“For me?”
Tink took his hand in hers, pulling it away.
Doubt settled hard in his chest. He shouldn’t have mentioned the wings. Always he did that, and she pulled away.
But she didn’t leave, didn’t flee. Instead, she practically fell atop him, her breasts slamming into his chest as her mouth searched for his again. Their fingers twined against the sheets as he kissed her with all he had.
Hook followed as she pulled back, but she pushed him onto the sheets as she slid to his side on the bed. “I wa-want yous. You. I—” She tugged ineffectually at her breeches.
“Yous?”Shit. He’d forgotten how drunk she was. Did she even realize who she seduced?
The glow of her wings dimmed. “Please, Captain, I…”
Okay, she did, maybe. But her words splashed him in the face with cold reality. He couldn’t fuck her, not tonight. His cock begged, strained. By all the seas and shores, he wanted her. But he had some shred of decency left, whatever the rumors about him said.
She started to remove her breeches, nearly tumbling onto the floor. He couldn’t let her struggle like that.
“Hold still, love.” Hook knelt. Slowly, he inched her breeches down, revealing a dark swath of fabric barely covering hertreasure and pale legs that longed for the sun’s kiss. His would have to do.
The moans that filled the room drove him on as he trailed kisses from the tips of her toes to the apex of her thighs. Her fingers wove through his hair, tugging, demanding, and almost painful. The sweetest pain. He’d kiss her delicate skin all day to have her crave him so for only a minute.
“Please.”
Hook pulled away, stripping down with vigor to only his breeches. Even those he unlaced, giving himself precious space. His cock fought a war with his brain as he worked, nearly winning, especially as Tink spread her legs on the bed, stroking herself through her underthings. He scrubbed his hand down his face. Gods she was wet. He could see it. Of all the times for him to commit to decency… No woman had ever tempted him half so much.
“Join me?” One delicate finger curled and uncurled, beckoning him over.
He intended to.
Hook slid into the bed, teasing and turning her until her back pressed against his chest. Delicate wings tickled his skin as they folded between them. The glow had brightened again, their light outshining the candles in the room. The whiff of floral scent from earlier wrapped around them, drowning out the ale and the musty odor of the room. It came from Tink—her body’s own perfume.
Each stroke of his hand along the planes of her stomach tested his resolve. Each wiggle of her shapely ass against his cock blurred his mind. And each second that passed he risked claiming her. A lesser man might. But he couldn’t be that man. Not with her.
His hand slid down her underthings, venturing through her damp forest to her slick slit below.
“Yes, yes, please,” she moaned.
Not touch her? Not have her? What was he thinking? Dipping his fingers in her inviting warmth nearly had him coming in his breeches like a boy. He’d never wanted a woman this much. Not even as a boy, when they were all tempting sirens.
Two strokes along her swollen clit, and she whimpered in his arms.
He wanted. Craved.Needed.
Couldn’t.
He groaned low in his throat. “I can’t fuck you.”
Tink went completely still in his arms. Her legs clamped around his hand. The glow of her wings dimmed instantly.
“Why?” The crack of her voice stabbed him in the chest. “It’s because I’m…I’m broken. I—”
“No.” The ache in her voice slew him. He pulled her closer, careful of his hook and her wings. “You’re perfect. But I won’t be a drunken regret.” It was the very last thing he wanted to be.
“James,” she whimpered.
He sucked in a breath. This woman knew how to work him. Using his name, one he almost forgot he’d given her. Hook rubbed his face in her hair, savoring her scent and the way it tickled his skin. “When I fuck you, and I plan to, I want you sober, eager.” He stroked her again, slowly, deliberately. “When my cock slides into you—” He flicked his fingers against her clit. “—It’ll be because you want it there, because you asked for it, and not because some drink made you think you wanted it.”
“I do want it. So much I…” A moan cut off her words.
