Chapter 20
Rosetta turned her back to the door and dropped the handful of boring envelopes she’d been absentmindedly scanning over, placing her hands flat against the desk. She stared at the cushioned chair neatly tucked in on the other side.
She couldn’t help feeling disappointed that Alister had turned away, and she refused to watch him leave. The reason Rosetta had finally made the offer to him… it had never been about him earning it.
It had been about her earning it. She’d realised it the moment she’d killed Theodore and a swell of emotion hit her.
The first time she could tell herself it had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, but to take the same man again felt like a betrayal. She couldn’t handle the guilt.
Not for Theodore, she couldn’t give a shit about his feelings, but towards the person she was sleeping with.
For a night, they both could pretend they were giving themselves to each other, but Rosetta always felt hopelessness afterwards. They thought she was giving herself to them, not just once, but twice, a third time, maybe more, but she never could, not with her tie to Theodore.
To have to look at the same person again, to face the guilt that they thought they were sharing something with her, made her feel hollow.
Alister was different.
He wasn’t the first man she’d wanted to be intimate with more than once, but she’d never been able to do it again. She’d always abandoned them with a hollow ache in her chest.
There was a spark between her and the fearsome captain of the Howling Death, one she hadn’t wanted to deny but needed to. Rosetta took in a shaky breath. I’m free. Free to feel whatever she wanted. To do whatever she wanted. To become whoever she wanted.
She no longer needed to murder the person whose fist had been clenched so tightly around the chain attached to her shackled throat. It was a chain that had extended thousands of miles and had been weighing on her for years.
It felt like it spanned time and space, reaching across the entire universe just to drag her down into darkness.
I finally did it. She hadn’t taken a full breath until this very moment.
She could finally live, and she wanted to share this newfound freedom with the person who helped her get there.
I want him. But what did it matter? She wouldn’t blame Alister for walking away.
This was why she’d never shared herself twice with the same man. Alister was angry, and he had every right to be. She was sure he was disgusted, and she knew she deserved that too.
Once could be called an accident, but any more and she was just being cruel. She had straddled the line of what she could accept the day she’d toyed with him with her mouth.
He must feel like I betrayed him. That wasn’t something she’d ever set out to do.
But I’m free now. She wouldn’t have to face this feeling of duplicity ever again. How things ended with Alister would taint the way she looked back on this day, but this was the day that Rosetta Silver truly got to come to life.
Rosetta Briggs was dead alongside her husband. The person she was now had no bond with anyone but her crew and had no home except for the seas. Mr Smith was her father, Naeem her brother. A woman far away in a port was like a dear mother to her. They were her family.
She heard the door close behind her and her head dipped forward. He’s gone.
She’d been bracing herself for it and she finally relaxed, letting the emotions she’d been holding back roll over her.
Tears prickled the corners of her eyelids, collecting on her lashes. She tried to blink them away even though they were tears of relief, of joy. Disappointment mingled with a sense of achievement.
Wait... footsteps?
Before Rosetta could turn around, a large hand grasped the back of her neck and spun her. Another hand cupped the side of her face as lips pressed firmly against her own.
With her eyes open wide in surprise, she could see Alister had his clenched tightly shut. His forehead was crinkled into deep lines, his brows knotted tightly. She could see the confusion in his features, the uncertainty.
Yet he was still here, kissing her.
Rosetta didn’t care why.
A warm breath glided from her lips as she tilted her head to deepen the kiss, bringing her arms to wrap around his neck, which forced her onto the tips of her toes.
She arched into him as he slid his lips over hers. Her mind fizzled when his firm tongue pressed inside her mouth to lick against hers.
The moment she made even the smallest moan, his kiss became more heated.
Alister started moving his lips faster, gorging on hers, eating at them feverishly.
She slipped her hands down to undo the buttons of his tunic, rushing before he changed his mind.
Her eyes closed as she focused on kissing him and removing his clothes at the same time.
He kept his hand on the nape of her neck, but the other slid over her shoulder to press her body more firmly against his. He was holding her to him, and when she stepped back, he followed.
When she stepped again, he tried to pull her tighter against him.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he asked against her lips, his words biting despite how heavy they sounded.
She pushed his tunic from him, his coat along with it, and they almost tripped when she continued to back them up. “A bed.”
Suddenly, Alister was pushing her in the direction she’d been trying to lead them. Her back slammed against the wall, and he kissed her so hard, their teeth clacked together upon impact. Her lips caved under his, wetness spreading over them as their tongues danced.
Rosetta tried her hardest to match his heat as she felt behind her, tapping at the wood. Finally, she found the doorknob. The door caved underneath her, allowing them into the small room, a cabin that only held a bed, a side table, and a mounted cabinet.
There were two rooms connected to the navigation room. One for the captain and one for the first officer, so they were close by. She knew the one she’d been leading them to was the one the first officer had used. Rosetta would never enter Theodore’s sleeping cabin.
She started pulling on the ties of her pants while Alister worked on her tunic. In the next moment, it was gone. He’d pulled it up and off her, too impatient to undo the buttons.
Alister picked her up by the backs of her thighs, forcing her legs around his hips. She relished the press of his hard shaft, and she tried to grind her centre against it, digging her fingertips into his bare, muscled back covered in scars.
She felt him lowering them to the single bed by kneeling on it, then he dropped her onto the mattress. He wasted no time grabbing her leg to rip her boot off and made short work of removing the other one.
Rosetta watched him, his face filled with hungry intent. His black hair carelessly slipped over his shoulders and his breaths grew laboured as he caressed up the sides of her legs with large, calloused hands, then grabbed at the waistband of her tights.
She thought he’d be slow, teasing himself by revealing her at a snail’s pace. Instead, the brute tore them from her limbs so quickly it made her gasp.
Kneeling, he leaned over her on a straightened arm and ran his palm over her waist. His sight followed the same path with a subtle lick at the seam of his lips.
“Fuck, lass. You’ve got a sinful body on you.”
His meaty hand closed around a breast, his thumb flicking over the tightened point of her nipple. Then he lowered his head to bring it into his mouth, sucking on it like a cherry dipped in sweet wine.
She could say the same thing about him. With exploring fingertips, she brushed her palms over his back, feeling his strong muscles and the scars decorating him.
A small raspy moan broke from her throat when his suction tightened, his tongue flicking back and forth over the sensitive bud. That wonderful pressure was taken away too soon as his lips kissed up her chest, over her collarbone, until they were moving along her neck.
She slipped her hands over his chest, running her fingers through the dark hair. She palmed every muscle she could reach in appreciation, digging her fingertips in as she made a quick path down his torso. She marvelled at his strong body, and she wanted him to know just how much she adored it.
Rosetta unbuttoned his breeches, dipping inside to pull his cock from its confines. I want it so much. She squeezed her hand around the thick, hard rod, stroking it with both care and enthusiasm.
When he ground his hips into her hand with a deep exhale, desire flipped in her stomach and formed a dripping pool at her core. Want turned into deep, raw need.
Rosetta parted her thighs, trying to get him to come closer by stroking him harder. His hand delved between her legs, his middle finger slipping through her folds.
“Wait, no!” she gasped out when she felt his finger enter her.
The look he gave her when he leaned back was one of utter confusion. His eye narrowed, and his lips twisted in disbelief. His voice was loud as he bit out, “No? You’re the one–”
Rosetta leaned up and pressed her mouth to his, wrapping her arms around his neck to bring him down.
“I don’t want to wait,” she said against his lips.
She couldn’t wait for him to prepare her. She wouldn’t allow him the chance to change his mind. She needed him, and she needed him now.
She felt him tense at her words. Without an answer, he quickly pulled his finger from her and settled between her spread legs. He grabbed one of her thighs to open her further, like he wanted her completely bared to him.
It seemed her impatience spurred his own, because he grabbed his cock and ran the head along her slit.
He didn’t even tease her throbbing clit.
Instead, he lined up and entered her in a slow, torturous thrust. He looked down, watching himself feed her each inch.
It wasn’t slow, but it wasn’t fast either, allowing them both to feel him sinking into her.