by Mari Carr
She gave him a look that insinuated he didn’t have a clue. He restrained his grin at her sardonic expression. “You’re a strong, independent woman. I don’t wish to change that. I only want,” he paused, “I need to keep you safe.”
“So you can collect the ransom from my father? Do you think he won’t pay you as handsomely if you return damaged goods to him? For your information, Black Jack, you’ve already soiled the treasure.”
Her words struck him like a blow and he wondered at her sudden hostility. Then he realized the veracity of her words. He would have no choice but to return her to the safety of her father’s arms. What kind of life could he offer her? He was a criminal, a pirate. His life was lived by constantly walking on the razor’s edge of danger. He couldn’t keep her, couldn’t expect her to be a part of that. Could he?
He hardened his heart, forcing it to accept the truth. “Well, my dear, it would seem you’ve found me out. Discovered the truth.”
Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, but his Emma was nothing if not indomitable. She refused to let them fall. Instead, she stiffened her spine. “I demand you release me from this room. Put me in the brig with the other prisoners.”
Her request cut through him like a knife. “No.” He had precious few days left with her. Regardless of the outcome, he wouldn’t let her go. Not now.
“Dammit, Jack!” she cried. “I insist you—”
He twisted quickly, thrusting her beneath him and cutting her demands off with his hard lips on hers. She fought against the kiss, her hands shoving his shoulders. He tightened his grip, grasping her head in his hands, refusing to give up the only bit of peace he’d ever known.
Slowly, her resistance faded. Unwilling to risk another argument, Jack kept kissing her as he parted her legs and pushed his cock into her warm cunt. He sensed her wince, heard her light gasp of pain. No doubt she was sore. He was a bastard.
He remained motionless within her body while his lips continued to worship hers. Soon, her body softened and he felt her juices flowing around his thick erection. Still he didn’t move, didn’t want to hurt her. It wasn’t until she began her own shallow thrusts, her hips seeking motion, that he released her mouth.
“Please,” she whispered. This time the tear did slide down her lovely porcelain skin. He bent to capture the drop with his tongue, resting his face against hers. Jack lifted his hips slowly and returned with great care. Emma wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him back to her after each retreat.
They were both victims of his actions, both lost. But for now, they had each other. For now, they were together.
That would have to be enough. For now.
Jack knew Emma was approaching system overload, yet there was so much more he wanted to explore with her. She was shocking the hell out of him at every turn. The past two days had blown out of the water every belief he’d held in regards to his friend—her submissiveness, her enjoyment of bondage, her desire for pleasurable pain. He’d never suspected she’d like any of that, let alone all of it.
He leaned forward until his lips were poised at the opening of her pussy. He blew a long, cool breath against her heated flesh and she squirmed. “Need a break?”
She shook her head.
“Good.” He inhaled her sweet scent then went in for a taste. Running his tongue along her slit, he savored her body’s response to his attentions. She was wet and hot and wiggling impatiently. She wanted to be fucked, and God knew he wanted to do it. But he wanted to give her so much more than what she was used to. He’d heard enough about her past encounters with lovers to know no man had ever taken the time to love Ms. Emma Potter the way she deserved. None of her previous lovers had ever tested her limits, pushed her to take all she was capable of. He added two fingers to the game, biting her clit as he worked her quivering flesh. She cried out beneath the gag and his cock thickened. He loved the muffled sound, her true helplessness driving his needs higher.
He wanted her completely at his mercy. Wanted her to experience what he was feeling because from this point on, there was very little he wouldn’t do for her or give her. She owned his heart and his soul and he wanted her to understand that completely.
Her inner muscles clenched around his fingers and he sensed she was close to coming again. He removed his hand and straightened, sitting on his haunches. She screamed behind the gag and Jack suspected he’d be getting an earful of obscenities if she’d been able to enunciate the words. As it was, her frustration fueled his patience, strengthened his resolve to draw this out as long as humanly possible.
He was going to give Emma a night she’d never forget.
Rising from the bed, he cupped her cheek in his palm. He loved having the right to touch her like this. “I’ll be right back.”
Her eyes widened with confusion and perhaps fear.
“I’ll be gone less than sixty seconds, Emma. Count them in your head.”
After she visibly calmed a bit, he walked to the kitchen. Gathering a cup of ice and a knife, he returned to the bedroom. Her gaze followed him as he walked back to the bed, placing the knife and ice by her side. Her eyes spoke of her curiosity and concern.
“We need to get the wax off. Ice is the easiest way. I think it’s time we bring the temperature down in this room. We still have a lot of hours left in the night.”
Picking up a small chuck of ice, he watched Emma suck in a breath along with her wax-covered stomach, the move purely instinctual on her part. He grinned.
He loved working with the alternating sensations of hot and cold. Rather than rub the ice around the wax, he placed the first piece of ice against her mons. She hissed and closed her eyes tightly as he pressed the cold ice into her pussy.
Using his finger, he pushed the ice around inside, unsurprised by how quickly it melted. She was on fire.
Grabbing another chunk, he rubbed it lightly around the drop of wax hardened to her nipple. Emma jerked at the first impact of the coldness against her sensitive flesh. Once he’d thoroughly wet the area, he picked up the knife.
“Hold still,” he warned. Emma’s gaze followed his hand, never leaving it. At the last moment, he flipped the knife over, turning the cutting edge away and using the dull side to work the wax off. She didn’t breathe again until the knife and wax were removed from her breast.
“I’d never cut you, Em. I know there are people who are into blood play, but I’m not one of them. Besides, it wouldn’t be much fun with you anyway,” he teased and she rolled her eyes, acknowledging his jest.
Emma was deathly afraid of blood. So much so, she passed out whenever she saw it. Travis had been prone to nosebleeds in elementary school. It was a situation his friend soon learned to deal with on his own simply because the second he got one, Emma’s eyes would roll back in her head and she’d hit the ground. The teacher would thrust tissues at Travis, while the nurse was summoned for Emma.
Jack worked quietly as he removed the rest of the wax from Emma’s chest and stomach, relishing all of her sexy sounds, each intake of breath when the ice touched her skin, each slow sigh when the knife was moved away. Her little whimpers and moans were firing up his libido and, as he pulled away the last tiny drop of wax, his resistance was in tatters.
Reaching above her head, he removed the ties at her wrists. She winced slightly as she lowered her arms and he privately kicked himself for keeping her bound so long. She wasn’t used to bondage yet and he needed to take care to remember that. He pulled the gag out of her mouth then massaged her shoulders gently.
He’d expected her to start talking now that she was free from the constraints, so her continued silence surprised him. Reaching down, he untied her legs as well.
“Still with me?”
She nodded. “I want you, Jack. So badly. Please.” Her voice broke on the last word and so did his restraint. He grabbed a condom from the nightstand, rose above her and placed his cock at the entrance to her body. Resting his weight on his forearms, he kissed her as he pressed slowl
y into her cunt—inch by inch, savoring each flutter, each clench of her inner muscles against his aching flesh. She was made for him. Their bodies fit perfectly.
Her pussy reacted immediately to his absolute possession, and he had to grit his teeth against coming too soon as her orgasm engulfed him. Her hips thrust against his as she cried out loudly. Her eyes were closed, but even if they’d been open, he doubted she would have seen anything. She was completely, utterly lost to her pleasure, to their joining.
It was the most special moment of his life.
As he watched her in the throes of her orgasm, he tried to remember ever feeling anything as amazing as Emma’s tight pussy gripping his cock. In his attempts to drive her to a fever pitch, he’d ratcheted his own body heat too high. He’d never be able to hold off for more than a few thrusts if he didn’t find some way to distract himself. He closed his eyes, tried reciting multiplication tables in his head and picturing his mother in a bikini, but nothing helped.
“Jack,” Emma whispered. He opened his eyes and looked at her lovely face. “I need you to fuck me. Now.”
He nodded. “Yeah. About that—”
“I’m not going to last much longer.” He looked at her flushed face and felt her pussy clamping around him once more. “I’ve never felt like this. I c-can’t c-control…” She stammered the last two words, her voice dying away before she could finish her thought. She shuddered violently.
He retreated slowly, watching in wonder as he moved. She wasn’t kidding. She was that close. Again. Already.
Fuck it, he decided. They had all night. Reaching down, he pressed on her clit as he rocketed back into her body with one hard, deep thrust.
She screamed, the sound setting free the needs threatening to claw their way out of his body. Over and over he pounded into her as her cries for more, her fingers pulling at his hair, drove him harder, faster.
When his release came, it felt like a nuclear explosion pulsating throughout the room, shaking the rafters, crumbling the foundation. He emptied himself into the condom, panting like a dog after a twelve-mile run. Emma lay beneath him, her face reflecting utter exhaustion and blissful completion.
“You okay?” he asked.
Her eyes, which had drifted shut, opened slowly. “Unbelievably okay and fucked-up. I think I’m in love with you.”
It was a beautiful sentiment, but her face, filled with amazement and terror, was too much for him to take. He burst into laughter.
She mistook his humor and shot him a dirty look, sobering him quickly. He backtracked.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he warned, kissing the end of her nose. “I’m completely in love with you.”
Her scowl faded. “Oh, well.” She looked at him for just a second and then she started laughing too. “So we’re both fucked-up.”
“Amen,” he agreed, shrugging. “But what the hell? We only live once.”
She nodded. “How did this happen so fast?”
“I’m not sure most folks would consider this fast, Em. The words ‘painfully slow’ are drifting through my mind.”
“I’m not sure how we got here.”
He shrugged lightly. “I’m not sure why we didn’t end up here a long time ago.”
She sighed, clearly annoyed by his too-quick, too-easy replies to things that were perplexing her. “You know, you could take your time and think before you fire off the answers to my questions, Smacker.”
Ever the thinker, Emma would likely never become accustomed to his self-assured, take-the-bull-by-the-horns approach to life. God knew she hadn’t managed when they’d just been friends. “I don’t need to think about any of this, Em. I’m in love with you. I have been forever. Apparently I’ve been walking around with my head up my ass, unable to see what was standing in front of me all along.”
She smiled. “I could have told you about that head-up-your-ass problem years ago.”
Jack loved her wit, loved how easy it was to lie in this bed with her after the most mind-blowing sex of his life and revert to their typical teasing relationship. “Is that right?”
Before she could reply, he rose slightly, gripping Emma’s hips and flipping her onto to her stomach. “Speaking of asses…”
“Hey,” she cried, only a second before his hand swatted her bare behind. “What the—”
He placed three more firm slaps against her ass before lifting her hips. She started to lift up on her arms, but he pressed her upper body back to the mattress. “Keep your head down.”
She obeyed, glancing at him over her shoulder. Her beautiful face, which had been pleasantly sated just moments before, revealed the return of her hunger, her interest. He’d never tire of this.
He pushed two fingers into her cunt as she hissed. “Still wet,” he murmured.
“For you,” she admitted. “Always.”
It was an incredible sentiment. He used his fingers to gather up as much moisture as he could, then he left the heat of her pussy and traveled farther back. “I want to fuck your ass.”
He spoke the words as he used Emma’s own juices to ease the path of one finger into the dark passage. She shuddered.
“God, Jack.” Her forehead was pressed to the mattress, her hands tightly gripping the pillow above her head. She didn’t say more as he slowly thrust until he had one finger buried to the hilt, but he didn’t need a reply, didn’t need verbal permission. Emma’s body answered the call as she pushed against his finger, silently demanding more, challenging him to move faster.
She craved the pleasurable pain he wanted to offer. That realization rocked him. She would let him take control, let him push her limits, not simply to appease him, but because she genuinely enjoyed it too.
For several moments, he worked to loosen the tight walls of her ass, first with one finger, then two, three. He grabbed the lubrication he’d pulled out of the nightstand drawer earlier, adding it to his play, using it to ease his way. Through it all, Emma was with him. Her body was trembling softly as she whispered pleas for more.
Unable to hold back any longer, he removed his fingers, replacing them with the head of his cock.
“Yes,” she hissed as he slowly pressed inside. He clenched his jaw and prayed he’d make it all the way in. She was too tight, too hot, too wild beneath him. She was panting, crying for more, her overwhelming excitement driving his higher as well.
“I’m going to fill your ass with come,” he said, needing her to hear, to know what this moment meant to him. “I’m marking you, Emma. From this night on, you’re mine. Only mine.”
She shuddered, pushing her ass toward his hips, trying to claim more of him. He gripped her waist, holding her still.
“Dammit!” she screamed. “Do it, Jack. Please!”
His fingers tightened. Oh, he’d do it. Take her so hard and so fast, her head would spin. But first…
“Tell me, Emma. Tell me you belong to me.”
“I do,” she said, her voice strained, laced with painful need. “I’m yours, Jack. I always have been.” She shoved her ass against him once more and his grip slipped. She forced his cock in to the hilt and Jack felt the first strains of his climax hit, his balls filling.
“God, Em.” She was taking control, taking over, and he was helpless to the beauty of it.
“I’m yours,” she repeated. “And you’re mine.” She looked over her shoulder at him as she spoke. “Make sure you don’t forget that last bit.”
His lips tipped up in a grin that lasted only a moment before she wiped it away with her sensual motions. She pulled forward until only the head of his cock remained in her ass. She froze, her eyes still glued to his face. “Fuck me, Jack. It’s time.”
He wrapped his hands around her waist, gripping her soft skin, now laced with a slick sheen of sweat.
“It’s past time.”
He pulled her against him powerfully as she screamed. Her body convulsed with her orgasm, but he wasn’t finished. In and out, he slammed into her, deeper and harder, yelling
as his own climax erupted. He filled her with his come, loving the idea of leaving tangible proof of his claiming.
Her words reverberated as he fell to the bed by her side, dragging her with him.
She wanted him to remember?
Christ, he’d never forget.
Chapter 6
Emma remained in Jack’s private quarters for two more days before stir-craziness set in. She’d promised to remain below deck during storms, but she’d made no vows regarding hiding herself away during sunshine. After lazing in bed for longer than her mother would ever deem proper, Emma rose and got dressed. She smiled as she recalled exactly why she’d felt the need for the extra rest. Jack had been insatiable the previous night, his desire for her driving him to new heights. He’d bid her to get on her hands and knees and taken her from behind. She’d felt scandalous at the time, but the second he put his huge cock inside her, Emma knew she’d discovered paradise.
Checking her appearance in the mirror above Jack’s dresser, she deemed herself decent enough to leave the room. During the course of her captivity, she’d met many of the other pirates on the ship, taking most meals with the captain and his men in the galley. She’d always been raised to believe pirates were the worst sort of villains—thieves and rapists and murderers. However, her time aboard Jack’s ship had changed that notion. The men under Jack’s command had been courteous, treating her with more respect than the most cultured gentlemen in her mother’s ballroom.
Stepping onto the deck, she sighed as the bright, glorious sunshine warmed her skin and the fresh air filled her lungs. Glancing around, she saw Jack at the far end of the stern, deep in conversation with his first mate. He didn’t notice her and she certainly didn’t feel compelled to draw his attention in her direction. She was on deck for the first time since being taken captive. She intended to enjoy herself. Walking in the opposite direction, she found a quiet spot by the railing and allowed herself a few moments of quiet contemplation as she studied the water and the sky.
She’d always loved being at sea, though her father tried numerous times to temper that desire. Fortunately for her, she’d long ago learned how to get her way when it came to her father. Her mother accused her of being a daddy’s girl and Emma didn’t bother to deny it. Sometimes she thought her mother was jealous of Emma’s ability to manipulate the man.
