[i]((Collab with Igraine and AmongHeroes))[/i]

Thomas did not restrain the groan this time as Antonia’s body pressed against his own, and her lips tickled at the flesh of his ear. He should have expected her to wriggle away, and disappear in a flash of dark skin and shimmering beauty. If his mind had been more focused upon the playful edge to Antonia’s words, and not the electrifying proximity of her celestial body, he could have perhaps foreseen the coming game.

But where’s the fun in that? Thomas thought with a predatory smile.

With a trill of laughter hanging in the air, Thomas dove after the rogue. Antonia was strong and deft in her movements, and from the beginning Thomas had to pour power to his muscles just to keep up with her. The water churned around him as his own kicks and flutters propelled him into Antonia’s wake. 

Through gulps of air, Thomas could see he was gaining upon Antonia. Flashes of skin shone in brief staccato in the moonlight, and the kicking heels of her feet grew closer with each passing moment. Thomas did not flatter himself with the notion that he was gaining upon the rogue on his skill as a swimmer alone; for all he knew letting him gain was all apart of Antonia’s playful scheme. 

Still, he did not let that slow him down as he lunged forward from beneath the waves to clutch at her ankle. With a powerful tug he pulled at her leg, hoping to spin Antonia around to face him. Thomas’ grip was strong, though with the water and the laughter that was bubbling from his mouth, he did not trust that he could hold her for long. 

Unseen, the rogue's eyes widened in genuine surprise beneath the waters when she felt that grip about her ankle, dunking her further still before pulling her to Thomas like the riptide. 
 
But nicer. Much, [i]much[/i] nicer...
 
She had , of course, fully intended Thomas should catch up with her - a promise [i]was[/i] a promise after all, and this was certainly not one that would be a hardship in the keeping. And Antonia knew very well, a man only truly appreciated what he must work to take hold. Still, she might have guessed a man that could swim against a kraken and survive, would surely catch up with her long before she could finish her circuitous route to shore.
 
Laughing, Antonia turned toward Thomas, sputtering just a little with surprise and a touch too much sea water down her throat. There was no fighting that grip of his, and the rogue allowed herself to float toward her lovely man until she could wrap her arms about his neck once more, smiling mischievously up into that grinning face. One leg snaked in a slow, luxurious tease up over his hip, to rest languidly about his waist.
 
"Oh what [i]ever[/i] shall I do?" the rogue cooed softly, the laughter in that warm, fragrant voice belying any true dismay. "The fisherman has caught his fish it seems... " Antonia bit her lip softly, eyes narrowing appraisingly as she searched those shining copper eyes, savoring all she read in their depths. She leaned forward just enough to nibble oh-so-gently at his chin, and then work her slow, unhurried way down his neck.
 
"Have you ever heard the tale Thomas, of the fisherman who released the talking fish he caught one fine day?" she whispered between soft kisses along his throat.

Thomas’ slicked back his wet hair, and met Antonia’s impish look with a supremely satisfied smile. The sensation of her leg entwining about his waist lifted his brow, and the metallic sheen in his eyes flickered with almost genuine brilliance. As Antonia looked to him, Thomas thought that he was no longer floating in the arms of the ocean, but instead buoyed upward by the rogue’s very aura.
 
As she leaned forward towards him, Thomas’ lips parted fractionally, anticipating a kiss that was long overdue. When instead Antonia’s soft caress came to his chin, he let out a light, but disappointed moan. The next kiss came upon his jaw, then his neck, and ever downward towards his collarbone. Ever farther from his lips.
 
With each added portion of her question, Thomas’ eyes closed slowly along with the words. His mind was not his own any longer. He was drunk upon the woman before him, utterly lost to the world save for her and her embrace. Without any conscious thought, Thomas drifted his right hand upward along Antonia’s leg, to the curve of her hip, her waist, her ribs, and still further up across her arm and neck, to the firm line of her chin.
 
There his finger stopped Antonia’s advance down his body, and he lifted the beautiful face, framed in tight ringlet curls of ebony, up to his own. For a brief moment Thomas merely stared transfixed into the grey pools of his love’s eyes, before his mind at last allowed him to speak.
 
“I have not heard the tale, and I don’t intend to let you tell it.”
 
With that, Thomas leaned forward, tilted his head, and pressed his lips against Antonia’s. His eyes closed once more, and through the touch of his skin to hers, he drank in all of the rogue that he could.

Antonia did not even know she held her breath when Thomas lifted her chin, holding her gaze entirely with his own before pressing his lips to hers. All thoughts of playing out her silly game vanished entirely in the heavenly bliss of that kiss. Oh, she had thought to wheedle out a few scant seconds more of freedom in the open ocean through some playful bit of chicanery. A tease? A trick? The rogue was a genuine mistress of deception and escape, but the moment the thrill of that kiss raced down her spine like lightning over the sea, Antonia knew she was finally and truly captured - and damn glad of it.
 
Their beloved stars must surely be smiling down on them this night, glimmering witnesses to the rogue's first kiss, shared at last with the only man she had ever loved, as sweetly and perfectly happy as a virginal bride on her wedding night. Their first kiss, an embrace delayed for [i]far[/i] too long. The rogue surrendered herself to the pirate captain's lead, her lithe, supple body wrapping all about him, lost for several long, blissful moments as lips and tongue, fingers and flesh found delicious purchase beneath her every last touch. 
 
Still, the rogue drew back for just a moment, to look up into those matchless copper eyes. "That is [i]just[/i] fine Thomas," she whispered breathlessly, "I cannot tell the tale, since I have completely forgotten whatever it was I was going to say anyway... " Antonia shrugged helplessly, though that tender smile beneath grey eyes half-lidded with desire silently said all that was needful between them. The rogue’s eyes fell closed once more as she pressed all she had to the very last, to the lips, the hands and the heart of her lovely man.