Captain Sun

A tale of forbidden love in China by Vanessa Wu.

Smashwords Edition.

Copyright © Vanessa Wu 2011.

Edited and published by Ambergris Books.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This story is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Captain Sun

The room was small and sparsely furnished with just a desk, a chair, a sideboard and very little else. Chu Lan stood on the threshold with her right hand on the door handle, waiting to be invited in. On the wall was a map of China with the army bases circled in red. The high, narrow window was covered with a Venetian blind which filtered the light and partially obscured the view of the green army truck outside. She could hear the voices of soldiers calling to each other across the compound.

She was nervous and her heart hammered in her chest. She always felt like this when she came there. It was the anticipation. He always made her wait.

In her left hand was a basket covered with a cloth. Although it only held her tea bottle and a bowl, it was heavy and it made her arm ache. She had brought it all the way from her village, which was a twenty minute walk away.

Captain Sun was propped against his desk staring at her through narrowed eyes. He never smiled at her, which she found very intimidating.

“How was your walk?”

“Long.” She released the door handle, removed her sun hat and shook her hair.

“You've got dust from the road on your legs.”

Her legs were bare beneath her blue skirt. She was wearing leather sandals that chafed her feet.

“Do you want to wash?” He indicated a basin on the sideboard. He kept a flannel there and some water. There were two flasks of hot water and one of cold.

She shook her head.

“You can use the showers in the women's quarters if you want.”

“It's just a bit of dust. I washed before I came.”

He studied her bare flesh critically, his eyes hard points of light. His gaze travelled up her calves to the delicate flare of her thighs. “Shut the door,” he commanded.

She closed it quietly and stood facing him.

“Turn the key in the lock.”

She did as he said and waited while he pulled the cord of the blind, further restricting the white glare of the sun. His eyes shone mercilessly in the gloom.

“Come up to me.”

She put her basket aside and stood before him. He raised a hand and laid his fingers on her throat, forcing her to raise her chin. It was his injured hand. Three of his fingers were stiff and lacked mobility, bunched together like a webbed foot. She watched as he used them to stroke her skin. His burning eyes bored into her as the fingers moved slowly across the top of her blouse and then flicked across the tip of left breast. He flicked again, making her flinch. The motion caught her nipple through the padding in her bra and hurt a little. She could tell from the tiny change in the expression on his face that he had noticed her pain and was pleased with himself. He pressed his lifeless fingers down inside her bra and rubbed them over her sensitive nipple. She tolerated it for a little while then raised her hands to grab his arm and pull it away but he drew back before she could touch him. He didn't like her to grab at him like that.

He resumed his position by the side of his desk with his buttocks pressed against the edge. He undid the lower buttons of his tunic, revealing a brown belt with a heavy brass buckle.