Chapter 4 – Merry Stern (Part 4)

Her heart began to race from the moment they left the deck and returned indoors. When she took off the man’s coat, which she had been wearing over her shoulders, and handed it back to him, she involuntarily flinched when their fingertips brushed.

And after walking silently side by side down the long corridor, arriving in front of the cabin, she slightly lifted her chin so he could kiss her cheek, and she could clearly hear the beating of her own heart.

His lips touched and then left her right cheek. Evelyn skillfully responded with a similar kiss. She lightly kissed his cheek, and when their noses were close enough to touch, her heart seemed about to burst with a strong premonition.

But Bryant did not kiss her.

After finishing the cheek kiss, he stepped back. Evelyn’s face flushed. It felt as if he could see right through her mind, knowing exactly what she wanted and was waiting for. She lowered her eyes in disappointment and shame.

There was no one in the corridor. The first-class passengers were probably still in the banquet hall.

The man and woman stood facing each other in silence. There was neither conversation nor exchange of glances. 

So, should I say goodbye now? Should I thank him for today and wish him a good rest?

Just as Evelyn seriously contemplated this, the man’s footsteps took a step closer to her.

Reflexively, she lifted her head. Their eyes met again, and her heart raced. Amidst the urgent throbbing, the man’s face approached. Her chest felt like it was about to explode. His eyes gazed intently. Long, thick eyelashes. The moment she thought he had closed his eyes, their lips met.

It felt like her heart had stopped.

It was a cautious kiss. Bryant gently bit her lips and then released them. So, surprisingly, Evelyn found herself thinking it was a shame. Just as she was about to open her closed eyes, his lips touched hers again. This time, a little deeper than the first, he swept the inside of her lips before pulling back slightly. And again. Again. Again.

It was a kiss so soft it felt like she might melt.

He didn’t rush. He wasn’t excited. As if soothing her, or confirming his resolve, he gave her plenty of time. Each time their lips parted and met again, he delved a little deeper. And when the woman had become sufficiently accustomed, when her closed lips opened and accepted the man’s tongue, he reached out for the first time to cradle her face. Even that simple touch left Evelyn unable to gather her thoughts.

Her back touched the wall. Pushed without realizing it, Evelyn’s vision blurred. As the kiss grew more intense, their breathing deepened. It was then that she unconsciously reached out and grasped the hem of the man’s coat, the evening coat she had been wearing just moments ago.

“Ha.”

The moment the woman let out a thin sound, he extended his other hand. After opening the cabin door, he gently embraced her waist and led her inside. By the time Evelyn opened her eyes in response to the sudden movement, they were already inside the cabin.

A dark room without lights. Pale moonlight seeped in through the window facing the sea.

She blinked once. She felt the solid wood behind her back. Light from the corridor trickled in through the gap in the door right next to her. The man stood right in front of her. Evelyn looked up at his face, shrouded in darkness, but she couldn’t gauge his expression.

Then, click, the door closed. With the sound of the latch clicking, the surroundings became quiet again. All she could hear was her own breathing, already shallow. The man was silent. It seemed she was the only one excited.

Click. The wick of the gas lamp on the wall was turned up. As the light overhead brightened, the man’s face was revealed. Evelyn lifted her chin to meet his gaze.

Unlike her, who was undoubtedly a mess of blush, he was no different from usual. He merely looked as though he had turned on the light because it was dark. However, Evelyn looked at the slowly heaving silk tie past his large shoulders, beneath that calm face. His breathing was clearly different from usual.

“I…”

Evelyn, who had been quietly looking up, suddenly spoke. The man looked at her as if to ask what she meant. His eyes gently looked down. Meeting those eyes, Evelyn spoke.

“It’s not my first time.”

A strange silence flowed for a moment.

Bryant said nothing. He seemed to be contemplating the intent of the words he had just heard. After slowly alternating his gaze between the woman’s eyes, he tilted his head slightly. A very faint smile at the corner of his mouth.

“It’s not my first time either.”

With the unexpected answer, the woman lost her words this time. The man lowered his head, bringing his lips close to hers. And in a very low voice, he asked again.

“Does it matter?”

The distance was too close for Evelyn to see his lips. So she couldn’t know his exact intent. The whispering low voice seemed like a light joke, or perhaps a serious question.

It’s not my first time. Why did I say something so stupid? Did I want to say that you’re not my first, so you don’t need to feel burdened? Or did I want to boast that I’m a woman who knows this much? 

Either way, it was a ridiculous thought, and Evelyn belatedly regretted it.

“…No.”

She shook her head. He advanced a little more. Their lips were almost touching. Their breaths had long been mingled.

“That’s a relief.”

With that, the agreement was concluded. The conversation also ended there. Bryant lunged in as if he had been waiting and kissed her deeply. The large hand gripping her neck was hot. Evelyn closed her eyes, her shoulders hunched.

*

The distance between the reception room and the bedroom in her cabin is about seven steps. The fact that the kiss didn’t break the entire time they moved that distance was surprising to Evelyn. But even more surprising was the fact that she was already in her chemise before they even reached the bedroom. The satin dress, which the maid had meticulously ironed, lay discarded like a shell on the floor of the reception room.

The bedroom light wasn’t turned on. The light from the entryway was enough to identify each other. When they reached the large bed with its four towering posts, Bryant turned her around.

He inhaled as he placed the tip of his nose against the nape of her neck, traced her exposed white shoulder with his lips, then slowly moved up along her neck to lick her earlobe. In that soft, thrilling sensation, Evelyn imagined what expression he might be wearing. Perhaps a hedonistic face. Like when savoring wine.

Standing behind her, caressing her shoulders, he removed her corset. After untying the knot, he inserted his fingers one by one into the tightly laced ribbons from bottom to top. Finally, when he had loosened the ribbons in all the holes, and the corset fell to her ankles with a thud, Evelyn took a deep breath. A sense of refreshing liberation and a new tension surged in. Now, she was wearing nothing but a thin chemise.

And then she was turned around again.

Bryant held her shoulders for a moment and looked at her. He was still fully dressed. Standing in her underwear in front of a gentleman in immaculate attire, Evelyn felt a peculiar thrill amid the embarrassment and shame.

He scanned the woman in the white chemise with his eyes. From her eyes meeting his, her tense lips, her slender neck and shoulders, to her heaving chest below, he thoroughly examined her. He was terrifyingly calm as he admired her. He didn’t seem like the man who had just stripped her dress and corset and kissed her lips until they were swollen.

In his gaze, Evelyn also looked at him. Watching him take off his evening coat and casually place it on the chair by the dressing table. The slightly impatient hand that untied the silk tie. The deftly crossing wrists as he removed the cuff buttons of his shirt one by one. But when he approached her again after finishing that, Evelyn could no longer look at him directly.

A large hand slipped inside the chemise. While caressing her shoulder, it slowly moved downward. Her br*asts, fuller than usual due to her approaching menstrual period, were temptingly filled. It was then that the rhythm of their breathing began to change. It was the same for both the woman and the man.

Bryant soon pulled Evelyn’s chemise over her head. Embracing the completely n*ked woman, he kissed her as if to swallow her. As he kissed his way down her body, he removed his shirt and trousers. Even when he laid her on the bed, he maintained a relatively gentle demeanor. At least, that was how Evelyn felt.

“Ah.”

But after their n*ked bodies overlapped, his demeanor changed. His grip gradually tightened, and his kisses grew fierce. When her body twisted from the strong stimulation, he held her tightly so she couldn’t move. He didn’t stop until Evelyn was completely exhausted, until her head felt dizzy from breathing too hard. Until the woman reached climax several times.

She moaned through clenched lips. A large hand grasped her chin, and he kissed her soothingly. Rubbing her cheek with sticky fingers, he slightly pulled away her lips. And as he inhaled her sweet breath, he whispered.

“Make more noise.”

Evelyn opened her eyes, which she had kept closed. She met the eyes of the man looking right in front of her. Eyes staring straight at her. 

Was he smiling? Or not?

“It’s nice to hear.”

The hand holding her chin withdrew. He changed his position and came back in. The man, who had accurately grasped the points, methods, and intensity the woman liked, now seemed ready to finish it. Holding him, who was rushing at a terrifying speed, Evelyn furrowed her brows again.

The extreme physical pleasure was a slightly different shade from the joy she knew. If there was an ultimate peak of pleasure, it was surely here. Making expressions that didn’t seem like hers, breathing like a mad person, saying things she would never say if she were in her right mind.

“Bryant.”

Something went pop in her head at that moment. No, it might have been her stomach, not her head. What was clear was that she couldn’t move a single finger now. Even if a burglar broke into this cabin, she wouldn’t be able to get up.

Evelyn lay limp like a withered flower, panting like a beast. Her mind felt distant, as if she were about to fall asleep. It was then that she felt something missing. Along with a cool sensation in her lower abdomen. When she slowly brought her hand there in her dazed state, the man lightly grasped her wrist.

“I’ll clean it up for you.”

The warmth of his hot palm. His breathing, still not fully calmed.

“Just a moment.”

After he gave her a light kiss, he rose. Evelyn had to wait, lying straight on her back, staring at the ceiling. She had to wait for him to return, trying to control her ragged breathing, still enveloped in the sensations within her trembling body and the terrifyingly languid afterglow.

She didn’t want to think yet about what she had done. Her head was full of things to consider, but she wanted to set them aside for now.

Evelyn just wanted to sleep. Right now, she simply wanted to fall into a deep and restful sleep.