Finally, the door to the cabin is in front of me, I pass by the front room, and open the door to my bedchamber.
My heart stops. The bed is empty—she is gone.
And then I see her crouched in front of the treasure chest. Putting the necklace back.
She turns around. Her golden eyes burn. Her lips spread in a happy smile.
She flies into my arms, and my whole body expands. Mine, mine, mine, drums my heart.
“Mine,” I whisper into her silky hair, inhaling the scent of the sun and the sea.
“Yours,” she whispers back.
I claim her mouth, her delicious, soft, velvety mouth and sink into it. She responds with the same heat, with the same hunger. A happy eternity later, I lean back.
“You did not go?” I murmur against her mouth. My forehead is pressed against hers, our eyes are locked. Ours souls are, too.
“No, I told you I don’t want to. I’m staying. For—longer.”
“Good. Because if you didn’t, I’d turn the world upside down searching all seas of all worlds for you.”
“I still have my last question, Cole.”
“You do not, madame.”
“Fourth question then. But the most important one.”
“What is it?”
“Do—do you think you might fall in love with me?”
My whole being expands; my soul flies high like the victory flag, full like the sails.
“I already am falling in love, my dear. I already am.”
She takes my hand in hers. “Good. Because I am, too.”
My heart bursts with joy and love and hope—everything I have forbidden myself to feel. Finally, a woman who loves me. Finally, a chance for happiness.
Who knew that this woman would be from the future?
Chapter 12
Lisa
Watching Cole sitting next to me at the dinner table in his cabin does something to me. My legs melt; my veins are filled with laughing gas. His knee touches mine under the table. I inhale his clean smell mixed with the scent of the sea. He devours me with his eyes, his smile sly and a little mischievous. The hair above his ears is gathered in a ponytail, the rest is spread over his massive shoulders.
My man.
I am held in captive in the grasp the happiness that vibrates through every cell of my body. And I can’t wait to explore the contents of the kinky chest.
But that I will have to be patient because at the table are Samantha and James. I’m so relieved Samantha is okay, and I’m excited to see her.
It’s the evening of the day their ship finally reached us. The ship’s cook has made us a celebration dinner, which is intimate in the dim lights of the lamps and feels like a double date.
James flashes a smile to Samantha—a combination of cockiness and shyness.
“Samantha, I told you meeting the right guy would change the way you felt about love,” I say.
She rolls her eyes in her mocking way. “You were right, hon. You were right.”
I chuckle. She even looks like she belongs in this century. She wears a gorgeous yellow dress—corset and all—with a pale-yellow-flower pattern and a square decollete trimmed with white lace. Even her hairdo is eighteenth century. James is in a shirt and a blue vest that highlights his tan and his violet eyes, his hair in a short braid.
I’m the only one still wearing modern clothes, although Samantha gave me one of her dresses. We traveled into the past at the same time, but somehow she has been here for a month while I’ve only spent one night.
I swing my gaze back to Cole again, and the sight of him takes my breath away. His white shirt is unbuttoned, exposing his tanned chest. I want to run my tongue over his pecs, down his washboard abs, and lower—
Oh God. I blush. I’ve never had so many dirty thoughts in my life, especially in front of friends. Cole’s eyes burn, never leaving my face.
“And you too, Cole,” James says. “I knew the right woman would come along.”
“To women from the future,” Cole toasts. We all laugh, raise our glasses of port, and drink.
“Can you imagine,” James continues, “that there are no women in our own time that can make us happy? Destiny needed to send them to us from the future. How bad are we, you and I?”
Cole laughs and squeezes James’s shoulder. “Quite bad. Quite bad.”
“But it wasn’t destiny, actually,” Samantha says. “James told me it was that man you both knew who owned a pub in Nassau. Adonis, the man with the snake.”
“He said something about voodoo,” I add. “Maybe he’s a voodoo priest or something.”
“Whatever the case,” Cole says, “he did us a great service. I’ll be forever in his debt because he brought Lisa to me.”
Our eyes lock, and heat runs between us. My breath quickens, and I want to straddle him right here and now.
“Jeez, get a room, you two,” Samantha laughs. “Lisa, I’ve never seen you like this. Carefree.”
She leans closer to the table and locks eyes with Cole, looking suddenly serious.
“You listen, Cole. If you let her get hurt or if you hurt her, I swear to God, I will kill you. I’ll find your ass in any Indies, East or West, and I will kick it.”
Cole chuckles, his eyelids crawl down, and he looks at me. “The only pain I’m planning to give her is the kind she’ll beg me for.”
“Oh Lord. TMI, buddy.” Samantha throws her cutlery on the plate with a bang that wakes Captain Bluebeard. The parrot begins to squawk unhappily.
“Chut. Chut. Chut up.”
“Aw, poor fellow, he woke up.” I stand up and go over to his cage and lift the sheet.
“Chut up,” he repeats.
“His name is Captain Bluebeard,” James says. “Cole rescued him.”
“Aw, a man who loves animals, Lisa. The man of your dreams,” she says.
“Exactly.” I return to my seat and cup Cole’s jaw.
“And we are most grateful you are taking us to Cuba. Making the passage with friends will be much more pleasant than on Captain Nielson’s frigate,” James says. “We think it will be easer to buy a villa and a plantation on a big island and get lost among other plantation owners, with me under a new identity. We are going to start a trading company—and Samantha is going to help me run it.”
“How did you find us?” Cole asks.
“We ran into Adonis,” Samantha says. “He’s back in his pub. He told us you were around here, and James hired a ship to try to find you. I was hoping you’d be here, Lisa.”
“Samantha, I am your servant,” Cole says. “You helped him get the treasure and changed his life. You brought him peace. It is as clear to me as the light of day.”
“Oh, Samantha,” I say. “This is going to be a great life for you.”
“Exactly. I have a man who I love and who makes me happy, and we are going to run a business together and live in the Caribbean! The eighteenth century kicks ass.”
Cole leans to James and murmurs, “Do you understand all the words they are saying?”
“Not all, I must admit. But I do enjoy hearing those interesting expressions from the future.”
Samantha and I laugh.
“Here’s to the four of us.” I raise a toast. “To Adonis, who brought us together, to love that crosses time and space, and to the ability to open up and change that makes it all possible.”
We clink, with happy smiles, and I kiss Cole while Samantha kisses James.
“I am not a pirate but I long to be,” Captain Bluebeard sings. “Sailing by the stars across the seven seas…”
We all laugh, and I dissolve in the waves of happiness that wash through me. Being with the man I love, seeing my best friend find her own happiness with a wonderful man makes my chest tighten and brings me joy.
I look at Cole and squeeze his hand under the table, and even though it’s the only touch we’re sharing now, I feel like he knows what I’m thinking and feeling, because that’s what I see in his dark eyes.
I lean to him and whisper. “You’re the best and the wildest adventure that has ever happened to me. And I look forward to anything life throws at us, as long as it’s with you.”
“My darling,” he whispers back, his eyes burning. “Trust me, the next adventure that awaits you lies in that chest you called kinky…as soon as our dear friends leave us. I promise, you will never be bored with me.”
Epilogue
Three months later
Lisa
The scent of wood and sea envelops me. The floor sinks under my feet, then rises. Waves splash somewhere nearby.
A man is making deep, animal sounds at the back of his throat. I know that voice. My chest squeezes in a sweet ache.
I sit on the wooden floor, my backpack heavy on my shoulders. The planks under me scratch my fingers and the bare skin of my legs.
Happiness spreads through my stomach.
I know where I am. Right where I belong.
I open my eyes and squint into the golden-orange light of the setting sun that falls through a large window.
Cole’s window. Cole’s cabin. The familiar bed with crumpled sheets, the mirror above it.
The chests with treasure and kinky medieval sex toys.
He’s naked and sits in the big chair, which is half-turned towards me. He moans and grunts, moving his hand rhythmically up and down. The pungent scent of a man—of sex—fills my nose.
Look at him, how gorgeous he is. His biceps bulging as his arm moves, the muscles on his abdomen straining. His head is tilted back. His long black hair falls over his shoulders.
A piercing pain shoots straight through my chest. How I missed him. The two weeks away in New Jersey, hundreds of years in the future, were torture. I had counted every second. I couldn’t be more confident in the rightness of my decision to be with him, no matter the century.
Seeing him like this, just like when I first arrived here, tightens my throat with anticipation and love. Is he thinking of me now? I hope he is.
My skin tingles and my breathing becomes erratic. I put down my backpack, stand on weak legs, and walk to him.
He turns to me, alarmed at first, but then…
Cole watches me with black eyes, naked lust boiling behind them. His gaze travels down my face to my lips, then down my body, and it feels like he’s caressing me. “You are a dream come true,” he says.
I’m hypnotized, glued to the spot in an all-consuming trance. He’s the most powerful man in the world.
He incinerates me with the heat in his eyes. He makes me feel like a goddess.
“You came back,” he breathes.
The thought that a man like him is so vulnerable and open to me, loves me, waits for me makes my head spin. I love him, more than anything.
“You didn’t think I would?”
“My life would be cursed if you hadn’t,” he says.
I sink onto my knees between his legs and put both hands on his thighs. His erection big and heavy, with thick veins twitches as I look straight at it.
“Anguish for you almost killed me,” he says. “You told me you would only be gone a sennight.”
“Sorry. It took me longer. But I promised you I’d come back.”
“I didn’t think you would. I wouldn’t blame you.”
“I love you, Cole. I would have died over there without you.”
He draws in a sharp breath.
“What about your animal inn?” he says.
“I sold it. You’re necessary for me to breathe. The pet hotel is not.” I burn and melt, and I take a deep breath. “I said goodbye to my family and friends. I’m not going back there. My life is here, with you. If you’ll have me.”
He closes his eyes for a moment, as though letting the thought sink in and relax him like a drug.
“I’ll have you in any way I can.” He leans forward, a playful spark in his eyes. “Perhaps I should punish you for taking so long to come back to me.”
I draw in a quick breath and suppress a smile of anticipation.
“Punish me?” I whisper, my blood like fire in my veins.
“Oh yes, darling. I want to tie you up so that you’ll never leave me again.”
He grasps my hands, rises, and I rise with him. He claims my mouth. The kiss is desperate and full of hunger. I moan as he parts my lips. His mouth is soft yet demanding. He sucks my tongue gently, making my muscles and bones liquefy.
By the time he stops the kiss, I’m breathless.
He starts to remove my clothes slowly. First my top, then my shorts, my underwear, and my bra.
My heart slams hard against my ribcage, my insides throb. He goes to his kinky chest and comes back with several short ropes, a long white rope, and a riding crop.
He wraps the long rope around my torso below and above my breasts. From the back, he brings the rope over my shoulder and pulls it under the line of rope below my breasts. He repeats this several times on one side, then switches to the repeat the same process over my other shoulder. The material hugs my flesh, making blood stop in my breasts, leaving them exposed and right there for the taking.
He takes one of the short ropes and attaches it to the longer one, then runs it down my stomach, puts it to the left side of my sex and between my butt cheeks and then hooks it through the rope at my back. Then he runs it to the front again, on the right side, and hooks it to the rope under my breasts. The material presses around my labia, stimulating me in all kinds of ways I’ve never experienced before.
He makes me sit on the chair.
I gasp softly and let out a calming breath.
“What—”
“Shhh, love,” he says.
He takes my arms and ties them to the handles of the chair with short ropes. Every tie is firm and secure, and with every one I feel more and more helpless.
Then he lifts my left leg, bends it, and ties it to my chest. Then he does the same with the right one, completely exposing my most intimate area. He knows every inch of me already, of course, but this is different. I’m helpless.
“Cole…” I whisper.
“Take it in, sweetheart. This is your punishment. This is how I felt when you left. At your mercy.”
I hadn’t expected this. I’d had no idea this was how me leaving to the twenty-first century had made him feel.
I’m aroused. This isn’t exactly comfortable physically, but I don’t mind that. It’s the exposure that brings heat to my cheeks. I’m like a meal on a plate—there for the taking. He can see every inch of me, and every inch is his. He can do what he likes to me, and I can’t do a damn thing about it.
This is where our trust comes in.
Even after all the training and every delicious and kinky thing he’s done with me over past couple of months, this is the hottest.
“Tell me how you feel,” he demands.
I swallow. “Helpless.”
“And?”
“Like I’m yours. Completely, utterly yours.”
He nods, his eyes dark, molten onyx slowly take me in. “Good. You are. And I’m yours.”
“I brought some presents for you in the backpack.”
My bag is heavy with gold and silver I bought with the money I earned from selling everything. But it’s also heavy with other treasure.
“Take anything you like,” I say.
He walks over and rummages through the backpack, his eyes aflame with curiosity as he removes nipple clamps, handcuffs, Kegel balls—everything I could get my hands on from the modern world that I know he’d appreciate.
He takes a vibrator ring in his hands, one eyebrow arching.
“Press the button,” I say.
He raises his eyebrows in question. “What?”
“The little bump on the side.”
He examines it and finds the button. With one press of a thumb, it vibrates. He jerks, and curses, but doesn’t let the toy out of his hands. I giggle.
“What is this hellish thing?” His eyes are wide on the black silicone ring.
&n
bsp; “It’s for your pleasure and mine,” I say. “You put it on and…well…”
His lips spread in a mischievous smile. “I look forward to exploring your treasures from the future.”
He picks up the riding crop that has licked my bottom many times already, and a shiver of pleasant anticipation runs through me.
He approaches me slowly, his magnificent erection swaying.
“Are you ready, sweetheart?” he says as he stands before me. His cock points right at me, and my lips itch to take it in my mouth. “I’m going to welcome you back.”
He runs the crop from my neck down my body, stopping at my left breast and slapping it gently. I jerk as a small, electric current of pleasure runs through me. He goes to the second breast and repeats the exercise, making me gasp. The crop trails down my stomach, caressing my skin, and slowly makes its way right to my exposed sex. I clench and shift to lean into the crop as it brushes against my sensitive skin.
A soft slap, and I jerk, gasping for air from the intensity of the pleasure. Then he slaps again. And again. And again.
I make tiny pornographic moans and clench inside. My cleft is hot; my breathing is ragged. He stops and adjusts the rope to apply more pressure around my breasts. The skin on them is already more sensitive, flushed and warm. He leans down and pinches my nipple with one hand, then runs it between his index finger and his thumb while continuing to slap the crop against me. I cry out.
“That’s right. Take it in, love,” he says.
The slaps get a little stronger, and a shudder runs through my body. I want to take him by the hands and drag him over me, to put his magnificent cock deep inside me, as deep as I can, and have him thrust in and out of me until I can no longer take it.
But I can’t. The helplessness is frustrating.
“Do you want to touch me, darling?” he asks as he leans down and gently bites my nipple.
I arch my back, ropes digging into my flesh. They’re adding to the sensations already overwhelming me.
“Yes,” I breathe out.
“And how does it make you feel that you can’t?”
It’s so hot.
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