Chapter 24
It had only been nigh on a month of Alister sailing next to Rosetta and the Laughing Siren, and already he was growing irritated with the woman – but for all the wrong reasons.
His men had discovered she was just as ruthless as he could be, as she kept taking them off course.
It hadn’t taken them more than five days to sail the route of the eastern map she’d given him, only to find nothing there; yet another false lead of promises of wealth. A damn goose chase for mad men like him to go after.
Alister often wondered if maps like these were created so pirates would be away from frequently used trading routes. So many times he had come across maps that led to nowhere, nothing. It meant he had seen much of the world, but it often left him frustrated and impatient.
Currently, they were heading towards the most northern lands to the location he thought looked promising.
Rosetta turning them off course by suddenly steering her ship in another direction often got under his skin, but the reason she was doing it wasn’t what bothered him.
Her crow’s nest was higher, and they were able to see a ship on the horizon better than from his.
A bell would be rung from her ship, the only real communication they had, and she would steer towards what she wanted.
She didn’t care if it was a trading boat stocked with items they could raid, or if it was a fleet ship.
Rosetta would turn to it and hunt it. Sometimes, Alister let ships pass when he was getting close to a location.
She didn’t. She had gone after two ships, but it hadn’t been a waste of their time.
It had just made getting to the north take a few days longer.
Both had been trading boats.
They’d raided them and left the men alive. Neither needed more crew, and once they were done, they abandoned them on their nearly empty vessels.
Because of her, they’d gained enough supplies that they wouldn’t have to dock into a port for quite some time. It had also gotten them some worthwhile loot they could sell once they finally did. He held all of it.
Today, though, had been different. The ship she’d headed for was a lone Queen Mary Anne fleet vessel – a large one that almost rivalled her own.
Now, as he fought to raid it before it was sunk, he didn’t like seeing her appear in his periphery, not when he was still swinging his sword to kill the last of the soldiers on board.
He watched her shoot a man in the head before she disappeared into the small navigation room. With an aggravated sigh, he cut the man in front of him from nose to navel before carefully following her.
She partially withdrew her sword while turning to him, no doubt thinking her stalker was an enemy. It wasn’t the first time they’d almost crossed swords because they’d spooked each other. When she saw it was him, she pushed it back into its scabbard and turned back to what she was doing.
After he closed the door and walked to the desk, noticing she’d opened the drawers, he grabbed the chair behind it.
“Why is it you never stay on your ship when I tell you to?” he asked while shoving the chair under the handle of the door to prop it closed so they wouldn’t be disturbed.
“Because unless I’m on your ship, you have no command over where I go.” Her voice was strained as she tried to turn the wheel of the black metal safe she wanted open.
It was pushed into the corner and hidden away behind cupboard doors. He could see the key already in the lock. She must have found it in the drawer.
She continued to make soft groaning noises as she pushed all her energy and strength into unlocking the mechanism. It looked a little old and well used.
“I’m still a captain, and a pirate, and I won’t stay on my ship just to watch.”
Alister, with a huff, came up behind her. He grabbed the locking wheel of the safe she’d been struggling with and turned it for her with little effort. It released, and she pulled it open.
“You’re never on my ship for me to tell you where to go!”
Damnit! Rosetta had not once stepped foot on his ship since they set sail, refusing to leave the Laughing Siren unless they were raiding.
That was why he was growing irritated.
It was obvious he wasn’t bored with her, since he often found himself climbing her hull to creep onto her ship. Like a man searching for water in the desert, he constantly sought her out to drown in her.
She never comes to me.
Yet she was happy to come here – where there were swords, guns, and the potential of being harmed. Apparently, coming to Alister’s bed was too much of a task.
“I like my ship,” she mumbled. “Why would I leave it?”
Not seeming to realise the danger she currently had pressed behind her or his bubbling frustration, she dipped her body into the large safe to inspect inside it.
It left her bent over, her arse pointing towards his groin. Alister placed his hands on the rim of the safe edges to lock her in instead of on her hips to pull her against him like he craved.
There was a hefty pouch of obvious coins, but other than that, there wasn’t much else to loot besides papers she started going through. Most of them found their way to the floor, deemed uninteresting.
What is wrong with me? He was angry with her, took her lack of reciprocation in effort as a rejection, but the moment he was in her presence, it all faded away.
Even now, he was furious she had put herself in harm’s way, but he couldn’t stop himself from leaning closer to breathe in the sweet smell of her when she stood back up.
He smelt the side of her neck and her hair to take in her perfume of delicate white flowers. There was also the scent of Rosetta behind it that was just as intoxicating to him.
She smelt sweet. She smelt of woman. Sensual. Arousing. Heady in comparison to the salt of the water that constantly sloshed around them.
Maybe it was because when he did come to her, she would accept him without hesitation. There was never any reluctance or barrier to weasel his way through.
If he came to her cabin to corner her, coming up with any excuse he could to be near her – whether it was to talk to her, fuck her, or berate her about something – she’d be the one to suddenly bring him in for a kiss before he could utter a single word.
She’d wrap her legs around his waist as if she wanted to climb him like a tree, forcing him to catch her.
She’d grip his hair and tug until his neck was strained, spurring him into deep kisses that would cause him to lose his focus just so he could get lost in her.
Why can’t I get her out of my head? He didn’t understand why he hadn’t sailed the other way yet, considering the way she was making him feel.
He often found himself eyeing her ship to look for her. He’d grin if he found her watching him going about his duties; she frequently went to the railing to see what he was doing.
If he turned his attention to her fully, she’d give him this twinkling wave that often made him want to abandon the helm so he could climb up the side of her ship like a desperate madman. It was like an invitation, like she was trying to tease him from afar.
His mood would sour if he couldn’t see her. He didn’t like it when she wasn’t in his sight, like his eye was starving to get a glimpse.
With his breath now fanning so close to her skin, it was too easy to drink in the smell of her, and he said with a rumble, “You will have to come to my ship eventually.”
Because Alister wanted a night of her in his bed, especially since he’d never had the pleasure of having her in it or waking next to her.
No, instead he had to make his way back to his ship in the middle of the night or she’d be up when the sun rose, leaving him alone in hers. He hated that, waking up in her bed to find it empty. It almost felt like he had to do a walk of shame to his own damn ship!
It was worse when he made eye contact with their crews along the way.
“When I’m ready,” she answered absentmindedly.
She was still shuffling the papers, as though they were more important than the man currently caging her in.
“What’s wrong with my ship, lass?” he asked quietly, moving a hand so he could brush her hair to the side and expose the pale skin of her neck to his attention.
“It’s dark and musty, and I know that bed isn’t as soft as mine.”
He pressed his lips to her skin, needing to taste her almost as badly as he needed to take his next breath. She seemed to understand where his mind had gone and lowered her hands. A delighted shiver moved down her shoulders.
“Alister,” she warned, but he was no longer listening.
He didn’t care what she was warning him about.
I came in here to yell at her. Hell, she was arguing with him, and yet his body couldn’t seem to get enough of her.
He wanted to lash out at her, but he suddenly couldn’t remember why. Why did it matter when she was here in front of him now?
It’s been four days since I’ve touched her.
Alister had refused to go to her ship in an attempt to force her to his. He hadn’t done it gracefully, and often his men received the backlash of it. Lucky for him, they didn’t know the difference – he was often aggressive and rude.
For four days, he’d been holding back every single urge, every single ounce of want growing steadily by the minute. The more he turned his sight from her ship in order to reject his own ambition of climbing to her, the more frustrated he grew.
“You and I both know you only sleep in your bed if I’m in it with you.”
He drew his lips over the side of her neck with another deep breath to take her in. He even nipped her. Then he moved one of his hands to slip it over her shoulder and inside her tunic to grasp a breast, leaving the other braced against the safe.
“You sleep in that hammock.” She had one strung up inside the room above her bed like he had. “Come sleep in mine if you don’t like my bed.”
“We can’t both fit in it.” Her voice was growing smaller, like her hard personality was fading to the soft one she only shared with him when he touched her just right.