Page 49 of Of Magic and Rum
“Have you ever been in a hammock with another person?” Jack asks, crossing in front of me, that glorious butt flexing and somehow becoming perkier with each step.
I turn on the desk to face him, shaking my head.
“This’ll be easier if I get in first. Just try not to flip me out of the damn thing, hm?” Jack pulls his hair into an unruly knot at the base of his skull before expertly crawling into the hammock. Once it stops swaying, he beckons me with a curl of his finger.
I slip the shirt over my head, discarding it with Jack’s trousers, and saunter to him. His hand is behind his head, and his gaze devours me. Once at the hammock, I grip the side, lift a leg, and stumble—a laugh, bordering on a giggle, bubbles from my chest.
“Almost had it,” Jack says, smiling, the hammock swinging from my failed attempt. “You’re going to have to just go for it.”
Taking his words to heart, I try again but jump onto it this time, shrieking as I fall on top of Jack and he grunts. My elbow lands in his gut, and after he helps me adjust, keeping me from falling out, I’m secured and curled into his side, our legs entwined.
Jack kisses the top of my head, wrapping one burly arm around me. “Comfortable?”
“Very,” I coo, already feeling the lull of sleep tugging at my bones.
He reaches for a blanket hanging on the wall and pulls it over us. Truffles harrumphs from his hiding spot, flicking his tail at us as if to say, “Finally,” before he makes a mad dash across the room. He’s airborne over a maroon pillow and lets out a tiny meow when he contentedly plops onto it on his stomach.
I settle against him and drag a finger over his sternum. “Why piracy, Jack?”
“Long story short, I got tired of waiting for my country to take care of me. I had been a merchant for years, already knew theworkings of a ship, and decided to start taking care ofmyselffor a change.” Jack folds his arm behind his head and gazes at the wooden ceiling.
I’m exhausted but still feel this urge to know more about him.
“I’m curious what your mother thought of your chosen career path.” I grin against his chest because the answer here makes no difference.
A buttery chuckle escapes his throat. “My mother passed long before she had a chance to question my life choices. And my father and I have been estranged for the past decade when I refused to follow in his footsteps and join the Navy.”
I’ve always felt a bit cheated not having a mother for most of my life, but I often forget how much worse it could’ve been if Dad and I didn’t have as close of a relationship as we do.
“I lost my mother as a child, too, but my dad and I became a lot closer because of it.”
The ship sways, making our hammock swing.
Jack’s chin rests on my head. “Is your father like you?”
“He’s a sea deity, if that’s what you mean.”
Jack taps my arm with his middle finger, not speaking again straight away. “And he can sprout a tail and all of that?”
Craning my neck to look up at him, I smile. “Yes.”
“Huh,” Jack replies, his gaze going glassy and distant.
The jagged scar slashing his chest captivates me, and I trail my touch over it, starting at his right collarbone and dragging it diagonally until I reach his left pec. “Did a sword do this?”
“That’s a parting gift from our dear Charles. It’ll be the first and last time someone bests me with a blade.” Jack takes my hand and presses my palm to the center of his chest. “It taught me to always to be the one they underestimate and never the other way around.”
He’s learned so much in his mortal life it almost makes me envious.
“I like it. It gives you extra character. And besides—” I prop on one elbow and run my thumb over his hairy jawline “—you can’t be too perfect, or your head might pop.”
Jack’s gaze is drawn to my lips before he leans in to kiss me. It’s brief but still has my toes curling beneath the blanket. “You’re not wrong, Annie.”
We grow silent, staring, captivated with each other and grinning.
“I’m glad the universe saw fit to place you in my path,” Jack mumbles against my forehead.
I run strands of Jack’s hair through my fingers and steadily let my eyes shut, relaxing into his arms.
