Sweet Seas

by Scarlett Finn

Pello’s disgust returned. “You’re lucky you’re not my mission, puta.”

  “Right,” she said, clinging to that and nodding her head. “I’m not.”

  “If you come to him with this captain’s child in your belly, he’ll beat it from you,” Pello said and when he dared touch a fingertip to her temple, it was Swain’s arm that came around her to swipe it away. “In six weeks, you’ll belong to us.”

  Swain’s presence gave Sassi courage. Pello was a coward, even if he was good at faking otherwise. Steeling herself, Sassi gathered her disgust for this man’s boss. “There’s a chance that in six weeks you’ll be taking your orders from me.” Because if she was Dario’s wife, she’d be thrust into a position of power and influence she’d never craved. “You remember that… friend.”

  Grabbing for the captain’s hand, she about-faced to see he was glaring over her at Pello, with a malice pure as the black night bleeding from him. She shivered having never seen malevolence so potent and focused on one subject.

  “Can we get out of here?” she asked, hoping that the captain wouldn’t make more of this. Pello would have reserves he could call on, probably right here in this room, they weren’t as lucky.

  Swain threw a heavy arm around her shoulders and pulled her away, keeping his hatred on Pello until the last possible second. He dragged her across the room, out the door and in the direction of Eros.

  As soon as they were out of sight of the bar, Sassi pushed away from his arm and picked up her pace. “What the fuck was that about?” he called after her.

  Sassi moved as fast as she could without actually breaking into a run. “We have to get out of here fast,” she said, skipping forward a few steps. Without slowing down, she bent over to tug off her shoes, and looped their straps around her wrist. “He won’t be alone and we can’t let ourselves be followed.” When she didn’t hear any response, she turned to glance over her shoulder and was dismayed to find the captain had stopped dead. “What are you doing? Move!”

  “You forget who gives the orders around here?” he asked. “If you’ve endangered me or my crew…”

  Sassi stopped too. The bottom fell out her stomach. “Shit. You’re right.”

  She’d been heading back to Eros, but she couldn’t go there, she couldn’t take the risk that they would be followed. If she didn’t make the money to pay off Dario, he’d vowed to come after anyone she cared about. She couldn’t let that include Eros’ crew.

  All of her possessions were on the ship, but material things didn’t matter, and she didn’t own anything of real value.

  Rushing back to the captain, she had to throw herself on his mercy. “A day pro-rated is a couple of hundred bucks, but a hundred will do… do you have a hundred bucks?”

  “You want me to give you a hundred dollars?”

  “I’ll settle for seventy-five,” she said, clinging to the front of his shirt. “Fifty? Just enough for a bus ticket back home.” Her shoulders fell as her fingers loosened against his abs. “Home.” There was nothing back where she’d come from. She couldn’t rely on Karen, who’d already done more than enough by finding this job that Sassi had been smart enough to wreck after a day. “Damn it, I knew I should’ve stayed on the ship.”

  Sassi wasn’t even thinking when she sighed and let herself lean on her captain, not until he put his arms around her and she felt the weight of the world leave her shoulders. All he was doing was holding her, but for some reason, it made her feel better.

  Tears pricked her eyes. Damn it. She hadn’t cried when her father died. Hadn’t cried when Dario caught up with them that first time after the funeral and almost put a blade through Stuart’s eye…

  Sassi had kept it together, because losing grip of her emotions wouldn’t accomplish anything.

  “Waif,” Captain Swain said, his voice softer than she’d ever heard it. “Are you in trouble? Not criminal, cops kinda trouble… are you in serious trouble?”

  Giving in to one truth, she let her head fall back so she could look at him. “Not for another six weeks.”

  “What happens in six weeks?” he asked, but that was a question she couldn’t bring herself to answer. Somehow, he got the answer he needed in her gaze because his grew more intense until he slowly nodded. “Okay, I got it… We better hustle.”

  With his arm around her again, he began to guide her on the route she’d been hurrying before. “Hustle?” she asked. “I can’t come back to work. I can’t. If Pello or his guys follow us—”

  “What?” he asked, holding her against his side and moving faster than even she had before. “They can’t get passed security on the dock. Even if they do and they board my ship without permission, they’re trespassing… and they’re on our turf.”

  Our turf, not his, but theirs. He’d told her that afternoon that she was a part of his crew, but she hadn’t realized what he meant. Now she felt the loyalty.

  One meal with the captain and she was in.

  He trusted her. It made no sense to her why, maybe he was just arrogant enough to believe he could take on any fight. Yet, hadn’t she been the one to think about how he’d always win in any fight he took on? But, she didn’t want him taking on her battles. If any of the Eros crew got hurt, it would be her fault.

  He took her back to Eros, carried her onboard, and didn’t put her down until she was in her cabin. Issuing her orders, the captain told her to lock her door and stay inside until it was time for her to make breakfast. Then he’d touched the tip of his finger to the end of her nose and his gaze had met hers. In that moment, Sassi had known that if it came to it within the next four weeks, he’d protect her life with his own.

  When Sassi’s alarm went off the following morning, it didn’t take long for memories of the previous night to put her on her feet. But, her fear was quickly dispelled when she heard the rumble of the engine. It was five AM, first breakfast should be at six thirty. But when she ran to what Foist had told her was actually called a porthole, at the back of her room, she saw the distinctive lights of Miami fading away.

  Showering fast, like there was a timer on the water, she threw on her clothes without drying her hair and ran out into the corridor. The mess was dark, most of the lights were off, and she didn’t want to start banging on doors. So, she kept on looking.

  Rushing to deck, she ascended until she darted into the wheelhouse. Captain Swain was there with two guys she didn’t recognize. The captain turned around when the two strangers looked at her. She found that the captain’s eyes were a familiar shade of black annoyance. Was it the daylight that pissed him off? The sun wasn’t here yet, but it was nearing the horizon.

  “Sassi, this is Tune and Hector, they’re part of our dive team and will take watch… guys this is Sassi, our cook… she’s something special in the kitchen… or so the crew say.”

  She forced a brief smile to the new crew members, then stepped toward Captain Swain. “We left early.”

  “Yep,” he said. “Captain’s prerogative… Don’t worry, all hands and supplies are on board.” His displeasure slid down her figure. “You’ll want to get your new uniforms from the mess.”

  Because she would look a riot with her hair all pulled onto her head and her baggy uniform hanging off her shoulder again. “Aye, aye, Captain,” she said, but he didn’t show the same familiar amusement that he had last night.

  Was he pissed at her? He should be; he was leaving six hours ahead of schedule or thereabouts. The divers had come on board early. He’d have had to chase up the supplies that were being brought on board for her and no one else. She’d created nothing but havoc and she’d only been on his crew for twenty-four hours.

  “Something else, Robins?” he demanded of her when she didn’t move.

  “Can I have a minute?” she asked, ducking backward, trying to ignore the new guys’ surprise.

  The captain cursed and mumbled something to the guys before marching over to grab her arm so he could haul her out onto the deck at the top of the stairway. “What?�
�� he snapped.

  “You didn’t sleep last night, did you?” she asked and reached for his stubble, but he stepped back and then grabbed her upper arms to urge her backward until her spine was on the railing furthest from the wheelhouse door.

  “Anyone asks, last night didn’t happen, understand?”

  She nodded. “We left early—”

  “Because I decided to. It’s my decision, no one else’s. This is my damn ship, my damn crew. I don’t have to justify my decisions to anyone.”

  The crew had expected to have the morning in Miami. Rounding them up wouldn’t have been easy, especially if any of them had hooked up. It had probably been their plan to still be out drinking. Yet here they were, back onboard, underway already.

  “You did this for me,” she murmured.

  It took him a minute, but he eventually offered something of an explanation. “You called Eros a ship. Last night, after we left the bar.”

  Had she? If she had, she didn’t realize she’d done it. “And, that’s why you did this for me?”

  He let her go. “Don’t you have something to go cook? The guys will be hungover.” But she couldn’t stop looking at him, no one had ever done something so decisive for her. This wasn’t in his interest or his crew’s, it served her, and he’d done it without her even asking him to. “Turn to, Waif.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” she said and this time, when they were alone, he let a faint glint of amusement touch his expression.

  That was it! They were alone!

  Jockey had been with them last night, but Swain had explained his relationship with his first-mate, and she understood their closeness. Jockey had probably seen Swain in every state, happy, sad, angry, elated. Captain Swain didn’t have to be so guarded around the first-mate and for some reason, he’d decided he didn’t have to be guarded around her.

  Except now he was more than her captain, already he was her friend, and he might never know it, but she owed him her life.

  EIGHT

  Over the next four days, Sassi settled into her groove with the crew and with the captain. The schedule made it easy for her to please these men. All it took was a few made-to-order cookies; even the captain was a fan of her baking now.

  He had less to say about her apparel too, given that her new uniform fit her. Having been given free rein to order what she wanted, her selection of Swain branded gear was more wide-ranging than the rest of the crew’s. Sassi had polo shirts, tank tops, plain scoop neck tee-shirts, and lower cut V-necks too. She had pants and shorts, and even a couple of tennis skirts.

  The crew had complained about her extensive choice in a good-hearted way. Swain had commented that that’s what he got for handing a woman his credit card and telling her to shop.

  It was a figure of speech. He hadn’t really given her his credit card, she’d filled out the order form. After listing all the product codes on the sheet, she’d half expected Jockey to come back to her to say that she’d picked too many things. But, he must have been feeling playful that day too because he’d emailed it to the vendor without question. She’d gotten everything she requested.

  Sassi had felt bad when she saw the number of items, and had promised herself that she’d pay the captain back. Once she was gone, he’d probably have no use for any of the clothes. As time went on and she got to like her role and her crewmates more, Sassi thought about asking him if she could keep an item or two as mementos. But, thinking of leaving the ship saddened her so much that she pushed thoughts like that away almost as soon as they popped into her mind.

  Given that they were in some of the most beautiful waters in the world, and all the men were used to having her around, Sassi decided to take advantage of the free time she had that afternoon. The captain had reacted badly the last time she treated his ship like a cruise liner, but he didn’t yell at her when she flirted anymore, so she guessed a lot of things had changed.

  Donning her black bikini, Sassi grabbed her towel and made her way out to the bow. Once there, Sassi flattened her towel and lay down to relax in the sunshine, and ended up being there for so long that she yawned and thought about taking a nap.

  Yep, she figured that the captain had to be okay with her chilling out. The wheelhouse had the perfect view of where she was. Tune and Hector were one watch team, while Jockey and Foist were the other. But, the captain spent most of his time up there, working and regularly relieving the other men.

  “Uh… Sassi…”

  Fidget’s uncertain voice made her tip back her head and lift her sunglasses. “What’s wrong, honey?”

  The youngster was working a short piece of rope in his hands and wanted to look anywhere except at her face. “Captain says you… you have to report to him in the wheelhouse, like… now.”

  Report to him? “Does he have a dinner request?” she asked. Fidget liked to look, and he laughed at her jokes, but he wasn’t so great at the quips. Giving him a break, Sassi got up, taking her towel with her.

  When she was on her feet, she cupped his cheek. “Thanks, honey.”

  While walking past Fidget, Sassi deliberately looked up at the wheelhouse and opened her arms in question. Swain couldn’t respond, but he had to be on watch.

  Sassi found she was right when she got up there. Putting a hand on either side of the doorframe, she leaned in to the wheelhouse without stepping in. The captain wasn’t just there, he was alone up there.

  The captain had other ideas. “Inside,” Swain growled without taking his eyes from the sea ahead. “Close the door.”

  Stepping into the wheelhouse, Sassi closed the door for the first time ever. “Are you okay?”

  Leaving his seat, he took his time to scrutinize her. “Why don’t you tell me what fucking game you’re playing so I can win it? Then you can move onto something else to keep you entertained.”

  She didn’t like his cold attitude and didn’t expect it either. Since Miami she’d felt like they were growing closer. They had trust and had shared some of their histories, she respected him and didn’t know why he was acting like this when there was no one else around.

  Confused, she didn’t even sass him. “I don’t know what I did. I’m not playing a game.”

  “On your first day aboard, weren’t you ordered to stay in uniform?”

  Maybe she’d misjudged how he’d react to her mischief, but she pushed one shoulder back to show him the Swain name embroidered on the material over her left breast. “I am in uniform,” she said, and bit her bottom lip to hide her smile. “I’ve got your name on my ass too.”

  Turning around, she showed him the seat of the bathing suit. Sassi wasn’t quick to turn back; she wasn’t sure she wanted to see his reaction if it was going to be a negative one.

  The last thing she expected to feel was the heat of his hard body moving against her spine, stealing her breath as he was so good at doing. His fingertips touched the balls of her shoulders. She bit her lip harder when they skimmed down her arms to her wrists.

  Sassi wouldn’t have expected such a brash man to have such a delicate touch. His fingers circled her wrists, their intention seemed so benign, at least it did until he clenched his fists hard around them and yanked her hands up to plant them flat on the door she’d just closed.

  “You wanted my attention,” he said, his mouth hovering just above her crown. “You’ve got it now… What are you gonna do with it, Waif?”

  Did she want his attention? Sassi could argue that sunbathing on the deck many levels beneath the one he was on wasn’t a way of getting his attention. She might say she had no idea he was up here, alone, in the isolated wheelhouse and in truth, she hadn’t given it much thought. But, if she had, it wouldn’t have taken much effort to figure out that he would see her.

  Instead of insulting him with a denial, Sassi embraced the stirring arousal that was making her dizzy and dancing across her skin. She had his attention, oh God, he was admitting that she was on his mind. Sassi liked it. Damn her for it, but she did.

  �
��I don’t know,” she whispered.

  His palms opened on the back of her hands, pressing them harder. The power of his strength made her arch her hips, pushing her ass back into his thighs. He growled, resting his face in her hair, he bent his knees to line his groin up with her wriggling butt.

  It was when she felt the thick, hard evidence of his reaction to her that she admitted to herself that his attention had been her goal. The bikini had been supposed to be a bit of a joke, she hadn’t expected him to have this reaction to it. Maybe in her wildest fantasy he would’ve taken notice; he would’ve grabbed her and kissed her and made her submit to his carnal orders. But, she could never have dreamed that this could be their reality.

  Captain Swain always held it together. He always had his ship and his crew on his mind. Duty and responsibility were at the forefront of his actions. Sassi assumed that he’d found a way to block out his baser masculine needs; the ones that had preoccupied her dreams more frequently with every passing day.

  But, they’d been four days at sea, five if they counted the one before Miami, and he hadn’t gotten any that night, she knew that for sure. Maybe this was when he started to feel the urge.

  His control until now had been ironclad, and boy had she tried pushing his buttons. It was wrong to want him, to crave the touch of her superior. But, right then, as her ass rocked against his erection, she was pleased he was giving her what she needed.

  His long fingers curled around her hips, gripping her so tight that she could feel his fingerprints imprinting themselves on her. He hadn’t told her to move her hands, so she kept them flat on the door and she pushed back harder.

  With her eyes closed and her lips parted to accommodate her shallow pant, Sassi stopped breathing completely when he tugged the string at her hip loose, leaving the lower part of her bathing suit teetering on a single hip bone.

  One of his hands drifted over her hip, following the line where her bikini briefs should’ve been. It paused there, pressing flat to her lower abdomen beneath her belly button.