But before I reach the doorway, his hand grabs my hair and snatches my body back against his. The pain kills the panic instantly but only heightens the rush of desire that hits me when my body crashes against his.
He leans down, and his dominance over me with his breath caressing the sensitive spot just under my earlobe sends heightened sensations of desire straight down there.
Dammit! My tits draw up taut and tight, and he sees how turned on I am.
His deep tone vibrates my eardrum as he softly speaks directly into my ear, “Where are the captain’s quarters?”
Dear lord, goosebumps break out all over. That shouldn’t sound so sexy, but it does. My mouth goes dry, and I can’t answer him, so I lift my arm and point the way.
He drags me by my hair down the hall to the captain’s quarters, then stops and pulls my face up to his.
Holy! Fuck! His eyes have changed! A warrior looks at me. Fierce, ferocious, and ready to fight. I tremble, truly terrified now. Not for myself. He has no intentions of killing me, or I would be dead, but for anyone who stands in his way. Killing is not an issue for him.
His breath blows hard against my face, stirring the tiny white hairs making me feel more alive than I have ever felt in my life, and as I search his eyes, I realize that the only way to survive is with him. For some reason, he has chosen me.
His amber eyes spit fire into mine as he whispers, “Stay on my six. I move. You move. You copy?”
I nod, inhaling a calming lung full of his sweet breath deep down inside, and I realize I want more with this man.
He releases me, then pushes the door open, flips the light on, and walks straight at the captain, who is standing in the doorway of his bathroom with a pistol pointed at my pirate’s chest.
OH. MY. GOD! I start to shake.
A low rumble emits from my man, and the captain threatens him. “I'll kill you!” But the pistol is shaking wildly, and I register why I was told to stay on my pirate's six and move when he moved. His body will block the bullet.
He growls, “You better get after it then, motherfucker.”
But the captain is too terrified to do it, and in six steps, my badass pirate snatches the weapon out of his hands. Then in one powerful movement, the pirate rears all the way back and swings with all six-foot-four-or-more, two-hundred-thirty-pounds-give-or-take and knocks the motherfucker over like a downed tree. The dead man literally bounces off the floor. He was hit so hard.
3
Gabriel
I grab Marie's wrist, intending to drag her with me back up to the deck. She didn't recognize me, and if we can reach the upper deck before the others see her, I will have another opportunity to save her. If she hadn't fainted, she would already be free, but she did.
I step around her and pull her arm, but she's frozen to the spot, staring at the captain.
"Is he dead?" She whispers.
"Negative. Unconscious." I pull gently again. "Come on."
But she doesn't move. Instead, she looks at me with an expression of wonder on her face. I've seen the look many times before. She's in shock.
"We're running out of time." I bend over and hoist her onto my shoulder again, then sprint up to the deck with her. I head straight to the opposite side from the dinghy. At the railing, I set her down as tell her, "Swim to the moon for as long as you can, then float. The tide will wash you ashore."
She stares at me, stunned. "You're letting me go?"
"Yes," I sigh. Why do girls talk so much? I take a step toward her, preparing to pick her up and throw her ass overboard myself. Then the sounds of scuffling and screams reach us, and she turns to look that way. I jerk her arm, and she looks back at me. The expression on her beautiful face is not terror but awe.
I don't know what the hell she's thinking, but she isn't moving fast enough.
“GO!"
Marie
The screams from the girls explode the conflicting emotions inside me. Both panic and passion clash as I look at the man choosing to save me.
I stare up at his handsome face, burning into my mind his wild, angry, desperate expression, and time stands still as it hits me. He is a good man in a bad situation.
Questions streak across my mind in the frozen moment.
How does a good man lose his way?
How does a good man go wrong?
I think about my brother and this man's warrior face. He spoke military lingo. 'Stay on my six,' and 'copy that.'
Is he suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder?
If Cash became lost in his own mind … if his demons haunted him, would someone save him if they could?
Can I help this man?
Then I realize I already have. That's why he's letting me go.
But why would he join a pirate crew?
He takes a threatening step toward me and breaks the spell.
I don't want to ever forget him. He's set me free from the survivor's guilt I was wallowing in, and now this nightmare situation. Only a genuinely honorable man would break his gang ties and risk his own life.
I launch myself on him, throwing my arms around his neck, and planting my lips on his. For a brief moment, he returns my kiss, and my god, he tastes like heaven!
Then he stiffens, grabs my bun again, and pulls me off. He opens his mouth and shouts for me to "GO, dammit, before it's too late."
I whisper, "Thank you. I will never forget you." Then I scramble over the railing to dive off.
Gabriel
Roberto yells behind me. "Bro, you need some help with that one?"
The look on Marie's face is sheer terror, and I cringe at the sound of his voice. "Negative. She's not going anywhere." I shout over my shoulder as I latch onto Marie's bun, halting her escape.
Pushing all kindness and compassion out of my mind, locking it away as SEALs are trained to do, there isn't anything I can do now but become the brutal barbarian to save us both. She fucked around, stole a kiss, and now, she's fucked herself out of her freedom. She should have just fucking jumped!
Roberto laughs as he approaches, enjoying the way I drag her by her hair back over the railing. "Control the head, and the body will follow," I tell him.
I know my grip is hurting her, but she has to realize the danger she has put us both in. Her hands claw at mine, trying to ease the pain, as tears spill down her cheeks and a whimper slips out of her mouth. The door I slammed, bangs, wanting to open.
Fuck me! I lift her off her feet until her toes are dangling, intending to brutally make her submit by kissing the ever-loving fuck out of her mouth. My other hand grips her throat and squeezes. But I'm careful not to cause her to lose consciousness. I press just enough to bruise her. Knowing the marks I leave will ensure she isn't sold until they heal. Buying time to sort out what to do.
But as soon as I kiss her, she willingly submits, and I lose myself in her softness and the sweetness of her taste. She parts her teeth, inviting me in, and when her tongue touches mine, my cock gets rock hard, growing in my speedo.
I hear Roberto chuckling as he walks away to give directions to the men bringing the drugged, unconscious bodies of the women we are stealing on deck.
My thumb strokes the soft skin of Marie's neck, and I feel the vibration as a soft moan in her throat. Her hands now gently hold on to mine, asking me to cherish her. The more I kiss her, the more I want her. Thrusting my tongue down her throat over and over again. Claiming her, I grab her ass, crushing her wanton body against mine.