Chapter 14 Kaspar
Kaspar
Max kissed me.
More than once.
He kissed me.
Every time I thought about it, my lips tingled, and my belly fluttered, or maybe it was my heart.
Every time I thought about the way Max’s lips felt against my own, the way he’d held me protectively, the way his fingers brushed my cheeks, I wished I could go back to that moment and relive it over and over and over again.
It’d been perfect.
Too perfect.
So of course my brain had to go and ruin it for me.
Because Max lived on this ship.
And I was leaving.
Not yet—we were still weeks away from Asteris—but too soon.
Every time I thought about the best, most perfect kiss I’d ever had, my heart fluttered.
And then it broke.
Every single time.
Because I didn’t want to leave, not anymore. I’d finally found someone who liked me, who cared about me, for me. Not for what I could do for them, not because I was a fluxweaver.
Max liked me.
And I couldn’t keep him.
Because as much as I wanted to stay with him, I couldn’t.
I had to think about Kayla and Cody. I couldn’t leave them alone in Embergate City, no matter how badass my sister was.
I needed them, I needed my family, and I knew they needed me too.
But there was no way in hell I could bring them aboard a pirate ship either. Not with Viper in charge.
No way would I ever let that evil man anywhere near my sister and nephew.
But that meant I had to leave… I had to leave Max behind.
With a sore heart, I made my way to the main deck to start my scrubbing.
The crew had gone hunting earlier—some of the birds in the sky made for good stew, apparently—so the deck and the sloops were an utter mess.
Honestly, it was disgusting, but since living with this crew for the past several weeks, I’d kind of gotten used to the grime.
I was on my hands and knees, scrubbing bird blood off the wood, when I heard his voice from across the deck.
My eyes were searching before I even told them to, and the second I saw him, standing on the quarterdeck, hands on the railing, calling out orders to the sail master, I had to duck my head to hide my smile.
He was so gorgeous with the sun making his brown curls shine, with his tanned skin that I now knew was soft to the touch, with those brown eyes that showed the true nature of his soul.
The man himself could act hard and mean all he wanted, but he couldn’t hide the way his eyes dimmed when he yelled at another or how they lit up when he was able to teach one of the younger crew members a new skill.
Or the way they burned with anger every time Viper did something out of line.
Or how they shined with sadness when he looked at Willy, clearly remembering—and regretting—his flogging.
His eyes told the truth of the man, and that truth was beautiful.
That truth was who I’d been lucky enough to get glimpses of when the two of us were alone. That truth was who I was getting to know, who I already cared about deeply, who I… who I didn’t want to leave behind.
Shaking myself out of the maudlin mood, I stood, strode over to the storage closet, and pulled out more cleaner. I had a lot more to scrub today, so I needed to get to it if I wanted to be finished before dinner.
As I walked back to the filthy area, my eyes wandered over to Max yet again. My smile couldn’t be helped.
I did my best to stay focused on my task at hand, but Max’s voice kept traveling over to me, catching my attention.
My gaze automatically moved over to the handsome first mate. As he pulled on a line, the muscles of his arms contracted and extended, the tattooed tail of some red creature—maybe a dragon?—wrapped around his forearm, and I had to snap my mouth shut before I drooled.
Holy phoenix tails, Max was sexy.
What I wouldn’t give for a few uninterrupted private hours with that man.
I wanted to see the rest of that tattoo and see if he had any others on his skin.
Max’s gaze caught mine, and he narrowed his eyes. I knew without him speaking a word that I was being far too obvious and needed to stop staring—and stop smiling every time he saw me—before Viper or anyone else caught on to what was happening.
It wasn’t easy to pull my gaze away, but I forced myself to and kept on scrubbing.
“Oi, Ghost!” Hawk-Eyes called down from the crow’s nest.
With my hand over my eyes, blocking the sun, I looked up at her. “Yeah?”
She smirked at me as she lowered her telescopic. “Having trouble keepin’ your eyes to yourself, there, Ghost?”
I felt my cheeks burn, embarrassed that I was caught ogling Max. I sent her a rude gesture, then went back to scrubbing as Hawk-Eyes cackled above me.
A few hours passed before my body tingled with awareness as Max moved closer to me. I glanced up at him, and his lips twitched as he tried his best to look like he was glaring at me. “Ghost! What do you think you’re doing?”
My eyes widened, and I tried to look scared even as I bit the inside of my cheek so I wouldn’t laugh. Max’s twitching lips were no help. “Wh-what do you mean, sir? I’m cleaning the deck.”
“Coulda fooled me. It’s filthy.”
My eyes widened. It wasn’t filthy at all. It was nearly spotless, thank you very much. “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll scrub it again.”
Max’s eyes were filled with amusement, but his expression turned to a scowl. “Forget it. I told you to assist Sparrow with the sail. Now get over there, you lily-livered knave!”
I almost laughed at the name-calling as I stood and faced him. “Sorry, sir! I didn’t know, sir!”
“You didn’t know?” He stepped closer to me so we were almost chest to chest, and I breathed in his manly scent.
The warmth of his skin radiated from him, even from here, and it was so difficult not to step even closer and bury my face in his hard chest. He clenched his teeth, probably to stop a smile, but it worked in making him sound angry.
“How dare you question me. Are you calling me a liar?”
“No, sir. I would never, sir.” I put my hands together and laced my fingers, being sure to look like I was begging. “Sorry, Reaper. I’ll do anything you want to make up for my indiscretion. Anything.” I almost—almost—winked, but luckily, I caught myself just in time.
He glared for a moment, and I tried not to grin right in his face. This was fun. Our eyes met, and I sucked in a breath. His face looked angry, but his eyes looked… happy, free. As soon as I noticed, I knew my own face went soft, but I couldn’t help it. He was just so… so… sweet.
As if sensing how close I was to ruining everything, he shook his head, stepped back, and waved me away. “Forget it and get out of my sight before you become serpent bait.”
“Yes, sir!” I nodded, grabbed my scrub brush and bucket, then hurried over to the storage closet to stow them before I rushed to Sparrow’s side. I shot Max a look out of the corner of my eye. He was standing where I left him, arms crossed over his chest with a glare aimed my way.
To everyone else, he looked like a pissed and frustrated pirate.
But to me, he was the sweet guy who needed a kiss to wipe that look off his face.
Sparrow gave me a nod as I sat beside her. “I need help fixing these tears. The damn thing’s been ripped so many times, I’m not sure another repair’ll be good enough.”
I moved in to help, grabbing a needle and thread as I said, “Too bad my sister’s not here. She’d fix this right up.”
“Oh yeah? Good at fixing holes in your clothes?”
Thoughts of Kayla always made me smile, but it was tinged with sadness because I missed her so damn much. “She is, but she’s a seamstress in Sunada.”
“A seamstress? We sure as hell could use one of those right now.”
I snorted. “True. I’m no seamstress, but my sister taught me to sew, so hopefully I can help.”
“Really? That’s great news.” She set her needle down and gestured for me to take a crack at it, so I did, concentrating and trying to remember everything Kayla taught me.
My stitches were messy—sewing was hard work, and while I could patch things up, they never, ever looked pretty. When I finished with a hole and sat back to take the entire thing in, I wrinkled my nose. Ew. How in hellfire did it look so bad?
Sparrow wrinkled her nose. “I hate to tell ya this, Ghost, but I don’t think you inherited your sister’s talents.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed. Loudly.
Sparrow elbowed me and muttered under her breath, “Shhhh… Reap and cap are lookin’ over here.”
I turned without thought and found eyes on me. One pair of eyes gave me the heebie-jeebies, but the other pair… Mmm. The other pair was as welcoming as the sun upon my face.
I almost smiled, almost, but I caught myself at the last minute and turned away instead. The Reaper wouldn’t want me smiling at him. Max, yes. But not here, in front of the others, where he had to be the big, bad, and deadly Reaper.
“Oh my goddesses, Ghost,” Ariella said, standing over me and looking down at my mediocre work. “Wow, finally found something you suck at.” She patted my back.
I chuckled. “Gee, thanks, Ariella.”
She shot me a grin. “Come help me with a harness check.”
I glanced at Sparrow, and she waved me off. “Please. I don’t want to ever see you with a needle in your hand again.”
I let out a weird noise, a cross between a laugh and a disapproving grunt, and both Sparrow and Ariella laughed at me. As I stood, I flipped them both off, then gave Ariella’s shoulder a small push to get her moving. She laughed the whole way to the middle of the main deck.
But I ignored her, keeping my eyes on Max, who was standing on the quarterdeck beside Viper at the wheel. He was looking through his telescopic, so he had no idea I was taking my fill.
He also had no idea how badly I wanted to get my hands on him, how badly I wanted to find a private space, undress him, and take my time worshipping every inch of his skin.
Goddesses, one morning of tasting him hadn’t been enough. Not even close.