Steampunk Desires: An Erotic Romance (The Complete Collection) (3 page)

"Well, not all of it," Albert said, glancing down at his still-throbbing cock.

Agatha grinned. "Didn't want to get off this time?"

Albert glanced at Eleanor. "Saving my strength."

Agatha laughed, shaking her head. "You stud, you."

"One does what one must!" The two chuckled, and then Agatha got off the bed, somewhat stiffly.

"Your turn!" she said to Eleanor, grinning.

Edwin nudged Eleanor, and she got to her feet nervously. Agatha came to her, arms outstretched, and pulled her into a hug. Far from the aloof greeting she'd originally offered, Agatha was now warm and compassionate.

"Don't worry," she said softly. "It's not so bad. The first time might be a little hard, but after that, it's all fun and games." She withdrew and held Eleanor's hands. "You'll do just fine, kiddo," she said kindly, winking. She leaned over and picked up Eleanor's brass sock from the bed and handed it to her. "Go for it!"

Eleanor bit her lip with a mixture of nervousness and anticipation. Albert stood at the foot of the bed, smiling patiently. She took off her tattered shoes, and then hesitated. Her dress was worn almost threadbare, but it was what kept her modesty, and this was the first she had ever uncovered herself in front of a man, let alone two. Agatha helped her to unfasten it, and her heart raced as she felt it loosen around her. Clutching her hands to her chest, she breathed hard. She looked around. The faces of Edwin, Albert, and Agatha were all kind, welcoming, and patient. She bit her lip, took a deep breath, and shed her dress, stepping out of it delicately, then folding it and placing it carefully on top of her shoes.

Albert and Edwin's eyes widened. Beneath the tattered dress was a beautiful woman with shapely breasts and the perfect curve around her buttocks. The dress had done nothing to flatter her, and they had not seen this coming. Her auburn hair contrasted fiercely with her green eyes, giving her a striking, stunning beauty made all the more attractive by her humble, unassuming attitude. From across the room, several sets of eyes caught her, and the room was, for a moment, silent in appreciation.

Eleanor felt the sudden, oppressive silence, could feel the eyes on her, and covered her breasts with one arm, her sex with the other, so terribly ashamed she was of herself, but Albert stepped forward and held her. She bit her lip, resting her head on his strong shoulder, her breathing labored with embarrassment and fear. He stroked her head, soothing her, saying nothing, yet quietly providing her with the confidence she needed to go on. She looked up into his eyes, which reflected genuine care for her, genuine wonder at her beauty.

He spoke at last. "Eleanor, we had no idea," he said quietly. "You are beautiful. You must know that." She said nothing, just listened as he glanced out around the room. "The others staring — it's not because they disapprove, Eleanor. With that dress off, well..." he trailed off for a moment. "You're stunning."

It took a moment for it to sink in, but when Eleanor looked up again, it was with confidence, excitement, and anticipation. She smiled, still shyly, but her eyes sparkled for the first time since she'd been on board, and Albert once again had to remember to breathe. He led her to the bed and laid her down. Her soft skin was creamy against the sheets, and her arm rested on her chest. She felt vulnerable, but it was good.

Albert leaned over her and caressed her forehead. Lying beside her, he moved in gently for a kiss. His lips worked magic on hers, and she gasped, her eyes suddenly opening widely. She felt an odd sensation in her sex, like butterflies but with an edge, a warmth that filled her body and tantalized her. Albert kissed her again, gently, as he brought his hand to her face, cradling her cheek. His hand moved down to her neck, and she lifted her head, giving him access. He continued to kiss her, but he moved his lips down her neck, then off to the side. She gasped suddenly as an electric feeling coursed through her body. She began to tremble.

Albert cupped her breast with his hand, softly rubbing the nipple between his fingers. It was a feeling she'd never felt before, but it felt good. No, it felt wonderful! That warmth she'd felt earlier was growing, as if her entire womb was now on fire with a passionate desire. She could not place the desire, yet. There was something she needed, a yearning urge, but she knew not what it was. As Albert's rubbing turned to stroking, she squeezed her legs together. She felt a wetness between her legs. It was strange, not unpleasant, but unfamiliar. Without thinking, she reached down to feel it. It was slippery. Albert held her wrist and gently brought her fingers to his lips, nuzzling her fingertips. He took the moistened fingers into his mouth and suckled them, his tongue running slowly and deliberately over every surface. Eleanor moaned, then snatched her hand from Albert's mouth to cover her own, a look of horror appearing on her face. The warmth disappeared.

But Albert's words were gentle. "Let it out," he said softly but passionately. "Be proud of your sexuality! Embrace it and celebrate it! Let the moan go free if it wants, but never force it." He took her wrist back and kissed her fingertips. The warmth came back as if it had never gone, and she shuddered. Albert surrendered her hand and ran his fingers down her side, sending little electric jolts coursing through her body as he did. She writhed up against him in pleasure. His hand hovered just over her clit. He stroked it.

"Oh!" Eleanor gasped. Suddenly that yearning feeling was beginning to take shape. She looked at Albert in wonder. "Yes!" she exclaimed, grabbing his hand and putting it on her clit forcefully, suddenly realizing that this was what she'd been seeking. "Yes, do that more!"

Albert fought back laughter, snickering instead. Edwin and Agatha did the same with varying degrees of success. Agatha whispered to Edwin, "Ya think she had a breakthrough just now?" Edwin chuckled under his breath and nodded.

Albert took his hand back, giving her a coy look, and lowered his head towards her sex. Even as high up as her bellybutton, he could smell her arousal. His dick, already turgid from the activity so far, now sprung up, rock-hard and throbbing, offering its own lubricant. He gently reached out and licked the hood of her clitoris, and she sighed in deep pleasure. Relaxing his tongue, he licked over her labia, teasing her but not penetrating. She bucked against him, but he masterfully kept his tongue outside. Her whole body shook. He glanced at Edwin, who nodded. Albert inserted a single finger into Eleanor's virgin sex. Bells went off in her head as she recognized the precise thing her body had been demanding. But her head was floating now, riding a wave of bliss, unable to make her body move closer to him, unable to make her hand grab his hand and drive it in deeper. There was nothing to do but wait, to ride the wave, to anticipate fulfillment.

Albert removed his finger, and then stuck two in, pressing deeper. Eleanor never felt it when her hymen broke, but when Albert nodded to Agatha, the others knew it was done. Agatha handed the brass sock to him, and he stroked it over Eleanor's vaginal lips. Her breathing increased. Agatha was right: it did feel wonderful, strangely warm and smooth. Albert pressed it against her, and she felt herself parting for it. Her breath caught. It was wonderful, the most wonderful feeling she'd ever felt. It went inside of her and nestled itself in. Agatha plugged it in. The needle instantly jumped to ninety-five percent.

But now it was Albert's turn. He'd painstakingly gotten her to this point, and his need was screaming at him. Her beauty, her humility, the way her body writhed at his touch, wetted itself in preparation for him, how every muscle in her body called out to him, it was all too much. He got back onto the bed, spread her legs, and gently pushed in. Her juices flowed all around his cock, welcoming him inside. He pushed deeper. He could feel the brass sock inside, warm and inviting. He didn't know how, but it felt just as good against him as she did. His cock was slick with his and her intermixed fluids. The sock tugged lightly on his dick as he pulled out and resisted when he pushed in. It teased his head and rubbed the bottom of his shaft. He could smell her arousal, feel his need, hear her breathing and occasional moan, and see her beautiful body before him, contorted with pleasure.

The needle slammed to the right. There was no loud outburst from either of them, just a halt in time, a moment of ecstasy for both. He felt his testes drain themselves, felt the relief that came with the release of his seed into the sock. The heat that had been growing inside of her blossomed. Her head swam; her whole body tingled. She could not see, yet her eyes were open. She could not hear, nor could she taste, nor smell. She could only feel, wrapped in this blanket of bliss that started at her sex and enveloped her whole being. Her body glowed. So did his.

He rested beside her, his cock still inside, both basking in the afterglow. Neither could say anything.

Edwin frowned and tapped the gauge with his foot; the needle had stuck to the right. He bent down to unplug the cord, but it shocked him hard, and he recoiled in shock and surprise. The needle dropped to zero.

Eleanor gasped, and with a grunt from her, the sock pushed itself out and Albert with it. He took a breath, grinned, and looked at her. She smiled at him dreamily, still not saying anything, but he could tell from her expression that she was satiated. Her first time had been a success.

Edwin puzzled over the events that led to his getting shocked. He would have to inform Harriet. She would be very interested to know about it. He bade the others goodbye and set off in search of her.

"Way to go, kiddo," Agatha said softly to Eleanor, touching her shoulder as she left. "You'll do just fine here."

Albert and Eleanor stayed and talked for a bit, discussing feelings. He warned her that she might find herself in love with him, and he encouraged her to seek out Agatha for help if it happened. She nodded. Then the two went off to eat. The airship's horn blew, and the gangplank was lifted as it made its way into the sky. Eleanor's career onboard the
HMS Rapturion
had begun.

*****

~
Volume Two~

T
he
HMS Rapturion
departed the dock, and the passengers huddled next to the giant windows to spy a glance of the breathtaking view of the city as the airship took to the sky. The city lazily fell below them, replaced by clouds and the sun. Those on the starboard side watched as the land snaked its way below them and the dawn of the day. Those to port watched a placid sea reflecting the sunrise behind them. The majestic vessel gleamed in the sunlight, the flagship of Air Cruise Co. and the most luxurious airship in the world.

Below deck, the propulsion team was already hard at work. Many of the newcomers paused for a moment near the smaller portholes along the port and starboard sides of the ship. For many of them, this was their first time on an airship. The view was surreal: the gentle motion of the craft felt as though they weren’t moving at all, yet the land and water sank below them ever further. Unlike travel by sea, none felt sick; an uncanny sense of disbelief was the worst that any felt.

Edwin observed the newcomers’ expressions of awe and the veterans’ indifference with quiet interest as he made his way to the staircase at the forward end of the ship. A long-time veteran himself—he’d been on board the very first airship a few decades before, when travel by airship was harrowing at best and lethal at worst—he had seen many a departure, many a landing, and many, many crewmen on the propulsion decks of a dozen ships over the years.

Of course, the propulsion deck had not always been the way it was now, an entire deck of common areas, tiny cabins, and propulsion rooms filled with beds and power-input jacks. No, back then, propulsion had been hard work as the entire crew shoveled coal to make sufficient steam to drive the turbines to keep the ship aloft and moving. Back then, a fifth of the propulsion deck was furnaces, three-fifths were fuel stores, and the final fifth was a cramped combination of communal quarters and galley kitchen. Back then, there were no portholes to take in the view; there wouldn’t have been time to do it, even if there were. As he watched the crewmembers around him, he marveled at how much had changed in the last 30 years. The industrial revolution had made major changes throughout the world, but the discovery that energy could be harvested from human intercourse had revolutionized his life in a much more personal way.

The credit for that discovery belonged to Harriet Beechworth, resident engineer on the
HMS Rapturion
. While working on some contraption that did who-knows-what at Cambridge, she happened to be watching a gauge as she orgasmed, and in the afterglow-induced haze, she’d managed to make a note to investigate further. Edwin didn’t know all the details of what happened next, but he did know that she’d made her discovery known to Air Cruise Co., who had offered her a king’s ransom to come work for them. She’d declined most of the offer, stating only that she wanted her own lab on the ship, a modest salary, and to be left alone to do her work, to which the executives at Air Cruise Co. eagerly agreed. Disturbing her was not prohibited; however, it was highly discouraged unless it was for a very important reason. Edwin had just such a very important reason, and it was to her lab on the deck above that he made his way.

The nice thing about having your own entire deck on an airship is that you will never feel claustrophobic. The downside to someone else having an entire deck to herself is that she can be very difficult to find, especially when she’s shorter than five feet tall. Instruments and gadgets made of brass, glass, wood, and iron littered the floor and the rows of simple wooden tables as Edwin began his search for the elusive scientist. Given her stature, she could, realistically, be anywhere.

“Harriet!” Edwin called as he navigated through stacks of notes, careful not to brush up against the chalkboards that covered the walls or stood freestanding as dividers between different experiments. Scrawl in tiny print covered all of them, occasionally circled, boxed, or blown into giant letters and vigorously underlined, usually followed by question marks. How one person could have enough strength in her hand to write so much in a lifetime, let alone in the few months she’d been residing on the ship before its maiden voyage, Edwin could not fathom.

A tall figure appeared suddenly and regarded Edwin perfunctorily.

“Yes, sir?” he asked simply.

“Oy, Giles, good to see ya. Where’s Harriet?”

“Dr. Beechworth is in the machine shop, sir, and terribly busy.”

“I’ve got some information that will pique her interest, Giles. You know I wouldn’t bother her if I didn’t,” Edwin said.

If he were a person whose feelings got hurt easily, now would be a time. After all the years he’d worked with Harriet, it seemed they were never any closer than the day they’d been introduced to one another. Giles, the newest of her assistants and the chilliest in demeanor, had lasted longer than most, probably because of that demeanor. Edwin figured that he and Harriet must get along swimmingly.

“Go at your own risk, then,” Giles said indifferently as he passed Edwin on his way upstairs, likely to fetch Harriet’s meal.

Edwin finally freed himself of the jungle that made up the front two-thirds of the lab, where chaos lived, yet Harriet — and Giles, for that matter — seemed to know exactly where to find anything at the drop of a hat. Abruptly, the open space turned into a narrow hallway with doors on each side, each labeled with etched-glass placards, dead-ending into a door at the end marked “Chalk.” Yes, Dr. Beechworth had an entire store room dedicated to storing nothing but chalk. Before that was a room for ink, parchment, and pens on the left, followed by several large observation rooms. On the right was a room for brass, wood, glass, iron, and other raw materials, followed by the machine shop. It was here that Edwin entered.

Harriet was sitting in front of a lathe on a booster seat atop a lab stool, her back to the door, turning a tiny piece of brass and wearing the thickest glasses Edwin had ever seen on her — and Edwin had seen some very thick glasses on her. His footfall on the metal floor of the lab distracted her, and her hand slipped, sending the tiny work piece flying across the room to some obscure location.

“Newton, Lovelace, and Maxwell!” she screamed in frustration, slamming her now empty hands down on the workbench and whirling to face him. “What do you want?” she demanded.

Edwin, nonplussed, grinned, his eyes shining with the delight of getting to share a secret of deep import with someone who could appreciate its value. “I made a discovery today that I thought you’d find interesting,” he said.

“Oh? What’s that?” Dr. Beechworth’s demeanor instantly became businesslike, yet with more than a hint of intrigue. She swiveled in her chair — an innovation she’d picked up from chatting with other men of learning at a conference a few years back — and leaned on the armrest, her steel-gray eyes looking like those of a bug through the thick lenses.

“Uh,” Edwin said, making a flicking motion near his eyes.

“Right,” Harriet replied, using one of her diminutive arms to flick the glasses up above her head, where they remained, suspended from a brass band around her head. She returned her gaze to him.

“We got a new recruit today,” Edwin began.

“We get many new recruits, Edwin,” Harriet snapped, taking up a pen and wiggling it impatiently between her thumb and index finger and kicking her short legs back and forth on her booster seat. “That is not newsworthy enough to make me lose concentration while tuning the latest-model coition transconductor. These things are extremely delicate, and the latest model is much more intricate than the last.” She sighed wistfully, knowing she’d have to start over. Turning, she reached into a pile of brass rod stock sitting nearby and began putting it into the lathe, completely forgetting about Edwin.

“There’s energy to be had in the afterglow,” Edwin said quietly. Harriet froze, thinking. She turned abruptly.

“What did you say?” she asked, her full attention now on Edwin again.

“There’s energy,” Edwin said emphatically, grinning ear-to-ear, eyes shining, “to be had in the afterglow.”

Harriet frowned, thinking, bringing her hand to her chin and squeezing it. “Hmm…”

“The new recruit and Albert just took a tumble in the sack, and the needle jumped off the scale.” Seeing her about to interrupt, he continued hurriedly, “not that that’s out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary is that it stayed there after they both climaxed. I thought it was stuck, so I tapped it with my foot.”

Harriet opened her mouth, her expression stern. She was about to lecture him about treating the equipment with respect, but his next revelation silenced her.

“When I went to unplug it, I got a nasty shock that just wouldn’t stop! I finally aborted the attempt, and the needle eventually dropped on its own, but it must have gone on for a minute or more!”

Harriet’s eyes went wide with excitement. Thinking quickly, she murmured, “Which bed?”

“Beg your pardon?”

“Which bed? Which bed?!” she asked impatiently, jumping from her seat and making hastily for the door.

Edwin chased after her as she hastily made her way to one of the observation rooms. Opening the door and clicking on the light, rows of racks full of clattering machines greeted them. Rolls of paper made their way through the machines, and jagged lines appeared on the part that had made it through.

“Twenty-seven,” Edwin replied.

“Twenty-seven, twenty-seven,” Harriet said absent-mindedly, going down one of the rows and scanning the brass nameplates. “Ah, ha! Twenty-seven!”

She climbed a ladder that rolled along the rack of interest carefully stretched the roll out, examining the line the machine had made. She frowned. “Edwin, that was over ten minutes ago! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”

Edwin sighed in mock exasperation. He knew she was joking. Well, sort of. “It took me that long to find you! I came straight away. That rats nest of a lab you keep up here leaves scores of places for you to hide!”

“Yes. That’s why it’s perfect,” she retorted, poring over the paper. “That is some impressive output,” she said, marveling at the duration of a high point in the chart, “but I need to run more tests.” She re-rolled the paper and placed it carefully behind the machine so that it wouldn’t interfere with the current monitoring. “See to it that the new recruit and Albert make their way up here, won’t you, Edwin, dear?” she asked sweetly, reaching up to squeeze his hand before breezily leaving the observation room. Edwin trailed behind, turning out the lights and closing the door as he went. He smiled to himself: he was right; Harriet had loved the news. He made his way back downstairs to locate Eleanor, the new recruit, and Albert, her first-ever sexual partner. He needed to make it quick so that he could catch up on payroll for his crew. He met Giles on the staircase, sure enough, carrying Harriet’s lunch. Giles ignored him. Fine bunch of good it’d do, Edwin thought. Harriet would be pacing the lab, awaiting Eleanor’s arrival. He shook his head and grinned.

Arriving back downstairs, he made his way to the common room. Eleanor and Albert were there, eating and talking together. Edwin approached them and smiled pleasantly.

“Edwin!” Eleanor beamed, “that was just…so wonderful. Thank you!” She hugged him.

Edwin roared with laughter. “Don’t thank me; thank Albert there. He’s Mr. Golden Cock.” Albert laughed and bowed his head humbly.

“But listen, the two of you did something that has piqued the interest of the ship’s engineer,” he said, getting to the point, “and she wants to see you right away. Albert, you know the way. Last I left her, she was near the machine shop, but she’s probably pacing her lab waiting.”

Eleanor looked at Albert in bewilderment, and he smiled uneasily, rising from the table and extending his hand for hers. She took it and the two left.

Edwin looked down at the plate they shared: a half-eaten hunk of cheese, a generous slab of bacon, some roasted potatoes, and some turnip greens looked back at him. Waste not, he thought, and took the bacon and cheese with him as he made his way to his quarters. Rest assured, there was plenty more where that came from; the propulsion crew was the best fed of the staff on the
HMS Rapturion
and even ate better than some of the third-class passengers.

Edwin’s quarters lay down the forward-most hallway that connected the port and starboard sides of the ship. Across the hallway was the gay propulsion room, one of three propulsion rooms, each geared towards a certain kind of energy: masculine, feminine, and bipolar. Harriet would be able to explain the details, but Edwin couldn’t, and he was fine with that. He’d stick to the day-to-day tasks of making sure people were getting laid frequently and orgasming plenty. He really liked his job.