by Marie Hall
“We sail through this together, Mia.”
“You will stay with me?”
“Mia?” he said pulling back so he could look at her more fully. “I won’t leave you. We’re on this ship together and if need be we’ll man the boats together, too.” He leaned back in and pulled her right to him. “But I don’t think it will come to that. We sail well together. You just need to let me captain, not mutiny and chart a poor course. I’ll help you navigate this, Mia. I’ll help you remember that what they do is done only because they have nothing so special as what you have,” he said against her mouth.
“What do I have?” The only thing she knew she had was an aching need for him to kiss her and so much more. He did kiss her but not how she’d hoped. Still he kept his lips close as he spoke.
“You have a warm heart and a kind soul. You have passion and strength and courage. These things make you beautiful. You don’t need silk linens or diamonds to help you shine or make people want to be with you. You have all you need right inside of you and if you share that with people they won’t care what someone else has.”
Again she searched his face for reassurance. “What if—” she was about to ask what if Mallory did something more to put holes in her ship.
“Ah,” Devin said cutting her off with another kiss. “No, Mia. No. No what if. This isn’t going to happen again.”
“You can’t be sure,” Mia said then found herself face down on the mattress when Devin moved back. She tried to push up, but he laid his arm over her shoulders as he yanked up the shift.
“I can be sure, Mia,” he said and caused her to yelp when his hand settled on her stern. “I can be sure because I know there are far more painful things I can take to your aft than a hairbrush and I can take them,” he clutched her flesh making her cry out in real pain before she moaned with how his continued grip felt, “far more heavily if need be.” He released her then causing a secondary pain to wash up. “I know Mia, how to make sure you can’t find any ports of pleasure for a good long while,” he warned even as his palm smoothed over her tender flesh. “The same as I know,” his thumb pushed down on a raw spot making her suck in her breath and try and squeeze her legs together, “how to make you like every, painful, sharp bite I lay on your skin.” He leaned over her and put his teeth to the back of her neck. “I can make it hurt for you, Mia.” His fingers pinched closed right where she’d felt the most tender all day. She didn’t know if she wanted to pull away or push closer. For sure she wanted to get her fingers under her and rub her clit. “Is that what you want me to do? Make it hurt? Hm? A little?”
“Devin,” Mia begged.
“What, pirate?” he asked rubbing his hand in big circles over her ass and the back of her legs.
“Please,” she begged more and moaned in disappointment when his fingers didn’t quite touch her sex.
“Please?”
“Devin, please.” She knew what he was waiting for. But she just wanted him to give it to her, without asking.
“Ask for it Mia mine,” he told her the same as he always told her. He said once she had to say it so there was no mistake in what she wanted.
“Devin, please. Make it hurt.”
“A little, pirate? Just a little?” He shifted over her, straddling her legs and pushed his hands up along her thighs.
“Aye, please.” Mia said then cried out when he took a handful of flesh in each hand and squeezed hard. The ache pulsed through her and her stomach clenched. She often wondered how he knew how much she could take before dark pleasures turned to black pain. But he always knew and never pushed past that moment.
“Poor pirate,” Devin said and bent down to put his lips against her ass. “Your naughtiness earned you some marks, aye.” His tongue swirled over a spot Mia could only guess must be bruised significantly. Even his tongue caused a bit of pain. Pain he kissed away with the next breath. He lifted off to one side, “Open, Mia.” She complied instantly and doing so made her sex pulse. Devin put one knee between hers then lifted so she could move her other leg. She lay face down wide open to anything he might want to do and knowing that made her body burn. “So pretty,” Devin cooed as he lay down between her legs with his head between her thighs. “Look how smooth and swollen and wet you are.” His finger touched those outer lips and Mia’s moan filled the room. “Aw, have I neglected you love? I don’t think so, but look at how your pussy is weeping with so little attention.”
“Devin,” Mia called. Damn but she wanted to know just a little shame for what they did.
“What a nasty little whore,” Devin said softly and that was all it took for Mia’s sex to clench and a small wave of pleasure to ripple through her. “You like to play the wanton. The woman with no morals or restraint, don’t you?”
“Aye, please Devin, a little more. A little more.” There was nothing like not having to be a lady. To cast those lines off and float without a rudder or wheel to direct her. Devin not only let her do it, he encouraged it. He made it safe. And he made it safe because he knew when to toss her a rope and haul her back.
“Ah so beautiful. A perfect lover, a perfect mistress. A very perfect wife,” he said then pushed his tongue into her channel. Perhaps he called her back a little sooner than she wanted but as his lips, tongue and teeth worked at her sex and his fingers grabbed, pinched and pressed into her ass she didn’t care what she was to him at the moment.
She felt his fingers pry her cheeks apart as his tongue left her sex and licked upward. It was only a brief touch followed by a wet plop as he used spit to moisten the hole. His finger swirled around then plunged in. The stretch and burn caused a second small wave and she bit down on the covers.
“Ah yes, that did it,” Devin said before putting his free hand against her thigh and stating flatly, “Up.”
Mia drew her knees forward but kept them wide. She knew what he was about to do and the wait was going to kill her. The bed shifted as Devin rolled to his back and moved forward so her pussy was in reach of his mouth. He used the single finger still in her ass to force her down.
One puff of his warm breath then the storm broke loose as his mouth closed hard over her clit and he pushed two fingers into her hold. Every time she tried to ease it back by lifting up the finger in her ass pushed her down. There was no place for her to escape, no chance she’d have to come up for air before she was pushed down again. No matter how she moved Devin moved with her. Sucking, licking, plundering her as no pirate ever could. A second finger in her ass and Mia gasped out. A third in her pussy and she was filled enough just breathing made her feel him there. His teeth closed over her clit. When the bite came, his fingers were deep in both holes and the pleasure tore through her like a cannon ball, spanning out from her center to the end of each limb. Everything contracted then let loose causing a second pounding wave to wash over her. She was still panting and gasping when Devin entered her hard and began those long deep strokes that never failed to hold her up on the crest. She’d not even known he’d moved and now as she pushed back to meet him she couldn’t wait for him to see she was with him in this and take her harder and faster. His hips slammed up against her ass and Mia cried out with both pleasure and pain.
“One more Mia. Take one more then I’ll take mine,” Devin called. Mia let it build a little more but with the next stroke she stopped resisting and even as she marveled in how she felt when he commanded her, she marveled more that he could bring her back to that point again. And he did when he slipped from her pussy, pushed her flat on the bed and plunged his cock into her ass.
His weight kept her down as he used her to find his own release. But that use. The way she could do nothing to stop it. The way it freed her from any obligation to act at all. That pushed her overboard one final time as Devin’s hot seed spilled out and his shaking limbs gave out. He landed on top of her and Mia let that feeling sink in and anchor her as the waves still crashed around her. He held her steady until the storm died down and the raging waters subsided.
> “Have mercy,” he cried and gasped for air before laughing and rolling onto his side. His arm slipped under her and though it took two tries he managed to pull her over him. He struggled less in his effort to hold her face and kiss her, but Mia could feel how his heart pounded in his chest. Holding her face away he smiled at her with more love than wickedness. “You are perfect, Mia. No one will ever take your place. No one will ever have this treasure I do with you.” He pulled her down again and this time the kiss was soft and sweet.
“Always want me, Devin,” Mia said and laying her head down closed her eyes to the brightness of the sun streaming through the window.
“No, Mia,” Devin said pulling the covers around them. “I’ll always need you.”
“Even better,” she said and snuggled against him more. There was no place she wanted to be more than safe in his arms and soon no place she needed more.
Chapter 9
Mia paced the dock and slapped the little wooden toy ship in her palm. This was ridiculous. This was the fourth time in less than three weeks her ship was being searched. As she looked up to see the vile red-coated men tipping over water barrels and chicken coops, she growled, swore under her breath and glared at the pompous ass of an army major standing just at the end of the gang plank.
“Steady Captain Cadley,” Mikah Pleash warned. And Mia turned to look at him and the rest of the crew from the Venture Pearl who were forced off the ship when these men showed up.
“Anything?” Major Bennet called up and Mia watched a soldier’s head pop up and shake in the negative. The man’s eyes swung to Mia who didn’t so much as flinch.
“Are you quite done wrecking my ship, Major?” Mia asked as she stared the man down.
“It seems your bill is in order and no contraband is on board,” the man said and pulled on his coat lapels. “We’ll let you resume your… work.”
“You’ll not find contraband on my ships,” Mia informed him, selecting her words carefully because it wasn’t like the ship didn’t carry some items not welcome in some ports it was just better hidden than on most ships.
“Well our sources have said—”
“Your sources have been wrong four times in three weeks, sir. Perhaps you should get a better source seeing as this one is a complete idiot.” The crew behind her laughed as the man went red in the face. “Perhaps you might better spend your time in pursuit of the destructive little monsters who did that.” She pointed to a ship docked not far from her that was set ablaze last night. The rumble through her crew was dark as no sailor stood for such acts. It had been her crew that rushed to help douse the flames before the ship was destroyed beyond repair.
“I’m sure your harbormaster will be capable of finding that criminal. My duty is—” the man spoke dryly.
“Your duty is to waste my time and the time of my crew and clients. Your duty is be nothing more than a crusty barnacle on the hull of hard working people,” Mia shouted then stepped up to the man clearly taken back by her demeanor. “Get your damn soldiers off my ship, you useless lubber, before I find a belaying pin and shove it up your stern.”
Behind her the crew roared with laughter as did the several groups of observers who’d gathered when the major again marched his squad out on the docks and demanded the inspection. No one cared for the military meddling, it wasn’t only bad for business it was bad for morale.
Mia made to walk past, but the man reached out and grabbed her arm. “Better watch yourself, little girl,” he hissed.
“Better watch yourself, Major,” Mia replied without flinching. “I’m sure with enough complaints lodged you could find yourself out of a commission.”
His grip on her arm tightened. “You don’t have that kind of push here, bitch.”
Mia snorted and held his eye until he glanced away to see members of her crew closing in. “You’d be surprised the kind of… push, I have. Now why don’t you take your scrawny, useless ass and your ugly red coats and go find a horse to screw. Leave decent hardworking sailors be.” Mia pulled away, but the man again grabbed her arm causing several of her crew to rush forward. The soldiers on the docks aimed weapons and Mia held up her hand to hold the men. “Let go my person, sir,” Mia stated as flatly as she could. “Your very presence offends me. I’ll not have your filthy hands adding to this insult. Men like you sicken me. Your company is unwanted and unwelcome.”
“That isn’t the way I hear it, whore,” the man said but quietly enough only Mia could hear it. If he was expecting more of a reaction Mia happily disappointed him.
“And your source in this is as clueless as your source claiming to know about my ships.” She jerked free. “I suggest you leave us all alone. Accidents are common on the docks.”
Major Bennet didn’t miss the implied threat and Mia didn’t mean he should, and as her crew was inching closer, his men were stepping back. The advantage went to Mia and those on the docks and he knew it. He straightened and cleared his throat but didn’t surrender. His next shot told Mia all she needed to know. “I’m sure there’s a way for us to civilly resolve this matter, Miss Cadley—” He brushed a knuckle down her arm making her skin crawl
“Captain… Cadley,” Mia corrected.
“As I was saying, I’m sure a civil solution can be had. Perhaps some sort of understanding between—”
“If you think I’ll sink so low as to pay you a bribe, you’re touched. I wouldn’t waste a shilling on a bucket of water if you were aflame.”
“Such loathing from such a fine creature,” the man sneered. “What was it the bard wrote? She doth protest too much. Yes, I think that was it. A woman like yourself would be able to earn more than a shilling on your back, now don’t you think? Perhaps I could be persuaded to see you have a pretty little allowance for your… time and favor.”
“I think I’ll pose the question to my husband first before I confirm or deny your notion as to my worth. Though he doesn’t care for me to spend extravagantly and my current allowance is quite enough,” Mia said easily. The major clearly hadn’t known she was married which meant he didn’t know to whom she was wed. But she’d hold that back for now as she saw Grim heading towards her with some purpose.
“You’re married?” he gasped, and dropping his hand stepped back as Grim stepped behind Mia and put his arm protectively around her shoulders. Of course, he wouldn’t know if he was going by what was on her office window. She’d kept her mother’s name, with Devin’s complete approval.
“Your sources didn’t tell you? A man of some rank in the Royal Navy.” Mia smiled knowing this man would either be fast to discover on his own a naval officer by the name of Cadley, or he’d be fast to ask his source and perhaps break ties with him.
“Major?” one of the soldiers called, they wanted this matter done with now. Even the major’s aid was looking far less confident as he held out the thick stack of papers that were the ship’s bills.
Bennet snatched the papers then thrust them out for Mia to take, which she did. He tugged on his lapels again and without another word spun around and ordered his men to form up and move out. The cheers on the dock as they marched off were overwhelming. Another victory for men of the sea as far as they were concerned.
“Captain?” Mikah asked, stepping up.
“Get her unloaded, men. Time is money and money is rum,” Mia said as brightly as she could. Again, cheers rang out and the normal busy activity of the docks resumed as Mia walked back to the offices.
Grim stopped her at the street and conveyed his concern as only he could. He wasn’t the only one worried, but Mia knew this would pass. That she was new at port, and a woman, left her open to such harassments but she’d send another complaint to the major’s superiors and wait for the storm to die out. He’d get bored soon enough and if not, Mia would try something different, like maybe telling Devin.
“It’ll be all right, Grim,” she told the man with as much a smile as she could manage. He patted her shoulder then lumbered off, leaving Mia to make
her way back alone. She needed one strong current to lift her up and get her through the rest of this week. As it happened, they were waiting in the office when she returned.
“Lady Alice?” Mia cried as the woman stood and crossed to her. “How lovely to see you. And look, is this the little fish I caught that day on the docks?” Mia said, smiling at the little boy Alice held on her hip.
“I thought perhaps you might like to have a proper greeting,” Lady Alice said as she jostled the boy. “Thomas this is Mrs. Winthrop, do you remember her?”
The little boy giggled then smiled showing his tiny little teeth, a good many not all the way grown in. His cheeks bloomed a warm red and his brown eyes sparkled with the kind of joy only children knew. “Mermaid,” he giggled again and hid his face in his mother’s shoulder.
“Ah,” Mia laughed. “He looks well,” Mia said, and when the boy reached for her she happily took him to her own hip. Thomas took a fistful of her hair, and stroking it, put his thumb in his mouth and his head on her shoulder. “Oh, I did so need this at the moment,” Mia said and indicated the lady should retake her seat. “Mr. Hong?”
“Oh is that the man from… China?” Alice asked. Mia nodded. “He said he’d get some tea.”
“The other thing I need,” Mia said, sitting carefully and adjusting the baby in her arms so she could cuddle him more. “Although I might hope to find my cup spiked with something stronger than sugar.”
“Has something happened?”
Mia shrugged, “It’s no matter. I’m sure part of doing business here.”
“You don’t care for Portsmouth?” Alice said, making a face at her son who giggled and pulled his thumb out long enough to wave then went back to sucking it.
