by Tamara Gill
“It’s the truth.” She stared at the blond mat of hair covering his upper chest. The urge to run her fingers over it or rub her cheek against it burned strong. “You are the first man I have said such a thing to. Please don’t abuse my regard.” Insecurity inundated her. What if he truly didn’t feel the same? Had she read him wrong, a product of being a woman who’d never experienced love before?
“Oh, Sarah.” Adrian shed his breeches then joined her on the bed, stretching his body alongside hers. He propped himself on an elbow. “I may be many things. I may have committed horrendous acts, but breaking your trust is not one of them, nor will it ever be.”
“I’m glad.” He’d probably never know how deep this confirmation had rocked her. She let her gaze wander down his body. The skin always hidden by breeches was several shades lighter than the rest and made him seem that much more approachable. As she skimmed a hand along his side, he flinched. “You are hurt?” Annoyance smacked her in the chest. She should have inspected him before consenting to—
“A slight bruise, nothing more, and infinitely less than I received from you that first day.” He shifted and partially covered her body with his. “No more conversation. Beds were never made with that in mind.”
She smiled, but he claimed it with a long, drugging kiss that stole her breath and threatened to rob her sanity. When he drew his tongue along her bottom lip, she opened her mouth, inviting him in. Silky heat and warm satin teased her. He explored the inside of her cheek. She responded in kind and wove her fingers through his hair. With a tug, she freed the rain-dampened locks from their leather tie.
Once allowed air, Sarah nipped at his jaw. As his stubble abraded her cheeks and lips, tingles of awareness slipped through her body, concentrating in her nipples and between her thighs. This man had brought her out of her shell, made her look at his occupation in a different way, treated her with high-handed assumption, and through it all, she craved him more than water when thirsty. He’d touched a part of her soul and took it with him, but he’d also given her a piece of him.
She continued her exploration, gliding her lips over his chest, her fingertips tracing the contours of his torso that shifted as he moved. He smelled of cannon smoke and rain. He tasted of salty sweat and power. Combined, they created a heady mix that went straight to her head. “May I touch you?”
Adrian flipped onto his back and folded his hands behind his head. “We have been lovers before now. Explore at will, but you needn’t ask permission. In this bed, power is balanced.”
Her hand shook as she paused at his abdomen. A thin ribbon of blond-brown hair sailed past his navel then expanded into a tight nest at the base of his engorged cock. Receiving a nod of encouragement from him, she drifted her hand lower. Coarse hair tickled her palm. Soft, silky skin brushed her knuckles. Adrian’s breath hissed between his teeth. Bolstered by his reaction, she scooted closer. She knelt and wrapped her fingers around his length.
A moan escaped his throat, but he remained otherwise silent. She glanced at him, noted his half-closed eyes and tension-filled face, and she grinned. Now she understood the sweet wonder of power during sex. Slowly, she pumped her hand along his member. It swelled at her touch and grew longer. Back up she went, repeating the action.
“Careful, else I’ll spend too soon.” He covered her hand with his and demonstrated a much gentler approach to dealing with the twitching appendage. She enjoyed his tutelage. It made her feel closer to him as they both worked his body and brought forth his moans. “Later, I’ll teach you how to pleasure me with your mouth, but for today,” he moved her hand away and tipped them both over so she lay on her back, “I’m content to make this bout of lovemaking long and sweet.”
Her heart stuttered at his word choice. No use of sex or vulgarity. His ability to switch between the domineering, powerful captain to the tender, considerate lover made her head spin, but she adored both parts of him. She looked him in the eye. The same intense emotion she’d glimpsed before sparkled in his gaze. The urge to tell him all gripped her. “I’m quite certain I’m in love with you. After our time together, after the extreme circumstances, what I feel can only be that, and I—”
His kiss stemmed her babble. She was happy to oblige. He stroked every inch of her body, finding the sensitive spots, exploiting the places that drove her closer to the heavens. His lips followed everywhere his fingers had blazed a trail. When he blew puffs of air over the moist paths, she shivered.
By the time he claimed her lips again, need shook her. She pulled slightly away. “Please.”
“As my lady commands.” He linked their fingers together, fitting his palms to hers, and drew her hands over head. Adrian’s expression of intensity never lessened. His jaw worked as if he would speak, but he did not and the moment passed. He parted her legs with a knee, spreading them wide as he settled between them.
Sarah squeezed his hands. She wriggled her hips. When his cock rubbed against her swollen folds, she whimpered. “I need you.” He entered her then on one long forceful thrust. She exhaled on a sigh. Familiar throbs of desire moved outward from their joining point. As he withdrew, she shifted into a more comfortable position and lifted her hips to receive his next push.
They rocked together in a pleasant rhythm, coming together and pulling apart in a sensual dance as old as time itself. Pressure built and coiled low through her belly. It grew each time Adrian thrust. He backed off and returned with more force. The slap of their flesh echoed in the cabin. She planted her feet on the bedding and met his strokes. Always, the prize glittered just out of reach.
Sarah attempted to extricate her hands from his. He held on tighter. She wanted him closer, deeper. She wanted him to touch her soul, but he stilled, resting above her on his forearms. “Please don’t stop. Am I performing the act wrong?” Worry dimmed the joy. After all their time together, had she been fooling herself into thinking she pleased him?
Adrian’s ragged breathing rasped into the silence. He grinned. “No, Sarah, in fact you are very much right.” He kissed her then pulled back in order to hold her gaze. His eyes, more blue than gray in the morning light, burned with high emotion. Tension lined his face. “Thank you for wanting to stay with me despite my flaws.”
“Everyone has flaws. I am no exception.” She held her breath. Did he intend to say more?
“You are a gift.” He slid inside her passage with a slow, leisurely stroke.
Sarah felt every ridge against her sensitized flesh. “Don’t draw this out.” She arched into him, not knowing if she meant his speech or his actions. Desperate, she wiggled her hips. “I will die if you don’t finish me.”
“That will be a pity.” He put his lips to the shell of her ear and whispered, “I have only realized how much you mean to me. I would hate for you to expire before I can declare my love.”
As she gaped at him, he held her hands in a strong grip, grinned and pumped into her at a frantic pace. Desire multiplied and swelled inside. It bore down on her, growing with each of his thrusts. She had no time to digest what he said, for the dam holding back the straining pressure broke and her world tumbled into star-strewn bliss. A cry issued from her throat. She chanted his name while her inner muscles contracted around his pulsing length. Seconds later, he followed her into glory.
Spent and sated, she hugged him close. For the first time in a long while, she was content. In the arms of her pirate captain, she let the strong beat of his heart and the easy rock of the ship lull her into a contented sleep.
*****
The warm rays of the sun shining onto her face woke her. When she opened her eyes, she encountered Adrian, wearing such a mischievous, devil-may-care smile that her body reacted to it before her mind did. Pleasant warmth wet her folds. Would he want relations again so soon? “Is there a problem?”
“No.” His grin widened. “What now, love? Where shall I take you?” He pressed a kiss to her palm. “The world lies at your feet, breathless for your direction.”
Sh
e blinked. Sitting up, she clutched the quilt over her breasts. “Where? Do you not have a Spanish ship to chase?”
“The Inquisitor?”
“Unless you have a different one in mind?” She shook her head to clear her muddled thoughts. Always before, once they’d coupled, he’d left her to join his crew or she’d left to join the doctor. They’d never slept in the same bed well past the aftermath.
I’ll need time to acclimate to him.
“Not at the moment. Our mission has not changed.”
She nodded. “I say we track her down. We have cargo to score and crewmen to recruit, do we not? I would imagine you’d like to replace the men you lost last night.” She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “And if there is an orphaned boy in need of a new family…”
Hope sprang into his expression. “What about when we make port? Do you have plans after that?”
“Yes.” So many plans, half of which involved spending time exploring the difference between sex and lovemaking, and why there was a need for a distinct contrast. She had a host of questions he needed to answer. The time in his company had provided a more well-rounded education than anything she’d learned under her father’s narrow-minded watch.
Shadows filled his eyes. He edged away from her in the bed. “And what would those plans be? I had hoped I’d convinced you to stay on the Lady Catherine—with me.”
Sarah hadn’t the heart to draw out his torment. He simply didn’t deserve it—at the moment. “Oh, I fully intend to remain with you, on one condition.” In the moments between slumber and consciousness, she’d come to a firm decision, and one she’d be adamant he wouldn’t belay.
“Such as?” Suspicion warred with joy in his voice.
She snuggled into the pillows beside him. “I wish to be married at the first Protestant church we find in the islands.”
“Don’t push your luck.” A frown pulled at the corners of his mouth.
“It’s not luck I intend to push. It’s you.” She drew a hand down his torso. His muscles tightened. “We cannot continue to live in sin.”
His relieved laugh echoed in her ear and dispelled the tension. “My dear, might I remind you that we have sinned in different ways almost every day since we met?”
Despite the fact her anatomy had been looked upon, touched and even explored by his tongue and lips, the heat of a blush rose in her cheeks. “While this is true, I desire to be married. You may be a pirate, but I, Captain, am still a lady, thoroughly ruined though I may be.”
“Does this mean you’re asking me to marry you?” His jovial tone conveyed a humor she’d not encountered from him before.
She nodded. “It does.”
He bundled her into his arms and pressed her back into the mattress. “Done, but you must have an ulterior motive to taking my name.”
“Besides being completely infatuated with you enough to want to cleave to you for the rest of my days?”
“Yes, well…” He wore the look of a man supremely pleased with himself. “I have heard I’m considered quite a catch.”
“And off the market as of this moment.”
“The same can be said of you. If we wed, nothing short of death will end it. On this I refuse to compromise.” He threaded their fingers together and held her hands above her head like he had earlier that morning. “You belong to me.”
She smiled. Her nipples pebbled at the possessive note in his voice as well as being stimulated by rubbing against his chest. “I understand that, Captain. As long as you recognize that I want a life on this ship, beyond being your wife. I enjoy helping the doctor. It gives me a chance to give back to others and in part redeem myself for my own crimes, but if I find another pursuit, I expect you to trust me enough to let me explore it.”
“As long as you trust me enough to run this ship as I see fit, I will let you experiment with however many jobs you need until you find the place where you belong.”
“Done.” Life with Adrian would be exciting, fraught with danger and laced with sexual tension. Never had she wanted anything more. With him, she’d come alive and found her purpose. With him she’d found a man who was content to be the center of her world but not own her entire existence. “Just imagine what will happen when the world realizes there are two Westerbrookes on the high seas.”
“Lord, help us all. Sarah Covington has likened herself to a pirate.” He lifted his gaze to the heavens in mock-supplication. “Surely God will smite me dead.”
“If that were so, He would have done so years ago. There may be hope for you yet.” She moved her head and nipped at his chin. “Imagine how much fun piracy will be now.”
“Remember, dearest, we are privateers. There is a difference.”
“I’m thinking there isn’t.” She snorted and wriggled beneath him, sighing in appreciation when his member hardened against her thigh. He is quite magnificent. “An Act of Pardon isn’t worth the paper it is written on—or so I’ve heard.”
“This is true, but for those who hold that scrawled redemption, it means everything.” He nibbled at the corner of her lips before pinning her with an unyielding glance. “I must warn you, I refuse to change who I am simply for a hasty marriage.” His blue-gray gaze never wavered from hers, perhaps a tad hard around the edges. “At times there will be punishments doled out and innocent men killed. There will be violence and murder and unsavory business. This is life on a pirate ship.”
“I am aware, and I don’t have to condone it, merely survive it. When possible, I will endeavor to change your mind with every means I have at my disposal. This is how my life operates. I have faith there is hope for you—for us.” Quick tears stung her eyes. She blinked them away. The memories of Tommy would always be a part of her, but now the sadness of losing him were tempered with the joy of winning Adrian’s regard. “We both have too much to live for—together—to let a few differences tear us apart.”
“Agreed. I look forward to having you as my moral compass. I also anticipate that many arguments will be settled behind closed doors in various degrees of supplication and pleading.” His grin sent flutters through her insides. “Are we of an accord?”
“We are. A new year, a new life, for both of us.” She edged her fingers from his and slipped her hands around his hips to caress his perfect backside. “How interesting that fate brought us together at the hangman’s gallows. It worked out rather nicely.”
“Intelligent as well as beautifully flawed. I suppose I’ll keep you after all.”
“I should say so.” Sarah kissed him with leisurely grace, exploring the warm recesses of his mouth with her tongue. In him she’d found her own version of redemption. For him she granted forgiveness with hope in the future. “Now, shall we tell Elmwood our heading?”
“Let’s leave Elmwood to his own devices for an hour longer. I have other orders I wish to give for the moment. And Sarah?”
“Yes?” Never in her life had she felt consumed with happiness as she was now.
“How would you feel about settling into married life on a sugar plantation in the Caribbean? I’m thinking once we chase down our quarry and collect our coin, we head back there. Or perhaps trying our hand at running a tobacco plantation in Virginia?”
A wave of shock rolled through her body. Her captain was full of surprises. “You’d give up piracy for me?”
“No, I’d give it up for us, for the chance of a new life together. I’m told managing a plantation is dangerous work but rewarding enough if you’re willing, and since I just happen to own two such properties…” Hope shone in his expression. “Are you willing to embark on another adventure, Sarah-my-Sarah?”
“Absolutely. Anywhere you are, I’ll be happy, on the condition you allow me to do whatever interests me.”
“Never lose that independence, my girl.” His mouth found her nipple while one hand stole between her thighs.
As familiar need spiraled through her loins, Sarah sighed and held him closer. Nothing about life was absolute. Hatred o
ne day turned to love the next, the separation between them a fine line. It was finding the perfect moments in the middle that made it worth living.
THE END
Regency-era stories by Sandra Sookoo
Scandal in Surrey series
Lady Parker’s Grand Affair
The Bride’s Gambit
Misfortune’s Lady
Miss Bennett’s Naughty Secret
Darrington family series (Kindle Unlimited exclusive)
Marriage Minded Lord
To Bed or To Wed
The Bridal Contract
Regency-era pirate romances
Act of Pardon
Angel’s Master
Storm Tossed Rogue
Once a Pirate
Scoundrel’s Trespass
Lords of Happenstance series
What the Stubborn Viscount Desires
What a Wayward Lord Needs
What the Dashing Duke Deserves
What a Determined Earl Wishes (coming spring 2020)
Lords of the Night series
Devil Take the Duke
Bitten by the Earl
Adrift with the Viscount
Treasured by the Earl (coming August 2019)
Transformed by a Christmas Star (coming December 2019)
Author Bio
Sandra Sookoo is a USA Today bestselling author who firmly believes every person deserves acceptance and a happy ending. Most days you can find her creating scandal and mischief in the Regency-era, serendipity and happenstance in Victorian America or snarky, sweet humor in the contemporary world. Most recently she’s moved into infusing her books with mystery and intrigue. Reading is a lot like eating fine chocolates—you can’t just have one. Good thing books don’t have calories!