Authors: Tawna Fenske
“Something wrong?” Alex asked. He was watching her as he readjusted his pillow.
Juli shrugged. “I was just hoping maybe you could tell me more about your pirate mission. About who you are and what you’re all doing out here.”
“No. Anything else?”
She watched him for a moment longer, her guilt mounting as he kicked viciously at the blanket and tried to twist his legs into the small space.
“Are you sure you’re comfortable there?” she asked. “Because if you want—”
“I could sleep with you?”
Juli sucked in a breath.
Then choked on her own spit.
Classy
.
When she finally stopped coughing, Alex was grinning at her.
“Believe me, I’d like nothing more than to climb into bed with you, but it’s a terrible idea,” he said. “Isn’t that the romance cliché? Boy meets girl, some mix-up requires them to share a room, they end up in bed together, and—”
“You can stop there,” Juli said, feeling her face grow warm. “And I’ve never read a romance novel where the hero and heroine fake marriage three minutes after meeting, then almost sleep together, then the heroine has an allergic reaction and stows away on the hero’s ship, then she finds out he’s a pirate, then—”
“You forgot the part about the heroine being a famous genius,” Alex said with a smirk. “I like that part.”
Juli gritted her teeth, feeling her ears grow warm. “I don’t.”
He watched her in silence for a moment, his expression going from smug to thoughtful. “You really hate talking about this?”
She crossed one arm over her chest and touched her ear with the fingertips of the other hand. “What tipped you off?”
He smiled, and Juli realized it wasn’t just her ears flaming anymore. Every part of her body felt warm all of a sudden. She tried to tell herself it was anger or embarrassment, but she knew it wasn’t just that. Alex was standing so close, and her fingertips recalled every detail of what his chest felt like beneath them.
“Sorry,” he said, sounding like he meant it. “I’ll drop it, okay? I didn’t realize the genius thing was such a touchy subject.”
“It’s fine,” she said. She hugged her arms around herself, softening in spite of her annoyance. “It’s just—I’m tired of always being different, you know?”
“No,” he said. “I really don’t. That’s your whole charm. You’re different as hell—in a good way.”
Juli bit her lip and tried to think of a response that didn’t make her sound more pathetic.
She couldn’t come up with anything.
“Anyway,” he continued, “back to the romance cliché. Just so you know, I’m not diving in to save you if you do happen to fall overboard, so don’t get any ideas.”
“This is
so
not a romance cliché,” Juli said, stomping away and flopping back on the bed. She jerked at the covers, tugging them loose from the foot of the bed as she pulled them up to her chin.
Dammit, the lamp
. She sat back up, struggling to find the switch and then flicking the light off and dropping back onto the bed. She gave her pillow a few violent jabs, trying to get comfortable.
Alex was silent for less than ten seconds. “What is that you’re wearing?”
Juli turned and looked at him in the darkness. “I thought you were going to sleep.”
“I was. But then you started jiggling around under there and I woke up.”
“You’re rude. Even for a pirate.”
“Is it silk?”
“No. It is not silk. It’s probably nylon or polyester or something.”
“Very slippery. Fits well. Victoria’s Secret?”
“Are we going to sleep now?”
“Good night.”
Juli sighed and lay back against her pillow. The sound of Alex breathing a few feet away was soothing. The feel of the water sloshing beneath the boat had even become comforting—not terror-inducing like it had been before.
So what was the problem? She sure as hell wasn’t feeling very relaxed. Every nerve ending she owned was sizzling under the surface of her skin.
Juli turned over on her side and stared at the eggplant again.
“Can’t sleep?” Alex asked.
Juli glanced at the travel clock on her bedside table. “It’s been two minutes.”
“Because I can’t sleep. And I was thinking.”
“This should be good.”
“What are the odds that we’d
just happen
to meet up in a bar, the night before you
just happen
to end up on my boat, which we don’t discover until it
just happens
to be too late to take you back?”
“Are we still on the romance cliché? Because I really don’t think this is fate.”
“I’m not talking about fate. I’m talking about the fact that the circumstances of our meeting, coupled with your presence on this boat, coupled with the fact that you seem to have a very bizarre existence—all of that makes me a little suspicious.”
Juli turned back onto her other side to face him in the dark. His features were stark in the glow of her digital travel alarm clock, and she could see his chest rising and falling beneath the thin cover.
“You’ve been in my room for five minutes, and so far, you’ve accused me of stalking you, called me bizarre, ogled my sleepwear, and suggested that I’m attempting to lure you into my bed for illicit purposes,” she said. “This is fun. We should have sleepovers more often.”
“I’m just saying, I think there’s something going on. You were terrified of the water two days ago. Now you want to stay?”
“Yeah, well, you told me you were a cartographer. Then I find out you’re a pirate. What is it you’re after, anyway?”
Alex was quiet for a minute. “This bench really isn’t very comfortable.”
“Get over here, you jerk. There’s plenty of room.”
“Your seduction skills need work,” Alex said, but he got up and moved around to the other side of the bed.
The instant he crawled under the covers with her, Juli felt her skin electrify. No part of her body touched any part of his, but she was aware of just how close he was. How solid and warm and touchable. Just a few inches and her fingers could brush the side of his chest—
Juli grimaced and drew her leg away from him, putting a little distance between them. She focused on breathing in and out, keeping her hands safely at her sides—
Alex flopped his leg over the top of hers, pinning her knee beneath the underside of his so he could drag her leg back to his side of the bed. He sighed in the darkness.
“Your skin feels soft.”
“Yours feels hairy.”
“You’re warm too.”
“Your feet are cold,” she said. “You need socks or something.”
“Now that we’ve established that—”
Alex leveraged himself up on one elbow so his face was inches from hers. “I know you don’t trust me and I don’t trust you and we said this was a bad idea right now. But on the big list of bad ideas I’ve had lately, this one seems pretty good.”
Before Juli could protest, Alex had found her lips in the dark. And then, protesting was the furthest thing from her mind. Alex slid a hand beneath her head, pulling her closer, twining his fingers in her hair. Juli responded with a whimper she hoped didn’t sound too pathetic, sliding her nails down his neck, over his shoulder, gasping against his mouth.
His lips were warm and soft and so good at what they were doing. Juli’s head swam, her torso liquefied, and her other leg somehow wrapped itself around his hip to pull him to her. He kissed her harder, making her arch her back so she could press against all that male hardness.
She remembered what he’d said the other night about his favorite spot to be kissed.
Anytime a woman does anything with her mouth anywhere near my neck, I lose it completely.
Did she want him to lose it?
Yes
. Yes she did.
She began to kiss her way across his jawline, savoring the scratch of stubble against her lips. She slid down, wriggling against him. Her nightgown bunched up around her hips up as she kissed her way down his chin and then lower until she found the spot along his throat—
“Oh, God.”
Juli smiled into his skin and kept kissing him, loving the feel of his pulse throbbing against her lips. His breath was ragged and the way he moved against her told her she was achieving the desired effect. She circled her tongue in the hollow beneath his jaw and heard him gasp.
“I can’t believe I told you this,” Alex murmured as Juli dragged her teeth lightly over the sensitive flesh of his throat.
“You would have been safer just telling me you’re a pirate,” she breathed against his neck, trailing her fingers along his hairline. “Now you’re at my mercy.”
She kissed him again, exploring the tendons, his Adam’s apple, all that heated flesh against her lips. He was salty and warm and the best thing she’d ever tasted in her life.
She could feel his arousal pressed hard against her thigh, and Juli felt herself go dizzy with the thought that she was responsible. She slid her legs apart, letting him slip between them so only her nightgown and his shorts separated them. She ran her tongue up to that tender spot behind his ear, then back down along his throat, savoring him.
“You’re killing me,” he whispered.
He pulled away then, angling himself up on his arms. He hovered there above her, the planes and angles of his chest glowing sharp in the dim light of the clock radio on her nightstand.
“I really don’t have anything,” he breathed. “Condoms, I mean. It’s not like I planned for this. For you to be here on this boat or for—well, this is probably not a good idea.”
“Right,” Juli agreed, squirming beneath him just to feel his body hard against hers. “So we should stop.”
“Probably.”
Neither of them moved. The ocean rocked beneath them and they both breathed in and out and stared into each other’s eyes.
“Or not,” Alex said and lowered his lips to her throat. He began to kiss his way down her body, his mouth traveling along her sternum. He tugged the spaghetti strap of her nightgown down over her shoulder and kissed the newly bared skin before moving south. His tongue found her nipple and began making warm, lazy circles as his other hand cupped her left breast. The pad of his thumb skimmed her nipple with such aching softness Juli thought she might sob from pleasure.
Then he moved lower, kissing his way down the center of her body. He found the hem of her nightie and slid it up and over her ribs, his tongue dipping into her navel before Juli could register the fact that she was so exposed. His hands gripped her hips, pinning her to the bed.
“I thought we were stopping,” she gasped.
He raised his head and grinned in the darkness. “You are. I’m not.”
“But—”
“Shut up.” He lowered his head again, his mouth moving down over her belly, off to the side where he nipped at her hipbone. Juli gasped and clenched the sheets in her fingers. He kept moving down, leaving no question about his intended destination.
She still cried out when he found it.
“Oh my God.”
Her hips started to rise off the bed, but he pinned her in place as he drove her crazy with his lips and tongue and teeth and fingers and what felt like an entire army of other skilled parts converging on that single spot with the sole purpose of bringing her the most intense pleasure she’d ever felt in her life.
She cried out, then bit her knuckle to keep quiet, her brain barely registering pain as wave after wave of sensation washed over her. Alex stroked her hip with one hand, using the other to caress and tease and probe as he drove her mindless with his mouth.
Juli felt the explosion building inside her, felt the scream building in her throat, and she pulled the pillow over her face and bit down hard to keep from waking the rest of the crew. Alex pressed his palm against her abdomen and Juli screamed into the pillow again and again, arching her back and twisting her fingers in his hair.
She wasn’t sure how long she lay there like that, just breathing into the pillow as her mind whirled and her body pulsed with pleasure. Her breath was still coming fast when she felt the bed move as Alex slid back into place beside her. He lifted the pillow off her face.
“You okay under there?”
She nodded, still too breathless to speak.
“Good,” he said, and he pulled her against him spoon-fashion. “I was hoping not to kill anyone on this mission.”
Juli swallowed, finding her voice at last. “If someone’s gotta die, that’s the way to go.”
Alex laughed and snuggled against her, wrapping his whole body around hers in a protective cocoon. Juli took a deep breath and felt herself slipping into oblivion.
“I couldn’t agree more,” he murmured into her hair.
Day three, and I’m still on this boat
, Juli thought, staring out over the ocean from the flybridge the next morning as she sipped her ginger tea.
How
the
hell
did
this
happen?
Okay, she knew how it had happened. It didn’t make the situation any more believable, but at least she was aware of how she’d ended up here. Her uncle’s ashes were still in the urn below deck, and according to the navigational chart she’d seen the night before, she was further away from Uncle Frank’s spot than she’d been before she boarded.
And then there was Alex. Last night had been amazing. More than amazing, it was mind-blowingly spectacular.
But what did she know about him besides the fact that he was ridiculously skilled with his hands and mouth and… well, pretty much everything else? Who was Alex, really? What would possess a seemingly sane man to embark on a high-seas pirate mission?
“Hey, Juli, have you seen my spatula?”
She looked up to see Cody, trailed by Jake and Phyllis, emerging at the top of the stairs.
Before she could answer, Jake rolled his eyes. “Just because she’s the World’s Smartest Woman doesn’t mean she knows where your damn spatula is, Cody.”
Juli gritted her teeth and took a breath. “See, this is why I didn’t tell you guys,” she said, hoping she sounded mad and not wounded. “I just wanted you to treat me like a
normal
person.”
Jake snorted. “Normal. Right.”
Juli swallowed the lump in her throat and got ready to fire off an angry retort. But before she could say a word, Phyllis stooped down to pick up the spatula from under a deck chair. Standing up, she swung it at Jake, smacking him hard on the shoulder.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“You. Stop picking on Juli. That’s not nice.”
“Ouch, stop it! I was only kidding. She knows I was kidding. Right, Juli?”
“Right,” Juli said, leaning away from them as Phyllis drew her arm back again.
“So tell her you’re sorry,” Phyllis insisted.
Jake made a grab for the spatula. “I’m sorry. Geez,
I’m sorry.
”
“Me too,” Cody said, reaching down to pat Juli on the arm. “I mean, I was the one who left my spatula out.”
“It’s okay,” Juli said, not quite understanding the connection but enjoying the bubble of hope she felt at this odd new level of inclusion. “I’m probably just too sensitive about—about—well, anyway.” She felt her ears go hot, so she stopped talking.
“You boys go finish breakfast,” Phyllis insisted. “We’re going to talk about girl stuff.”
“Girl stuff,” Jake repeated, looking mystified.
“Girl stuff,” Cody repeated, looking eager.
“Go!” Phyllis told them as she handed the spatula to Cody.
Both men retreated, bickering all the way down the stairs. When they were out of earshot, Phyllis turned to Juli.
“Can I join you for a minute?”
Juli gestured to the deck chair beside her and smiled up at Phyllis. “Be my guest. And thanks for that.”
“Oh, no problem,” Phyllis said, hesitating a little. “That’s what girlfriends do, right?”
“Right,” Juli said, trying to remember if she’d ever had a girlfriend who assaulted bullies with kitchen utensils on her behalf. “So I take it the guys aren’t quite done with breakfast?”
“Cody said the Grand Marnier sauce didn’t come out right on his first batch of blintzes, so he insisted Alex stay at the helm in the pilothouse for a while longer until the next batch was ready.”
“I hope I didn’t use up all the fresh whipped cream earlier.”
“No, he made more.” Phyllis eyed the chair next to Juli for a moment, then eased herself into it, her posture rigid and her hands clasped in her lap.
“So have you had time to, um, observe?” Phyllis asked in a voice that was surprisingly timid for a woman with biceps the size of a small automobile.
“You and Jake?” Juli nodded, trying not to feel ridiculous in her new role as love advisor. “Yes. I have.”
Phyllis swallowed. “And?”
“Well, despite the fact that you beat him with a kitchen gadget, I think he likes you. And I know you like him. But I think we could all die of old age before either of you makes a move to do anything about that.”
Phyllis stared down into her lap, her knuckles whitening. “I’m just not very good with men. I mean, a man like Jake—well, I’m sure he has so much experience with beautiful women, and, well, I’m not really the caliber of woman he’s probably used to.”
Juli raised an eyebrow at Phyllis, not sure which part of her assertion called for correction first. Seeing the obvious discomfort on the older woman’s face, she took her best stab at it.
“Phyllis, you’re a very attractive woman.”
“You’re just saying that because you think I still want to throw you overboard.”
“Um, no. I thought we were past that. But thank you for reminding me. Seriously, Phyllis, you just have to gain a little confidence in your attractiveness. In your appeal to the opposite sex. In your womanly wiles.”
Phyllis looked dubious. “Womanly wiles?”
“Yes. You have them. You just have to learn to use them.”
“I don’t understand.”
Juli set her tea down and folded her legs beneath her, feeling nervous all of a sudden as Phyllis regarded her with rapt attention.
“Let’s say you catch Jake staring at you. What do you do?”
Phyllis frowned. “Do I have spinach stuck between my teeth?”
“No. No spinach. And you don’t want to ask him that. What you want to do is smile at him.”
“Smile?”
“Yes, smile. It’s when you curl up the corners of your mouth and show some teeth.”
“I know what smiling is,” Phyllis said as she pulled a tiny notebook out of the pocket on her shirt.
Smile
, she wrote.
Teeth
.
Juli continued. “If you smile at Jake, you’re giving him just a little bit of encouragement. It’s not as direct as, say, putting him in a headlock and sticking your tongue in his ear, but it lets him know you’re interested.”
Phyllis was scribbling furiously in her notebook.
No headlock.
She stopped writing and looked up at Juli. “Okay, so how do I, um—”
“Move things to the next level?”
“Right.”
“Well, you can start by asking him questions. Men like to talk about themselves, and it lets him know you want to know more about him. That you’re interested in really getting to know him.”
“Questions,” Phyllis said aloud, writing the word in her notebook. She frowned and looked up at Juli. “Like how to unclog the toilet?”
“Well, that wasn’t quite what I had in mind. Do you know anything about his family? Where he’s from? What he likes to do for fun?”
Phyllis chewed on the end of her pen. “I think he plays Frisbee golf.”
“Frisbee golf. That’s excellent. See, you have exercise in common. So you can talk with him about Frisbee golf and workouts and outdoor recreation.”
Phyllis looked dubious. “But I don’t want to be his workout partner. I want to rip off his clothes with my teeth and—”
“Er, right,” Juli said, hoping to avoid hearing the end of that sentence. “But you have to work your way to that point. Show him you’re more than just a work buddy. Let him see that you’re pleasant to be around, that you’re enjoying his company. That you’re a fun, sexy woman.”
Fun, sexy woman
Phyllis wrote, pressing so hard with the pen that she put a hole in the paper.
“So to accomplish the fun, sexy aspect of that—”
Phyllis balled her fist around the pen. “Is this the part where you pull out your big cosmetic kit and give me a makeover and dress me up in girly clothes like in the movies?”
“Um, no. Not unless you want to.”
“I’m allergic to cosmetic products. Everything except ChapStick.”
“Okay, so no makeup. And obviously we’re not in a position to make any real wardrobe changes out here, but maybe just a few alterations.”
“Like what?”
“Well, you’ve got great arms. And excellent legs. You’re in fabulous shape all around.”
Phyllis beamed, so Juli kept going.
“And you’ve got a great smile. And nice hair. And your boobs are good too.”
Phyllis gaped at her. “Boobs?”
“Hooters, blouse bunnies, sweater potatoes, lady balls, dumplings, chesticles—”
“I know what boobs are,” Phyllis said, her complexion two shades paler than normal. “I just, well, I mean—”
“Look, I’m not an expert here,” Juli said, chewing her lip. “But watching the way Jake responds to you, I’ve determined that he is a boob man. And since you happen to be in possession of a perfectly lovely pair, it makes sense that you show them off just a little.”
“Oh.”
“You have to be subtle about it. Nothing overt. But you want to make him notice you as a woman instead of a just a workmate.”
Subtle
, Phyllis wrote in her notebook, then underlined it twice.
“So try to work on that, and see if you notice a difference.”
“Smile, ask questions, find common interests, show boobs,” Phyllis said, reading from her notes.
“Exactly. Let’s regroup later today and see how things go.”
Phyllis nodded, then closed her notebook. She gave Juli a faint smile and stood up, looking relieved. “Thank you, Juli. I’m glad you stowed away on this boat.”
“My pleasure, Phyllis. Actually, I was hoping maybe we could trade information.”
“Oh?”
“Like maybe you could tell me a little more about this pirate mission. Alex has been pretty closemouthed about the whole thing.”
Phyllis remained standing, her expression unreadable. “Well, yes. Piracy isn’t legal. It’s important to be discreet.”
“Right. So are you just planning to attack a ship at random, or what?”
Phyllis nibbled the end of her pen, considering. “No, we know the boat we’re after. There’s a plan.”
“Can you tell me more about the plan?”
Phyllis looked down. “I really don’t think so.”
“What about telling me where the boat is?” Juli tried. “Do you know that?”
Phyllis looked uncertain, clearly under orders not to reveal too much. “We’re tracking it,” she said finally. “With GPS. And proprietary navigational software. We know where it is now and when we’ll make contact.”
“Oh. So when will the rendezvous take place?”
“At our current rate of speed, we’ll connect with the ship in 22 hours and 17 minutes.”
Juli sat up, surprised by this revelation. “Really? Wow. So do I need to do anything to be ready?”
Phyllis frowned. “Alex hasn’t talked to you about this yet?”
“Talked to me about what?”
“Oh. Well, maybe he was going to do that later this morning. I’m pretty sure he was planning to talk to you after his shift ended.”
“Phyllis, come on. You’re a part of this mission too. You have a right to tell me things if you want to. Alex isn’t in charge of
everything
.”
Phyllis looked so conflicted that Juli almost felt bad for her. Still, Juli had a right to know, didn’t she?
Phyllis sighed. “I guess Alex was going to tell you anyway,” she said. “Look, you’re not going to take part in this heist, okay? We’re hoping you’ll just cooperate, but if it’s necessary, Alex suggested we may have to restrain you—”
“
What?
” The word came out as a shriek, but Juli didn’t care. She was livid. “Restrain me? He’s going to tie me up?”
Phyllis took a step back and bit her lip. “Well, there are handcuffs, actually. And maybe a blindfold. And I think Alex was going to have you stay in your stateroom until we get everything sorted out.”
Juli stood up, her face flaming. “I can’t believe it. I can’t fucking believe it! Tied up? Like a prisoner?”
Phyllis turned a few shades paler and glanced at the stairs. “It would just be best if you don’t get too involved—”
“Involved? I’m already involved! Who the hell does he think he is?”
“Um, well. The captain of the ship.”
Juli scowled. “Captain Alex. That’s right. Dread Pirate Alex. Well, if he thinks he’s going to handcuff me and leave me out of everything, he’s got another think coming.”
“Oh, Juli. Don’t. Just—well,
don’t
.”
Juli shook her head, trying to ignore the sting of hurt pricking the back of her throat. It was just like always. She had started to think she belonged, that she was a part of something.
But that wasn’t true, was it? It would never be true, not for her.
She swallowed hard. “Why the hell shouldn’t I go talk to Alex right now?”
“Why don’t you wait until you calm down? I’m sure Alex is planning to talk to you about it. Just give him a chance. He’s a very reasonable man.”
“Reasonable,” Juli said, thinking that was not one of the first adjectives that came to mind when she pictured Alex.
She tried to ignore the adjectives that
did
come to mind.
Sexy. Gorgeous. Fabulous kisser.
Phyllis sighed. “It’s just—there are reasons for leaving you out. Reasons we can’t talk about right now.”
Juli frowned, still seething, trying to decide whether to feel mad or hurt. Maybe she had no right to feel either one, but dammit, she thought she was finally becoming a part of the team.
Phyllis eyed her warily. “Okay, so I’m going to get ready for my shift at the helm. And Juli?”
“Yes?”
“Really, thanks for the help with Jake.”
“No problem,” Juli said, feeling herself smile in spite of her frustration. “And thank
you
for assaulting the man of your dreams on my behalf.”
Phyllis nodded. “My pleasure.”
***
When Alex strolled up to the flybridge with a boating magazine in hand, he was just looking for an hour of quiet relaxation.
Instead, he found himself looking at the most perfect legs he’d seen in—well, probably ever.
“Um—” he said, trying not to stare at Juli lounging there in her teeny little bikini. Was it his imagination, or had the top shrunk considerably since he’d seen it on her the day before?
“What are you looking at, sailor boy?”