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“What doesn’t?”
“You,Lucca.”
Nothing about her made sense. Not her name. Not her ship’s name. Not the way she slept twice a day and most definitely not the fact that she was still there—in reaching distance ofhim, as if she didn’t mind him.
Should he dig?
Should he invade her ship and put them both out of their misery?
“I still find it surprising that you had two whole pirate ships that were high on my list—who I had been chasing for a year. You weren’t friends with them, were you?”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“But it’s such a fun fantasy,” he said, “and it would ease all this restlessness. Play with me and I bet a month would come and go before we noticed it.”
Images formed, steadily growing more profane. Lucca as a pirate, trying so hard to keep her secrets from him. Lucca in a cell on his ship, doing her best to pretend that wasn’t exactly where she wanted to be.
For an instant of burning clarity, it seemed so simple and right. There was no point in keeping his interests a secret. She could do whatever she wanted with the knowledge of what he wanted.
“I would have a reason to board your ship and find out who you really are,” he said, painting it as clearly as possible. “Though, if youarea pirate, I won’t be dropping you off at Morwong’s for any reward.”
“You—you won’t?”
Every sense in his body narrowed on the blip of hope riding on her question.
“You would be the reward,” he said.
From her side came a whisper-soft gasp. Quick and quiet, but unmistakable to his ears. He had no clear word for what she was hiding, but he was walking in circles above it.
Was it wrong to say these things? Maybe, but it didn’t feel wrong. Not with her. He continued to stare through the window with lust for her glowing ship.
Never had he wanted to rip a piece of metal open and climb inside more.
Hecouldget into that ship.
It would be a slip of heartbeats—easier than lying there and burning up with want.
“I’ll say this much, Lucca. I am attracted to you.” He figured he’d made it obvious, but if there was any question, he needed to make it clear. Her long silence and stilted breathing suggested he had her full attention. “If I learn that you’re a pirate—”
“I’mnota pirate,” she huffed.
Sure, Lucca. He rolled his eyes. “If I find out you’reup to something, it’ll change nothing. I’m keeping you.”
Their silence stretched. Lucca rose from her bed to shower, unable to sleep, and Caligher felt a hint of evil satisfaction in disrupting her routine. He’d sobered up enough that his world was fixed in space. His body radiated tension, sweet, spring-loaded tension.
He couldn’t sleep.
Caligher stepped into his own shower and turned the water to near boiling. His cock was in his hand in a heartbeat. Bracing his other arm on the slippery wall, he thrust through his palm, once, twice, imagining how soft she was, how alarmed she’d be if he boarded her ship. If he didn’t take care of himself right that moment, he wasgoingto board her ship.
Did a person as broken as him deserve to find love?
The question nagged whatever remained of his thoughts as he chased oblivion. Maybe if he’d met her earlier, certain things could have been prevented. Maybe he wouldn’t have blown up all those ships.
Sadly, speculation over what might have been was useless. He discarded it.
His stomach wove tighter until his veins ran with mercury. Molten, nigh painful. The pressure was unbearable. The sounds of her catching breath echoed in his memories and soon his imagination conjured Lucca gasping, mewling, lost in pleasure. Perhaps that was what she was doing that very moment—working off their shared tension, exactly like him.
That thought was all it took.
