

"Does he do this every day?" Master asked, nodding at Kai, who was  completing an underwater lap and didn't yet realise we were no longer  alone.

I nodded. "He enjoys it. I think it reminds him of being free."

Kai surfaced with a triumphant shout, cut off in the middle when he saw  Master sitting beside me. He swam over to us with swift, efficient  strokes, and I envied him his confidence almost as much as I appreciated  the view.

He came to a rest in the water before us, one hand on the ledge between  my knees, kicking his legs slowly to keep himself upright and above the  surface.

"Don't stop on my account," Master said, smiling at him. "I was enjoying watching you."

"I need to start on Tam's lessons anyway."

"Let's see how you're coming along, then," Master prompted, and I obediently slid into the water.

At first I was conscious of having an audience, but Kai was patient with  me, and Master remained silent at the side of the pool. Indeed, he  hardly seemed to be watching us at all: as often as not when I glanced  in his direction, he had his eyes closed and his face tilted towards the  suns, his robes open and his long hair cascading around his shoulders.  He was nearing his fortieth year, and yet he was every bit as handsome  as I recalled him being in his twenties-if anything, even more so. The  touches of grey in his hair suited his serious demeanour, but the  laughter lines crinkled around his eyes showed he still had  light-hearted moments.

"You're doing well," he called, opening his eyes and seeing me watching.

I waved to him and promptly sank as I stopped paddling. Kai was hauling  me up again in an instant, scolding me for not paying attention.

"I didn't panic," I pointed out, wrapping my arms around him, and he smiled in wonder.

"I'd rather you didn't drown," Master said dryly, and we laughed and released each other to swim over to where he was sitting.

"Are you coming in?" I asked expectantly.

"Maybe later." Master smiled at me, his expression soft with fondness.  "You two continue the lesson for now. I'm going to be decadent and  sunbathe."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise but offered no further comment. I  couldn't recall the last time Master had taken a day off from his  duties, and certainly not to laze around the pool. As Kai and I returned  to the shallow end to work on my technique, I snuck a last glance in  time to see Master doff his robes and recline naked on a low chaise,  eyes closed and hair spilling down around his shoulders.

The rest would do him good, I decided. He carried the burden of too much  responsibility, and over the years I had seen it take its toll on the  carefree nature of the man I once knew. I knew little of what his duties  entailed, but war raged in all corners of our kingdom, and Master was  often called to the more treacherous lands surrounding our peaceful  little outpost.         

     



 

We swam for another hour, until the first sun was almost at its zenith  and my limbs were weary. I wasn't accustomed to regular exercise, and  despite having thought myself healthy, I found I was exhausted. Kai  teased me gently as I declared myself done, and I climbed out of the  pool, leaving him to swim strong laps up and down.

The water running down my legs provided a welcome balm against the hot  stone flags as I approached Master, walking on my toes to minimise the  contact between my bare feet and the burning ground. The trail of damp  toeprints I left in my wake dried quickly, and even in the space of a  few moments, my skin had dried, the flesh across my shoulders feeling  too tight in the aftermath. Master's nose was pink, and I was glad to  see he had taken the precaution of covering his genitals with his hand  before he fell asleep. As my shadow crossed his face, his eyes opened,  he squinted in the glare surrounding us, and smiled at me.

"You should cover up," I said reproachfully. "I would hate for you to be burnt."

"My skin's darker than yours."

"Still."

He chuckled throatily. "If you're so worried, do something about it."

I took the challenge for what it was, smirking as I fetched a large  parasol and erected it beside him, blocking the sunlight from hitting  him directly. The day was more than warm enough he'd be comfortable in  the shade. All his admonishments for caution aside, I had inadvertently  caught the suns on more than one occasion and knew all too well the  discomfort associated with raw and peeling skin.

Master watched, amused, as I fussed around him, setting the parasol so  it wouldn't block his view of the pool, where Kai was still swimming up  and down. I entered the house, taking a moment to let my eyes adjust to  the relative darkness after the blinding light outside, collected  supplies from his bedroom, and asked Sasha to bring iced water to the  poolside, which she did immediately. If she was surprised to see Master  lounging so decadently on the chaise instead of working, she didn't show  it.

Kai emerged from the pool at the promise of a cool drink, water  cascading down his body in a glorious shower, making his tanned skin  shimmer with movement. The outline of his army fatigues, once so visible  around his neck and biceps, had faded as his shoulders and chest turned  golden brown from being outside naked every day, although below his  waist he was still almost as pale as me.

He pulled another chaise into the shade alongside Master's and threw  himself down on the cushions. Master and I exchanged amused glances at  the transparency of his challenge to authority, but no admonishment was  forthcoming. Master sipped his iced water, placed the glass beside his  chair, and reclined again, looking for all the world like he hadn't a  single care in it.

I was pleased to note Kai's lack of self-consciousness in being naked.  It was not so long ago he would have refused to exit the pool with  Master looking on, yet now he lay not three feet from him, his limbs lax  and splayed lazily.

They both opened their eyes as I popped the cork in the bottle I held,  Kai's widening a little as he saw what it contained, Master closing his  again calmly. The oil was not of the sort Master kept for our intimate  use, but thinner, and it smelt strongly of coconut. I poured a little  onto my palm, warmed it by rubbing my hands together and, kneeling,  commenced at Master's feet.

He had large, slim feet. I couldn't say they were my favourite part of  his body, but they were nice, as feet went. I massaged the oil between  his toes, pressed hard into the arch, and smiled as he flexed, a  contented rumble rising in his throat. I moved on to his ankles, through  the line where the leg hairs began, over the little bones sticking out  in angular bumps on the sides. His calves were thick, the muscles in  them heavy, and I revelled in the way they moved under my firm hands as I  manipulated his flesh. The hairs looked blacker with the sheen of oil,  and I smoothed my palms over his shins to line them uniformly straight. I  dug my fingertips into the backs of his knees and massaged the taut  tendons there.

Kai was watching me. He pretended he wasn't, his eyes barely open, but I  could see the green moving behind his long lashes, his attention fixed  on me as I took care of Master. A quiver in his forearm told me he was  tense, although whether from fear or arousal, or some heady combination  of both, I didn't know and didn't ask. I pretended I couldn't see him  and continued up Master's meaty thighs, so thick I couldn't circle them  with both hands, the hair on them fuzzier, shorter, and lighter than  those on his shins.