Page 27 of Cursed By a Siren's Kiss

“I’m not sure how I’m supposed to help you if you aren’t going to tell me the problem. At this point, you might as well just kill me, which will kill you, so that we can both be free of this problem. It would probably save us both a lot of time.”

I sighed. She was right, of course, which only frustrated me more. “She gave me what I wanted. Power, fame, riches…” I let my words trail off as my gaze traveled the curves of her body. “…women.”

She laughed, giving a shake of her head as she tossed her hair over her shoulder. She leaned her back to the wall as she crossed her arms over her chest, drawing my attention to her cleavage. “Doesn’t sound like a very good curse if you get all that.”

“It is when nothing and no one can fill the growing dark hole inside of you. I am rich, powerful… I am the most known pirate in all the seas?—”

“—I’ve not heard of you,” she cut me off with a lazy wave of her hand.

I opened my mouth to retort but then just shook my head. “Apparently, I’m wrong. Not such a famous pirate then. That isn’t the point, though. Everything I achieve, the more I gained, I?—”

“—You were never satisfied,” she cut me off again.

“Are you just going to keep interrupting me?” I asked, a mixture of annoyance and amusement warring for control as I resisted the urge to twine my fingers through the strands of hair falling along her brow. It had been a long time since I’d beenwith a woman. I needed to remind myself she wasn’t entirely a woman.

“You sound incredibly whiny,” she replied.

I lost my line of thought as her words shocked me. “I sound whiny?”

She nodded. “I mean, why did you need that in the first place?”

She stood before me seeming completely human. Her brow quirking in curiosity as she pestered me with questions. Her chest rising and falling with her breath and her disbelief. It was a stark difference to the predator my crew had pulled from the sea not that long ago. She’d coiled her tail around her with her claws digging into the plank lifting her from the waters, an expression of pure hatred glaring at me with a look that suggested she wanted nothing more than to rip me and my crew to bloody shreds. Now, she stood next to me like a disgruntled teenager.

“For the most feared pirate in all the seas, you certainly don’t appear all that intimidating.” She looked me up and down, almost as I had done to her earlier, only she didn’t seem all that impressed by what she saw.

A pang of hurt flickered within my darkened heart before I laughed. “We can’t all be perfect specimens like yourself. Some of us are just mere mortals.”

She turned her back to me, her fingers working the last shards of glass from the window and tossing them into the water below. “Please, I’ve seen sea slugs with more charm,” she said, but I didn’t miss the grin she fought to conceal.

I sucked a breath in between my teeth as I leaned onto the surface of my desk, not giving the maps or papers strewn about the surface a second thought. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d enjoyed anything, and this back-and-forth game between us was invigorating. “And I’ve seen manatees more graceful than you on land.”

She snapped around, her eyes narrowing as if she had something to prove. “You didn’t see me long enough on land to know,” she spat, crossing her arms over her chest.

I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. I stalked forward, navigating her body away from the broken window with my hand on the curve of her hip. She stepped back as the ship rocked beneath us, causing her to stumble, still not entirely used to her legs on a rocking ship. My hands reached out, quickly catching her before she could fall, my arms wrapping around her as the ship jostled us both. I held her flush to my chest, and heat ignited between us both, undeniable. She steadied herself, her breath just inches from mine.

“I find myself wanting to know why a man would lose his heart for just one kiss of those luscious lips,” I murmured, my gaze flicking from her aquamarine irises to her lips.

Her hands pressed against my chest, pushing me from her with surprising strength. The heat had melted, replaced with wrath as tension radiated from her and filled the room between us. “I’d sooner kiss a shark than you.” She shuddered at the threat. “And I hate sharks so that should tell you something.”

I took a step back, giving her room to breathe. I felt drawn to her, and I couldn’t shake it. Again, the thought that she’d spelled me crossed my mind, except she seemed annoyed with my words and advances so why would she do such a thing? What was this between us. I backed up several more steps because the closer I stood to her, the more I realized she was like a prize to be won. My prize. Mine.

“Gods,” I said, turning from her and moving toward the door of the cabin. My fingers tugged at my hair. “You’re like an enigma that will haunt even my dreams.”

It was the darkness, that wickedness in me that needed to control her. Needed her to want to be mine. It was her lyricalvoice and the pull of the siren. I had to get a hold of myself, needed to control it.

She chuckled. “Nothing haunts your dreams but rum and treasure, I’m sure.”

The bantering shook me from my possessive thoughts, and I let my hands fall to my sides as I faced her again. “You know,” I said, the playful atmosphere back in the room with us. “In the right light, and with enough rum, you could almost look like a chest of gold and jewels.”

“And you look like a Kraken, and I don’t need to be drunk on drink to see it either,” she retorted with a hiss. She snapped her teeth as if to bite me.

Fisting my hand over my mouth, I yawned as I kicked off my boots. “It’s been a long, eventful day. Let’s get some sleep and I’ll introduce you to the crew in the morning.”

Crossing the room, I sat on the edge of the bed as I lifted my shirt over my head, baring my chest as I lay back on the mattress. The evening air drifted in through the broken window, a chill rising in the air that did nothing to cool the heat of my veins as I watched her.

“And my room and bed are?” she asked, frozen in place next to the bed.

I patted the bed next to me, a wicked grin lifting my lip and dimpling my cheek. “This is your room, and this is your bed.”

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