words, pressing a kiss to the muscle above his thigh that plunged in a V toward the straining length of him. “I liked this very much when you did it to me.”
“So did I, love,” he growled.
“Will you like it, too?”
“Yes.” The word was a breath. “God, yes.”
“May I?” she asked quietly.
He grunted, his hips moving toward her. A silent plea.
She opened her lips over the hard, straining tip of him, licking her tongue gently over him, gently, tentatively, uncertain what he would like. He pulled tight against the ropes, his back bowing at the touch, and he shouted her name in the darkness.
He liked it.
Hattie did, too. The feel and taste of him, the strength of him beneath her hands and against her tongue, and the pure, unmatched power he gave her. Hattie had never felt this way—so certain. So strong. So desired, it felt like he might do anything to have her.
It was need.
She took him into her, the salt and sweet of him like nothing she’d ever experienced as he talked from his place above her, this strong, silent man who seemed to only ever have words in the throes of pleasure. He whispered wicked words—words like harder and deeper—words like tongue and suck and fuck, Hattie, just like that. And she followed where he led, took him slow and deep, reveling in his pleasure. In her own.
She liked this.
She liked him.
She loved him.
He was pulsing against her tongue as she found a rhythm that made them both mad—and then he was making filthy promises, like please, Hattie . . . more, Hattie . . . if you don’t stop, I shall come . . . but she didn’t want to stop, especially not when he lost all words—every word but one.
“Hattie . . .” Again and again, over and over, until she, too, forgot everything else, and then he was giving himself over to pleasure, and to her, and, finally, to release, loud and unbridled and glorious, just them and the ship and the docks and the sky.
And when she released him, she was full of a single thought.
More.
More of this power, this pleasure, this partnership. She was greedy for it.
For him.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him, his eyes riveted to her, unwavering. Her heart pounded. “Untie me.” The words were harsh and nearly broken, and Hattie wondered if she’d gone too far.
Was he angry?
“Now. Untie me.” She scrambled to her feet, reaching for the knot, requiring her to get close to him. Close enough for him to dip his head and suck at the soft skin of her neck and send shivers through her. Close enough for him to scrape his teeth along the curve of her jaw. To sink his teeth into her earlobe before hissing, “I am going to make love to you, finally. Properly.”
The sheer need in his voice had her fingers fumbling at the ropes, her gaze flying to his, gone mad with desire. He thrashed against the bindings, wild, like the Beast for which he’d been named. And then he added, pure cold command in his voice, “Now.”
“Yes,” she said, breathless with want, but her fingers wouldn’t work, and he was growling his frustration, and she was echoing him, and then she remembered . . . She pulled back and met his wild eyes. “You glorious man. You have knives.”
She pulled one from the holster at their feet and in an instant he was free, his arms coming around her, the knife she’d used spinning across the deck—neither of them caring as he lifted her in his arms as though she weighed nothing, upending her balance—her whole world—until her back was against his clothes piled beneath them.
He kissed her lips, then down her neck before he loomed over her, the lantern casting him in golden light, his bare shoulders flexing and his hands working to pull her skirts up, up, up, until he found the slit in her pantaloons and met her eyes. “I like these undergarments less than the ones the other night.”
She nodded.
“No more of them.” And with a wicked rip, they were gone, and—
“Ohh,” she sighed as he growled at her neck.
“So wet.” His fingers sank into her and he met her eyes, watching her as he stroked deep. “I like that.”
She smiled at the echo from earlier. “So do I.”
“Mmm.” He lowered his head to kiss her, long and slow, until desire pooled, setting her body aflame. She lifted her hips, meeting his