Then as he left, he’d mentioned their ‘unfinished business’. Caught off guard, she’d told him again that the only important thing to her was the race and Snowflake. That she wasn’t interested in anything more than his friendship.
He’d taken her at her word and disappeared down the hatch too damn quickly for her self-esteem.
A mistake, she’d decided. A no-strings fling with a gorgeous, intelligent and attentive guy was exactly what she needed right now.
Need.
A word she hated.
She rolled onto her back and stared at the overhead a few inches from her nose. She was not one of those needy women who required a man in their lives to make them feel complete. She was doing fine on her own, thanks very much. But distraction; she could have done with some of that... Her eyes drifted closed, the yacht’s gentle motion carrying her away.
* * *
When she next opened her eyes, the flicker from a low-hung lantern cast a glow over the dim, wood-panelled cabin. She’d slept longer than she’d meant to. The air smelled oddly of old spices over the rich aroma of stewed meat.
‘You’re awake, my pretty.’
At the low growl of appreciation accompanying the words, she turned her head on the pillow and what she saw took her breath away. He was magnificent. Gloriously naked from the waist up, dark breeches riding low on lean hips, held there by a length of rope. The edge of a cutlass glinted beside one muscled thigh.
‘Jett?’
He grinned. A sailor’s grin. A sinner’s grin. A grin that turned her inner thighs to jelly and made her woman’s flesh burn.
Lamp glow gilded his swarthy skin, purple shadows carving deep valleys over the rugged terrain of his chest and shadowing the granite cliff of a jaw. As if viewing someone else, Olivia glanced down at herself, realising she wore a gauzy white gown as sheer as it was simple...and where was her underwear?
Her arms were crossed at the wrists, bound with silky cords and placed above her head on the pillow so that her breasts pouted up at him like an offering. Her legs sprawled across the bed, her ankles bound with the same silky cord and tied to the bedposts.
‘Captain Jett Black at your service.’ His reply was whisky-smooth arrogance and rich with innuendo. And didn’t that name suit his looks and soul perfectly?
Those jet-black eyes traced an impertinent path over her face to her rapidly tightening nipples, her belly...lower, sensuous coils of heat drifting over her skin.
She writhed on the bed, rough sheets chafing ultra-sensitised flesh. ‘But you’re a pirate.’
‘I’m your fantasy.’
‘No!’
But her breathing quickened as he slid a callused hand between her trembling thighs and inched the hem of her gown up over her knees. Higher...
‘I don’t need a man in my life.’
‘I’m here to prove you wrong. You’ll surrender to me. What’s more you’ll do it willingly.’
Her head thrashed on the pillow. ‘I’ll never surrender.’
He bent his head and sucked a nipple through the sheer fabric, the moist decadent heat of his mouth making her arch her back and cry out.
She couldn’t think. Not with his fingers sliding along her moist flesh, then plunging deep, drawing out slowly only to push inside once more, over and over, dazzling her with unspeakable delights, unimaginable pleasure.
‘You want me,’ he whispered, his breath harsh against her ear, his palm hot and hard and heaven as he ruched the fabric up over her concave belly, the dip of her waist, leaving her exposed to his lusty gaze. Vulnerable and on the edge of insanity.
‘No...’
He shifted lower, his perfectly sculpted masculine body sliding over hers. Down. His stubble chafed on delicate skin, then soothed the sudden tenderness with lazy laps of his tongue. On the brink and helpless, she looked down her body and met his eyes and knew what he was going to do. He grinned then bent his head.
‘Yes,’ she moaned, throwing her head back and giving herself up to the glory. Surrendering gladly. ‘Yes!’
‘You’re as needy as all the rest.’ He slid off the end of the bed and stood, a triumphant smirk on his pirate lips. ‘Maybe more.’
She blinked awake to find Jett watching her, a mug of something steaming in his hands. ‘Just as I thought.’
She cringed beneath his scrutiny, her lower body throbbing with unsatisfied desire. ‘What?’
‘I said you needed the rest.’
Her hands rushed to pull the light blanket she’d thrown over herself earlier up to her chin. ‘No, I meant what are you doing here?’ She prayed she hadn’t moaned or called out or worse.
‘Waiting for you to wake up.’ He raised the mug. ‘Thought you might need a cup of green tea. You’ve hardly slept a wink the entire trip.’