Page 16 of A Descent Into Darkness

“James.” She shook her head no.

“You have bewitched me and stolen my heart. There is no other explanation. I’d rather die than deny myself your affections. I love you in ways that words can not convey.”

“I love you too,” she whispered the words, as if speaking them quietly would somehow negate the power of them.

“My sweet Katherine.” I stepped closer closing the gap between us. I could feel her breathing becoming heavy. “I have waited years to hear you say those words. Say them again, so that I might lock them deep with in my soul, neverto be forgotten.” I pushed her hair away from her face and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“I love you,” she said with conviction, locking my heart in her grasp.

I pulled her face towards mine and sealed her lips with a righteous kiss. The world around me stopped spinning, and time stood still. Her mouth was the sweetest sin, and I was awash in her confession. She hesitated for only a moment before returning my affections. Pushing back into me with a fierce passion.

I nibbled at her ear, drawing out little sighs from her before bathing her neck in kisses. She smelled of frankincense, amber, and vanilla. Intoxicating my already heightened senses.

“But, I belong to another,” she panted. Threatening to break the spell and sully the moment. I wouldn’t have it. I finally had her to myself.

“Shhh, don’t speak of him. Not now. In this moment—right here, right now—you are mine,” I growled in her ear, claiming her. My hands began to roam over her silk-covered curves. “I’ve longed for you,” I confessed. “I’ve fantasized about this moment for years. Of touching you like this.” My fingers dipped below her bodice, finding her nipple.

“I’ve dreamt of your kisses,” she whispered. “Your caress.”

Her words sent me over the edge. I growled and ripped open the bodice of her dress, exposing her perfect breasts. “You are perfection embodied.” I grabbed them both in my hands, gently squeezing.

Soft moans escaped her pretty mouth as I circled her pert nipple with my fingers before sucking it into my mouth. Flicking the peak with my tongue.

“Please,” she begged between breaths, lifting her leg to my hip and grinding against my now throbbing cock. “I need you.”

I slid my hands up her leg, hesitating at her garter for a brief moment before finding her core dripping with desire. She was ripe with need, and it pulled a growl of approval from my throat. “Mine.”

She purred with pleasure as I swept my fingers through her wetness, gently circling her clit. “Tell me to stop, Katherine, because I won’t be able to deny myself. I will break my vow right now and never look back.”

“James,” she cried out my name in pleasure. As I plunged a finger deep with in her core. “Stop.” The word was clear. I wrestled with the desire to push her further and pulled away, putting space between us.

I slid my finger in to my mouth. Closing my eyes and savoring the sweet tang of her honey. She was forbidden fruit, and she tasted of ambrosia. I held her eyes in a predatory gaze. “You better run, my little kitty Kat. The dam has breached, and I won’t be able to hold back.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered as the tears threatened to spill again. “He’ll kill us both.”

“I won’t give you up. Not now. Not when I know you love me.” I stepped closer, closing the gap.

“Please, James, I can’t.” She pulled her tattered dress up over her breasts, struggling to cover herself.

I wouldn’t force her. Not like he did. Fuck! This woman really was my demise. I ripped the dirty sheet off the bed, thrusting it towards her cowering frame. “Cloak yourself. Go straight back to the ship, Katherine. Stop for no one.”

Her face paled with anxiety. “What if he finds me in the streets?”

“Let me handle Teach. Now, go before I lose all control and take you here and now.”

She turned to look back at me one last time before running out the door.

My world had been turned upside down and all I managed to do was fuel the ever-growing pressure in my cock. I had to do something, or I was going to explode. I pulled my cock out of my breeches, closed my eyes, and began to stroke myself. I could still taste her on my tongue. Feel her slick folds on my fingers. Within a matter of moments, years of pent up tension were spilling down my shaft. I'd had a taste and now I wanted more. I wouldn’t stop until she was mine.

I had to get back to the ship. Figure out what to do next. I leftThe Gilded Fillywith a smile on my face and a spring in my step. For once, things were going in my favor.

My fingers dug into the splintered wood of the railing. Land was approaching. I could smell it rolling in off the mist and I counted down the moments until I could get off this ship. We’d been at sea for far too long. There was a time when I had found freedom on the open ocean. But over the last few months, the ship had become suffocating, a prison of my own making. Paranoia consumed me. It tainted every stolen moment I had with Kat.

I couldn’t stay away from her. She was my drug of choice, and I was her helpless addict. It didn't matterthat Teach would gut both of us if he ever found out. Now that I knew she felt the same, my desire for her had only intensified. It burned me from within, a charred ember in my chest. A constant reminder of her. But I needed some space. Some time to clear my head before my neurosis gave me away. We had made a vow to each other. We would wait until Katherine was no longer enslaved to Teach to be intimate. Sex would only make keeping our secret harder. Once she was mine, I wouldn’t be able to look the other way. I wouldn’t share her.

I felt his presence long before his hand landed solidly on my shoulder. My mind instantly began to race. Did he know? Was I already a dead man walking? Now I scrutinized even the simplest gestures from the man.

“Will you tell me now where we are headed,Blackbeard?” I asked, exaggerating the new moniker he’d earned for himself. Teach chuckled as he stroked his now infamous beard.

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