Page 30 of A Pirate's Pleasure

“Listen,” Lief said, leaning forward over the table, one hand splayed on its surface while the dagger was in the other. “That might be how things work in harpy land, but that’s not how they work anywhere else. And in case you haven’t noticed, Zephyr might be many things, some of them incredibly aggravating and annoying, but he’s not a harpy. He doesn’t want you. He will never want you. You would literally have to kidnap him and hold him captive to make him stay with you.”

“Lief,” I said again, keen for him not to put ideas in his head.

Lief grabbed my arm. “No. He needs to hear it.”

I didn’t think he did. Not going by his expression.

Lief hadn’t finished, though. “Is that what you really want? A man who doesn’t want to be with you? And don’t give me all this claiming crap. Not unless you’re making out you were a virgin before you met Zephyr.”

“Of course, I wasn’t,” Lucretius said.

Lief loosed a smirk of victory. “So go chase after some of your previous lovers. They might enjoy being stalked. Zeph, however, doesn’t.”

“They’re dead,” Lucretius said, the fact his voice lacked any emotion making his statement all the creepier.

“All of them?” Lief asked. He might have asked, but his tone said he wasn’t overly enthusiastic about hearing the answer.

“All of them,” Lucretius said.

Lief shifted in his chair. “What happened to them?”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it,” I said. “Perhaps it’s a painful subject for him to have to discuss.”

“I killed them,” Lucretius said, “when they decided they didn’t want to stay with me any longer.”

Lief sagged back in his seat. “Right. So… it’s not so much that you mate for life as that you mate until they won’t do what you say. Until the end of their life. Sounds like an abusive relationship, if you ask me. Have you thought about being less aggressive in your approach? Because the club them over the head approach is clearly not working out for you.”

Ignoring Lief, Lucretius reached over the table and covered my hands with his. It took all the willpower I possessed to leave them there instead of snatching them back. Brown eyes filled with earnestness held my gaze. “I know what you’re thinking.”

I doubted that. Not unless he could smell fear, which was always a possibility. “Do you?”

“Of course.” Lucretius smiled to reveal a set of perfectly human teeth. I’d seen them, though, when they were sharp and jagged, and anything but human, the picture embedded in my mind. “You’re worried that because my past relationships haven’t worked out, that we’ll be the same.”

“I will admit,” I said slowly. “That I’m a little concerned. What with you having admitted to killing all your previous lovers. It’s not the greatest selling point for a relationship with you.”

“We’re different,” Lucretius said. “I knew that from the moment I first saw you, and I know you feel it, too.” His thumbs stroked over my knuckles. “Look how forgiving I’m being at finding you with another man… your tongue in his mouth… your hands on his body… your talk of returning to the ship and lying together.” Disdain had crept into his voice. “In my younger days, when I would have acted on impulse without stopping to think first, he’d already be dead.”

Lief didn’t comment, but his hand tightened around the dagger handle he clutched beneath the table, and I silently begged him not to do something stupid.

“You’re being very restrained under the circumstances,” I said. My mind was racing, though, running through various permutations of how I was supposed to extract myself from this situation without myself or Lief getting hurt.

“So, you’ll come back with me?” Lucretius asked, hope flaring in his eyes. “We’ll have such a wonderful life together in my beautiful house. We can go for long walks. Talk till the early hours. Fish together.”

“Polish the skulls of his ex-lovers together,” Lief interjected.

Lucretius turned his head to glare at Lief. “Be quiet, or I’ll rip your tongue out of your mouth and you’ll never speak again.”

“Touchy,” Lief said, but he’d muttered it under his breath.

Lucretius turned his attention back to me. “What do you say?”

I could string him along, but it wasn’t a tactic that would work for very long, and I was liable to find myself stuck somewhere without the means to escape. I pulled my hands out from beneath his, Lucretius’s brow furrowing. “It wouldn’t work.”

“Why not?”

There was that scary lack of emotion again. “It just wouldn’t. I don’t have the same feelings for you that you have for me.”

A dark cloud passed across Lucretius’ face, one that only grew blacker as the seconds ticked by without him saying anything until his eyes glittered with fury. “You will live to regret that decision, Zephyr Chase.” He opened his mouth, and I knew what was about to happen.