Page 142 of The Sky Pirate's Stowaway
He must’ve sensed my emotional state because his arms tightened around me. “I don’t want you to go.”
How the hellfire could I possibly walk away from this? From Max? How could I even think about leaving him?
I couldn’t do it. There was no way I could live a life without my pirate first mate—my piratecaptain—in my life. No way inhellfire. I cared about him far too much. I… I loved him. More than words could say.
But Max still deserved to hear them.
Leaning back, I cupped his face, making sure his gaze met mine. “I love you, Max. I love you so much.” I planted a soft kiss on his lips.
His eyes widened in surprise before his lips slowly curved into a beautiful smile. “I… I love you too, Kas. And those aren’t words I ever expected to say again. You flew into my life like a hurricane, charting a course straight for my heart.” Max lifted my chin, stroking across my jaw with his thumb. “I will treasure our time together for the rest of my life.”
I stared into his eyes, taking in everything he was giving me. All the love, the affection, the care, the warmth. I soaked it in, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was where I belonged. I belonged here, with this man.
He was my safe harbor, and there was no way I could ever leave him. Not and be sane afterward.
“I don’t want to leave. I-I can’t… I want to stay with you, here on this ship.” I stared into his dark brown eyes, which held such sadness… and a sprinkle of hope. With a more definitive voice, I said, “I’m going to stay… if you’ll have me?”
He inhaled sharply. “You really want to stay?”
“Of course I do.” I caught his gaze, making sure he could see the truth in my eyes. “You’re my home, Maximus Blackwood. I don’t want to be anywhere you’re not. I want to spend the rest of my life flying with you on this airship, taking us wherever the wind blows. I don’t care where we are or what we’re doing, as long as I’m with you. As long as you’ll have me, I’ll be by your side. Always.”
His eyes met mine, and the hope I saw in them grew. “You’re going to be okay being a pirate?”
I nodded. “I’m already a pirate. This life isn’t so bad.” I gave him a tired wink. My energy was fading fast, but I needed him to know how serious I was. “Like I said, wherever you are, that’s where I wanna be.”
“I want that too.” His voice was barely above a whisper, almost as if he was afraid if he spoke about this out loud, it wouldn’t come true. “What about your family?”
I took a breath. “I’ll just have to find a way to arrange passage on a ship, and once they’re set up somewhere nice in Asteris, I’ll send them part of my spoils.” It was going to be hard being separated from them, but I knew they’d want me to be happy.
“You’ll be able to visit them anytime we make port in Gearhart.”
That made me smile. “Yeah… yeah, that’ll be great.”
His eyes searched mine for a long moment. “You’re really staying?”
I nodded, a slow smile spreading over my face. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m not going anywhere.”
Whatever he’d been searching for, he must’ve found because he grinned, wide and beautiful. “I love you, Kas.”
“I love you too.” I pecked his lips. “Now put me to bed so we can sleep.”
He let out a small laugh and kissed my forehead. “Anything you want.”
“Mm. Well, what I really want is you naked and inside me,buuuutI don’t have the energy for that yet. So sleep, and then you naked.”
He laughed again, and the sound was freer than I’d ever heard from him, and it warmed my heart further. “I like that plan.”
He carefully set me on the bed on my side, and I held in the flinch that wanted to come from the movement. Now that my adrenaline was fading, the pain was more prominent in mymind. My body wasnothappy about the movement or my sitting up for so long.
Max lay beside me, covered us with a blanket, and gently pulled me into his arms. I snuggled into his chest and held onto him tight, content in the knowledge that this wasn’t going to end. That this was only the beginning of our lives together.
I’d found the love of my life, and I planned on keeping him. Forever.
Things on the ship had been very, very different for the past three days.
Less tension, less fear, and definitely a lot more laughter.
Despite the fact that most of the crew was scared of Max, of the Reaper, it seemed that everyone knew he was a reasonable leader. They weren’t afraid of being chucked off the side of the ship for a simple mistake or because they smiled too widely in front of Viper and he was in one of his moods.
