“That’s it, lass. Take your pleasure.” He runs his teeth along my throat, then bites down on my shoulder before returning to my breasts.
My breath catches, my hips locking up, and then I’m coming again. He reaches down and moves me up and down his shaft, stroking my orgasm out of me as he releases inside me, his come warm as it fills me and slides down his cock. I keep going, getting every last bit of pleasure until I’m spent. He cups my breasts and kisses each one before lifting me off him.
He groans when his cock slides out, then he stands and grabs some washcloths from one of his compartments, wets one and rubs it along my sensitive parts.
“Is this a whore’s bath?” I don’t even know what I’m saying. My mind is adrift, my body turned into a liquid.
“Only if you’re a whore, lass. Which you aren’t.” He kisses my mound, then stands and wipes himself off before climbing into bed with me. He tosses the blanket over us and pulls me to his chest, right to his beating heart again.
I love listening to it, I’ve discovered. My eyes close. I let out a long breath as he massages my ass with one hand.
He kisses my crown a few times. “Sleep now. You’ve earned it.”
I snort. “I suppose this means I’m a valuable crew member?”
He laughs, the sound rumbling through him. “Aye. I already told you that you’d make an excellent pirate.” He slaps my ass lightly. “And here you are proving yourself. Stealing my heart like it’s your profession.”
That knocks away a bit of the afterglow. The realization that I have to tell him the truth lands heavy on my heart. I don’t want to. I want him to believe I’m his true love. Because I’ve already fallen for him, fallen so far that he’s become the air I breathe.
But that’s precisely the reason I have to tell him the truth.
I love him too much to lie.
“The machinery is cranking again.” He sighs. “I can hear the gears whining and the bilge pump trying to kick to life.” He squeezes my ass. “Let it go, lass. For tonight. We’ll talk tomorrow. Then you can tell me all the reasons why you should go back to the mainland, and I’ll continue with my plan to chain you to the bed and show you even more reasons why you should never leave me.”
How does he make me smile so easily? “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I’d dare quite a lot when it comes to you.” His hand dips lower, his fingers sliding between my cheeks. “And I’m going to have you in every way.”
“Excuse me!” I twist my hips. “That is a forbidden zone.”
“Not for me, lass.” I can hear the smile in his voice.
“Filthy pirate.” I snuggle against him.
“Sultry temptress.” He rests his hand at my waist. “Sleep now. All that clanking around in your head can wait till tomorrow.”
It can’t. It shouldn’t. But I take the reprieve and drift off into dreams of a great golden tree with nothing but shadows at its roots.
ChapterSixteen
“Have you forgotten everything I taught you?” Widow dances out of range as I swing my wooden sword at her.
“No!”
“Seems like you did.” She swings her sword, narrowly missing my arm as I jump back.
“You’re just trying to make me mad so I do something dumb.” I back up and adopt a more defensive posture.
“It works every time.” She shrugs.
“It does.” Bill nods from his spot on the sidelines.
“Not helping.” I glare at him.
Widow streaks through my peripheral vision, and I spin and strike out, my sword smacking her in the ass as she sweeps my legs.
I fall but catch myself on a rope hanging from the mast beside me.
