by Sophie Stern
The Saucy Devil simply sat in his chair, sipping his whiskey, and allowed Julianne to do what she liked to him. Never before had she been given such freedom to explore and play with a man. Her prior experiences had been acceptable to her, but they had been rushed, hurried. A quick fuck in the hayloft was nothing like what she was experiencing now, and Julianne worried no other man in the future would be able to offer her this again.
She scooted forward on her knees and slid her mouth over Wade’s cock. He set his whiskey on the table and rested his hands on her hair as she took him deeper in her mouth. Julianne was very conscious of his hands on her, but he didn’t touch her breasts or play with her nipples. No, he simply touched her hair while she sucked on his cock.
Julianne used her hands to gently squeeze his balls while she licked him. Up and down, she moved in time with a silent song only she could hear. Desire burned in her. Lust filled her. She wanted more, more, more.
She felt her body growing more heated, more needy. She herself became breathless as she continued to play with Wade. Her thighs were slick with her own wetness, but she wasn’t embarrassed. She was aroused, and it was an incredible feeling.
Prior to her outing at the port, Julianne had been able to stave off her sexual urges with masturbation, but somehow, she didn’t think that was going to be enough in the future. Now that she had experienced a taste of Wade Docherty’s dick, she wanted more. Nay, she needed it, craved it.
And then she felt him tug on her hair.
Julianne looked up as Wade pulled her head back from his body. She was confused, for a brief moment. She thought she had been doing well and was surprised he wanted her to stop, but then she saw his eyes.
“Get on my bed,” he said. His words were deep and strained. Julianne moved quickly with no attempt to be graceful. They were past teasing now. They were past the point of no return. She reached the captain’s bed, which was built into the wall. She sat on the edge of the bed, but Wade shook his head. “Climb on the bed and turn around,” he said.
Julianne looked up at him, eyes wide. She’d never been taken that way before, but Wade waited for her to listen. He stayed in his chair until Julianne was on all fours, facing away from him. Then she heard him move.
Her body quivered as she waited for him to reach her. She knew he could see every bit of her from this angle, but somehow, she wasn’t as ashamed as she should be. All Julianne wanted was for Wade to be inside of her. If she had to show off her body to get it, then that’s precisely what she would do.
She heard his shirt hit the ground and knew, even without looking, that he was now naked behind her, wanting her, desiring her. Julianne was so aroused that all of her senses seemed to be on alert.
“You are quite lovely.” His palms stroked her skin, and Julianne closed her eyes. The pirate touched her back and her bottom, running his palms slowly over her. “I wouldn’t have thought you a stowaway. You’re too well-bred for such an endeavor.”
“As I told you, I had a good reason to run.”
“Yes, yes, marriage and men. I know. You did tell me your fiancé was a dangerous man.” Julianne shivered at the thought of Vince. She disliked him to the point of hatred. She had long ago moved past fear of Vince and moved to simply loathing. Fear was something you clung to when you didn’t know what was going to happen. It was the emotion you gripped when you believed something could happen, but you weren’t quite certain it would happen.
If Julianne married Vince Fiddick, she knew he would hurt her, so there was no point in being afraid. Fear wouldn’t stop her from being trapped in his homes. Quivering and hiding wouldn’t keep him from hitting her, or worse. Julianne wasn’t the naïve waif people saw when they first glanced at her. No, she was more aware than that, more conscious of the world around her. She knew Vince was no good for anyone, and she questioned what had happened to his other wives even when society saw only his pretty smile and fat coin purse.
“He is dangerous,” Julianne whispered. Wade did not stop touching her as she spoke.
“Love, you’re in bed with a pirate, and believe me when I tell ye, I am a much more dangerous man than he.”
The Saucy Devil gripped her hips then and thrust forward, filling her, and Julianne realized the pirate was right: he was a dangerous man. Only, Julianne was beginning to think it wasn’t her body that was at risk.
It was her heart.
9
Wade left Julianne alone in his cabin and locked the door. Though he suspected she would stay asleep in his bed where he had left her, he needed to be certain. A lot had changed on his ship in the last half-hour. He didn't need to lose her, too. He pocketed the key and stared at the door for just a moment before walking away.
Part of him still couldn't believe this was the girl he had met just hours before. Part of him still couldn't believe that Rupert had betrayed him. Part of him couldn't believe that he had new information about the treasure. His treasure. Wade knew one thing for certain: he needed a drink. Another one. Already.
He walked to the kitchen and hollered to old Buck to get him a glass of whiskey. The cook didn't bat an eye at the request and quickly poured his captain a glass of their best liquor. Wade drank the alcohol, allowing the liquid to burn its way down his throat and into his belly.
Buck stood by, waiting for Wade to finish the drink. Then he poured another. As Wade lifted the drink to his mouth, Buck finally spoke.
"What's troublin’ ye, Captain?" Wade had known Buck for as many years as he'd been a pirate. The ol’ cook had been one of the first men to join Wade’s crew. He trusted him, perhaps more than he should. Wade had trusted his first mate implicitly. That had been a mistake.
"Rupert tried to kill me." Buck dropped the knife he was holding and it landed on the floor with a loud clatter. Wade didn't look up as he finished the second drink, his eyes plastered firmly to the wall ahead of him. He was quickly turning into a drunk, he knew, but there was nothing he could do about that now.
"Come again, Captain?" Though Buck was the cook, he prided himself on knowing everything that was going on around The Dark Lovely. If he hadn’t known about Keel’s intentions, perhaps it had been a hasty decision on the first mate’s part. While most mutinous pirates had some sort of plan before killing the captain, it was possible that Rupert Keel simply saw an opportunity and he decided to take it.
"Rupert tried to kill me," Wade repeated, still not looking up.
"Where’s he now?"
"Dead."
"You killed ‘im."
"No."
Buck looked confused.
"Then who killed ‘im, Captain?"
"The stowaway killed him." Buck dropped another utensil, again letting it land on the floor loudly. He jumped at the sound and glanced at the fork he had dropped. He scurried to pick it up, but Wade was hardly paying attention. He knew Buck would be worried about being replaced. There was no place on a ship for someone who couldn’t work and there was definitely no place on a ship for someone who couldn’t work well. The idea of replacing Buck hadn’t crossed Wade’s mind.
Then again, he’d never thought of replacing Rupert, either.
"We gots a stowaway?" Now Buck’s furry brow wrinkled in confusion. Wade could practically hear the old cook thinking. Since when did the ship have stowaways? They cleaned the ol’ boat to bottom on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. The crew was excellent at making sure that all hands were accounted for on deck. Both men knew there was no missing food. How could a stowaway have sneaked past them?
"Afraid so," Wade held up his glass, motioning Buck to pour him once more. Buck obviously wasn't sure it was a good idea for the captain to get completely drunk, but he also knew that it wasn't his place to refuse him. He poured the whiskey.
"Tell me more," Buck said, taking a seat at the table. He pressed his hands flat across the thick wooden surface. He had spent many years working at this particular table and many nights drinking with Wade. Never, in all their years together, had the men e
ver dealt with something like this.
Wade sighed heavily. He didn’t want to deal with this, but then, he was a captain. He had to. This was his ship and these were his men. If there was to be a mutiny, he needed as many bodies on his side as possible. He didn’t believe Buck would betray him. That was the problem with betrayal, though. It never came from your enemies. Enemies you could trust to go for the throat. You never expected it from your friends.
Wade told Buck about going to port, about meeting Julianne, and about his return to the storage room.
“Rupert said he had information about the lost treasure. He wanted to talk to me alone, he said, and it seemed as good a place as any.”
“It’s quiet down there,” Buck agreed. “Private. You know, Rupert used that room for his indiscretions.”
“I’m well aware,” Wade said dryly. Only three people had keys to the room, but he wasn’t oblivious to the fact that Rupert took women to that room or that he occasionally “loaned” his key to other pirates to use the space. The men didn’t get much privacy. They took it when they could.
Wade finished telling Buck about the murder attempt, but he still didn't know what to do next. And as a captain, not knowing was a luxury he couldn't afford.
Buck just stared at him, a look of bewilderment on his old face. Even his wrinkly skin couldn’t hide the shock in his eyes.
"She was hiding here this whole time?"
"Aye."
"And you fucked her?"
Wade nodded.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Captain, but this ain't no hen frigate. We can't keep a woman on board, ‘specially not a pretty one. What are ye gonna do?"
That seemed to be the question of the hour, now didn't it? What was Wade going to do? Logically, he should hang both Nelson and his sister. Logically, he should kill them to send a message to his crew. He should, but then, logic was rarely involved when it came to Wade's cock. And for some reason, it liked Julianne very, very much.
Wade thought of the way she had danced for him, of the look on her face as she watched him. Her hips had swayed slowly in time with a song only she could hear, and Wade had loved it. He had been mesmerized by her beauty, but especially by her eyes. They were wide and bright. She had a smile that was full of life, and an air of joy surrounded her. It seemed that Julianne’s privileged upbringing hadn’t sucked away her ability to enjoy the simple things in life. She didn’t know how lucky that made her.
He didn’t have to kill her, but he couldn’t keep her: not as a stowaway and certainly not as his lover. If the men knew how deeply he cared for her, it would give them something to use against him, and pirates weren’t the most trustworthy of folks. They stayed as long as they were paid, and as long as there was food, and as long as the sailing was good, but if they could use the captain’s woman as a bargaining chip, they would do it.
And the Saucy Devil wouldn’t stand for that.
Wade slammed his empty glass down on the table and looked at Buck.
"Here's what we're going to do."
10
Julianne was sitting quietly on the bed when Wade returned to his cabin. She hadn’t been surprised to find him gone when she woke. He was the captain of a huge ship, after all. He probably had captain-y things to do that didn’t involve spending hours wrapped around her.
She hadn’t tried to leave the room when she woke, but she had gotten redressed. While she felt tempted to further explore his space to see whether she could find a weapon to defend herself, she didn't. She just stayed put. Wade had been kind to her that evening and though he had been angered to discover that she was sleeping on the ship, he had not been cruel.
Though Julianne hadn't been certain at first, she thought now that he might show her mercy.
Just maybe.
If she were lucky.
So while he stormed off, she sat still, thinking about her life and her decisions and how even if she did get hanged, at least it wasn't going to be by Vince. At least she had gotten to see the world. Well, a little bit of it, anyway. Had she gotten married, Julianne knew she would have been an ordinary housewife, plagued with chores and children and cleaning.
At least now she was free.
Wade entered the room silently. He carefully closed the door behind him. His movements were quiet and calculated. He never did anything without thinking about it, Julianne noticed. Even the most minute movements were carefully calculated to bring Wade closer to whatever goal he might be currently pursuing.
Wade placed the key to the door on the desk and looked at Julianne thoughtfully. She wondered where he had gone and what he was going to say to her. She hoped he hadn't killed Nelson. He looked relaxed, but not in the way a man looks after a kill, so she thought her brother must be fine.
Then Wade walked over to Julianne and sat next to her on the bed. His weight pressed the mattress down and she slid closer to him, their bodies touching side-by-side. She tried not to feel aroused, but it was nearly impossible. He smelt of whiskey and of man and she thought of the way his hands had explored her body just hours before.
Wade placed his hand on her thigh and Julianne leaned her head down onto his shoulder. He seemed surprised, but after a moment he began to touch her hair softly.
"Oh, love," he began. "Whatever am I going to do with you?" They sat like that for a very long time before Wade lifted her mouth and kissed her softly. Julianne returned his kisses eagerly, wondering if this was the last time she would see him. She kissed him like her life depended on it, which it did. She kissed him like it was the first time and the last time and all the times in between.
Then Wade pushed her softly back onto the bed and lay down next to her, continuing to kiss her side-by-side. Their hands wandered and explored each other until she finally reached down his pants and grabbed what she wanted.
"Please," she murmured. "One more time."
**
It was all the urging Wade needed.
He didn't intend to kill Julianne and had figured out a way around it. As long as Buck backed him up, Wade knew that things would be just fine, eventually. That didn't mean he wasn't going to take advantage of this moment, though, and it certainly didn't mean he wouldn't make it pleasurable for both of them.
Wade pushed up Julianne's skirts so they were resting around her waist. She wore no undergarments, which surprised him, but he was pleased by the discovery. He placed his hand on her knee and slowly moved it upwards, enjoying the way she wiggled beneath his touch. She seemed anxious to have him again, which he loved. It had only been a few hours since they were last together, but already he found himself missing her.
When he reached the top of her thigh, he gently began to massage her. He felt Julianne's muscles tense beneath his touch, and he kissed her again, harder. He knew she was close to coming, close to being completely his. He wanted to feel her explode, wanted to feel what he had done to her body. She continued to moan and tense beneath him until she was almost ready. He chose that moment to plunge himself into her. As soon as he did, her release was unavoidable.
Wade placed his hand over her mouth as she cried out. He wanted to hear her, but didn't want to alert his men as to what was happening. They didn't need to know how he felt about this woman, not yet. He continued to thrust deeply inside of her, kissing and touching her, until he, too, joined her in climax.
When it was finished, Wade collapsed next to Julianne, breathless. Part of him couldn't believe this sweet creature had really squeezed her way into his life today. Part of him couldn't believe he was going to get to be around her. There was another part of him, a darker part, that dreaded the way he would inevitably begin to feel protective of her, the way he would guard her from harm. He already felt an obligation to care for her. Wade had been in love before. He knew what happened to men in love.
But as Julianne snuggled next to him and closed her eyes, beginning to drift off to sleep in his comfortable bed, he knew that it was already too late for him. He was going to be he
r protector, no matter what it took.
11
When the captain called his crew to the main deck the next morning, Nelson wasn't sure what to expect. He knew, from the shouting during the night, that something had been amiss, but he assumed it had been a petty argument amongst drunken sailors. The captain called the men up early, and Nelson hadn't even had time to check on Julianne, though he was sure his sister was fine. Julianne was always fine.
"Last night," Wade told his crew, walking back and forth in front of them, hands behind his back. "I was surprised to discover that my first mate had no further interest in being a member of this crew." Wade paused for a moment, meeting the eyes of each of his men before adding, "In fact, he attempted to shoot me."
A series of gasps shot out of the mouths of the sailors. Betrayed? Wade? What had happened? Though Nelson had no knowledge of Rupert's intended mutiny or who could have been involved, he suddenly wished he had checked on Julianne sooner. Was she okay? Had anything happened to her? Had Wade discovered her?
As if reading his mind, Wade met Nelson's eyes and held them for just a minute too long. Nelson had his answer. He wanted to flee, to run, to hide. He wanted to get to her. He felt his eyes grow wide as Wade stared at him, but then the captain moved on and continued speaking.
"Fortunately, I was not alone when Rupert approached me. My colleague, and the newest member of our crew, was with me." A murmur spread amongst the sailors. A colleague? Who was new? They looked at each other, mumbling and shrugging. No one knew what was going on.
"Hello, boys," Nelson heard his sister's familiar voice and his mouth dropped open when he saw her. Julianne was dressed in slops and a loose top. Her hair fell in long, loose curls over her shoulders. Her feet were bare, but so were most of the men's, so it wasn't strange. Nelson cocked his head as he looked at her, but Julianne ignored him. What the hell had happened last night?
