of wine and adventure, her hair smelling of tobacco and coconut, simply the most incredible woman God had ever created. By some miracle, she was his—and she was completely and utterly deluded if she truly thought that anything would ever take him from her side.
Her skin was flushed when he lifted his head, her breathing as sharp as his.
“You won’t lose me,” he vowed. “You could throw me off your ship a thousand times, and even if I landed in the mouth of Hell, I’d always come back to you.”
Her arms tightened around his shoulders as he rose to his feet, lifting her against his chest. “You have overtaken me as the romantic again.”
“If it pleases you, I will be the realist: after the hundredth time, I might come back as a zombie.” Her burst of laughter disarmed him. He couldn’t maintain a stoic façade. “But I swear to God in Heaven that even if my brains have rotted and my flesh falls from my bones, my heart will still beat for you.”
“Your brains are already rotted. You don’t have a bit of sense in you.”
“You couldn’t be more wrong, my captain. I am everything that is sensible.” Though almost to the bed, he turned away from it, and started for the desk. “I will show you the solution to your dilemma.”
“Which one?”
“Your fear of losing me.” He swept aside a map and set her down, her delectable bottom on the desk and her legs dangling over the edge. “It’s very simple.”
Her eyes narrowed with amusement. “Is it?”
“It is. Here is one solid, undeniable fact: I will never leave your side. So all you have to do is sit here, forever.” He hooked the leg of his chair with his booted foot and pulled it close. “I will be right here. You’ll see that I’m perfectly safe, and all of your fears will vanish.”
He sat in front of her. With a grin, she rested her toes on his knees and let hers fall open. The shadows in the room became his greatest enemy, preventing him from seeing any of the luscious beauty between her thighs. Ah, well. He’d wage war on those shadows with his hands and tongue, instead.
She nudged him with her foot. He dragged his gaze back to her face. “And when I leave the cabin?”
“I’d still be at your side. But the practical solution is, of course, that you would never leave.”
“Oh, so practical.”
Leaning forward, he placed his hands on her knees. Her eyelashes fell to half-mast, her lips softening, parting. Anticipation. Already hard, his cock stiffened in response. The need to taste her was almost unendurable.
So he endured it, drew it out further. “I could make it easy to stay, too—there’s a simple solution for that.”
Her voice was low and throaty. “Tell me.”
Her command almost broke his control. He pushed at her knees, widening them, making room for his shoulders. Tell me. God. He was a man of endless sense and restraint, yet her words sent him toppling over into mindless need. His brain stopped functioning, and his responses piled up and tumbled out, all of them ridiculous.
“I could lock the door.”
She dragged her fingertips up the inside of her thigh, into the shadows. “I have a key.”
“I could hire a guard to keep you in.”
“I’ll tear him apart.”
God help him, he had to have her. “I’ll tie you to the desk.”
Not truly, not after the terrified reaction she’d had when he’d held her wrists together, but by God he could barely think of anything else at this point. There was no other practical course but touching her, nothing would make sense but tasting her. He leaned in—then froze as sudden tension shook her legs.
That wasn’t just anticipation.
He looked up. Her jaw had set. She stared at him, her eyes glittering with an unreadable emotion. Because he’d mentioned tying her…?
“I wouldn’t restrain you.” He ran his hands the length of her legs, soothing. “I wouldn’t.”
She seemed to struggle with her reply—then finally spoke, and surprised him all over again.
“But I want you to,” she said.
* * *
He hadn’t expected that.
Yasmeen hadn’t either. And in truth, despite wanting him to do it, she wasn’t certain that she would be able to…but that only made her more determined to try.
Archimedes must have seen her doubt. “I won’t.”
“You will.”
“You don’t have to prove anything, Yasmeen.” His hands stilled on her knees, his gaze holding hers. The beautiful flush of arousal still darkened his cheekbones. “If it’s instinct, that’s all