Chapter 4
Rosetta held a lit lantern high as she followed Mr Smith and Pierre down the quarterdeck stairs.
This time, he was no longer gagged, but his pants were unbuttoned as she had done to Derek. Both their faces were smudged with bright-red lipstick.
She may have done it more enthusiastically to him since his face was clean shaven. This time, she’d removed her doublet coat and undone a further button of her tunic, meaning someone could easily see into her shirt.
I hope my tit doesn’t fall out.
Once he was re-tied, and Mr Smith moved away to watch from off to the side, she stood in front of this so-called ‘Bloody Storm of the Seas.’
She raised the lantern above his head to see him completely in the shadows, his face an expression of arrogant swagger. Mean looking, but arrogant.
The jewellery he’d adorned himself with glinted and shone in the light she held up to him. One golden ring hung from his ear, and the silver locket around his neck sparkled slightly. From memory, she knew each of his fingers bore a ring.
A certain silence filled the ship – all they could hear was the sloshing waves of the ocean hitting the hull, the creaking of the rigging, the flapping of the sails.
The entire deck was transfixed, watching what she would do. She’d been putting on a good show this afternoon.
It was the first time she’d truly met gazes with him, and the way the light hit his eye patch, shadowed his face, and made his good eye gleam, sent something lancing through her chest. The scar running from his forehead, under that patch and down his cheek in a deep line, made him seem even more villainous.
Was that fear she felt? No, it couldn’t be. Rosetta would never be afraid of a helpless, bound man.
Still, there was something about his look. A promise – one of death and fear.
He looked like a murderer.
Dark, evil, and... sinfully wicked to someone like her, who liked her men a little twisted, bent, and cold enough not to ask too many questions. He was bound, helpless, and unable to do anything but grunt at her with that cloth shoved between his back teeth, yet she felt interested.
Like a hunter inspecting her prey while licking her lips.
She fell to her knees into his lap, straddling him intimately, closely. His legs had been spread into an unfinished cross-legged position. It put her knees beside his hips while her ankles came back to rest over his legs in the space between them.
The haunting look in his eye disappeared as he reared back.
Rosetta didn’t react; instead, she reached up to hang the lantern on a hook above his head. It pushed her nearly exposed breasts right into his face and she could feel his breath fan against her chest.
She lingered for a moment, keeping herself pressed so tightly against him, her breasts slightly moulded around his head.
When she sat back, she leaned her elbows on his shoulders, finding his confusion had vanished in exchange for a sneering glare.
Being so close to him, she could see the bridge of his strong, pointed nose crinkled with anger.
The lantern above allowed her to see his brown eye had turned nearly bright yellow in the light. The black eye patch was convex, giving the impression that he still had an eye under it, rather than it being just a basic, skin-hugging cover.
“So, Alister Paine,” she murmured, gingerly pushing back the black hair that had fallen from his tie with the tips of her fingers.
The top half was tied back into a folded bun while the bottom was loose, his long hair resting over his shoulders and reaching the top of his chest. “Apparently, I am supposed to be afraid of you.”
His eyelid crinkled at the corner, his cheeks lifting in an arrogant smirk – or as much as he could beneath the gag.
“Unfortunately, I cannot be afraid of a man I do not give a shit about.” His smirk fell, and she grabbed his entire jaw with one hand in a firm, cheek-squishing grip, moving his head around to inspect him. “You are rather handsome, aren’t you?”
He exuded masculinity. With strong features, his wide jaw, and his cheekbones, he looked intimidating and manly. Coupled with his large, defined muscles, she knew he could probably kill a man with a simple punch.
She released his face to stroke his black stubble, caressing his cheek. “Sorry about stealing your ship,” she said, oh so sweetly.
His eye narrowed at her insincere apology. He was clearly unsure as to why she’d even tried.
“I thought it was a shred of luck when I saw a warship coming my way. You can only imagine my surprise when the ship flew a Jolly Roger.”
Teasingly, she stroked a single finger over the side of his face, and he shook his head in vain to get her to stop.
“I was expecting to dupe some idiot pirates, playing some broken damsel in need of saving.” She raised her hands to gesture to the sails. “I needed a bigger ship, and I do so love a frigate’s cannon ports.”
She brought her gaze back down to see his expression hadn’t changed. She gently stroked his entire face with a fingertip, even caressing the edges of that strangely engrossing scar.
When she tried to lift the patch to see underneath, he thrashed his head to the side, evading her hand. After the second time she tried, she didn’t do it again.
He doesn’t like people seeing. That much was obvious. He kept trying to evade her chasing finger, moving his head about, but she refused to let her captured prey escape.
“When I saw the flag, my intention was to get you to take me to your quarters, or perhaps fish me out of the water if someone didn’t come for me.
” Rosetta gave a grand smile. “And, like most filthy pirates, when you tried to rape me, I planned to shoot you in the head with the pistol hidden beneath my skirt.”
She tapped the tips of her fingers against his temple. “One shot, no more captain.”
She noticed his glare deepening, even his upper lip curling back. Rosetta pursed her lips into a thoughtful pout in response.
“But then you were just so... sweet.” When he frowned in confusion, she said, “Stupid, but sweet.”
He glared once more.
“How could I kill a man willing to avenge me after just moments of meeting me? I decided then that I wouldn’t kill you. Instead, I would release you in Dunecaster.”
He tried to speak around the gag, but it was too tight and deep in his mouth for him to make any sense. She reached around his head and untied it, slowly bringing it away from his mouth.
“Get off me, you wretched sea snake!”
She spread her arms as far at the ends of the cloth would take her and shoved it through his teeth to shut him up once more.
“Well, that was rude.”
He started bouncing her on his lap as he struggled against his bonds, trying to kick her away.
“And here I was, about to invite you to dinner.”
She gave him a sultry smile, and he halted. She removed the cloth once more when she could see he wanted to speak.
“I’d rather drink seawater, you insidious bitch.”
He was about to spew more insults as he opened his mouth again, but she grabbed his jaw and forced it shut.
Alister couldn’t believe the gall of this devious, deceitful, fiendish whore who took his precious ship from him!
She tricked me! She’d played broken to get him to lower his guard so she could enact this treachery. This was the most shameful way his ship could have been taken from him. I let a woman take over my ship!
The legends around his name would fade and he’d be turned into a laughingstock. He wouldn’t be able to make port again without being mocked.
Now the coy snake was coiled on his lap, stroking his face and complimenting him. He knew there was venom behind her benign words. She was up to something, and he wanted her off his lap and his ship before she continued to tarnish his reputation.
Without warning, she grabbed his face, hooking her index finger into the side of his mouth to inspect his damn teeth – like they had anything to do with what was going on here.
“Oh ho! Mr Smith!” she yelled with glee as she started pulling his lips to the side. “This one has all his teeth.” She tilted her head back to look at the older gentleman. “You do know how much I love it when they have all their teeth!”
He tried to shake her away as she moved to the other side of his mouth. He felt like an attack dog being examined to know if it could be useful or killed to make space for a better hound.
“Oh wait, never mind. He’s missing one.”
Yeah, I am. He was missing a tooth at the back of his mouth, lost after being punched in the face when he was younger.
Get your fingers off me! He snapped his head forward, his eyes widening in shock when it moved to the side instead.
He couldn’t believe the blistering, stinging sensation he felt. She’d struck him. Him! Alister fucking Paine, one of the most notoriously dangerous pirates on the seven seas. Someone who had killed so many men, it bordered on mythical.
His blood boiled, and he turned his head back to her with his nose crinkled tightly. “You–”
She slapped the same cheek again, the pain worsening the second time. “If you try to bite me like a dog, I will punish you like one.”
He brought his head back to scowl at her. He didn’t know how much his face was contorting, but he knew he’d never been this filled with rage before. It tightened his skin, pulsated in his muscles, sunk into his bones.
I’ll kill her. He didn’t harm the weak, only the strong, and he didn’t care if they had a dick or a pussy.
And this woman was strong in body, emotion, and cunningness. When I get free, I’ll kill her dead!
“Nngh!” A strangled noise came from him, his eyes widening once more.
She was kissing him! It wasn’t a gentle kiss, either; it was forceful, almost violent.
His lips caved under hers as they demanded he take what she offered, even if he didn’t want it.
She was smart enough to not give him her tongue, but she gripped the back of his hair and made his head tilt back, while also keeping it still so he couldn’t turn away.