Shaking myself out of the maudlin mood, I stood, strode over to the storage closet, and pulled out more cleaner. I had a lot more to scrub today, so I needed to get to it if I wanted to be finished before dinner.
As I walked back to the filthy area, my eyes wandered over to Max yet again. My smile couldn’t be helped.
I did my best to stay focused on my task at hand, but Max’s voice kept traveling over to me, catching my attention.
My gaze automatically moved over to the handsome first mate. As he pulled on a line, the muscles of his arms contracted and extended, the tattooed tail of some red creature—maybe a dragon?—wrapped around his forearm, and I had to snap my mouth shut before I drooled.
Holy phoenix tails, Max was sexy.
What I wouldn’t give for a few uninterrupted private hours with that man.
I wanted to see the rest of that tattoo and see if he had any others on his skin.
Max’s gaze caught mine, and he narrowed his eyes. I knew without him speaking a word that I was being far too obvious and needed to stop staring—and stop smiling every time he saw me—before Viper or anyone else caught on to what was happening.
It wasn’t easy to pull my gaze away, but I forced myself to and kept on scrubbing.
“Oi, Ghost!” Hawk-Eyes called down from the crow’s nest.
With my hand over my eyes, blocking the sun, I looked up at her. “Yeah?”
She smirked at me as she lowered her telescopic. “Having trouble keepin’ your eyes to yourself, there, Ghost?”
I felt my cheeks burn, embarrassed that I was caught ogling Max. I sent her a rude gesture, then went back to scrubbing as Hawk-Eyes cackled above me.
A few hours passed before my body tingled with awareness as Max moved closer to me. I glanced up at him, and his lips twitched as he tried his best to look like he was glaring at me. “Ghost! What do you think you’re doing?”
My eyes widened, and I tried to look scared even as I bit the inside of my cheek so I wouldn’t laugh. Max’s twitching lips were no help. “Wh-what do you mean, sir? I’m cleaning the deck.”
“Coulda fooled me. It’s filthy.”
My eyes widened. It wasn’t filthy at all. It was nearly spotless, thank you very much. “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll scrub it again.”
Max’s eyes were filled with amusement, but his expression turned to a scowl. “Forget it. I told you to assist Sparrow with the sail. Now get over there, you lily-livered knave!”
I almost laughed at the name-calling as I stood and faced him. “Sorry, sir! I didn’t know, sir!”
“You didn’t know?” He stepped closer to me so we were almost chest to chest, and I breathed in his manly scent. The warmth of his skin radiated from him, even from here, and it was so difficult not to step even closer and bury my face in his hard chest. He clenched his teeth, probably to stop a smile, but it worked in making him sound angry. “How dare you question me. Are you calling me a liar?”
“No, sir. I would never, sir.” I put my hands together and laced my fingers, being sure to look like I was begging. “Sorry, Reaper. I’ll do anything you want to make up for my indiscretion.Anything.” I almost—almost—winked, but luckily, I caught myself just in time.
He glared for a moment, and I tried not to grin right in his face. This was fun. Our eyes met, and I sucked in a breath. His face looked angry, but his eyes looked… happy, free. As soon as I noticed, I knew my own face went soft, but I couldn’t help it. He was just so… so… sweet.
As if sensing how close I was to ruining everything, he shook his head, stepped back, and waved me away. “Forget it and get out of my sight before you become serpent bait.”
“Yes, sir!” I nodded, grabbed my scrub brush and bucket, then hurried over to the storage closet to stow them before I rushed to Sparrow’s side. I shot Max a look out of the corner of my eye. He was standing where I left him, arms crossed over his chest with a glare aimed my way.
To everyone else, he looked like a pissed and frustrated pirate.
But to me, he was the sweet guy who needed a kiss to wipe that look off his face.
Sparrow gave me a nod as I sat beside her. “I need help fixing these tears. The damn thing’s been ripped so many times, I’m not sure another repair’ll be good enough.”
I moved in to help, grabbing a needle and thread as I said, “Too bad my sister’s not here. She’d fix this right up.”
“Oh yeah? Good at fixing holes in your clothes?”
Thoughts of Kayla always made me smile, but it was tinged with sadness because I missed her so damn much. “She is, but she’s a seamstress in Sunada.”
