The Pirate's Heart

by Bethany M. Sefchick

  “I don’t?” God, she sounded like an idiot. Then again, every time she had come this close to Daniel in the past, her mind turned to mush and he had turned away from her. Why should now be any different?

  “You don’t,” he whispered as he advanced on her again, making her tummy quiver in both anticipation and need. “But you will. Soon. And I plan to do it all. But for now, let’s divest you of that pesky virginity and then we’ll see.”

  Katherine’s body was hot and achy. She battled a need she could not explain, one that seemed to originate deep inside of her, spiraling upward and making her tits and cunt ache to be touched. She needed…something. Likely, she needed to be fucked. And the man she had been in love with for the better part of her life was standing before her naked, his cock hard and ready to fuck.

  Once more, she felt the surge of power within her, just as she had earlier when she had looked at herself in the mirror and saw her bare tits beneath a man’s shirt reflected back at her. Turning her head again, she saw them both in the same mirror – her and Daniel.

  She, sprawled with her legs spread on the bed in invitation like a common whore. Her hair was tousled and she looked like a wanton. Daniel standing over her like the powerful pirate he was, his swollen cock glistening and waiting. Waiting to take her and claim her and make her his. To bind her to him in the most intimate way possible. He wanted that. So did she.

  Looking up at Daniel with sleepy eyes, Katherine allowed her legs to fall open even more. “Then fuck me, Daniel,” she whispered. “Because I want you. In fact, I want it all. Everything.”

  “You won’t be disappointed, Katherine,” he vowed as he climbed on the bed to join her. “I swear it.”

  “I know.” And in her heart, she did.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Daniel had waited for this moment for years. More than the six years they had been apart, even. Being honest, Daniel had wanted to fuck Katherine since almost the day they met, but she had been a child and him on his way to manhood. Still, the pull between them had been there from the first, and no matter what he did, he had never been able to break away from her spell. Nor had he wished to, either.

  Now she was here, spread naked before him, and she would be his. Finally.

  Lowering himself over her, Daniel was careful not to crush her with the full weight of his body. He was hard and well-muscled after so many years at sea while Katherine was still soft and fragile, though perhaps not as fragile as he had first thought.

  “This first time will hurt, Duchess,” he sighed as he kissed and nuzzled her neck, pleased when she blushed prettily. “But I will prepare you as best I can. And then, after this first time, it will not hurt any longer. There will only be pleasure between us.” Or so he hoped.

  Daniel had bedded enough whores over the years to know that for some women, fucking was always uncomfortable. He hoped and prayed Katherine was not one of them.

  “I don’t care.” Katherine shifted onto her side. “I would endure anything to be with you, Daniel. I have dreamed of this for so long, yet in my mind, I knew I was living in a fantasy world because you were dead. You cannot know how many times I regretted not lying with you the night before you left for England all those years ago. Now that I know you are alive and that I have, no we have another chance? I would risk anything to make that dream a reality.”

  Those were probably the prettiest words any woman had ever said to him and something inside of Daniel shattered at the same time his blood fired with need.

  Rolling himself over so that he could pin her to the bed, Daniel’s eyes bored into Katherine’s and he prayed that the fire and passion he saw there was not merely a reflection of his own but a glimpse into her own desires as well.

  “I almost took you that night we were alone, Duchess. Even now, I don’t think you realize how close I came to having you after you ‘accidentally’ undid the bodice of your gown right in front of me.”

  “Oh?” Daniel could see realization blooming in Katherine’s eyes that perhaps her infatuation with him hadn’t been one-sided at all. He was well aware that was what she had believed.

  “When we finally returned to the beach after the ocean swim, I almost lay you down into the sand and hiked up your skirts so that I could taste your cunny just once before I left. I was willing to risk everything just for one taste of you.” Daniel paused, making sure her gaze met his. “I still am. If I take you tonight, Katherine, you are mine. No other man will have you. Not as a husband and not as a lover. I do not share what belongs to me.”

  “I remember.” Her words were a whisper. “You never liked to share anything. Except with me.”

  Daniel kissed her hard then, his tongue driving into her mouth so that the memories of the past would not come crashing back down on him. Later. When they were safely back in England, he would allow that, but not now. Not while he still needed to be hard and heartless so that they might make it to safety. Anything that made him weak was a risk and he could not afford that risk just now.

  When Katherine moaned into his mouth, however, he forgot everything but her. Hell, he probably would have forgotten his own name if he could have.

  She tasted sweet, like ale and something else, a flavor that was uniquely Katherine. Her mouth was just as hungry as his and when she dared to slide her tongue into his mouth and taste him as he tasted her, he almost came against her belly then, but somehow, he managed to prevent his release. Instead, he gripped her by the back of the head, pushing his mouth down on to hers harder, demanding her surrender. And she gave it. She gave him everything he silently demanded and more.

  When they broke apart for air, Daniel began to kiss a trail down over Katherine’s neck until he settled his lips over her nipple. Her tits were swollen, likely from need, and he suckled her until she mewled like a kitten. Then he bit down on the tip, her nipples far longer than he had anticipated, the color of ripe summer fruit and just as tasty. When he knew she felt the exquisite pain of his bite, he quickly laved at her with his tongue to ease the sting. With Daniel, fucking was a mix of both pleasure and pain, or so he had been told. Best she learned that early, he supposed.

  “I will make this good for your, Duchess,” he vowed as he tangled his hands in her thick tresses. “But I cannot promise that I will be gentle for I am not a patient man.”

  “I don’t want you to be,” she breathed. “I just want you inside of me.”

  He nearly took her then as his cock was already poised and pulsing at her entrance, but somehow, once more, he restrained himself.

  Instead, he continued his assault on her tits, laving and biting at each one in turn until he felt her skin warm beneath his. The cabin was warm, as was the air, and Daniel felt as if he was plunging head-first into an inferno. But it was still the most pleasurable moment of his life.

  As he suckled at her tits, he cupped her ass with one of his large hands, raising her up so that he could thrust his hips against hers, sliding his cock through her wetness until she was arching up against him, her arousal nearly pouring from her body.

  With his other hand, he teased her clit which was already wet from her earlier release. Except that he didn’t want her merely wet, he wanted her soaking, so slick that she could not wait until he slid inside of her to ease the ache he knew she felt. Because he was not a small man and he would hurt her when he took her maidenhead. That could not be avoided, but he could make it better. He hoped.

  As Katherine began to squirm beneath him, however, Daniel wondered if he would be able to hold himself back long enough to keep that promise. When Katherine spread her legs wider, he knew for certain he wouldn’t be able to.

  Their limbs tangled together as she reached for him and he for her. His hands on her tits, on her pussy, caressing her ass, his mouth raking across her fair skin, leaving his mark behind and branding her as his property.

  She returned the favor as she kissed his shoulder, his arm, any place she could reach. When she sucked hard on one of his flat male nipples
, he hissed out a breath, having no idea that such a thing could feel so good. But it did. It felt wonderful and he felt the pounding rush of need in him everywhere.

  Katherine clawed at his chest as she tried to get closer to him, her short nails still sharp enough to mark his chest as she was marking her. Daniel responded in kind, biting and nipping at her neck, sucking so hard on the tender flesh that he knew he would bruise her.

  Daniel’s cock throbbed almost painfully now and he longed to be inside of her lush, sweet body. He could feel her wetness coating him and he was afraid that she was now so wet that if he weren’t careful, he would slide into her arse, a place she was not prepared to be entered just yet. Still, he wanted to make this good for her. There were so many things that he wanted to teach her, to show her, so many ways that he could pleasure her. Except that he couldn’t think of anything except easing the torture that sprang from nearly a lifetime of desiring her, of finally taking what he had never been able to have.

  Then Katherine wrapped her legs around his waist and Daniel was lost. Without thinking, he thrust hard, his cock sliding into Katherine’s waiting cunt. And she screamed out in what he prayed to God was pleasure and began to fuck her. Hard and fast and just as he had wanted to do for longer than he could even remember.

  Katherine screamed as Daniel slid himself inside of her, but it was not a scream of pain. Well, there was a little pain, but more than that, there was an earth-shattering release that rocked her from the tips of her toes all the way to the top of her head. The wave of need that had been building inside of her for so long finally crested and broke with that first, hard and almost violent thrust and she feared that after that, this would be all over, at least for her.

  It wasn’t.

  No more had the first pulse of release hit than she felt her body spiraling upward again with need. With each hard thrust of Daniel’s cock into her tight, wet heat, she found herself coiling tighter again, her body craving more, craving another release, this one more powerful than the last.

  She tightened her legs around his waist and pulled him to her, allowing him to drive himself in so deeply that his balls hit her arse. With each thrust and withdraw, she could feel the weight of him, stretching her, pulling her apart from the inside out. And she relished it. She relished all of it because this meant Daniel was alive. He was here, with her, and she was his. Finally.

  “Deeper,” he grunted as he continued to rut with her. “I need to be deeper inside of you.”

  “Then take me,” for she meant that. She would be whatever this man wanted her to be. So long as he did not leave her.

  Daniel shoved a pillow under her arse, raising her hips so that he could pull her legs over his shoulders. Then his cock was there again, driving deeper inside of her, so deep that this time she truly wondered if she would split apart. Yet each time he withdrew, she whimpered until he thrust inside of her sheath again. She heard the slickness of their bodies as they came together and she felt something wind up tightly inside of her, different now than the first time.

  “Please!” she cried out, heedless of who might hear her. “Harder! Please! Fuck me harder!”

  “With pleasure, Duchess,” he growled as he pushed into her again, moving so fast now that he could not tell one thrust from the next. They all ran together, one bit of passion into the next. Wild for release, she clawed at him, her hips bucking hard and fast in time with his.

  Katherine’s body was awash in sensations she did not understand but instinctively craved. She needed more of this wildness. She needed to feed this hunger he had awakened inside of her. But most of all, she needed more of his cock. More of him. Just…more.

  When she felt him tense, she knew he was about to spill his seed and she wrapped her legs around his shoulders so that he would not withdraw and empty outside of her. She wanted all of this man and would settle for nothing less than his completion inside of her.

  Daniel should have pulled out of Katherine, especially this first time. He did not need to get a child on her in order to keep her but he could no more withdraw from her sweet body than he could cease to breathe. So when he finally released his seed, he emptied it into her waiting womb, finally finding something deep within himself that had evaded him since the day Daniel had died and Jack rose in his place.

  He found peace and as he slowly lowered Katherine back to the mattress, he prayed that he could keep that peace, even just for a little while longer. Even if it was nothing more than an illusion than the temptress now lying in his bed.

  The sun was setting when Katherine awoke again. She had dozed off after Daniel had claimed her body. She hadn’t meant to, but from the snores in the bed beside her, she knew he had done the same. This had been a trying day for both of them. They had both nearly died.

  She wanted to say that the explosive moment they had shared in this bed was a product of the morning’s events, but she knew that wasn’t true. What had happened between them was many, many years in the making, likely from the moment a young English girl had snuck off from her home to the Bridgetown docks to watch ships come into port and discovered a handsome, English-born boy five years her senior doing the same thing.

  Now, Katherine was left to wonder what came next, if anything. Perhaps one time with her was enough to scratch whatever proverbial itch Daniel had felt all of these years. He said that he wanted to teach her things – nasty, dirty things that made her tingle all over – but then, men said a lot of things that they didn’t always mean just to lure a woman into their bed. She didn’t want to believe that of Daniel but that didn’t mean her fears weren’t justified.

  Rising, she spotted a small plate of food that had been left by the privy door, likely by Rupert or possibly Ramsey. They were apparently the only two people aboard, save for Daniel and herself that knew the private privy connected to another room elsewhere on this ship.

  “Going somewhere, Duchess?”

  Turning, Katherine found Daniel watching her with lust-filled eyes. “Someone left food.”

  He looked at her for a long moment and she knew he was studying her nude body. She wasn’t ashamed of her body, though she also knew she would not be comfortable being like this in front of another man. Then again, given how she had responded to the rather public spanking the other night, perhaps she would.

  “Leave it.” Daniel’s voice was low and rumbling and he gestured to the empty space in the rumpled pile of sheets and pillows where he still lay. The place she had just left.

  Katherine arched an eyebrow. “So we are not finished?”

  “Finished?” Daniel barked out a laugh. “Oh, Duchess, we are not yet even started.”

  Slowly, she sauntered back to him, aware that his eyes followed the pendulous swing of her breasts as she moved. That same feeling of power from earlier washed over her and once more, she relished it. “Are you saying that you want me again?”

  By this time, Daniel had managed to sit up, his feet on the floor. Teasingly, his gaze flicked to the spot between his spread legs. “I will always want you, Duchess. There will never be a day that I do not.” Slowly, he reached behind him. “But first, a gift.”

  Settling herself between his legs, Katherine sat back on her haunches when he offered her a sheathed dagger. “What is this?”

  “A means to protect yourself.” Reaching out, he slid his finger beneath her chin and tilted her face up so that she would look at him. “Even if we both live through this voyage, Duchess, I cannot always be with you, so I want you to be able to protect yourself.” He nodded at the weapon she held loosely in her hands. “That dagger has killed more men than you will ever know. It is sharp and true and one of the most lethal objects I own.”

  She eyed the dagger, harmlessly sheathed at the moment in a protective case. “And you are giving it to me.”

  He nodded solemnly. “I trust you, Duchess. I know you. Not just from the time before but now as well. I know the woman you have become in recent years. I was there, on Barbados, watching yo
u. I was in the wind that you heard, the rustle in the bushes. Every time you wondered if you were alone because you felt the presence of another? That was me. I know that you are strong and that you are destined for more than the life of Lord Wilds’ whore. You are destined to be my wife. My duchess. You always have been. But I cannot guarantee that we will both live to see that port in England that will offer us true safety. Me especially. Outside of these walls? I am Midnight Jack and, though being a pirate carries a great risk, I must remain him if we are both to live to see that promised future.”

  Katherine did not know what to say. This dagger was more than just a weapon of protection. It was a piece of Daniel’s heart, even if he did not say as much. He was giving her a way to keep her life should he lose his. That was not the sort of gift she could repay easily, but she would try. For the gift of the dagger had touched her heart in a way that no bit of jewelry or fine gown ever could.

  “Thank you, Jack,” she whispered, knowing that she needed to remember who he was now and not who he had been in a time long passed. She longed to call him by his real name again, especially in here as he had requested, but she didn’t dare. Too many ears listened where they should not and she had no doubt that plenty were listening tonight to see how many times this man brought her to release.

  “Duchess,” he sighed and then fell silent, though she could tell he wished to say more. Though, like her, he probably did not dare.

  “Tell me what you want, Jack.” Rising up on her knees, Katherine situated herself more firmly between his legs. It was not lost on her that as they spoke, his cock had risen to attention once more. “Tell me what you want from me.”

  “I want to possess you, Duchess,” he growled fiercely, the tenderness of a moment ago swept away as if it hadn’t existed at all. “I want to show you all manner of fucking, to teach you how to be a whore for me and only me. I want you to learn what I like and learn what pleases you in return, for this is not just about me, my dear, but about both of us. About the joys of mutual pleasure. But it’s too soon. Until an hour ago, you were an innocent.”