Page 45 of Paid to the Pirate

Itwasn’tshallow; I had misjudged. My feet scrambled, toes just scraping the seabed if I sunk a bit, but not enough for me to keep my head above water. Thrashing and shouting, I felt Colt’s solid arms wrap around me.

“What are you doing?” he cried, brow knit with confusion.

“I thought it was shallow,” I sputtered, coughing up water. “I can’t swim.”

“You can’t-” He froze and then threw his head back, laughing heartily. “No, a lady wouldn’t know how to swim, would she?” Colt pulled me close. “Hold onto me.”

I already was. My hands loosely clutched his shoulders, but at the offer I held on tighter. Curiously though, my legs kicked languidly, as if muscle memory took hold. As if theydidknow the sea.

It was probably true. How could I still cling to foolish hope when so much evidence to the contrary existed?I’d been aboard a pirate ship, and thus, it was likely I had known how to swim.

But certainly never like this. Naked. With Colt.

“No, tighter,” he said, voice low and husky. “Wrap your arms and legs around me. I want those wet breasts pressed against my chest.”

I snapped my eyes up to his, shaking my head.

“Do it or I’ll let you drown.”

Gritting my teeth, I kicked my legs up around his waist and encircled his neck with my arms. But it wasn’t enough. Colt pressed me firmly against him and I squealed. I couldfeelhis sizable hardness beneath my rear.

Too big. Too long. Lurking beneath the water like a bloody sea monster.My breath quickened at my own dirty imagination.

“Do you know what I’m picturing, Lady Charlotte?” he teased in my ear. “Your cunt. I can picture it any time I want. It’s spread wide open right now, isn’t it? Unprotected. At my mercy.”

His words made me whimper.Monster was accurate.

“Hold on tight. If you let go, all I have to do is bob you down… just a little… and slide you right onto my cock.”

Retreating into the safety of manners, I spat, “Your speech is filthy. Unbefitting a captain.”

Colt grinned. “Befitting a pirate captain, I’d say. And how would you know? How many of those have you met in your pampered life,my lady?”

“One too many,” I countered.

Colt barked a laugh, sharp white canines poking out.

“Kiss me,” he commanded suddenly, and my heart skipped a beat. After my first night on the ship, he’d never ordered me to kiss him. He’d forced unimaginably lewd activities on me, but never a kiss.

I pulled my head back in refusal.

Colt immediately loosened his hold around my waist -- a threat to let me drown. I instantly clung to him harder.

“Shall I peel your arms from around my neck?” he taunted. “I’ll do it unless you kiss me.”

“The only way you can ever inspire a lady to kiss you is by threatening her life,” I snapped.

Colt slowly tilted his head to the side as he gazed at me with those impossibly black eyes. The act, though minor, held such menace. It was animalistic, predatory.

“Now that’s not true at all. I know another method toinspireyour kiss. Shall I try that, instead?”

In case I had any doubt as to his intent, Colt’s hands shifted, cupping my bottom and squeezing. He raised one arrogant brow at my accompanying squeak.

Quickly, before his hands progressed, I turned my face to his and relaxed my mouth, preparing for him devour to it. Better my mouth than… other places. Even if those places were oddly screaming for attention.His.

Colt the Cruel.It was far crueler to make me participate in my own shaming at his hands.

His eyes lowered as he brought his lips to mine, tongue sweeping boldly inside my passive mouth. Colt’s fingers tightened on the flesh of my rear, but all I could do was squeak again, a sound swallowed by his kiss.

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