20. Gabriel
GAbrIEL
IF THERE WAS one thing I’d been looking forward to about my visit to Solterra when my trip was first announced, it was the possibility that I’d get a chance to set foot on the Royal Solterran Yacht.
El Sol De Solterra.
It was a spectacular piece of maritime history that was renowned all over the world for its craftsmanship and unique appearance.
Where most royal yachts leaned toward a modern feel, with helicopter pads, jet skis, and water toys, the El Sol De Solterra looked like a throwback to some legendary Mediterranean galleon.
With a hull finished in sleek ivory and polished teak, the brass accents, leather, and rich wood finishes complemented the vessel and gave it an old-world feel you didn’t get on modern boats.
Add in the sails up top that displayed the Solterran crest blowing in the breeze, and Alejandro’s yacht looked like something straight out of every little boy’s fantasy.
“Are you sure your family isn’t descended from pirates?” I said, stepping outside onto the bow of the boat, where I found Alejandro leaning up against the wooden rail.
We’d set sail earlier this morning for a small coastal town that was an overnight trip from Solterra.
But after settling into my guest cabin that looked nearly identical to my chambers back in the palace, right down to the Valorian colors and monograms, I went in search of the man who’d suggested the trip, claiming he needed it after being cooped up with too many people the last couple of days.
I couldn’t blame him. He’d not only had to deal with his ex-fiancé and husband, who were sickeningly in love, but then his parents had shown up. That would’ve been enough to have me packing my bags and setting sail too. But I would’ve planned a month-long trip, not a quick overnighter.
Being out here on the sea made all the heaviness from the last couple of days disappear, and with Nicholas’s apology being accepted, it was like having a fresh start. A clean slate.
To do incredibly naughty, depraved things to Alejandro’s body.
He glanced over his shoulder, then turned and watched my approach.
Now that was something I’d never get sick of: the way he looked at me. It was hot, intimate, and so damn direct it was as if he’d just stroked his hands over me.
“If that’s the case,” he said as I stopped in front of him, “does that make you my hostage for the weekend?”
“Willing and eager captive, actually,” I told him with a smirk, and he shook his head.
“Now where’s the fun in that?”
I waggled my brows and reached for the crystal glass he held, sniffing at the contents before taking a sip of the expensive whiskey. “So that’s how you want to play, is it? I can be helpless and horrified, if that’s better for you?”
Alejandro snorted and took his glass back. “Horrified?”
“Well, yes. If you’re going to use your sword on me, I’d most definitely be horrified.”
“Is that right?”
I trailed my eyes down Alejandro’s tanned chest to where his cream linen shirt was left unbuttoned and blowing, and his brown leather pants were doing nothing to conceal his interest in the fantasy I was painting for him.
I took another step toward him and reached down to cradle his erection. “Especially when it’s so…big.”
Alejandro gripped the rail, but that was the only indication that he was affected in any way by my touching him.
“Uh oh.” My eyes widened, and he took a sip of his whiskey. “It’s getting bigger.”
“Careful, or you might impale yourself on it.”
I chuckled and released him to lean back against the rail, taking in a deep lungful of the salty air. “If that’s supposed to deter me, then you haven’t been paying attention.”
“If I’d paid any more attention to you this weekend, my mother would be trying to plan a new alliance between Solterra and Valoria,” he said, staring out across the ship.
“Did she say something to you?”
“Not out loud.” He finished off his drink, then placed it on a small table by the rail. “But the looks she was giving us spoke volumes.”
“I see. And is that a problem? That she knows we might be…”
Alejandro raised a brow when I didn’t finish my thought. “Fucking?”
Yes, that was the word. So why didn’t I just say it? It wasn’t like me to beat around the bush.
“Yes.”
“Not really. It’s not like she hasn’t heard of my…”
Interesting—it seemed the both of us were having trouble finishing our thoughts today. “Reputation as a”—Alejandro eyed me, and I flashed a grin—“rakish pirate?”
“You’re not going to let that go, are you?”
“Nope. Especially after seeing this yacht up close. I mean…” I pushed off the rail and turned around to look at the helm. “Most ships these days have that clean, sleek, sterile feel, but yours is so traditional. It feels like we’re setting off on an adventure.”
When I turned to look back at him, Alejandro smirked. “To explore new horizons?”
“Exactly. Let me guess—there’s no electrical equipment on that bridge? Just a ship wheel and sailing charts.”
“I hate to ruin the illusion, but there are definitely modern-day controls at the helm. However, there’s also a captain’s wheel and more antique navigating tools on display up there than in Solterra’s maritime museum.
My father and I collected them together over the years.
He always told me he wanted the yacht to feel like a”—Alejandro let out a sigh and shook his head—“pirate’s ship, if he were to cash in all his bounties and build his ultimate vessel. ”
“I knew it,” I said, moving back over to the rail where Alejandro stood. “You are descended from pirates.”
He pushed off the rail and stepped in front of me, caging me in against the side of the yacht. “And today you’re my captive.”
“Helpless and horrified.”
Alejandro’s eyes fell to my mouth, then a little lower, to the open collar of my shirt. “You don’t look too helpless to me. Or horrified, for that matter. Maybe it’s time to change that.”
I wasn’t sure what it said about me that his threat made my cock jerk. But it did, and when he reached for the side of his hip and unsheathed—
“Is that a knife?”
Alejandro’s lips curled into the most devilish grin I’d ever seen. “A dagger, actually.” He pointed it at the first button of my shirt I’d bothered with—mid-chest—then flicked the blade under the small circle with stunning precision, sending the button flying.
I sucked in a breath as my dick strained harder against the material of my briefs. It seemed dangerous men and situations were its thing.
“Pirates don’t call it a knife.” Alejandro drew the tip of the blade down to the next button and treated it to the same fate as the first. I swallowed as he moved on to the third and fourth, and when all the buttons were scattered over the polished teak deck, he used the dagger to part my shirt. “Take it off.”
Oh fuck yes.
It seemed Alejandro had taken my pirate fantasy to heart, judging by the fierce way he was watching me. I straightened and shrugged out of my shirt, and didn’t miss the way his eyes traced every inch of me as I was about to toss it on the ground.
“Give it to me,” he said. I went to hand it over, and just as I let go, he grabbed hold of my wrist and said, “Arms out, wrists together.”
I swallowed, unbelievably turned on as he wound my shirt around my wrists and tied it in a knot I had no hope of undoing. Then he turned the dagger on me, the tip of the blade just under my chin.
“You’ve been a little too mouthy for my liking these past few weeks, captive.” His eyes roamed over my face in a detached way, like I was the sexiest man he’d ever seen but nothing but an object to him.
The dissociation in his stare had flames curling low in my stomach.
“I think you need to be reminded of your place.”
With the tip of his blade still under my chin, Alejandro reached down to my tied hands and brought them to his cock.
“Feel that?” he said as he rubbed my hands over himself. “That’s going to teach you a lesson tonight.”
Jesus, he was good at this.
With his dark hair blowing in the breeze, his stubbled cheeks and jaw, and that stern, foreboding expression he was so good at, I almost forgot my role and begged for him to use me any way he liked.
Helpless and horrified Gabriel.
Helpless and horrified…
“Please, don’t. I’ll be better. I won’t talk to the other men—”
“Talk?” Alejandro scoffed, then crowded in against me until his dick was fully in my hands and even the breeze was having difficulty getting between us. “You’ve been doing a lot more than talking. Flirting, fucking—I won’t have it, do you hear me?”
I nodded, trying to remember not to be me, but someone scared of this sinful seducer.
“I didn’t bring you hostage for everyone else’s pleasure.” Alejandro leaned in then and licked up my cheek like he had the night of our first kiss. “I brought you here for mine.”
Goddamn. How was I supposed to concentrate when he was saying things like that in that deep, gravelly, I’m-going-to-plunder-you voice he’d adopted?
“I’m sorry. Please, I won’t do it again.”
“Damn right you won’t.” Alejandro straightened and stepped away from me, then he took hold of my hands and yanked me off the rail, turning me toward the back of the ship. “Start walking.”
We started down the side of the yacht, me in front of him, shirtless, with his dagger at my back, and if any of Alejandro’s crew thought it strange or out of the ordinary, no one appeared to tell us so.
In fact, they were strangely absent from the boat. I knew they were aboard, but just like servants in Valoria, unless called upon, you rarely saw them.
Plus, I highly doubted I was the first man Alejandro had led around with a knife to his back. He was spicy like that.
“Downstairs,” he said. “Go. Now.”
We descended three levels until we came to the lower beach deck, where cream linen couches and oversized cushions were scattered beneath billowing canvas awnings, and lanterns hung from the columns. And just like all the other areas of the yacht, there wasn’t a soul in sight.
Alejandro moved in behind me and gestured to one of the couches. “Over there.”