Owned by Pirates Page 14

  He was indeed too big for me, but I was so wanting, so ready, so wet that he began to ease inside. Pressing my lips firmly together, I was carefully silent as he thrust through my innocence, possessing me completely. Swallowing my gasps, I clamped my eyes tightly shut so they couldn’t tear up.

  The pressure was overwhelming, my small body confused at the intrusion, but my primal instincts took over and soon I felt nothing but fire and lust. The more I relaxed, the more the pleasure took over.

  “Oh, yes...” I sighed, as my body opened for his. His massive shaft was spreading my tunnel walls, molding me to his body. My feelings surged as my energy did. I’d never known that devotion could be expressed with anything but words and sweet kisses. This feeling of physical love was a force greater than the sea, as we rocked together slowly.

  The Captain scooped an arm under my shoulders, holding me against his chest as he burrowed deeper. A low moan escaped his lips. “My lassie, you feel like heaven on earth.” He was desperately trying to be gentle, but it felt like it was hard to control his passion. He had sunk well over half of his thick rod inside me, and seemed worried to go further.

  “That feels incredible,” I murmured, lunging for his lips, kissing him wildly. Our tongues entwined as our bodies did, sultry and wet, drawing pleasure with and for each other.

  He leaned back to study my face in the glow of the lamplight. “Does it hurt, my angel?”

  I grinned up at him wickedly. “Not anymore, my Captain. Please... fill me more.”

  Cautiously he nudged deeper, as he ran his lips along the hollow of my throat. “So snug, so soft, my wee lass. My lovely precious girl.”

  I squeezed my legs against his backside to propel him lower, further into my depths. “Oh... yes...” I moaned, working my hips against him in a wave. Too many feelings and thoughts were flooding me at once, and my whole body was twitching from bliss.

  As our skin became one flesh, I was astounded at how close, how intimate this act was. He could hear my every breath, every moan, practically every thought as I lay naked under him. Yet instead of being vulnerable, I felt powerful from the way his broad shoulders stirred when I wriggled him deeper, as I opened for him. This great man, the strong and dominating Captain of the Fortune, was shuddering in my arms, flushed and wanting.

  As he rocked inside me, always stroking further, I felt the burning pull in my core, as if flames were waiting to be released. His lips meandered along my breast, closing around my nipple to suck gently. I clutched his head as I began to quiver.

  “Kiss me as I...” I begged. As his mouth settled over mine, my center exploded in a crashing of warmth, all tension released as I moaned beneath him. My tight little tunnel flowed with juices, and he was able to press even deeper.

  “Oh, lassie,” he groaned, with a tender ferocity. His hips moved faster, propelling him with a force that surprised and delighted me. The feeling of him completely consuming me was positively divine.

  “Yes,” I squealed, overcome by both sensation and emotion. “Yes, Captain!”

  He kissed me savagely as he thrust deeper, and his low grunts drove me mad with passion. “Take me, Captain,” I gasped, “Harder... please...”

  His powerful body quivered, then I suddenly felt his entire frame shudder as bursts of his hot liquid erupted inside me. My urgent little cries were muffled by his lips, as I instinctively tightened inside, passionately caressing him to the end.

  “Oh, my love...” he growled, searching my eyes as the last tremors rattled through him. “I love you, Flora. My sweet girl.”

  “I love you, Captain.”

  He rolled to the side, clutching me against him snugly. Then I felt his chuckle under my cheek, sitting up slightly to study his dark eyes. They were softer. Like the gentle breeze after a storm had passed.

  “Do you remember when you grabbed my collar, offering to fix it on the day we met?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you have any idea how hard it was not to kiss you right then?”

  I giggled. “We’d barely met.”

  “Which is why I didn’t.” He leaned up on his elbow, his other hand meandering along my shoulder, through my hair. “The funny thing is, back then you would have been so terrified, you would have let me. But now, you would have slapped me quite properly.”

  I nodded. “That’s likely true.”

  His grin caused the few wee lines around his eyes to crinkle adorably. “I think I’d prefer an honest slap to a terrified kiss. I’m glad you’ve found your voice, little lass.”

  The Captain leaned in to kiss me, then I slapped him gently, barely brushing my hand on his cheek. “What’s that slap for?”

  “For not kissing me harder,” I said, raising an eyebrow haughtily.

  Pulling me close, he kissed me until my toes curled, my hips quivered, and my fingers dug roughly into his shoulders.

  “Hard enough?” he finally breathed.

  “Keep practicing.”

  “Arr,” he growled, “You saucy little…”

  ~ Chapter 24 ~ The Captain ~

  * New World *

  Although I drifted off for a spell, I bolted awake again. Perhaps I was just too joyous to sleep.

  Ever since I’d made the decision to rename the ship, fortune had been in my favor. Except for the one bit of unpleasantness in Parrinport, and the fact that we would have to find new towns for Flora to sell her jewelry, our new life of shipping and trading was going brilliantly.

  Having Flora on the ship had brought balance to our crew. She lightened the mood. There was more joking and laughter, and the joviality was in slightly better taste much of the time since a lady was present.

  The food was much better, which improved everyone's mood overall. We had new clothing, which always made the men feel well cared for. The raggedy sails were being repaired steadily.

  We were becoming respectable. This sat well with the older crew members, as they weren’t risking their lives and health with every voyage. The younger boys seemed to prefer it as well. They wanted to work hard, not fight hard. Yet they also wanted to relax on a beach now and then. Our new trade route was providing us this luxury, and this would increase as time went on.

  My view of the future had always been a bit murky, as I took things from day to day. Flora was right. Time was different out here, and tended to ebb and flow with the tides.

  Hearing the gentle swish of the waves against the hull, I looked out the window. I’d once sworn that I’d never stop living on the sea. But I knew that someday I’d end up living right beside the sea, and there was only one woman who could understand the difference properly.

  Flora had been more than patient while learning to live an entirely new life, in an entirely new world. The very least that I could do would be to make one tiny thing stable and permanent.

  ~ Chapter 25 ~ Flora ~

  * Under the Moon *

  “Lass, wake up for a moment.”

  “Hrm?” I blinked hard, trying to focus. Not so long ago, a man’s voice in the night would be terrifying. Now I simply reached out to snuggle against the Captain’s chest, feeling warm and safe.

  The Captain sat up, pulling me with him, so we were facing the tiny portal that looked out over the sea. The full moon was clearing the horizon, sending feathers of silver across the water.

  He waited while I stared at the sea for a moment, then cleared his throat. “Lass, I thought of the perfect way we could spend that extra gold together.”

  I looked up at him with a smile, curious and excited. “What’s that, sir?” He had an odd look about him, and although I’d never seen him wear the expression before, he looked nervous. Taking my hand, he looked at me quite seriously.

  “We’ll be down in Port Chancelry in a week. What do you think about getting married in the south?”

  I froze, my mouth falling open. I couldn’t move for three full heartbeats while the Captain held his breath. “Are you...” I cocked my head, blinking, terrified I might be misun
derstanding.

  “I love you, Flora. You’re the most magical creature on land or sea, and I’d be honored to have you as my wife.”

  My breath hitched with a tiny choked cry as I held back a sob. Throwing myself into his arms, he rocked me softly. “Yes. I love you, Captain,” I whispered. “Yes, that’s a beautiful idea, to be wed in the south.”

  He wanted to marry me. No dowry, no connections. Just me. He wanted to keep me as his. Just a few months ago, I would have fallen to pieces at the thought. Now, it made me feel strong. Secure. As if every part of my world clicked into the proper place.

  This wonderful man thought I was valuable enough to bond me to him forever.

  The Captain pulled back to study my eyes carefully. “Unless you want to return to your village for the ceremony. If you want your mother to be there, or your girlfriends. I know that brides like a maid of honor and such.”

  “I don’t need any of that. I never want to go back there.” The moment I said it, I knew once again that my decision was absolute.

  “We could have Little Larry wear a dress,” he teased.

  “I already have a fine, strong woman who can stand up for me,” I grinned. Reaching out, I patted the wooden wall. “The Fortune’s Favor will be there, right?”

  “Aye, that’s my clever lass,” he said . We dissolved into a kiss, snuggling down into the bed again, wrapped in each other’s bodies while our ship gently sailed with the evening winds.

  ~ Epilogue ~ Flora ~

  * Flora’s Paradise / Cabbages *

  "Mama, what's the name of our island today?"

  I grinned, reaching out to rumple little Artie’s thick curls. He had his father's dark eyes, but I thought it would take him some time to grow into the name. Arthur didn't quite fit for a six-year-old. Maybe when he turned sixteen.

  "Did you ask your sister?"

  His pudgy face scrunched up in a scowl, just like his father’s did when a storm was rolling in. But holding his little hands in fists when he was frustrated definitely came from me.

  "Clara always says the island is called Sandy Land," he glared at me as if I should have known better.

  I laughed, turning him to point down the beach. “Do you see where Uncle McGee is making us a new storage cabin? Maybe he knows what the island is called today."

  "Okay," he chirped. His little feet took off down the pale sand.

  Looking around our island paradise, a tiny dot on the horizon caught my eye. Hearing footsteps behind me, I stepped back into the arms that circled around me. "Yes, that's the Fortune," the Captain said before I could even ask. "Davy and O'Doule will be here in time for supper."

  Since our crew now had friends in every port to assist with loading, the ship could make trading runs with just two or three crew members.

  Looking down to the west end of the beach, I saw a heavy plume of smoke coming up from the shack where Teeth was working with his new forge. We had dropped him at his Uncle Rupert’s for a few months, to learn the ways of silversmithing. He’d always been a hard worker, but now that he was doing something he truly loved, it was hard to even drag him away for meals.

  Artie ran past us toward the forge hut, yelling, "Uncle McGee has no idea so I'm going to go ask Uncle Teeth."

  "Let him know when you're close, and don't go inside,” I hollered across the soft ocean breeze.

  The Captain's thick arms gave me a squeeze. "Look at you, hollering like a very improper lady," he chuckled. "Don't worry, the lad knows better than to cross the lines Teeth set out for him."

  We'd purchased a forge, and all of the supplies and tools so that Teeth could learn the trade. Now he and I designed jewelry together, while I still made accessories from shells and ribbons as well.

  The Fortune's Favor now delivered dry goods, spices, and materials to twenty-five different ports on a monthly schedule. It was easy to sell anything we liked.

  "Why don't I make us a big family supper tonight?" I asked the Captain. "That way Anna won't have to cook." Since Larry's wife was expecting her second child within the month, I was trying to make things easier on her.

  "Always so clever, this lass of mine," he said, rocking me against him. "I'll go tell Larry, then I'll come back to help."

  Spinning quickly, I surprised him with a kiss. At first I simply meant to be saucy, but then I felt the way his hand gripped my behind roughly, pulling me firmly against him.

  “You best not be thinking about a third baby,” I tried to growl.

  He stuck out his bottom lip in a childish pout.

  "But we can practice all you like,” I giggled.

  The Captain's handsome grin nearly took my breath away, as it always did. Stepping back, he took my hand, kissing the back of it, then kissing the lovely golden ring we had found together in a little shop in Aberbryn.

  “M’lady," he bowed. Then he hurried off to Larry and Anna’s cabin.

  The six little houses spread out at the edge of the forest just beyond the sand made our own tiny village. Now that we had a silversmith hut and would soon have three storage sheds, plus a giant outdoor dining canopy, we were creating our own small town.

  That's why none of us could agree on a name for the island. It was growing so fast that we didn't want to put a label on it, for fear it would be wrong in a few years. So for now, we changed the name every few days, or whenever the wind shifted.

  I looked over to where Clara and Lizzie were running strange little races in the sand. They made some kind of line with rocks on one side and sticks on the other. There seemed to be some complicated pattern of the two of them running back and forth.

  Lizzie was just two months older than Clara’s three and a half years, and they were practically sisters. Larry and Anna were expecting again. A very cleaned up Davy was now courting a nice girl in Chancelry. I wondered how large the population of the island would grow.

  Artie came running up to me with a huge smile on his wee face. "Uncle Teeth says that the island is called Cabbages today. So, the cabbage is sacred. We’re not allowed to have them for supper."

  I knelt down to give him a hug. "Okay then, we're going to need lettuce and carrots." I held up my hands a foot apart. "Can you be my little farmer and pick that much lettuce for us?"

  “Okay."

  "And six big carrots. How many is six?"

  He held up one hand and one finger, rolling his eyes. "I can count to fifty now, you know."

  I stood up and grabbed the gathering basket from a hook by the door, handing it down to him. "I know. I was just checking.”

  "Okay, Mama," he smiled, scampering off to our giant garden patch.

  The Captain returned, grabbing me and spinning me into a hug until I giggled in his arms. “Larry caught a pheasant this morning, so he'll clean it up and roast it in the fire pit for dinner."

  "Artie is fetching carrots and lettuce."

  "I thought the cabbages were ready?"

  I looked at him very seriously. "Aye, but since that's the island's name today, it cannot be eaten."

  The Captain shrugged, all too accustomed to this nonsense. Then his hand cupped my face, his thumb running along my cheekbone with such tenderness it turned my insides to pudding. "You know the island is really called Flora’s Paradise," he whispered softly.

  He had told me this a thousand times, but I needed to hear at least a thousand more.

  "I don't know why I keep forgetting that," I murmured, stretching up to kiss my incredible husband.

  He’d taken a girl who believed she was worthless, and transformed me into the queen of my own island. I’d never had any dreams of my own until the day he bought me. And now every single one of them had come true, yet there was still room for plenty more.

  *** The End ***

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