“Well, I have tae make coin somehow. I could never be a woman of the night,” Freya teased.
But it seemed to fall short of the intended mark as Nathan’s brow furrows. “What dae ye mean?”
Freya’s face flamed instantly, and she wished she had never said a thing to him. “Well… I…”
Nathan didn’t look away, even as she knew she had to be blushing down to her toes. How was she supposed to explain such a thing to him?
“I dinnae ken anything about the… ah… the ways between a man and a woman. That’s all.” Freya said softly, unable to look at Nathan. In fact, she had to pivot her whole torso away from him so that she didn’t die of humiliation on the spot. What had she been thinking? Why would she have brought up such a thing in front of him of all people?
She wrapped her arms around herself, and shuddered as Nathan stepped up against her back, his large hand reaching for her hip, and spinning her softly. She locked eyes with a random point on his chest and refused to budge.
“I could show ye,” Nathan said in a low voice she hadn’t heard him use before.
The tone alone sent a shudder down her spine as his grip on her hip tightened fractionally.
“I… I couldnae… it would ruin me reputation. And besides… I would die of embarrassment.” She admitted in a rushed voice, the words almost blurring together. As if she wasn’t about to melt into the floor as it was.
Nathan curled a finger under her chin, lifting softly, and she had no choice but to comply with his wishes. “Dae ye nae want tae?”
What was she supposed to say to that? Was she supposed to lie? She supposed she could. But she did want to. She wanted that and so much more. But looking up into his green eyes, she couldn’t form a single word.
“How about a kiss?” Nathan offered, whispering the words as his face was already starting to lower toward her own. Freya forgot how to breathe as she was pulled into his arms, her eyes drifting shut. He gave her a moment to decide; she could feel his warm breath against her lips as he hesitated only a moment, as if she were going to pull away or somehow stupidly change her mind… but she could never. She lifted herself up onto her toes, brushing her lips against his ever so softly—and he didn’t need to be told twice.
Nathan’s hand shifted from her chin, knuckles sliding along her jawline and curling up around the back of her head, pulling hercloser as the hand on her hip slid upward, drawing her to his chest and eliminating the space between them. His lips were hungry and insistent as he seemed to pour everything he felt into the kiss, into her.
Breathless and flustered didn’t even begin to cover the feeling that was overwhelming her. She slotted her lips against his, matching his movements as she quickly learned this was something she could very easily get used to.
An insistent knock came on the door from one of the crew. “Supper!”
When they broke apart, she almost couldn’t stand on her own two feet. Something had awoken inside of her, and it wasn’t hunger for food.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Freya was not a woman who got sick very often. On top of that, as she was normally surrounded by so many of her herbs and tonics, any time she was feeling poorly, it was only too easy to make herself a tea and feel right as rain again.
If she had woken up feeling sick to her stomach after tossing and turning all night, she would have made herself a potion with marshmallow root to feel better. It was all she would have needed in that exact moment, but it wasn’t in her bag. She must have forgotten to bring it in their haste to leave. Served her right. Now, they were nowhere near land, and it wasn’t likely they would have any in the galley. Staying in bed made it worse because she was just lolling back and forth miserably. Freya’s forehead was clammy, her stomach was in knots, and she was trying her hardest to keep from complaining about her discomfort, but she knew she couldn’t very well stop the ship.
Nathan was doing more than she could have ever asked of him. Somehow, he had managed to procure a cloth and a small bowlof water with high enough sides that it wasn’t sloshing around. The sound, however, was helping absolutely nothing at all. That certainly wasn’t how she wanted the man who she had just had her first kiss with the previous night to see her. She had no idea what might have happened between the pair of them had they not been kept at dinner for as long as they had been.
All she knew was that falling asleep in his arms was once again the best thing she had ever truly experienced. The pair of them had collapsed into the bed at such a late hour that he had barely managed to pull her into his chest before she had fallen into a deep sleep. This morning, however, when she had awoken he was nowhere to be found. It had hurt her feelings for all of a moment, and then she had lost herself to sea sickness. One step out of bed, and she had fallen right back into it.
Once he had finished breakfast and returned to her side, though, he had stayed there.
“Ye dinnae have tae… be here…” She moaned, attempting to catch her breath as she curled further in on herself.
“Of course, I dinnae have tae be here, lass. I want tae be here.” He said sweetly as he dabbed at her forehead with the cool cloth.
“Dae ye ken this is some sort of divine punishment… for winning too many… rounds of cards?” Freya moaned, holding her stomach as she scrunched her eyes shut and waited for the vertigo to pass—only it didn’t. The darkness only made her feel worse, and she had to lie there, attempting to focus on a random part of the wall so that she didn’t empty her stomach.
“Aye, I dae. This must be what ye deserved,” Nathan teased, laughing softly to himself.
All Freya could do in response was moan and curl in on herself further.
Nathan reached up, rubbing soft, soothing circles into her back that helped more than anything else had. She knew there was a soft side to him, she had seen it plenty of times since she had met him, but this felt different.
There was another knock on the door, and Nathan’s hand moved. She lamented the loss immediately. He opened the door just a crack to reveal the captain standing there, eyeing the two of them curiously.
“Still nae better? I brought something that ought tae settle her stomach some… and then see if she’s willing tae walk around up on deck fer a spell. I dinnae ken why watching the horizon always helps, but it daes,” the captain explained and extended something through the door.
