Page 12 of Pirate

But something about her tone, the way she said ‘around men’, made Pirate’s hackles rise. She’d meant somethingmore.

Sophia pressed herself closer to him. “I never told anyone this. I didn’t even tell Jazz. Only Dr. Rutenberg knows, actually. When those men broke into my house, when they came to kidnap me, I’d just gotten out of the shower. I was naked in a towel when they broke in.”

Pirate felt his blood run cold. “Did they… Were you…?”

The men who had kidnapped her were dead and the Pittsburgh chapter of the Black Pythons destroyed, but still… Fuck. He had to know.

Sophia shook her head. “I don’t think so.” —Which wasn’t ano, Pirate noted.— “They knocked me out. When I woke up, I was dressed and tied up in the back of their van. A minute or so later, they rolled up on the clinic and you know what happened there.” Sophia wouldn’t look at him, continuing to stare up at the moon. “I wasn’t sure what had happened. I considered it, but I didn’t…hurt. At least, not down there. It wasn’t until Bulldog, Pumpkin, and the others found us that I went to the bathroom. They dressed me in a pair of shorts and a tank, no panties or anything. I didn’t even have shoes. I looked for…evidence,” she said pointedly, “but found none. At the hospital, I asked for a rape kit to be done and it came back negative.”

Pirate tightened his arm around her shoulder. He pressed his lips into her obsidian hair. “Fuck, babe. I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how terrifying that was.”

Sophia tried to shrug it off, but he could still sense her unease. “Anyway, for a while, I kept fixating, not onnotbeing raped, but on not knowing if they’d touched me in other ways. At the very least, they saw me naked and dressed me.”

For some reason, Pirate had never considered anything outside of rape happening to a woman. But he supposed being touched unwantedly was just as much a violation. Fuck, sometimes he hated his gender. Why were men such assholes?

“I’m still jumpy around guys. I try not to be,” Sophia went on, “but I haven’t been able to be with a guy since the kidnapping.” She turned and looked up at him. Her eyes were dilated more than normal from the alcohol they’d consumed. “But I never felt uncomfortable around you. Never, ever.”

Pirate felt his heart pound heavily in his chest. They sat there for a long moment, the waves crashing around the ship the only sound. His green eyes bore into her hazel.

Slowly, so slow that Pirate wasn’t even sure which one of them moved first, they leaned in towards the other. Just as their lips were about to press together, a voice intruded on the silence of the night.

Both Pirate and Sophia jumped upright, scrambling to put some distance between them. Fuck, had they been about tokiss?

It was the man who had greeted them on the pier that spoke. He even had his eyepatch down now.

Pirate removed his arm from around Sophia and cleared his throat. She sat up off of him too. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to let you know that everything’s been submitted and pending approval, which you should have in the next day or so.” He handed them back their driver’s licenses and Sophia’s credit card, along with another piece of paper.

“What’s being approved?” Pirate questioned.

The man gave Pirate a look that clearly questioned his sanity. “Well, your marriage license, of course.”

CHAPTER 3

Once the implication of the pirate crew member’s words penetrated, Sophia’s jaw dropped. “I’m sorry—what?”

The man pointed down at the paperwork he’d just handed Pirate, whose jaw was equally hanging open. “It usually doesn’t take too long. We’re midweek, so tomorrow afternoon at the latest. California doesn’t have a waiting period as you know, so they just check your licenses and off you go. Once the captain has us further out to sea, we can start the ceremony.”

“Ceremony?” Pirate repeated. “Wait, we aren’t getting married.”

The crewman paused. “Pardon me?”

“We aren’t getting married,” Pirate said again, this time with more force. “Isn’t this just a ride around the Bay or something?”

No one spoke for a long moment. Then the man dressed like a pirate pointed to a sign behind their heads. Both Sophia and Pirate turned to see the wood carving claiming this ship to beThe Heart of Davey Jonesand under that in smaller, black letteringThe Wedding Pirate Ship.

Sophia felt her blood run cold.Married?Well, that certainly sobered her up quick. Hadn’t she just been telling her mom, again, at the bridal store that Sophia was not the marriage type?As happy as her mom was for Jasmine to be getting married, she’d also made it abundantly clear that she wished Sophia was also tying the knot.

Both of her parents often encouraged Sophia to settle down, to meet someone and start a family… But Sophia knew that wasn’t in the cards for her. Not just because she hadn’t been able to stomach being touched by a man since her kidnapping, but because no man would ever want her for anything other than her money.

Her older brothers, Dallas and Parker, had both found wives who came from similar backgrounds. Money, status, and college educated. Neither of Sophia’s sisters-in-law were gold-diggers because they didn’t have to be.

But nearlyallof Sophia’s exes were. And she wasn’t even counting her drunken one-night stand she had with Carlos back in college that they both swore would never be mentioned again without severe punishment.

She’d tried to hide her wealth. Gone on dates and not told the guy until they’d been together for a while—but italwaysbackfired. Always. They would get mad that she let them pay for things or be upset that she hadn’t bought them a fancy car or used her family’s influence to further their careers… Her dating life was like a broken record. The same thing, over and over again. It wasn’t until her late twenties that she’d stopped trying. She’d hook up for a night and then go on with her life.

But she’d given up on romance.

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