Page 92 of Ship of Shadows
He pressed a gentle finger to my lips. “I pushed you away so many times. I made you think horrible things about me. Why did you come after me again and again and again? Why didn’t you give up?”
I wound my arms around his neck, still needing to feel our bodies pressed together. “Because I’m tired of running. I run from everything in my life. I don’t commit to anything, not fully. But when it comes to you, I don’t want to run.” I hesitated, biting my lip. “Did you mean what you said? Are we done pretending now? Pretending that we’re going to stay away from each other? That this isn’t worth fighting for?”
Bastian didn’t move. “I did. Of course I did. But... how can you possibly see a future with me? I’m a trapped man. And you will not become a trapped woman. Not under my watch.”
“We will fight to free you.” He opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. “Bastian, you are worth it.”
“You’re to be queen,” he said, voice grave. “I’m a pirate. Your people would never accept me. Your mother?—”
“I’ll fight for that too.”
He scoffed. “For me to be king? Are you mad?”
“I am not running anymore,” I responded, voice hard. I walked to where my panties and trousers lay and began pulling them on.
He studied me for a moment before dipping his head. “Alright, then. No more running.” He raked a hand through his hair. “But, love, you have to promise you won’t compromise this mission. We will fight to free my shadow, but not this time around. This mission is about freeing your brothers, nothing else.”
I bit my lip, knowing full well that was not what this mission was about.
Before I could say anything, he crossed the length of the cave and stopped in front of me, grabbing my hand before I could lace my trousers. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked, voice low.
That familiar desire prickled between my legs. “Well, I was getting dressed,” I said.
“You thought we were done?” His eyes glittered. “After nearly a year apart? Oh, love, I’m just getting started.”
“What were you thinking?” I asked, suddenly feeling breathless all over again.
He leaned his head down and whispered into my ear, “That we have a lot of catching up to do and not a moment to waste. Now take off those trousers before I rip them off.”
I gazed at him from underneath my lashes. “Is that a command, Captain?”
He shot me a wicked grin and said, “Aye, I believe it is,” then closed his mouth over mine as he lowered me to the ground.
Chapter Forty-Two
“You know,” Driscoll said as he, Leoni, and I swabbed the deck, “if I’d known that sleeping with the hot pirate lord would get me a permanent spot in his nice, soft bed, I’d have tried harder to seduce him. Ever since you two got back from your little escapade on that island, you’ve spent every night together.”
Driscoll was right. Since Bastian and I had returned from the island, we’d spent every night—and some afternoons—tangled in the sheets of his bed. Well, a few times were spent bent over his desk and up against the wall, and one time on the floor when we didn’t quite make it to the bed. My body was deliciously sore, sated, yet somehow insatiable. Now that I had him again, I could not get enough of Bastian Lore. I suspected I’d never get enough.
I swished the mop across the planks, a streak of water in its trail.
“No offense,” Leoni said to Driscoll, “but I don’t think you’re his type.”
Driscoll pushed his mop forward. “Really? And here I thought I looked so much like the auburn-haired water princess.”
He framed his angular face.
I just laughed. As soon as we got back onto the ship, I’d reprimanded Leoni for that stunt she and everyone else had pulled, then thanked her, and I might’ve divulged what happened to her and Driscoll, who’d drank in every detail. That man needed to get laid—and soon.
“Bastian only has eyes for Gabrielle,” Leoni said, “so if you’re planning to seduce him now, it might be a little too late. You could offer that pirate lord all the treasure in the world, and he wouldn’t trade it for her.”
My heart swelled because it was true. I was his and he was mine, and the thought buoyed me more than I’d ever thought it could.
Driscoll made a gagging sound. “First Penn and Liliath. Now Bastian and Gabrielle. I can’t escape from all this romance.”
“You and me both,” Leoni muttered.
I studied her and she pushed her mop back and forth. She’d been happy for Bastian and me, but I could still sense something was wrong. I just didn’t know what or how to even approach it.
