Undressing Mr. Darcy
Page 33
Chase should’ve taken in the boat weeks before, but he’d gambled on the warm weather, and now he sailed her out onto the lake.
He’d just managed to raise ten thousand dollars for the third year in a row during the pirate ball for Chicago area—cat shelters. Whether it was the cats or the man, Vanessa wasn’t quite sure, but they’d been told by Chase’s friends to “get a room.”
One of his friends let it slip that Chase had already had her engagement ring made! He’d designed it himself.
Much as she liked his friends, she’d been looking forward to getting Chase all to herself. He’d be flying out the next day for some auctions in Prague, and this time she couldn’t go with him—she had a presentation to give and clients to entertain for her new job.
As soon as he dropped the anchor, she kicked off her boots and he kicked off his.
She put her hands on his stubbled jawline, brought him in toward her for a hungry kiss, and took off his dreadlock wig. She loved his hair, she loved the way he kissed her, she loved the way his mind worked and how he played around with her. She loved the way he made and followed through on plans with her both now and into the far future. She loved—him.
He reluctantly pulled away to dot her neck with kisses and licks. He landed on the laces of her pirate vest, and with one end of the lace in his mouth, he untied the vest and relieved her of her blouse and skirt.
“Ah, you wore the corset.” He smiled as he deftly freed her. “And nothing else. I guessed right.” He grew harder against her back.
“I didn’t want any panty lines showing.” She arched an eyebrow at him. She felt good in her skin around him.
She unbuttoned his ruffled shirt, and with a flick of her wrist she removed his belt and unzipped him as quickly as she could.
He pulled a condom out of his pants pocket before he flung his pants over the boat’s steering wheel. In one smooth motion he lifted her up and carried her to the starboard side padded deck bed. She was out on a boat on a November night with a man who loved cats and wore eyeliner, not to mention a fake beard with beads in it, which he now peeled off.
He sensed her momentary hesitation. “What?”
She smiled. “Well, this isn’t very conventional, is it?”
“Conventional. Traditional. They’re not your destiny. And it can get much wilder than this, trust me.”
She did.
“I love you,” he said.
“And aye love you.”
He kissed her as if it were her first time ever being kissed, because that was how he kissed her every time, looking into her eyes and cradling her face before devouring her. He caressed her breasts with his warm hands and she pressed her entire body against him with desperate, raw need.
He’d grown hard and she wanted nothing more than to take him into her mouth, but he wouldn’t let her—yet—he said.
“Pirate ladies first,” he whispered in a husky voice. “X marks the spot.” He went down on her and brought her to the brink while the city sparkled on the shoreline. Her back arched with an ache for more and she quivered watching him, intent upon her, so generous, so tantalizing with her legs wrapped around his neck and the entire skyline between her knees.
He coaxed out desires in her she never knew she had, making her writhe with want, and, after he slaked it all by finally entering her, with the sound of water lapping up against the boat, she decided that yes, this was what she wanted, now and forever.
Even if he did look better than she did in black eyeliner.
* * *
Love appears when we least expect it, and often, when we’re not able to recognize it. For some people it manifests in a flowing gown or formal tailcoat.
But sometimes it shows up in a pirate costume. Other times it makes its entrance in a kilt.
Keep an eye out.
Author’s Note
If you are a Jane Austen fan or Anglophile, please consider donating to Chawton House Library (www.chawtonhouse.org), English Heritage at Risk (www.english-heritage.org.uk), or Jane Austen’s House Museum (www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk).