Freeing Calder: Seas of Seduction 2

by A. E. Murphy

  Captain’s lips twitch. “Pirates don’t typically bother other pirates, especially not when they have a ship this size.”

  “That’s good then.”

  “It’s mutiny that you’ve got to worry about but no fear of that, darlin’,” Smeg puts in and I glance at him as my fingers trail over Captain’s bandana. “After the last two times men tried it.” I assume he’s referring to Clunk and Roger. “They ain’t risking that shit, besides—”

  “There’s no need. Everybody here is happy, and if they’re not, their voices get heard,” the other man says.

  “Too fucking right,” Captain growls out through a toothy grin.

  “We could do with a few more pussy stops,” the other man continues and Smeg clips him around the back of the head. They’re both still smiling.

  “What’s your name?” I ask him.

  “Eli,” he replies with a proud smile. “Chief Engineer.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Rain.” Captain rolls his eyes and smiles with it, amused by my randomness I presume. His smile is bright until I add, “Do you know where the burner phones are?”

  Everybody in the room goes stiff. All of them turning to cement in less than a second. What was a warm bridge, is now extremely cold.

  “Captain?” Eli questions, his eyes flicking to the man whose lap I’m on.

  Captain is also extremely tense. He looks at me cautiously but then relents and says to Eli, “Get her whatever she wants. She’s not a prisoner.”

  My heart soars and my entire being relaxes. I can’t keep the smile off my face and I show my happiness by repeatedly kissing his face over and over until he laughs and pushes me away.

  I take the phone from Eli and head out of the bridge and to our quarters.

  I’m not followed either.

  I sit on the small sofa that rests beside the locked bookcase in the dining area, and stare out of the small window. My thumb holds the power button and I watch the ancient-looking phone screen come to life. The window is a shade of green or grey, and pixilated, like a ninety-two-ten. I wonder if it has the game Snake.

  I press in the numbers and then the green button and bite my lip nervously as I wait for Melissa to answer. I’m calling her first because I know she’ll worry the most out of her and Sadie.

  And out of her and Sadie, she’s the only one that cheers me on. Sadie thinks I’m insane.

  I have a nice chat with both of them in the end though with promises to keep in touch. Perhaps I can get the internet somehow so as to receive photos of Melissa and her baby.

  After ending the call with Sadie I mentally prepare myself for the call with Niall.

  He needs to know I’ve not been kidnapped. I should have called sooner, but truth be told, I’m dreading this call.

  It rings endlessly and I’m almost positive and relieved that he’s not going to answer, but then his voice, scratchy and tired echoes through the speaker and tears spring to my eyes. “Name your terms this time.”

  I hesitate and let out a breath because I don’t even know where to start.

  “Rain?” His voice is less scratchy now, more hopeful.

  “I haven’t been kidnapped,” I say softly, pulling off the plaster.

  “What?”

  I inhale sharply. “I haven’t been kidnapped.” And exhale slowly. “I chose to come back.”

  There’s such a long pause I wonder if I’ve lost him. “You chose?”

  “I don’t want to hurt you, but…”

  “Rain, you need to come home.”

  I blink slowly. “Sorry?”

  “You heard me. You have to come home, clearly you’re not well.”

  My jaw goes slack and I calm myself before I lose my shit.

  He continues, “Are you hearing yourself?”

  “Loud and clear.”

  “He kidnapped you, you were a wreck, and now you’re telling me you’re there willingly?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m telling you and I don’t expect you to fully understand it.”

  He lets out a bark of startled laughter. “What I’m understanding is that you wouldn’t press charges, you changed completely, and now you’re there with him after everything he put us through.”

  I start to pace, it makes me feel a little bit better. “I don’t care what you think. We’re over, I’ve been telling you for weeks…”

  “Is this because of the baby?”

  “No! I mean, of course the baby is part of it…”

  “That baby could still be mine, Rain.”

  At that I roll my eyes. “There’s no way it could be, the timeline…”

  “Can be wrong by a couple of weeks and they add two weeks on. You know this.”

  “If, and that’s a massive, tiny zero percent if, the baby is yours, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  “Stockholm syndrome,” he blurts and I pinch the bridge of my nose.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. This is not Stockholm syndrome—”

  “Just hear me out.”

  “Nope, I heard my therapist out and he even said it definitely wasn’t that. I’m in love with him, Niall, I fell in love with him, hard, and I’m sorry that it hurts you and affects you, I hate that. But I can’t string you along and I want to be here with him. He makes me happy.” I look at the two minutes on my phone screen and curse. “I’m safe, I’m loved, and I miss you, I’ll always miss you, but you deserve so much more than I could ever give you.”

  “Rain…”

  “Take care, Niall. Thank you for everything.”

  I hang up before I lose the courage to do so and sob into my hands. My body heaves with it as I recall the life I left behind, the good man who I always trusted. I don’t want to hurt him, of course I don’t, I’m not a monster. But I really do love Calder, despite the fact I hardly know him and if I don’t give us a chance, I’ll always regret it.

  “Is there really a chance the baby isn’t mine?” Calder asks from out of nowhere.

  I spin to the door where he’s standing, his eyes blazing. “You were listening?”

  “Is there a chance the baby isn’t mine?”

  Wiping away my tears angrily, I reply, “No, there’s no chance it’s his.”

  “So you didn’t fuck him when you went back to him?”

  I blink, surprised by his anger towards me for that. “Of course I did! And you can’t blame me for that. He was the man I thought I loved and you fucked somebody else.”

  He looks ashamed for a moment and his shoulders sag. “I didn’t touch her.”

  “Her lips were swollen, she couldn’t fake that by herself. You were groping her in front of my eyes.”

  “Okay, then, let me rephrase. I didn’t have sex with her.”

  I scoff. “It doesn’t matter if you did or didn’t. What matters is why you did what you did.”

  He pulls the knot of his bandana tighter and kicks at the ground as though trying to scuff the toe of his boot on the glossy wooden floor.

  “Why were you listening to my conversation?”

  “Because I’m an idiot,” he replies and turns and exits without saying another word.

  Because he’s an idiot?

  I follow him, annoyed that he’d just leave it at that. I grab his arm and pull him around to face me.

  “Stop,” I plead. “This isn’t fair on me. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “I know you haven’t, Rain.” He looks devastated. “This is on me. I can’t… there’s this angry twisted feeling in my gut that’s convincing me to be mad that you fucked him. The thought of you two… it sickens me. And what if the kid isn’t mine?”

  “There’s no way it can be his, Calder,” I snap, shaking him a little. “Please stop this. Just stop. I can’t deal with the stress. I thought I’d be happy here with you but if this is what it’s going to be like then send me back to England.”

  “You’re unhappy?”

  I roll my eyes. “Do I look fucking happy right no
w, Captain?”

  “No,” he replies simply and pulls me to him for a hug. “We’ll do better. From this moment on, no more talk of Neal…”

  “Niall.”

  He growls and my lips twitch. When they stretch into a smile his follow and we kiss before sighing, both of us feeling stupid for such a silly argument.

  “Go back to our room, I’ll be there in an hour,” he whispers, kissing my neck softly. I shiver and run my fingers up his arms.

  “A whole hour?”

  “It’s important that I go back. I’m trying to find something… something for you.”

  “Oh?” My eyebrows hit my hairline. “What is it?”

  “It’s a surprise, kind of. You’ll see.”

  “Okay.” My mind turns with the idea of what it is he wants to give me or show me. Perhaps another island, this one without the prostitutes, although that wouldn’t be fair on the rest of the crew. Perhaps a gift of some sort?

  Now I’m bursting with excitement, and I also make a note of the fact Calder didn’t take the phone from me. Does that mean it’s mine to use for now?

  I don’t particularly need it but I keep it anyway. I switch it off and leave it in a box on top of the drawers in the bedroom.

  As I’m waiting for Calder to return, there’s a knock on the door and my brother strolls in with a tray of food for us both. There’s a faux daffodil sitting in a narrow glass and a note beneath for my eyes only.

  “He told you to do this?”

  “Duh,” my brother replies, taking a bite of toast as I peel open the note.

  It reads, in a messy scrawl,

  I’m sorry.

  x C x

  I tuck it away with a smile and spread my jam and butter over my toast.

  “How are things?” River asks carefully.

  “Rocky, but good.”

  “You’ll get there.”

  I nod my agreement. “We definitely will.” We share a smile and then groan when we bite into our toast. “What does he have you doing?”

  “I’m learning how to work the systems.”

  “You always did have a knack for computers.”

  “I love it,” he replies earnestly. “I think I’m going to really enjoy it on this ship.” He reaches over and pats my hand. “Thank you for shagging a pirate, twinny.”

  I laugh loudly. “You’re welcome.”

  “Out,” Captain barks at my brother after entering the dining room. It has been less than an hour like he promised and I am so happy to see him I’m not even mad he spoke to my brother that way.

  I raise a brow at him but my brother simply stands, salutes, and Calder lifts me in a cradle despite my squeals and carries me to our bed.

  “Now I’m going to worship every inch of your delectable body and you’re going to sit there and take it.”

  “Oh no,” I respond with sarcasm. Very weak sarcasm. “Please, no… not the worship.”

  He grins and starts to rid me of my clothes.

  I lie on my back and bite my lips as he starts rubbing my legs with a small amount of oil on his palms. It feels so good. I didn’t realise how achy I was until now.

  “Shouldn’t I be doing this for you? You’ve been working non-stop since we got back.”

  “Shush,” he breathes, kissing my lips.

  I groan as his hands work my thighs, getting close to the apex without touching the spot I’m practically writhing with desperation for him to touch.

  He chuckles and spreads my legs. I’m too worked up to care at this point.

  He kisses around my thighs, sucking my oil-slicked skin, dancing his tongue along the surface of it. But he doesn’t kiss me there where I want him too most. He nuzzles my mound and blows cool air into the wetness but still doesn’t touch me there.

  It tingles and burns. I want to cry.

  “Please, Calder,” I beg, twisting slightly to urge him on.

  He finally presses his thumb against my aching clit and I cry out loudly. Oh my God, that feels amazing. His tongue pushes inside, fucking me as deep as it can reach and I grab his bandana to keep him there.

  “Oh God…” I cry over and over again until finally I come, releasing months of tension in this one orgasm because the quickie we had was good but it was nothing compared to this.

  He raises his head and smiles at me, looking smug.

  I grab his head and force him back down there because, fuck, I’m not done.

  He laughs, that sounds smug too but I don’t care. This man is a fucking mouth guru. He’s amazing.

  When another orgasm hits I roll him over, panting and desperate and I sink onto him without giving either of us a moment. He sits up and we move to the side of the bed, laughing at the awkwardness of it. With my knees bent either side of his hips and my shins digging into the mattress, I wrap my arms around his neck and rotate my hips slowly.

  I don’t bounce or fuck him like I would have before, I take it slow, feeling every inch of him fill me up so perfectly.

  We both groan and breathe heavily as our heartbeats synchronise to a fast rhythm. Tingles crawl up and down my body every time I twist and lift with the help of his hands gripping my rear, spreading each cheek with every pull.

  “So beautiful,” he whispers, looking me in the eyes.

  I let go of everything, every worry, every concern, every moment of my unsure future, I release it in this moment and find my orgasm in his eyes as he finds his. We still together, relishing the feeling as it dwindles to a dull tingle and then collapse side by side, kissing slowly until both of us are too tired to do anything at all.

  There’s a funny smell on board as the temperature rises and we approach what appears to be an island in the distance.

  All the men are sweating buckets from the exertion of their daily tasks and the August sun that is battering us all something fierce. It’s been a bit up and down the weather, yesterday it was chilly but today nearly every man is topless and to say I’m enjoying the sight would be an understatement. So many buff men aboard this here ship.

  I sip my ice-cold drink that the kitchen staff brought to the deck about twenty minutes ago and lean on the railing port side. There’s an island in the distance, not too far but far enough that it’ll be a bit of a trip by sailboat. The captain just called for the anchor to drop and everyone seems confused as to why we’re here.

  Larry told me that it looks like we’re heading to Madagascar, but this can’t be it. It’s far too small. I can see from one end to the other.

  The captain’s voice, aka Calder’s, sounds over the speakers. It’s crackly but I understand it.

  “Tomorrow we will be heading to south Madagascar as promised, but today I have something I need to do. If it’s okay with you. In return for your patience we will spend an extra few days on land if weather and the people permit it.”

  There’s a loud cry that has me covering my ears, almost spilling my drink down myself.

  I wonder what the captain needs to do on this island.

  I head to the bridge and search the globe but it’s no use, I don’t know where we are or what we’re looking at.

  “You won’t find it,” Calder tells me, coming to stand behind me. “It’s uncharted.”

  “Oh.”

  “Come on,” he replies, flashing hungry eyes at me. “Let’s get you changed and take you sailing.”

  “No chance in hell am I going on that little sailboat being the size I am. Besides, the wind won’t take us towards the island anyway.”

  He laughs as Smeg puts in, “Aye, we’ll make a sailor out of her yet.”

  “We’re taking the rowboat, it’ll be safer.”

  I remember the distance to the island and blink once. “Are you crazy? That’ll take forever.”

  “It won’t be just me rowing.” When he sees my panic he laughs again. “Larry and Hunter are joining us.”

  My mouth forms an O and he kisses it before nodding at Smeg and taking me down to our quarters.

  I’m forced into the only
swimsuit I brought with me, a black one piece, a pair of his boxers and a large long-sleeved shirt. He helps me apply sun lotion to every patch of skin showing and even helps me braid my hair.

  To say Calder is attentive would be an understatement. Since we got here a week ago, every moment spent in his presence has been a moment of worship.

  I’m enjoying it immensely.

  Twenty minutes later we’ve been lowered into the calm water and Hunter, Larry, and Calder are all rowing the boat together.

  Captain was right, we get there in no time and I’m terrified of the thick trees ahead. The island suddenly looks so much larger than it did on our massive battleship.

  “Don’t worry, pet,” Calder says, stepping out of the boat with Larry and Hunter. It’s as Hunter is pulling the boat onto the sand that I realise he has a gun holstered. Calder sees where my eyes fall and lifts me out of the boat and onto the sand. “It’s for our protection, just in case. There are no people here, but the wildlife can be territorial.”

  “I’m not worried, if I was, I’d have brought my hunting bow or rifle,” Hunter puts in and it’s the first time I’ve ever heard him speak. His voice is so deep and gruff. Fuck. He’s a wet dream come true. Not my wet dream though, I already have a living one by my side.

  Calder reminds me who owns my heart by crushing his lips to mine and then we set off into the trees with nothing but a compass in his free hand as Larry carries a map. I notice a trowel holstered in Larry’s belt and don’t bother to question it.

  The sun is practically blocked out, only little rays make it through the thick brush overhead. I can’t believe how dark it suddenly feels.

  “Where are we going?” I ask quietly and even such a small sound seems too loud.

  I can hear screeches of birds and animals I don’t recognise. I hear rustling and hissing, and my panic increases ten-fold. I cling to Calder’s arm as Hunter leads us where Larry tells him to.

  “You’ll see,” Calder promises, his voice normal unlike mine.

  We finally make it through the thick trees and I hear the sound of running water. It’s a waterfall.

  When we reach a clearing, like a bowl in the earth, a large bowl in which we stand upon the edge, I’m shocked to see a sandy centre with a pool of water that is catching the water from the waterfall to the west of where we stand. It’s incredible but I don’t know how I’m going to get down there.