Chapter 4 #2
She did it to make the kiss even deeper.
What the in the seven seas is going on? What game was she playing? She even made a small moan, like she enjoyed the way his lips felt. He was too stupefied to respond when she pulled back, blatantly licking her lips as if she’d enjoyed the taste of him.
The lipstick was almost gone now. He was sure she had spread it all over his face with the way her lips had moved over him. His nose crinkled with disgust. He’d just watched both his men walk out with their pants loose and lipstick on their faces.
“Haven’t you had your fill of men today?” he spat through clenched teeth.
“I’ve never had my fill of men.” Humour seemed to make her blue eyes brighten in the light. “What’s one more?”
He leaned forward so he was almost nose to nose with her. “I’d rather be fed to the kraken.”
He’d rather not take a woman taken by his men already this day. He didn’t mind the prostitutes in the ports, as long as it was only him they shared their bed with that night.
“Pity.” She tsked, not looking particularly upset. “I was hoping my sincere apology might mean we could become... friends.”
“An apology is only sincere when you try to rectify your actions!”
“I won’t be giving you back this ship.” Her eyelids, tipped with long dark lashes, dropped as she gave him a light scowl. “Bark and yell to your heart’s content, but you are just wasting your breath. Do you want to eat or not?”
“I’d rather starve.”
She licked her lips once more as she twirled a few strands of his long hair around a finger and spoke like she hadn’t heard him.
“I may be willing to offer other things.” He felt her hand grip his flaccid cock through his deliberately baggy breeches. “Your men will tell you just how much fun I am.”
The shameless confidence on this woman was enough to make his body stir; she, thankfully, had removed her hand before she noticed. Fortunately, he was too disgusted by her harlot attitude and too angry that his ship was overrun to actually grow fully hard.
She dipped her head while cupping the side of his jaw. Leaning forward and slightly to the side, she grabbed his singular golden loop earring between her lips and teeth.
She tugged on it.
“Bite me, and I will do it back,” she warned, since her neck lay right in front of his teeth.
He sighed defeatedly, knocking the back of his head against the wooden mast.
Why is this mad woman doing this?
“Just tell me what you want so you will get the fuck off me.” Now that he was acting calmly, though still seething with rage he was unable to leash, he realised she smelt sweet.
She was wearing a perfume. How long has it been since I smelt a woman? He expected her to have a pungent aroma, like aged sweat layered with the brine of seawater.
Instead, there was something about the scent of her. He tried to remember where he knew it, and why it made his chest feel heavy. Where have I smelt this before...?
He shook his head when the memory of white gardenias sitting at his mother’s bedside came to mind, little flowers blooming on a small shrub, almost a bouquet on their own.
He immediately stopped fixating on the way she smelt and barged her with his shoulder to get her to speak. “State your business so you can get your fat arse off me.”
It wasn’t. He’d stared at it enough with the tights she wore. He’d been watching her all day, scheming. He’d been hoping to eventually get one of his crew to release him, but she didn’t have many of them on the surface. When they happened to be up above, they were constantly watched by her own men.
“Where’s the key to the safe?” She sat back, the playful hint to her expression still present.
Is that truly what she wants? If so, why pester him like this?
“Can’t find it, sweetheart?” He leaned forward with a grin. “Good. That booty is mine and my crew’s, and when I take my ship back and wring your neck before tossing your dead body into the sea, I expect every bit of treasure to be safe inside.”
Sweetheart. It was a pet name he gave to women he felt nothing but contempt for.
She brushed her fingertip over the curve of his nose before bopping the tip of it. “Couldn’t help but try.”
She jiggled his cheeks with both hands like she was tousling the head of a cute puppy.
She finally raised herself from his lap, smiling all the while.
Her body was bent, like she wanted his sight to find her cleavage, her free, unstrapped breasts visibly swaying against her tunic as she stood up straight.
As soon as she stood, her flirtatiousness fell like the act it was. He realised he’d given her something. That, or she was merely done playing with him.
“Oh, Walter!” she shouted with a giggle to someone above.
A thin man who looked to be covered in smudges of soot came sliding down one of the securing ropes of a sail. He continued to hold onto it, swinging in the air as he spoke without touching the ground.
“Ye called, Captain?”
“Tomorrow, how would you like to blow something up? Something big, heavy, and full of treasure?”
“I can make something go boom?” He put his hand over his heart. “That’s worth more than any treasure!”
My poor ship! “Don’t you dare!”
She ignored him, not even sparing him a final glance as she practically skipped her way to the helm, dismissing the man steering it.
It took him longer to notice than he’d care to admit, but she’d never re-tied his gag or Pierre’s. His mouth slightly ajar, he was too stunned, too disgusted to speak as he stared at her.
“What a woman!” Pierre sighed next to him. “I think I’m in love.”
“Have fun, did you?” Alister sneered back, regaining his composure. Whore. He was thinking about Pierre this time.
The man was promiscuous, a lady’s man – always had been. Then again, she must have something worth offering if she’d managed to even get Derek to lower his breeches for her.
“Seems like you’re the only one who had fun,” he replied with a chuckle.
He turned his head to the side, barely able to see the man in the peripheral of his good eye. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Did she kiss you as well?” Pierre must have been speaking to Derek with how quiet his voice was. “I know you well enough to know the rest, old man.” His voice grew louder when he turned back to Alister. “Looks like you’re the only one she got on top of.”
He opened his mouth to disagree, accusing them both, then immediately shut it. Wait a second.
“Neither of you actually fucked her?”
“Nay, but she seemed earnest with you! I wonder what would have happened if you’d said yes to her offer of dinner, because that’s all I got.” Pierre then gave a loud, rolling burp that echoed into the night. “Sorry, been holding that in for ages. I didn’t want to disturb you two.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t try to convince her otherwise.”
“Oh, I did; she flat out refused. Said she just wanted to make you green. Don’t really know why.” Alister was one more shock away from keeling over. “Anyway, I think she was probably bluffing, but she is a rather odd woman.”
“Aye, you can say that again.” What’s her game?
They both quietened when one of Rosetta’s men overheard them speaking and told them to shut up.
I need to figure out how to take back my ship before we arrive at Dunecaster.