Midnight Lady

by Jamie K. Schmidt

  “Come on,” Quick said, holding out his hand. “I’ll give you a ride back home. Donna has been worried sick.”

  “Why? She knew I was going away.”

  “It was how you got away that had everyone upset.”

  “I should go talk to Amos.”

  Quick crossed his arms over his chest. “Your father left.”

  Maggie pursed her lips. So, he knew about that too. “I think I missed an important conversation chasing after you.” She punched Ephraim in the arm.

  “We’ve got some catching up to do. I’ll take you both back to Cozumel and Black Belle, if she’s still there.”

  “There’s one problem,” Maggie said.

  “Just one?” Quick sighed.

  She looked at Ephraim.

  “You’re not seriously considering his proposal,” Quick said, his hands clenching into fists.

  “Gods no. Tell him.” Maggie punched Ephraim again.

  “Ow, stop hitting me.” Ephraim rubbed his arm. “Do you trust him? Can’t you just take The Belladonna and we can be our own pirate crew?”

  “Just the two of you?” Quick leaned against the door frame. “On Black Belle’s flagship?”

  “It’s not like she’s using it right now,” Ephraim defended.

  “I trust him,” Maggie said.

  “Fine.” Ephraim turned to Quick. “If you turn me in, though, I’ll marry Maggie just to spite you.”

  “I can’t wait to hear this story.”

  Ephraim stood to his full height. “I am Ephraim Firstborn of the Calgarian Royal Family, rightful heir and future King.”

  Quick didn’t look convinced. “All right, your majesty, why are you looking for Black Belle?”

  “Because I don’t want to be king. I don’t want to marry the Zuna princess and make babies. Even if I liked women, I wouldn’t choose her. I’m good with airships. I learned the tinker trade before my parents found out. And it would tickle Black Belle to no end having me on her crew.”

  “Why?”

  “We don’t need to go into that,” Maggie said, trying to push past Quick out of the room.

  He hooked an arm around her and held her against his hip. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

  “Because when Maggie broke off our engagement, Black Belle had to pay off my parents with two of her warships.”

  Quick tightened his grip on her. “You gave up being queen to run a bar in Cozumel?”

  Maggie squirmed, but she wasn’t going anywhere. “I gave up being married to a man who didn’t love me.”

  “I love you,” Ephraim said.

  Quick made a sound in his throat that was close to a snarl.

  “Not like that,” Maggie said. “So, until his parents find him a hot, smart, prince with diplomatic ties for him to marry...”

  “Or until they disown me and make my cousin queen...” Ephraim cut in.

  “He’s going to join an airship crew,” Maggie finished.

  “Uh huh,” Quick said. “So, you want me to smuggle the missing Calgarian prince into Cozumel?”

  “Smuggle seems so illicit,” Ephraim said. “I’m just booking passage.” He held up three domino shaped rocks.

  Quick’s grip lessened. “I think we’ve got room for a passenger.”

  “Oh, thank shit. I thought you were going to make me clean the head with a toothbrush.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” Quick said.

  “Never mind.” Maggie tugged him out of her room. “Derek McMann is a bit of a sadist.”

  “And not in a good way,” Ephraim said. “Which is a shame because I’d let him handcuff me to a pipe any day.”

  “Way too much information,” Maggie said.

  “I tend to overshare.” Ephraim came along Quick’s side and hooked his arm through his. “You don’t happen to have any royalty in you do you?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “Would you like to have some royalty in you?” Ephraim waggled his eyebrows.

  “Back off,” Maggie warned. “He’s mine.”

  “I am?” Quick said, delightedly.

  “For now,” she grumbled, blushing.

  The three of them walked back to the throne room where the other captains were waiting. They looked up at her expectantly.

  “Thank you, for coming after me,” Maggie said, feeling a little choked up.

  “Good to see you’re unharmed,” Big Sweet said. “I’ll be off. I’ll see you gentlemen in a few weeks.”

  “The drinks are on me,” Maggie said, giving him a hug.

  She hugged each one of them, even Niles, who managed not to cop a feel or pinch her butt.

  Chapter Ten

  Ephraim loved his private berth and happily face planted on the pillows. Quick escorted Maggie to the Captain’s quarters and told her he would be right back.

  That was two hours ago. She was too keyed up to sleep, and had already drank a glass of really expensive rum. Maggie was eyeballing his humidor when Quick finally came back.

  He leaned against the door and locked it. “I’m sorry that took so long, but I didn’t want to be disturbed until we reached Cozumel.”

  Maggie frowned. “That’s going to take a week.”

  “Exactly.”

  Quick unbuckled his gun belt and dropped it on the table.

  “Don’t you want to talk?” she asked, as her heart beat faster.

  “Later.” Quick kicked off his boots and unbuttoned his sleeves.

  “Are you mad at me?” Maggie ventured, unsure how to read the look in his eyes.

  “No.” Pulling his shirt over his head, he walked towards her.

  She greedily took in his wide shoulders and powerful chest. He had a tattoo of a parrot on his upper arm and a deep puckered scar under his rib cage. The parrot was named Polly, and the scar was from shrapnel when the first airship he had been on got shot down on a fourth-world planet.

  Pulling a knife out of his pocket, Quick flipped it open.

  “I brought a gun to a knife fight,” she said, tapping the pistol warningly.

  “You’ve got a knife in your bra,” he said.

  “I don’t want to fight you.”

  He grinned. “Then let me cut your underwear off you.”

  “Deal.” Maggie shucked off her clothes, stowing her weapons in a heap.

  After shimmying out of his leather pants, Quick sprawled across the bed.

  “Now there’s a pretty side,” she said, crawling on the bed next to him in just her bra and panties.

  “That’s my line.”

  He crooked her finger and she straddled him. She could feel the heat from his hard cock through the thin barrier of her panties.

  Biting back a groan, she couldn’t help rubbing herself on him. Maggie barely saw him move, but felt her bra give away.

  “You’re soaked,” he muttered.

  Maggie didn’t want to speak. She just wanted to keep up the delicious friction between her legs.

  “That’s it, luv. Get yourself off on my cock.”

  Breathlessly, she moved faster leaning down to hold on to his shoulders. She felt the flat of the blade against her hip before he turned it and sliced the side of her panties off.

  “Oh,” she cried out, her nipples hardening from the sensation.

  Quick did the same with the other side before tossing the blade on the table. He pulled the fabric between then away and she moaned as her heated folds met his hard skin.

  “Fuck,” he hissed between his teeth.

  She slid up and down his length. His fingers gripped her hips as he thrust against her. It felt so good to tease him, but when she closed her eyes, he pulled her forward.

  Falling, she caught herself on the headboard. But Quick had slid down so she was now straddling his face.

  “Quick,” she whimpered.

  He wrapped his arms around her hips and tongued her clit. She had been so close, now it was just out of her reach. She needed more than the teasing licks he was giving her.

>   “Please,” she whispered.

  Her fingers dug into the headboard as he continued to lick her slowly. Maggie didn’t recognize the sounds coming out of her mouth. Gasping, she rode his face. Looking up, she could see the nethersphere swirling by through the porthole windows.

  When her eyes closed as her orgasm crashed over her, she could still see the airship’s trails behind her eyelids. While she was still boneless, Quick flipped her on her back.

  “You look ready to be plundered.” He kissed up to her stomach, tonguing circles around her belly button. Trailing kisses up to her chest, Quick ran his short nails up her leg to her hips.

  Maggie tried to think of a sassy comeback, but she was too lost in sensations to do more than sigh.

  “Missed you, my midnight lady,” he said, sliding his hand over her abdomen to cup her breast.

  “We’ve been apart longer.”

  He grunted, running his thumb over her nipple. He ignored her breasts and kissed her neck. “Perhaps,” he said in her ear.

  His cock was pressing into her hip. She wanted it deep inside her. But he surprised her by pushing two fingers in her instead. Her hips raised to meet them as he played with her pussy while kissing her neck.

  Hooking her leg over his, she moved on his fingers.

  “Fuck me,” she whispered.

  “I will, love. Until you can’t fucking walk.”

  She clamped down on his fingers.

  “Yeah, is that how you’re going to treat my cock?” he muttered, grazing his teeth against her throat.

  “Find out,” Maggie said.

  “Come again and I will.” This time he kissed down to her breasts. He took her nipple in his mouth and swirled his tongue around it.”

  “More,” she begged.

  He used his fingers to flick her clit and she went wild. Quick pinned her with his body. “Do I have to tie you up?”

  “No. I want to touch you.” She ran her hands up and down his back and arms.

  “Then be a good girl and come on my fingers.” He ran them over her nipples, coating them with her come. Then he licked each of them clean. “Ready?” he said.

  “Ready for to fuck me,” she said.

  “You know what to do, then.” He went back to sucking on her breasts. When he grazed her clit, her hips thrust up. He chuckled, circling her slowly. Maggie pressed his head against her breast.

  “Quick, please.”

  He rubbed her fast and she arched up. He moaned his approval, going to her other breast. He sucked that nipple hard.

  Maggie wanted to come so badly, but she was hovering on the edge. When his warm mouth covered hers, she eased into his embrace and just let it happen. With each flick of his fingers, her body jerked and she let out a moan. While they kissed, his tongue thrust deep before he nibbled on her lips. She was shivering by the time she drenched his fingers.

  “So fucking sweet and you’re all mine. I’m going to tie you to my bed and fuck you in every position imaginable. Twice.”

  “You’re all talk, Donner,” she panted.

  He gave her an evil laugh. “I was hoping you’d give me a reason to spank your ass red.”

  Flipping her over on her stomach, Maggie growled with outrage until he sank deep inside her.

  “Oh fuck. Finally,” she groaned. Her fingers dug into his bedsheets as he rocked hard into her.

  She enjoyed taking him to the hilt and the exquisite feeling of him slowly pulling out to the tip and then easing back until he filled her completely.

  Quick clutched her shoulders and held her, resting deep within her.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  Slamming into her with quick jerks of his hips, he drew all the way out again.

  “Harder, faster,” she said, her body relaxed and pleasure soaked.

  “I’ll take you the way I like,” he said, and smacked her ass.

  She glared over her shoulder at him at the quick stab of pain, but it melted into the pleasure when he eased into her slow.

  “More,” she demanded, wiggling her hips.

  Quick rocked into her deep and slow, picking up the pace as she grew wilder underneath him until he was nearly drilling her into the mattress.

  “Like that?” he gritted out.

  “Just like that,” she purred.

  He smacked her again and took her so hard the bed shook and slammed against the wall.

  Maggie’s toes curled and she tightened her pussy around his cock. She was rewarded by his deep cry. His body jerked, and his control snapped. He yanked her hips to him and drove into her with quick, deep strokes.

  “Yes,” she screamed, her head snapping back.

  He fucked her so hard, the bed moved. Hell, the ship moved. Her universe fucking moved.

  “Quick,” she cried, as her orgasm thundered through her.

  “Yes,” he growled, and tensed up. He pounded into her before grabbing her tight against him and coming hard. Collapsing against her, he spooned around her.

  “Get some sleep,” he purred in her ear. “I’m not fucking done with you.”

  Chapter Eleven

  It was like old times. They had sex in bed, on the floor, up against the wall, and in the shower. They took breaks to eat and walk around the deck, but they could barely keep their hands off each other.

  After three years of trying to hide their relationship, Maggie didn’t care who knew it. Once they got back to Cozumel, that would change. But for right now, it was a slice of heaven to have Quick so close to her.

  She was sucking on his cock and really getting into it when she felt him put something around her neck.

  “Don’t stop,” he said, cupping her face with one hand while the other one held the back of her head so she couldn’t move.

  Maggie let him feel a graze of her teeth and he stopped that shit right away. Grabbing his cock, she stroked him while she licked around the head and tip. Running her lips all over him, she eased back on her knees and touched the necklace he put around her neck.

  “It’s lovely,” she said. It was several long chains linked together that hung over the tops of her breasts.

  “So are you,” he said, threading his fingers through her hair.

  She put him back in her mouth and lifted her eyes to him while she deep throated him.

  Quick’s head lolled back and she bobbed her head, coating his cock with her saliva and then sucking it dry. Groaning, he went up on his toes, and his fingers tightened. Maggie grabbed his tight ass and swallowed as he came down her throat.

  “Fuck,” Quick said as he helped her to her feet. They were both wobbling by the time they collapsed on the bed.

  “I don’t think I can,” she said, her face buried in his chest.

  “At this point, walking might be out of the question.” He stoked her hair. “So now that is out of our system, I think it’s time we talked.”

  “About what?”

  “Us.”

  Maggie found the energy to prop herself up on her elbow so she could look into his sexy eyes. “I’m on the pill and we both have clean STD records. What else is there to discuss?”

  “How about the fact that your parents are pirates?”

  Maggie sank back down on his chest. “What’s there to discuss. Yeah, I should have told you first, but it’s not like you’ve ever told me about your parents.”

  “I don’t have any.”

  Maggie struggled back up to look at him again. “Everybody has parents. You weren’t created in a lab.”

  “I don’t know who my father is and my mother gave me up when her boyfriend said he didn’t want kids.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Five,” he said. “I can’t even remember what she looked like.”

  “See.” Maggie poked him. “This is why we don’t discuss things like that. Too depressing. My father had two wives. You stunned the crap out of one of them.” She kissed his chest. “Thank you for that. I wanted to do that for a decade, at least.”

  “An
ytime,” Quick hugged her tight.

  “Promise?”

  “Yes.”

  She slithered up his chest and kissed his mouth. They lost themselves in kisses for a long while. Finally, Quick pulled away.

  “Why didn’t you contact me when you wanted to help Ephraim?”

  “I didn’t want to bother you. I had no idea where you were. I never do.”

  “I was making a run. It was nothing I couldn’t have postponed for you.”

  “I didn’t have a way to reach you,” she said simply.

  “The other captains could have gotten ahold of me.”

  “Too much risk of exposure. I knew Amos would do the job, if only to spend time with me. After he renamed his ship The Nicholette, I hated him, but every now and then I think we might rebuild a relationship.”

  “How do you feel about him now?”

  “He came through for me. Even if he did leave me at your mercy. How did he know you would even help me?”

  Quick’s chest rumbled with laughter. “I chased you from Cantos to Castle Crag. I think he had a pretty good clue I wasn’t going to give you a quick kiss and port out.”

  “I guess even if you did, he must have figured how much damage could I do in the jungle anyway? He probably thought if you stranded me, Belle would be back for her ship sooner or later.” Maggie traced circles on his stomach with her fingernails.

  “Your mother told me you were part of her crew.”

  “For a while, until I turned twenty-one and had to marry Ephraim.”

  “I still can’t believe you gave up being a queen.”

  “Would you become king if it meant you had to have a sexless marriage and give up being a captain?”

  He gave a short laugh. “Good point. No. I’d hate it.”

  “Ephraim and I had a contingency plan, if we had to go through with it. We wouldn’t consummate the marriage, and let everyone think we were sterile or something. Then we’d be absentee rulers while we traveled around in the nethersphere.”

  “So, what happened? It sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.”

  “His mother unearthed an old rule that said if the bride didn’t produce a verified heir in three years, she would be executed.”

  “Ouch.”

  “And a new bride would be found. Someone more fertile this time. Ephraim and I tried to fool around once.”