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That got his attention at least. “As opposed to imaginary?” When I didn’t respond, he shook his head. “I assure you, I am quite real.” He swung his blade down, clearing a path through the underbrush.
Whatever the hell he was, if he'd followed me out here without getting lost, then he probably knew more about the island. Which meant I might be able to use him to find Matty. It wasn't like I'd found any other leads.
“Wait, please?” I tried to inject some remorse into my voice, but I was pretty sure it just came out sounding needy. Great.
He didn’t stop, just kept slicing his way through the reaching ferns and vines.
“Please. I’m lost out here.” Now I was pleading with a pirate. That was what my life had come to.
He paused and turned his head, but not far enough to make eye contact. “You don’t say.”
That flicker of irritation growing inside me suddenly ignited. “You know what? Fuck off. I’ve had a shit day an--”
He moved so quickly that I barely had a chance to suck in a breath before his big body was looming over me. His light brown eyes, with just a hint of amber at the edges, burned through me, but my gaze drifted down, first to his lips, then his neck, before zeroing in on the way his artery pulsed beneath his skin.
What would he taste like if I licked him there? Saltwater and sunshine?
He cleared his throat, just loud enough to snap my focus, and I glared up at him.
“Your beauty does not excuse your language.” Despite the whisper of a smirk on his face, his voice was low, dangerous. “Do not speak to me like that again.”
Every rebellious instinct in me screamed for me to punch him in the throat or grab him by those broad shoulders and shove my knee into his crotch.
Instead, my body betrayed me in the worst way. Warmth flooded my cheeks, slinking down into my neck and chest as I shuddered under the command. I licked my lips to respond, trying to find words that simply would not manifest.
His gaze followed the movement and his pupils flared, dilating until his irises were little more than slivers rimming the dark depths before he turned away.
I stood there for a minute, with my chest strung as tight as a drum, trying to make sense of my body’s reaction. Was there any sense to be made of it? How deeply damaged was I to actually get turned on by that command, or by him?
Really fucking damaged.
Even just thinking the curse word triggered a rush of saliva and a flush of heat between my thighs.
What would he do if I said it out loud?
I was still trying to remember how to form a coherent sentence when he spoke without looking at me. “Stay close.” His shoulders and back were fixed in stone, but his voice had a deliciously raw edge to it. “I’ll make sure you arrive back at the beach unharmed.”
6
HOOK
“What’s your name?” she asked.
It was impossible to ignore her trailing behind me, stomping through the underbrush like a tiny, angry elephant. In the fifteen minutes she’d been following me, the woman hadn’t made any attempt at stealth. Yet the sound of her voice still prickled my skin.
“Ladies first.” I slashed through another web of vines crossing our path back to the ship. After a long stretch of silence, I almost turned to make sure she hadn’t fallen prey to one of the many dangers lurking in the woods.
“Never.”
I had to smile at the hint of defiance in her voice. “Then I see no reason to share mine.”
“That’s my name, genius. Never.”
I stopped and turned to find her features set in a mask of irritation. I knew exactly how she felt. “What kind of parent would name a child Never?”
A slash of pink brightened her cheeks and her eyes narrowed. “You’re an asshole.”
Ah. Now we were getting somewhere. She either didn’t want me to know who she really was, or she disliked her real name so much that she didn’t use it. “Your real name, miss. What is your given name?”
