Pirate's Promise (Sentinels of Savannah #5) - Lisa Kessler Page 0,28
breath teased his skin. “What’s next?”
He ached to kiss her, but his promise weighed on him. She had to ask. He cleared his throat and stepped back. “Now I add the packing fabric and load the cannonball.”
Bending down to the rack, he picked up a few squares of fabric and sent them down the cannon barrel to cover the gunpowder. Then he rolled one of the brass balls down the mouth of the cannon, enjoying the soft thump as it settled onto the packing and the gunpowder. He carefully lowered the neck down until the mouth slid through one of the cannon holes in the wall of the ship.
He turned around and caught her staring at him. Good.
She looked away quickly and pointed at the next cannon. “Shall we load another one?”
“How many do you want to fire?”
She shrugged, her teeth tugging at her full lower lip. “Maybe three?”
As they fed the hungry mouths of the iron giants, he forgot the seduction and settled into the work. She caught on fast. Seeing her respect for the dangerous beauties did something to him in the chest instead of the crotch.
Risky.
He lowered the final beast into position. And she ran her forearm across her brow. Her shirt clung to her sweat-soaked skin, driving him to distraction. The cannon clanked as he lost his grip a few inches from the bottom. Shit.
“How do we light the fuses?”
He straightened and went to the cannonball rack to retrieve the fuses and the Bic long-barrel barbecue lighter.
She chuckled as he brought it back. “I was expecting something more historical.”
He grinned, clicking the trigger of the butane lighter. A flame danced out of the tip. “This is so much better than our damned linstock lighters back in the day.”
The linstocks were slender metal, like a sword, with a tiny hook on the end to hold their slow-burning matches. They enabled the gunner to light the cannon fuse from a distance, but they often blew out or came loose. The butane lighters made the task much easier.
He released the trigger, and the flame vanished as he handed her the lighter. “You can do the honors.”
“Really?”
The eagerness in her eyes picked at that strange ache in his chest.
“Aye.” He nodded. “Let’s fire these beasties.”
He’d set the fuses so the first was longest and the other two tapered, so hopefully they would fire in rapid succession. The iron giants were temperamental.
“Fire!” he shouted, alerting the rest of the crew to ready for the cannons.
One by one, she lit the fuses and then tucked the lighter into her pocket. He gave her a pair of noise-canceling headphones and quickly pulled his own on, too. They didn’t silence the roar, but at least his ears wouldn’t be ringing for hours.
Suddenly, the fuse disappeared inside the first cannon, and the bang sent it rocking back toward them. He instinctively grabbed her around the waist, jerking her back from the recoil just as the second cannon echoed the first, followed by the third. Firing any weapon offered a rush of adrenaline, but the cannons had the added thrill of rumbling the ground beneath his feet, too, bringing back memories of the hunt for treasure. Gunsmoke stung his nostrils as he yanked his headphones off and laughed.
She did the same, her emerald-green eyes sparkling. “That was amazing!”
He nodded, shaking his head as he slid his arm free from her waist. “Aye.”
Choking, she waved her hand to clear the air. “I’m gagging on the smoke.”
“Puts hair on your chest, lass.”
She rolled her eyes, the gunpowder dust on her face making the whites of her eyes even brighter. “My chest is fine as it is.”
His eyes dipped to said chest and back up to her eyes. “Aye. Guess we’d better get topside then.” He smiled and took her hand, ignoring the ripple of desire that zapped his senses.
When they got to the main deck, Caleb looked up, his bright-blue eyes sparkling with excitement as he tucked his GPS tablet under his arm. Keegan released the wheel for a moment and clapped. “Wish we could add firing cannons to the end of all my concerts.”
Aura laughed. “I hope we didn’t interrupt.”
Keegan gripped the pegs on the helm again. “Nah, I had to put the guitar away and get back to keeping this beast on course.”
Colton came over from the railing with a grin as he nodded to Aura. “Fine shooting.”
Her joy was contagious. Greyson could get addicted to seeing this side of her.