Just down the path, a shadowed opening loomed in the cliffside through the trees. “This way.”
Tink followed, stumbling along after him, her hand still too cold in his. His bruises and scrapes were long forgotten, shoved deep down in favor of his worry.
Hook unsheathed the sword at his side. He’d fight a bear to get her warm and sheltered. Mountain lion too.
The forest spat them out at the entrance to the cave, with just a few small boulders lingering between them and safety. Hook dropped Tink’s hand to leap one boulder, then reached back over for her. “Give me your hand. Careful.”
His voiced echoed back at him from the recesses of the cave as Tink took his hand and slid over the stones. Her wings were still plastered to her back, wet and limp as the rest of her.
“Is it…?” She looked past him into the gloom.
His gaze followed hers, but nothing stood out. Barely any light filtered in, and soon there’d be none when night fell—storms or no. Dry branches littered one side of the cave. “We need a fire. Help me gather these.”
The fire took forever and no time at all. He never went anywhere without flint—it could save a man’s life. Tink hugged her knees to her chest near the flames as Hook picked up a lit stick.
“James, I…” Hair clung to her face as she glanced up at him.
“Stay here, love. I’m going to check out the cave.”
Very slowly, his heart returned to its normal rhythm. He rolled his shoulders as he picked his way into the darkness. His muscles, even his bones, groaned in response. Crashing against the bridge had bruised his ribs. The climb had wrenched hisarm. A cool chill seeped into his skin, but he was alive. And Tink… He rubbed an arm across his face. Reckless, foolish, bloody courageous woman. He had half a mind to yell at her for what she’d done. Would have if she hadn’t been so cold and weak, but part of him was grateful. Without her help, he might not have made it up. She’d saved his life.
What he wouldn’t do for her. Once they got the scale and got out of there, back to sea… His chest constricted. His boot smashed into a stone, causing him to stumble.
Shit. Once they got the scale, she’d get her reward from Titania. She could go home. Away from him. Back to her people where she belonged. He kept forgetting that. Every smile or touch wiped that horrible truth straight out of his head.
He swung the torch this way and that, scowling at the stalactites. He had half a mind to forget this quest. But his crew… He swallowed. He was a captain. Had a responsibility. He couldn’t budge on that, not even for the woman he craved.
No bears jumped from the shadows. The rumbling growls of a predator he expected didn’t come. The cave was one long tunnel, like the butt of an oar punched into the mountain. Water dripped from somewhere above to a shallow pool at the back. There was no way out—at least that he could see.
Tink stood near the fire hugging her chest when he returned. Half her clothes were off, laid over nearby boulders to dry.
She glanced up at his approach. “James.”
The whispered word slipped under his skin, reigniting all the emotion that had cooled on his short trek.
“You…”Foolish, wonderful, brave woman. If he didn’t already crave her every moment of the day, the sight of her in only sodden underclothes clinging to her every curve would make him wild. She was his own special drug, one he could never get enough of. And in that moment, there was only one thing that would satisfy his hunger.
Chapter 28
Tink
The captain’s gaze was unreadable in the dim firelight. Rain soaked him as much as her, but it only added to his fierce look. He was the sea, and the sea was him. The two could never be separated. She knew that, knew he was a captain before all else and could never be hers, but when she’d seen him fall…
“I…” She looked away from his intense, hard gaze. “I had to. When I saw you fall…I couldn’t…I just couldn’t not save you. I had to try.”
Let him be mad at her, but she couldn’t lose him, not like that. If they went their separate ways, it would suck—worse than anything—but he’d be alive, out there somewhere. Maybe someday they—
A calloused finger traced the line of her jaw, tipping her face toward the pirate at her side.
“Jame—” Tink’s eyes flew wide moments before his lips crashed against hers.
Heat raced under her skin, warmer and more luxurious than their little fire, even as he pulled her tight against his wet body. His kiss devoured her. It demanded all her thoughts, her worries, her fears, until they vanished into the darkness of the cave. Her arms wound around his neck. Her fingers slid through James’s wet hair, along the firm muscles of his neck, then down the stiff fabric of his coat.
His lips parted, an invitation and a request. Her daring tongue flicked against his, and he met it with gusto. Tink’s wings fluttered to life behind her, the strain and ache from pulling James onto the cliffside no longer important. For him, they trembled and glowed, sore or not.
Tink squeaked against his mouth as James lifted her off her feet. She wound her legs around his middle, pressing further against him until they were one statue in the rocky cave.
With a moan of mixed pleasure and pain, James broke their kiss and stumbled across the stony floor. Cool, smooth rock kissed her skin through her thin underclothes as James set her upon a boulder. The look in his eyes as he gazed down at her stole her breath and made all thoughts of the cave vanish.
