Chapter 19

  Jonathon’s pulse thundered in his ears as Cassandra pulled him through the mansion’s lavish corridors. Her grip was tight, inescapable; he could feel the tremors of anger coursing through her entire body. They moved in silence, the only sound the sharp clicks of her heels against the polished marble floor and the low murmur of their own breathing. The opulence of the mansion, which had earlier seemed imposing, now felt like a cage.

  They exited the mansion and made their way toward the docks. Once they had made it around halfway there, Jonathon tugged gently at her hand. “Cass, slow down,” he said, finally working up the nerve to speak. “We need to talk about what just happened.”

  She halted abruptly and turned on Jonathon. Her eyes were wild, a tempest of emotions swirling beneath the surface–anger and frustration mixed with just a flicker of fear. She looked away, breathing hard, as if she were trying to catch up with her own thoughts. “I’m sorry,” she muttered after a moment. “I didn’t mean for it to get that out of hand.”

  Jonathon took a moment to steady his own breathing, stealing a glance around to ensure they were alone. “Cass, you didn’t have to tell them the truth,” he said softly. “We could’ve worked something out, or spun a different story.”

  Cassandra shook her head, her frustration evident. “I couldn’t keep lying, Jonathon. Not to them. Not when they were already seeing through everything we were trying to do. They’ve always been able to see through me.” She laughed bitterly, the sound harsh and sharp in the stillness of the night. “Besides, isn’t honesty supposed to be the best policy?”

  Jonathon ran a hand through his trimmed hair. “But now they know you’re a pirate, Cass. And not just you, us. They’ll see us as criminals, not people trying to make a living, not people trying to find freedom on the seas. Just criminals.”

  Cassandra’s jaw tightened. “I know, but...”

  Jonathon felt a pang of empathy, seeing the struggle in her eyes. He mustered his most convincing and reassuring smile, giving her a reassuring grasp on the shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. What’s done is done. For now, let’s get back to the ship.”

  She nodded, and they continued their walk through the night in silence.

  ~~

  Jonathon lay on his bed staring at the ceiling of his cabin. How long had he been lying there? An hour? Two? He had no clue. But he did know one thing: sleep was far from him.

  His and Cass’s walk back to the ship had been a quiet one. She didn’t say a single word after their initial conversation; she just walked straight back to the ship, never letting go of Jonathon’s hand until they stepped onboard. Then she walked off towards her cabin without a look back, leaving Jonathon alone on the deck of the ship.

  He felt guilty. She had trusted him to act the part of a trader from Silvercove, and he couldn’t even do that. He blew their cover, and now, not only was her family aware of Jonathon's profession as a pirate, but Cassie’s as well. The only silver lining Jonathon could see was that the engagement story might have been kept intact with her final performance before leaving. Still, he wasn’t sure if that could truly be called a silver lining–maybe just the salvaging of a wreck?

  He turned over in bed and cursed himself. Why did he have to brag about Mother’s Myth? He would have been fine if he had just left it at saying his ship was smaller than other trade vessels. He could have explained the tattoo meaning as simply having heard the alternate meaning for the tattoo on his travels at sea. But no, he had to go and brag about how good his ship was at taking down other ships, and for what? Pride?!

  He turned again and grunted frustratedly to himself. In the end, the reason didn’t matter; he screwed up Cass’s chance at patching things up with her parents. And who knows how they would respond to this news. Dread suddenly gripped Jonathon’s stomach. Would they send mercenaries after them? Would they report them to the Harbourmaster? They would likely have to get out of port immediately. But essentially all of his crew were ashore, and the poison still had another two days before it’d be ready. He turned again and continued staring at the ceiling. No way was he getting any sleep tonight.

  Suddenly, he heard a light knock on his cabin door. He sat up in his bed and turned to where his legs were planted on the deck beneath him. “Come in.”

  The door opened slowly, and Cass stepped in, still in her dress. Had she not changed yet? That was the first thing Jonathon had done when he got to his cabin. She looked out of place here, amidst the rough wood and simple furnishings of his cabin. She was like a jewel misplaced in a poor man’s home. She hesitated at the threshold, her eyes darting around the room before finally settling on him.

  He stood suddenly and opened his mouth to speak, but Cass waved her hand as if to silence him. “Please, don’t get up, Captain. I was hoping to speak with you. May I come in?”

  Jonathon sat back down on his bed and nodded. She entered the room slowly. Hesitantly, she crossed his cabin to the desk, grabbed a chair, moved it closer to his bed, and sat down in front of him.

  She sat there for a few minutes, her eyes tracing the patterns on the deck again, searching for the strength to say whatever it was she wanted to say to him. Eventually, Jonathon’s guilt won over his patience. He cleared his throat and said, “I’m sorry, Cass.”

  Her distracted face turned confused as she looked up at him. “What? Why? Why are you sorry? You have no reason to be sorry, Captain. You did nothing wrong.”

  Jonathon smiled half-heartedly. “That’s kind of you to say, but we both know that’s not true. I made multiple mistakes tonight. In the end, you had to swoop in and rescue me from the blunder I made of it all.”

  She shook her head. “No, you showed pride in your beliefs and your ship. I would expect no less from you.”

  “Still,” Jonathon muttered, “all I had to do was play the role of a trader, and I couldn’t even do that.”

  “Your performance was fine,” she said. “You behaved like yourself, just as I asked you to. Truly, you did nothing wrong.”

  Jonathon stood up. “Cass, I appreciate your kindness, but you don’t have to lie to me about this. You asked me to play a part, I failed. There’s no arguing that. Now, not only do they know you’re a pirate, they think you’ve fallen in love with one too.”

  Jonathon must have looked as if he was going to storm off because Cass stood up quickly and placed her hands on his chest to stop him, the chair clattering on the deck behind her. “But I have,” she said quietly, her head unable to fight the pull of gravity.

  Jonathon’s heart skipped a beat as it split between his throat and stomach. He stood there, stunned. What had she said? She had? Had what? Fallen for a pirate? Surely not. He had known her for years, and in that time, he had never seen any inkling from her that their relationship was anything more than that of a captain and his quartermaster.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  He looked at her now. Her orange curls, which had been done up for dinner, were the only things she had freed since returning to the ship. They flowed gently down the exposed portion of her back. Her bare shoulders made Jonathon think back to the night in the jungle when he spied on her. He suddenly became even more intensely aware of how close she was to him. He felt her hands on his chest, her breasts pressed against him, the tickle of her hair, and the warmth of her breath on his chest. He felt the pressing of her thighs against his; felt how thin the dress she wore was. He had been near more than his fair share of women in the past, but he had never felt a heat like the one he was feeling now.

  He mentally shook his head. He had to get it together. She was vulnerable and scared after all that happened. She was probably worried about the repercussions of tonight like he was. He felt another pang of guilt as he realized she was probably worried that he was going to kick her off the ship for this. That’s why she came to talk to him and what she had meant when she had said she had fallen in love with a pirate–because she loved the crew and her job.

  After what seemed like an eternity of silence, he became aware of the fact that she was probably waiting for him to respond. He grabbed her shoulders, held her slightly away from him, and gave her a reassuring chuckle. “C’mon, Cass, you don’t have to say any of that. I know how much you love me and the crew. If you’re worried about what happened tonight, don’t be. You’re still a valuable member of this ship. I wouldn’t dream of getting rid of you, especially not over something silly like a blown cover in Brightstone. By the time we return here, the whole town will have forgotten about us…Well, maybe. Your name is big, but I doubt your parents would let it get out, so they probably won’t even say anything, y’know? You’ve got nothi–”

  She moved a step closer, closing back the gap Jonathon had put between them and interrupting his thoughts with the force of her gaze. Her eyes, usually sharp and discerning, were now softer, yet filled with an intensity that caught him off guard. He watched as she bit her lower lip, her breath catching slightly as she seemed to wrestle with the weight of her confession. Jonathon could feel his own breath becoming shallow, each inhale tinged with the faint scent of whatever perfume she wore–a mix of something floral and warm, like jasmine touched by sunlight.

  “Cass...” he began, but she placed a finger on his lips, silencing him gently. The warmth of her touch sent a shiver down his spine. He looked again at his quartermaster. She looked different. He had always seen her so guarded, but now, she was open and vulnerable. He could see it in her eyes, a quiet plea for him to understand without words.

  She leaned in closer, her forehead resting lightly against his chest. They stayed like that for a moment, wrapped in the quiet of the cabin, listening to the rhythmic lapping of the water against the hull. Jonathon felt the tension in his muscles ease slightly, his hand moving of its own accord to rest on her back. He could feel the rise and fall of her breathing, a steady rhythm that seemed to contradict his own erratic heartbeat.

  She pulled back just enough to look up at him, her eyes searching his, as if looking for something she wasn’t quite sure of. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Her eyes darted between his eyes and his mouth. He could tell she was searching for her train of thought. He had likely disrupted it by apologizing first. He waited, watching her green eyes run their circuit. He studied the freckles on her face, how they crossed her nose and made almost a perfect mirror image on either side of her cheeks. He caught himself stealing glances at her lips. This close to her, he was able to see how full they were–the natural curve of her lips drawing his eyes like a magnet, making his heart race again.

  “I’m here because I wanted to thank you,” she whispered, her voice a gentle murmur against the fabric of his shirt. “For everything. For seeing me for who I am and not who I was supposed to be. For treating me like I’m more than just my name, even if you didn’t know it.

  “And for tonight. When I came to you and asked you to pose as my fiancé, you didn’t bat an eye. When you had to pay for the expensive clothing and hairstyles, you covered the cost out of your own account and never complained about the inconvenience. You sat through that dinner and played the part of a man that I had fallen in love with, but all you did was be yourself, just like I had asked you to. Sure, the truth about you being a pirate came out, but I told you before dinner, the only part of our story that I was making up was your profession. As far as I’m concerned, you played your role perfectly, because a pirate is who you are, and a pirate is who I fell in love with.”

  She paused again as her eyes traced the features of his face. He could feel her pulse through her hands on his chest, a quickened beat that echoed his own.

  “I wanted to keep it to myself. Maintain the mask I’ve worn over these past years with you, but after tonight, I just couldn’t find the strength to put it back on…I didn’t want to. I meant what I said,” she continued, her voice firmer now, but still laced with that underlying vulnerability. “I love you. Not just as my captain. Not just as a friend. I love you, Jonathon, and I have for a long time.”

  Jonathon stared at her, her words sinking in slowly, like raindrops on parched earth. He could feel the sincerity behind them, the quiet resolve in her gaze. Suddenly, it all clicked into place. In that moment, he saw it all. Every shared glance, every fleeting touch over the years–things he had chalked up to camaraderie, to respect, to friendship. But there was always something more, simmering beneath the surface, waiting for the right moment to break free.

  Without thinking, he reached up, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered there, tracing the curve of her cheek, the softness of her skin against his calloused hands. Cass leaned into his touch, her eyes fluttering closed for a brief moment before meeting his again.

  Then, without another word, she closed the distance between them, her lips finding his in a kiss that was both tender and desperate. Jonathon felt a rush of warmth flood through him, his arms instinctively wrapping around her, pulling her closer as he deepened the kiss. It was like coming home, the taste of her familiar and new all at once, and for the first time in a long while, Jonathon let himself simply be—no walls, no masks, just him and Cass, in this moment.

  As they continued, her kissing grew deeper. He felt her tongue as his hands began to trace the form that was so well outlined by her dress. She pulled off his shirt as he loosened the nearly invisible straps on her shoulders. Her hands found the drawstring to his pants as his found the cinch at her waist. They both pulled down, and Jonathon was worried this would all be over before it even began. She pushed him back down on his bed, and he looked again at her naked form. What he had seen in the jungle seemed to pale in comparison to what he saw before him now.

  She continued kissing him as he sat on the bed and slowly began kissing downward until she reached her desired location. Jonathon’s world shifted as she began to pleasure him. He couldn’t believe how amazing she was. He started feeling lightheaded as a tingling began to form in his fingers and toes–his blood sucked to other areas of his body that seemingly needed it more.

  It wasn’t too long before he felt like he was going to explode, but he didn’t want to be done just yet, not even with just the first round. He grabbed her underneath her shoulders, pulled her face back up to his, and flipped her over so that she was now the one lying on the bed. Now, it was his turn.

  He moved his lips in close to hers, pausing just out of reach. He felt her shoulders arch as she lifted her head, attempting to meet his lips with her own. He pulled away just slow enough to stay out of reach and heard a slight moan escape her lips as her chase came up empty. Then he kissed her. He felt the grinding of her hips on his thigh intensify as they kissed. He felt the heat and wetness of her passion. As he broke away from her again, he lightly bit as he pulled her bottom lip with him. Again, he felt her body respond.

  He began kissing downward, his lips brushing lightly over the peak of her breast, a soft, lingering kiss that sent a shiver through her. He took his time, his tongue tracing delicate circles around her nipple, before finally capturing it between his lips. After he was satisfied, he slowly continued his path downward, leaving a trail of gentle kisses as he went.

  Finally, he reached his destination. He leaned in slowly, his breath warm against her skin as he teased her with the anticipation of his touch. He moved in carefully, being sure to brush her outside with just the tip of his lips before pulling away again, sending another shiver through her. Satisfied with her yearning, he allowed his mouth and tongue to find their target. The sensation was exquisite, his mouth moving with a tender yet deliberate rhythm that made her arch closer to him, every nerve ending alive with pleasure. He felt her hands on the back of his head and her thighs tighten around him as her moans grew louder and louder. The introduction of his finger sealed her fate. Her shivers turned to shudders as her body began to shake. He felt a tightening and loosening around his finger as her whole body tensed and released with pleasure, and she let out a long moan.

  Her hands fell to the side, and her thighs loosened their grip as her body fell back onto the bed, her breathing heavy and ragged, her body already covered with a light sheen of sweat, occasional convulsions hitting her form even after Jonathon had stopped.

  Jonathon brought his face back to hers. He wondered if that would be it for her and worried that maybe he should have finished as well, but then she opened her eyes and he knew their night was far from over.