"It's not about words," he said.

Ann looked at him with her round blue eyes, clear as water in the yellow glow of the cabin. Jack was so serious, his heart obviously in his throat as his eyes skipped across her face. He came towards her slowly, she raising her head in response, as though pulling him in. He reached out for her, touching her face so lightly that Ann felt a shiver go up her spine. Holding her gaze, Jack slid his hand around the back of her neck and brought his open mouth down onto hers.

Ann opened her mouth to his, shocked by the passion of his kiss as his tongue stroked roughly at hers and his fingers flattened her curly hair where he held the back of her neck. She pressed the palms of her hands against his chest, feeling the ribbing of his undershirt and beneath that, the defined muscles she had tried not to stare at the night they passed each other in the corridor. In the stillness of the night, a moan escaped Ann and Jack brought his other hand to rest lightly between her shoulder blades. The contrast between the heat of his kiss and his gentle touch on her body had Ann's face flushing and her delicate lower muscles squeezing. She found she was gripping his upper arm, the bicep tensing and relaxing as he stroked cautiously across her back.

Suddenly, the Venture was rocked by a wave, Ann's possessions skittering across tabletops and Ann herself tossed into Jack, and Jack into the wall. "Christ," he swore, as the back of his head bumped a shelf. Having not released her hold on Jack's arm, Ann was pulled across after him, despite her efforts to compensate for the tilt on slick-bottomed heels. Ann shook her curls out of her face and looked up at him. Her cheek rubbed against his and she saw that he had leaned protectively over her body. Next she noticed that his hips were now pressed to hers, with his erection pushing into her as forcefully as his tongue had been in her mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Ann straightened the arm gripping Jack, levering herself away from him, her face burning hot.

"Ann." She knew he was looking at her, but could not meet his gaze. The Venture continued to lurch over the waves, keeping her on an unsteady footing.

Jack's hand came out, wrapping around the underside of her wrist. He didn't move, besides slight adjustments to his stance to prevent toppling over. Ann was certain he wouldn't continue until she showed signs of allowing it. She looked up at him, leaning almost casually back against the wall. He met her glance with such longing, so she brought her hands back to his chest, letting the rocking ship slide her a little closer again.

This time, Jack's hands were on her more quickly. He thought perhaps that he was just trying to hold her securely against him to prevent injury, but when her body was leaning into his and he could feel her heart pounding, Jack knew he was lying to himself about his intentions. He grasped the sides of her face, kissing her deeply and groaning when Ann stood on tiptoe to press her mouth more firmly to his.

Feeling Ann's instability as she strained to reach him, Jack grabbed her around the waist and let the swing of the ship help him put Ann's back to the wall of her suite. He felt like they were dancers in a jewelry box.

His hands drifted away from her and he felt the hem of her blouse slip across the back of his hand. It had become untucked from her skirt as he spun her. He broke their kiss and looked from her eyes down to where his fingers were tracing the shirt's hem. Ann followed his gaze then darted her eyes back up to his. Recognizing his reluctance to push her, Ann reached out a trembling hand, landing on a button on his partially undone shirt. She fumbled it open. She looked back into his eyes. Jack took a shaky breath. Ann slowly ran her index finger down his chest until it ran into the next button. Before she could open it, Jack had yanked her against him.

All of a sudden, his hand was moving beneath the hem of her blouse, where it encountered her silky (though of course, not real silk) camisole. He pressed his palm to the small of her back, sliding the camisole up with his hand, then dropped his hand again, smoothing it onto her bare skin. He groaned again and jerked his hips against hers.

Strong and agile from her years of slapstick and dance on vaudeville, Ann lifted one leg, hooking her thigh over Jack's and holding him against her. His fingers briefly dug into her back at the sensation, then he groped for her thigh with his free hand, sliding her skirt up to her hip. Ann panted into his mouth and when she met his eyes, nodded to him.

On her cue, Jack dropped his hand from Ann's back and firmly gripped the underside of her other leg as she hopped up, securing it around his hip. The Venture rocked and they tipped away from the wall. Ann's hands flew to the buttons of her blouse and she quickly had it open, then yanked from her shoulders before Jack had her pressed back against the wall. His mouth went to hers and he stroked Ann's face gently, supporting her weight with a hand on her derriere.

Once again, he opened her mouth with his tongue, stroking inside, and she let out a yelp. Jack's hand shook as he skated it down the length of her pale neck, then traced her collarbone with his fingertips. When Ann leaned against him and rolled her hips firmly upward against his dick, he dropped his hand to her breast and squeezed. It was evident that she wasn't wearing anything beneath her camisole.

Ann's own quaking fingers found the hem of her undergarment and slipped it up and over her head. Jack was trying not to look so Ann reached for him. She undid the rest of his buttons and pushed the shirt off his shoulders. She plucked at the fabric of his undershirt, peeling it up his tensed abdominals as he panted against her, his mouth by her ear. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Ann pulled Jack tight to her, their bare chests bumping together.

Jack dropped both hands to her thighs, digging in with those long fingers to clench the material of her skirt. He jerked his head back from hers. "Ann, take me out." This time he did stare at her breasts, blinking hard once, an eager look on his face.

Ann glided her fingers across his shoulders and down the muscles of his back, which rose and fell like the waves she had stopped noticing. Hitting the top of his trousers, she ringed the very edge from back to front, her careful fingertips like acrobats on a tightrope. She gave him a playful tug forwards by the waistband on his pants.

"Christ," Jack swore again.

Ann's fingers struggled a moment with the fastening, it having been pulled tight by the lean of his erection beneath it. Meanwhile, Jack had her skirt pushed up fully around her waist and was distractedly tracing the scalloped edge of her panties. Ann got his pants open and felt for the edge of his underwear, then yanked both layers down his hips. His erection leapt, brushing against her abdomen.

Jack snuck his fingers into her panties, stroking upwards through the river of wetness she had released. Ann made a thick gasping sound, banging her head back against the wall in reaction to his touch. His eyes snapped up to look into hers, which she opened before nodding sharply at him several times. Jack took his dick in hand, stretching Ann's panties to the side with the other, and thrust up into her.

Ann moaned deeply and ground herself down against him, rubbing her thrumming clit against his hot skin. Jack was so awed by her response he nearly dropped her. He bent his knees slightly and stroked up into her, hard, holding her now sweating body tight to his. Ann moaned again, dropping her head back and looking at him like she was one of the exotic predators Englehorn kept in his cages.

Jack smothered her moans with his mouth, kissing the hell out of her while he pounded up into her narrow channel. Ann was doing her part considering she was braced tightly between Jack and the wall, rolling her body against his. Her movements stroked her nipples down his muscular chest and forced herself down onto his erection, sending it pistoning into her in a way that caused fire to flash behind her eyes. Jack jerked up into her with such force that Ann's back rasped up and down the wall.

Ann felt heat like a candle flame from where her clit was brushing up and down against Jack. She tightened her thighs around his hips, using her muscles to lift her until he was almost out of her, then ram herself back down, striking his dick into her pleasurably. Jack made a wet, desperate gasp. Ann broke their kiss and struggled to keep her eyes open and on his as she orgasmed. "Jack," she mouthed, though she couldn't make a sound.

Jack drove into her wildly, feeling his come rush up into her and complete satiation flow through him. After the final upward tick of his hips, he held Ann to him. Her forehead dropped to rest on his sweaty shoulder. He raised his hand to cradle her back, his palm making a smacking kiss sound on her skin.

"Do you think anyone will have heard that?" she mumbled against him. He could feel her lips turning up into a smile on his skin.

"If they did, they'll just think it was somebody's junk falling over in this storm." He kissed the side of her head and grinned.