between us in such a short time. Moira, you’re not my captive. I won’t force you to stay aboard, and I won’t set you adrift. Wherever you wish to go, I will take you. But if you wish to remain here with me, I welcome you to stay. I’ve made clear to you my predilections, and no, you aren’t the first woman to experience them. But I don’t know that I can share what we just did with anyone else. I fear I would only think of you, only be disappointed.”
Moira lay still as she listened to Kyle. She recognized it would be far easier for him to find a woman willing to share such sexual acts than it would be for her to find a man who would. He need only walk into a tavern and plunk down coins. But she could never ask a man, a husband, to do such things. Even Aidan wasn’t a man she could imagine suggesting such things to. He might enjoy it, but she could never bring herself to mention it. Kyle understood her on an elemental level when it came to her physical needs. She had no idea if they could live together in the tiny cabin or even aboard his ship, but she was in no hurry to end their liaison. She could think of only one solution for when he tired of having her aboard.
“When you no longer wish for me to sail with you, I will find a cottage somewhere near the coast,” Moira began as she trailed her fingers over a scar on his shoulder. “I shall say I’m a widow who doesn’t wish to marry again. When you wish to visit me, if you do, my door will always be open, and my bed will always welcome you.”
“Is that what you wish? A cottage instead of a cabin?” Kyle’s chest tightened, and the ache made it painful to breathe. He feared Moira’s answer, and he berated himself for being a fool for caring.
“Only once you wish for me to leave,” Moira answered.
“And if I don’t? If I want you to stay?” Kyle murmured.
“How about we not worry about making a plan for the future quite yet? You can find other women, Kyle, who will enjoy what you do, or at least accept what you want. I won’t find a man who I can ask to do to me what you’ve done in a sennight. I suspect there is still plenty more for you to teach me. I would experience it all, enjoy it, create happy memories that will sustain me when we do part company.”
Kyle’s chest still ached. Her words did nothing to ease the pain, the fear. “But you do expect to leave me.”
“I expect little, Kyle. But I anticipate there will be a time when you grow tired of me,” Moira corrected.
“Why? Why do you think that?” Kyle demanded.
“Because if you wanted a woman at your side, you’d already have one,” Moira retorted. Kyle rolled over Moira once again, this time straddling her hips. He grasped her wrists and pulled her arms over her head. When she didn’t wince, he tightened his grip, pinning her in place.
“Did it not occur to you that I hadn’t found a woman I wanted until you? Did it occur to you that I may never want to let you go? Would you stay with me?”
Moira gazed into eyes the color of Irish grass after a storm. She arched her back, pressing her body against Kyle’s. She prayed he saw the willingness, the acceptance in her eyes. She felt his length pulse against her mound, and she stirred restlessly. She whispered, “Kyle, keep me as your captive. Keep me as your mistress. Just please keep me.”
Kyle released a ragged breath and shifted until he slid into her sheath. Neither moved, Kyle’s cock pulsing within Moira’s sheath. Still clasping her wrists in one hand, he cupped her cheek with the other. Their kiss was soft and languid, their bodies at rest. This wasn’t about seeking pleasure, domination and submission. It was about both of them surrendering.
“I wish I could fall asleep with us like this,” Moira said wistfully.
“I won’t move away if you don’t want me to,” Kyle assured her.
“May I embrace you, Capt’n?” Moira kept her eyes cast down. They drifted closed when Kyle kissed her forehead and released her wrists. She wrapped her arms around him as Kyle settled with his head on the pillow just above her shoulder.