Page 25 of A Pirate's Pleasure

“Yeah?” There was no missing the note of disbelief in Lief’s voice.

It was easier to show him rather than to explain. So I did, letting Lief sink onto his back, but following him down, bracing myself above him on my elbows to spare him most of my weight. The kiss was different this time. More explorative. More a statement of intent. Our mouths moved together, a mutual acknowledgment that friendship was no longer enough, that we’d transcended that. I ignored the nagging doubt in the back of my head, the one that asked if this was really the right time when Lief was upset and had already started the grieving process for his mother.

There was no other time.

There was only now.

And there was only us.

We were both hard, and I only grew harder as we discovered the delights of each other’s mouths.

He was the first to draw back, a smile on his lips and his eyes shining in the dim light, but this time not from tears. He stroked a finger along my cheek, the gesture reeking of affection. “I thought you were wild, Zephyr Chase.”

I met his smile with one of my own. “I was. I am. For everyone except you. You’ve tamed me.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “I doubt that somehow, but I’ll take it.” He pushed me back against the deck and straddled me, his cock pressing against my abdomen. His fingers went to the buttons of my shirt before pausing. “May I?”

My breath caught in my chest. Five minutes ago, the idea of kissing Lief had seemed like a dream. Now he wanted to go further.

Something of my thoughts must have shown on my face, Lief frowning. “We don’t have to. I just thought…” He smiled sheepishly, his fingers slipping free of the buttons. “You know, while we’re alone, and no one can disturb us. Plus”—he tilted his head back to study the moon—“it’s kinda romantic here, don’t you think?”

Romance! What did I know of romance? It had never factored in my life, and I’d never thought it would. But this was Lief. My faithful friend. My accomplice. My partner in crime. The only person who saw every side of me, and that included Dax. Dax might be my friend, but showing a softer side would be akin to rolling over and presenting your belly to a bear.

Lief laughed at my expression. “Zeph, don’t look like that. I’m not expecting you to buy me roses or take me to dinner.”

“No? What do you want?”

“You. Just you.” He held my gaze, something passing between us. Something that reminded me that there was no one else in the world I trusted more. I guided his hands back to my buttons. “Yes.”

Lief’s smile was everything as a new chapter began between us and we both gave ourselves over to it.

I awoke with Lief wrapped around me, his thigh between mine, his chin tucked in the curve of my neck, and his hot breath feathering my collarbone. Coming on the back of the dream I’d just had, it was too much. The hands I flattened against his chest to push him off were based on pure instinct rather than conscious thought. A need to escape. A need to not have to remember what we’d once been to each other. I scooted back, getting as far from him as I could without falling off the bed altogether.

“Wow!” Lief said into the darkness. “You could have simply asked me to move over. There was no need to get all caveman about it.”

“Stay on your side of the bed.”

“I was asleep. I obviously mistook you for someone else.”

White-hot jealousy burned in my chest. Lief had said it had been a year since he’d had a relationship. Either he’d been lying then or he was lying now.

“It’s not like you’re a virgin,” Lief grumbled. “And I should know.”

I closed my eyes against the pain his words evoked. He hadn’t finished, though.

“Funny really when you think about it.”

“What is?”

“That it was on this very deck. Years before Dax’s dad gifted the ship to you. Do you think he knew?”

“You think Livingston gave me the ship, not so I could give him ten percent of the plunder I earn for the rest of his life, but because he somehow knew I’d snuck on board and lost my virginity on its deck?”

“He might have.”

I turned on my side so that my back was to Lief. “Go to sleep, Lief.”

“I was asleep. Until you woke me up by pushing me off. You’re not irresistible, you know, Zeph.”