<strong>My behaviour and attitude? So it's a 'do as I say and you will get what you want' situation?</strong><br/><br/><strong>No, I think you misunderstand.  I have no power to give you anything, nor take it away.  If only I did.  No, I simply mean that it would be in your interest that I remain a friend and ally as my lips are able to bear great influence in certain ears… Domina’s specifically.  She trusts me and knows that I always act with the Ludus… and by extension her best interest in mind.  This is to say that some of the lesser responsibilities such as recruiting new gladiators and house slaves, and positioning them falls to some of the high ranking servants that she keeps, such as myself.  And being the House champion also has certain privileges that allow me additional freedoms, one of which is to be with those friendly to me when I choose.</strong><br/><br/>He shifted again in his stance, trying to make himself more comfortable, but the closeness of this foreign beauty, with her exposed breast flesh within arms reach was having a marked effect on him.<em><strong>How long had they been gone… five minutes… ten?  How long would it take to search the whole villa? he wondered, still gazing into Cariad’s eyes, now standing in front of him, the vast expanse of mattress and silks behind her.  Domina would likely never know how long he was gone, he simply wasn’t that important in light of the games raging on below her balcony.  She would be entertained, Caris would see to her needs should she have any.  Domina would be fed, served, and even pleasured if she sought it, but she would not notice how long that he and Cariad were gone for.  Dare he try to push the issue some and see if he could take her here and now?</strong></em><br/><br/><strong>Friends, that I can do, without an issue. Intimate, may prove a little harder, I have not been taken, by any man.</strong><br/><br/><strong><em>Surely that could not be true.  A woman grown; and a beautiful woman at that. </em></strong>She had surely spent at least months in slavery before reaching here, much of it on the road from wherever it was that she was from.  Did she honestly expect him to believe that she had been untouched by a former lover, a guardsman from the trade caravan, one of the Ludus’ house guards, or Manus himself?  That could simply not be, he could not find a frame of reference for that?  He decided that this was as good a chance as any to press the issue.<br/><br/><strong>Caris, is the bitch that currently attends Domina… and I know not what ill will she bears me and she will not tell me.  It is her position that I could desire to see you aspiring to… should something wayward befall her some day soon.  Living in a ludus can be dangerous as you may already suspect.<br/><br/>But, I am sorry, did you just say that you have never been touched by a man before?  That your maidenhead is still in tact?  Then you must either be more of a pain in the ass that you seem, and you make it so hard for a man to take you that they decide it is not worth it, or you must be so good at performing the other pleasures of the flesh and bed duties that no man has even felt the need to take it from you.  The only other thing I can think of is that the Gods themselves have you kept you off of a man’s cock for some greater purpose that only they know.</strong><br/><br/>Patrocles stepped closer, reaching out with his right hand and brushing his rough hand against Cariad’s soft cheek and tucked some stray hairs behind her ear and away from her face.  He leaned in very close to her, and whispered very softly, but with his eyes fixed on hers to watch her reactions closely.<br/><br/><strong>Because I can’t comprehend a world in which a woman as desirable as you are could live as long as you have without the feel of a man’s caress on your naked body, or the warmth of his body as he lies on you, next to you, inside of you… his movement causing your body to flood with feelings of intense pleasure.  It is too much a shame to even try to imagine it.</strong><br/><br/>As he whispered he slowly leaned in closer, his fingers curling into the hair at the base of her neck as he pulled her lips towards his.  As they came together, and Patrocles finished speaking he brushed his lips lightly across her full lips.  His left hand stretched out as well, his fingers finding the soft skin of her belly and then slowly slid down her bared side and onto her hip until it found the thin rough-spun of her skirt.  The fingers of his hand travelled further down and behind her, softly he settled his fingers over the rise of her rump and pulled her body towards his as his lips parted slightly and pressed more urgently again Cariad’s mouth in a soft but confident kiss.<br/>