The Pirate (4 page)

“You didn't. I just wanted to make sure you knew that men can control their tempers,” Hamm said.

“I've never been in a situation like this,” she said.

“Why are you here?” he asked. “Pardon me for asking but this seems about out of your milieu.”

She smiled at the way he said it. He was trying to be polite but being here wasn't her thing. Serving on the board for Doctors Across Waters—that was her thing. Traveling across the world on a tanker…that was not like her.

But she'd changed. Been forced to realize that her life wasn't on one set path. She had choices. And she'd made this one because she was tired of always wanting to make a difference in lives but never leaving her practice or her office.

She wanted to be an adventurous person, she thought. Part of it was because of Paul and the way her marriage had ended, but a bigger part had been when her youngest son Lucas had declined to go on a scouting trip because he didn't want to risk being out of the city.

She realized her reluctance to face her own fears had been passed on to her boys. And she wanted—no, needed—to be a positive influence on them. They were the one thing she was proud to say came from her marriage.

“I needed a change,” she said. “This is a bit more adventurous then I originally anticipated. But being out here on sea has been interesting.”

“In what way?” he asked.

“Just seeing the way the crew and the captain interact. Have you known the captain for long?” she asked. She really wanted to know if Laz was a man she could trust. Every instinct she had said she could, but her instincts weren't always on target when it came to men.

“For a while.”

“Do you trust him?” she asked.

“With my life,” Hamm said. “Why do you ask?”

She shrugged. Now what was she going to say, that she'd seen the captain on deck last night doing something suspicious? That would make her sound…silly.

“We're all depending on him to get us safely through these waters. The attacks on ships in this area have been up and naturally I'm concerned.”

Hamm nodded. “Laz will deliver you to your destinations. He's reliable and dependable.”

“Ah, Hamm, you're making me sound like a Boy Scout,” Laz drawled from the doorway.

“You are,” Hamm said.

Daphne hated the way her pulse speeded up just because Laz had entered the room.

“How's Renault?”

“Good. The cuts were superficial. I bandaged them and he's fine now.”

“Back at work?” Laz asked Hamm.

“Yeah. How's Fridjtof?”

“Cooling off some. He's edgy. I was hoping you could keep an eye on him,” Laz said.

Daphne cleaned up the papers from the bandages and tried to look busy. There was no need for her to stay, except she didn't want to have to try to squeeze by Laz to get out of the room.

“No problem. Do you need anything else?”

“Yes, but we can discuss it later.”

Hamm nodded.

“Thanks for your help, Daphne. If you hadn't been here—”

“You would have handled it fine. This wasn't a real medical emergency,” she said.

“No, it wasn't, but it's always nice to have an expert around,” Hamm said, as he walked out the door.

Daphne started to follow him but Laz stopped her with his hand on her arm.

“There is something I'm dying to know,” he said.

“What?”

“How your lips feel under mine,” he said, lowering his head and brushing his lips over hers.

She surrendered completely to the embrace. The doubts she had about Laz were slowly melting away. Though she knew her instincts had been wrong before when it came to trusting a man, this time she thought that maybe she'd found a man she could rely on.

She realized as he tunneled his hands through her hair and tipped her head backward to give him greater access to her mouth that whether this was wise or foolish she didn't want to miss out on a moment of this experience with Laz.

He was exactly what she needed.

And for once she knew what she wanted. It had been a long time since she'd felt this decisive. She wanted to experience everything she could with this strong, sexy, mysterious man. She wasn't about to let him slip through her fingers.

She wrapped her own arms around his lean waist and leaned up into the kiss. His tongue felt smooth and tasted wonderful against hers. She forgot to breathe, forgot everything except the feel of his hands on her body.

She'd never felt an enflaming attraction like this before. It wiped out all her other thoughts. All she wanted—no, needed—was to get closer to Laz.

She slid her hands down his back and cupped his firm butt, pulling him closer to her. She rocked her center over the side of his hard-on. A moan escaped her.

“Damn, Daph, you are one sexy woman,” he said, his voice gruff with passion.

Ten minutes ago she would have argued that she wasn't sexy. That she was just a nice girl. A girl-next-door-kind-of-girl. But in his arms she felt like the most beautiful woman in the world.

She was the sexiest of creatures, and she knew she could tempt him. And that was a very powerful feeling.

“Yes, I am,” she said, with a half-smile.

Laz pulled her back into the first-aid room and closed the door. He lifted her up on the exam desk and then stepped forward between her legs.

Daphne reached for him, drawing him even closer, wrapping her arms around his lean waist, and resting her head on his chest.

She took comfort from this man. From the way he moved and the way he wanted her. He made her feel like she wasn't just a divorced woman with stretch marks, but as sexy to him as a Victoria's Secret cover model. It was a heady feeling and she was almost drunk from the sensation.

She wanted Laz. The sea captain that she wasn't sure she trusted. But that was her mind talking. Her body knew that he could be trusted to bring her pleasure. To make her feel like she was a woman again.

He could bring back the feelings she'd lost two years ago when the words “another woman” had left her husband's mouth—the words that had stripped away the very heart of who she was and how she thought of herself as a woman.

She lifted her head and saw him looking down at her. There was desire, lust, and passion in his gaze, and she shook from the power those feelings evoked in her.

She reached down and drew him even closer to her, afraid that he'd change his mind; she didn't want to take a chance on that.

L
az didn't question his instincts. This time they were telling him that everything he wanted and needed was here in his arms. Daphne felt so damned right. Later he might find that she regretted this moment, but right now, he knew she didn't.

Her taste was addicting; he couldn't get enough of her mouth. Her lips were wide and full and when he kissed her, he felt consumed by her. His blood flowed heavier in his veins and his cock hardened against the front of his pants.

She rested her head against his chest right over his heart and he ran his hands up and down her back, wondering briefly if he should slow this down. Was it too soon for Daphne to be intimate with him? But then she tipped her head up and twined her arms around his neck, drawing his mouth back to hers.

She arched her back and he felt the brush of her breasts against his chest. The skimpy running top she wore was little barrier between them. He loved the feel of her body against his.

He traced his forefinger over the neckline, feeling the residue of sweat on her skin. She was so earthy and sensual. He had sensed there was more to Daphne than the woman she presented to the world.

And having her in his arms showed him that he had been right. Every touch of her mouth against his, his hands against her body, and her breasts against his chest just inflamed him more.

He pulled her top up and felt the bare skin of her back. She was so delicately built. He stroked his finger down the line of her spine. She arched against him again as he again drew his fingernail down her spine. She shivered and pulled her mouth from his. “That feels…”

“Good?” he asked, speaking into her ear.

“Ooh, yes!” she said.

She reached for the hem of his T-shirt and drew it up over his body. He pulled back from her so she didn't discover the gun he had tucked into his jeans at the small of his back. He pulled her hands around to his front so that she could touch his chest.

Then he pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it on the floor next to them. She wore a plain white bra underneath her T-shirt. There was a ring of sweat around her nipples, and for some reason seeing that mark made him groan.

He unclasped her bra and drew it down her arms, exposing her breasts to his gaze. He leaned down and sucked her right nipple into his mouth. She gasped as his lips closed around her flesh.

She tasted of sweat and woman. The scents of her, the tastes of her were intoxicating and went straight to his head.

He cupped her other breast in his hand, rotating his palm over her skin, stimulating the nipple. He felt her hands on his shoulders and then in his hair. He liked the feel of her clutching at him. Felt the rise of her passion as she held him more tightly.

Daphne loved the feel of his stubbled jaw against her skin. She'd never felt so alive. For the first time she was making love to a man and not thinking about errands that had to be run or chores that still needed doing. She wasn't sure if it was the fact that her life wasn't just routine anymore or if it was this man.

His touch was electric and for the first time in ages she felt truly alive, not like she'd become zombie mom and woman. So disconnected from being alive until this moment when Laz kissed her.

His lips on her breasts made her feel voluptuous though she wasn't near that. Every inch of skin was sensitized and she couldn't help moving against him. She wanted to feel his naked chest against hers. She wanted his large hands skimming over her body.

She put her hands on his back, hating the T-shirt that was in her way; she tunneled her fingers under the cloth to touch his bare skin.

She felt rippled flesh on his back—scarring—and she wondered what it was from. Her experienced fingers were telling her it was a burn mark. She wanted to ask him more questions about it but right now all she could think about was the pulsing ache in her center and how good his mouth felt on her nipple.

He pulled back to look at her. His eyes were glazed over with desire and his mouth looked full and so damned tempting. She leaned up to kiss him and he bent to take her mouth. She tipped her head back as he plundered it. She felt completely conquered by him and enjoyed every second of it.

The tepid air in the room stimulated her breasts as the moisture from his mouth dried on her. She closed her eyes because the feelings were too intense. She shouldn't be feeling like this, not with a man who was for all intents and purposes a stranger, yet he was exactly the man she needed.

Laz felt familiar enough that she was comfortable with his arms around her. His hands slid down her back and into the waistband of her running shorts. She felt his fingers sprawled on the full globes of her ass.

“Damn, Daphne, why did you have to come into my life now?”

She shook her head. “Do you want me to leave?”

“Hell, no,” he said. “I want you naked.”

The sounds of crewmen on deck outside reached the first-aid room and she felt scandalized at what she was doing. Not enough to stop, though.

“I want you naked too,” she said.

“Not yet.”

He traced his finger over her lips. The touch made them tingle and she wasn't sure what else she could do except suck the tip of his finger into her mouth and run her tongue around it.

He groaned her name and that was exactly what she needed to hear to know she wasn't alone in a one-sided passion. Despite the fact that she was the topless one, Laz was just as vulnerable as her.

His desire for her was a powerful aphrodisiac. She pulled his finger from her mouth and put it in his own, then traced circles around both of her nipples with his damp finger. She shivered. She'd never wanted a man more than she wanted him.

She needed to touch him and reached for his shirt again. But he shook his head.

“Put your hands behind you and lean back,” he said.

She shook her head but he leaned down and took her mouth with his. Rubbing his lips over hers until she forgot why she hadn't wanted to give in to him.

The passion he called forth so effortlessly in her was drawing her down a path that promised pleasure. He took her wrists in his hands and brought them together behind her back. Placing her palms on the flat surface of the desk, he then skimmed his hands up her arms to her shoulders.

Every touch of his big rough palms on her skin made her squirm. She ached in her center. She was creamy and pulsing and needed his cock inside her and she needed it now.

This was nothing at all like the polite couplings she'd had in the past. This was full-on lust and passion and it was overwhelming her, especially when Laz put his hand between her legs and rotated his palm against her mound. She clamped her legs on his hand but he still managed to move it.

His other hand was on her breast, pinching her nipple and driving her out of her mind. “Laz…”

He leaned down and took her mouth. His tongue slid over hers, sucking her bottom lip into his mouth before biting it. She felt so vulnerable with her hands behind her back but she couldn't move. He had leaned over her and she had to use her own arms to keep from falling back on the desk.

Finally he wrapped one arm around her and she lifted herself into his chest. He felt…so damned good, she thought. He stepped closer until she felt his cock at the center of her aching pussy. She rotated her hips against him.

It had been so long since she'd had an orgasm it wasn't going to take much to send her over the edge. But she wanted…hell, she wanted Laz.

Now.

She clung to his shoulders with one arm and caressed his chest with her other hand. She slipped it on a path straight down his body until she found his cock waiting. He strained against her fingers. His hips jerked as she stroked him through his clothing.

She struggled to unbutton the fastening of his jeans and moaned out loud when his cock finally came free. He continued to toy with her mouth, sucking and biting gently until she thought of nothing else but the final penetration from him.

She needed his hot hard length inside her. She slowly lowered his zipper and found that he wore briefs. She stroked her finger around the tip of his penis, knowing from experience that the area was very sensitive.

He pulled his mouth from hers and moved his hands between their bodies. He freed his cock. She wrapped both hands around him. He was hot and silky smooth and as she stroked her hands over his erection she felt a drip of pre-cum on the tip.

She rubbed her finger over it, smoothing it into his cock. Rubbing one hand down his length, she reached even lower to cup his ball sack with her other hand. She liked the feel of his balls in her hands as she let her fingers roll them.

He groaned her name and it was like nothing she'd heard before.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her off the desk just high enough so he could pull her shorts and underwear down her legs. They got stuck at her knees but Laz didn't seem to care. He just shoved his cock up tight against her pussy.

“Damn it, woman, I have got to get inside you,” he said.

“Yes,” she said, not objecting at all. She just wanted her pants all the way off so she could wrap her legs around him.

She shifted her legs but it was hard to get the shorts to move.

“What are you doing?”

“My shorts…take them off so I can put my legs around you,” she said.

He pushed them down and then stepped back between her legs. The feel of the tip of his naked cock at her entrance made her realize she knew little about this man. “Are you clean?”

“Hell, yes. You?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Protection?” he asked.

“Birth control.”

“Sweet Daphne, can I come inside your body?” he asked.

She looked up into his sea-colored eyes and nodded. But then she didn't want to be passive about this. She needed to live her life full-on.

She lifted herself up and took his mouth with hers, plunging her tongue deep inside. The tip of his cock stayed right at her entrance and then she bit his lower lip before meeting his gaze.

“Yes, Laz…come inside me.”

He slipped the tip of his cock inside her slowly. Drawing out the moment when he'd drive himself home. She shifted, trying to make him take her faster, but he wouldn't be hurried no matter how she gyrated her hips or grasped his buttocks.

Laz took his time with her and she then realized how much she needed that. She didn't want a hurried coupling with this man. She wanted to experience everything she could. Lord knew this might be the only time she held him like this.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and lifted her hips toward his. She shifted until she was able to gain another inch of his shaft inside her.

“Do you want all of my cock?” he asked.

“Yessss,” she hissed.

He slid home in one long driving thrust and she felt him deep inside her. It was almost too much as she felt her body tighten and her orgasm washed over her. Laz kept thrusting, which made the orgasm keep on spasming.

She grabbed the back of his head and lifted her body again, needing to feel his mouth against hers, but he turned his head at the last second and she felt the brush of his stubble against her cheek.

There was no pretending she was with another man. She knew that it was Laz who was taking her, and she loved every second of it.

It was hot and earthy and everything that she'd never been before. She rubbed her hands through his hair, wishing it was longer so she could tunnel through it.

She loved the powerful feeling of his hips driving between her legs. He suckled her neck right at her pulse point. She knew he had to feel the staccato beating of her heart.

Daphne felt his heart racing under her own fingers when she touched his neck. His neck muscles strained as he swiveled his hips.

“Come for me again,” he said.

She did. Just like that. Just hearing the rough, sensual timbre of his voice drove her over the edge.

She dug her heels into the back of his thighs and lifted herself higher on his cock, grinding her clit against the lean hard muscles of his lower stomach.

Laz bent her legs back toward her body, exposing her even further as he thrust into her. His hips hammered faster and faster, and as he leaned over her, he took her right nipple into his mouth, sucking her deeply as he came. She felt the warm jetting of his cum inside her as she tightened around him one more time. Her third orgasm.

He fell heavily against her and she just lay sprawled beneath him. He licked her nipple as he lifted his head and then kissed both breasts before looking down at her. Bracing himself on his arms above her, he leaned down and kissed her mouth.

This kiss was as tender as the earlier ones had been passionate. “Daphne.”

“Laz…what is your first name?” she asked.

“J.P. Jean-Pierre after both of my granddaddies,” he said.

“Jean-Pierre. I like it,” she said, “It suits you.”

“You suit me. Thank you, Daphne.”

Tipping her head to the side she looked up at him in question.

“For reminding what the good life feels like,” he said.

That made no sense but he gave her no chance to ask any questions. “I'm going to need to clean up and get you cleaned up.”

He pulled out of her body and she realized just how vulnerable she really was as she lay there completely naked when all that he'd bared was his penis. It had shriveled, and as he turned toward the sink she realized she wasn't ready for him to leave but there was no way she was going to ask him to stay with her.

She sat up and was about to hop off the table when he came back with a wet cloth in hand. “Lay back.”

She hesitated but there was something soft in his eyes, something she'd never seen in him before, so she did what he asked. He gently wiped between her legs, cleaning away all the residue from his semen.

“You are a beautiful woman,” he said.

“Not really,” she said. She looked in the mirror every day and though she wasn't a dog, she knew “beauty” wasn't a term that anyone would use to describe her.