Through the Maelstrom (2 page)

She yawned and took that as her cue to go to bed. Aliens and the Bermuda Triangle were two things she didn't believe in and wouldn't start now. The childhood nostalgia of wishing on stars had faded, and midnight definitely sounded like her bed time. Twenty-eight was not treating her kindly on the staying-up-late scale, even if she'd only been that age for a total of one day. She used to be good to go on two hours of sleep, but lately...without at least six-to-eight she turned into a grizzly. Besides, she was supposed to be having fun on this trip.

Fun
wasn't exactly what she'd call her birthday cruise to the Caribbean. Two of her friends cancelled last minute, and Becky Ann ended up with such a horrible case of seasickness earlier in the day that even the tablets the medical personnel had given her weren't helping. She'd been moved into the infirmary until they docked in the morning.

The first few hours without Becky Ann were okay, but it figured, on the day of her actual birthday, Serena had wandered around, alone, not talking to anybody. True, it saved her from her friend's matchmaking efforts—the majority of the men present were there with wives and children anyway. She honestly couldn't wait for the trip home. They had a final stop in Bermuda as they returned to the states from the Bahamas.

She padded toward the housing portion of the ship, and a crowd rushing past her drew her attention. "It's Jack Sparrow!" someone announced excitedly.

"Nah uhhhhh. He's
blond
." This was said as though it were sacrilege to put the two in the same sentence.
God forbid.

Pausing at the bottom of the short flight of stairs leading to the rooms, Serena peered over her shoulder in the direction of the exclamation right as a small herd of women and children passed by in an excited rush of murmurs.

"But
I
want a picture with him," a woman snapped. "You already took one."

"Are you a scurvy bilge rat?" a little boy asked, voice full of awe.

"Do you really say things like 'shiver me timbers?'"

A woman mumbled, "I'd shiver his timber."

"Why don't you find your sister, Tommy, and let mommy talk to the nice pirate?"

"Are you a
real
pirate? Can I hold your sword?"

"Oh, my God, Lisa, look at the rear end on that. He's authentic and sexy. The cruise line really pulled out all the stops on this actor."

Backtracking until she stood at the edge of the crowd, Serena had to see this mystery pirate ramping up hormones and imaginations. It was her birthday, after all. Didn't she deserve a good ogle?

The gaggle of women and curious children had circled around an actor dressed up as, yup, a pirate. Sword, pistol, knee-high worn leather boots, long brown jacket with gold buttons that glimmered under the outdoor lighting. The stubble on his face was not quite a beard, but wasn't too far from it. His blond hair had grown long and looked curled by ocean water and wind. Rings covered most of his fingers, and when he turned his head, a small hoop adorning his ear glimmered in the light.

Oh, you've got to be kidding.

How cliché. All that was missing was a fan somewhere making his hair and coat billow as he took romance novel cover-style photos with his rabid admirers. He was handsome, she'd gotten her glimpse of him, but she wasn't going anywhere near the center of the crowd if she could help it.

She almost walked away again until she noticed the pirate wasn't smiling. Instead, he'd backed up against the wall and looked as though he was about to place the way-too-realistic sword in his hand between his teeth and crawl up the side of the ship. Maybe he hadn't been warned that not only are children obsessed with pirates, but women salivated over the pop culture romanticism of them.

Pfft
.
Romantic pirates
. She rolled her eyes.
Please
. They were dirty, malicious scoundrels with bad teeth and no morals. Sure, Hollywood could make it attractive, but real pirates weren't sexy. They weren't cleaned-up, designer versions in guyliner and leather like the guy on
Once Upon a Time
. They were criminals. Even if there were gray areas, crimes were still crimes when it came down to the bottom line.

Yet Serena couldn't help but sympathize with the guy as he warily eyed the crowd.
Tell me about it, pirate man.
She shuddered. Crowds sucked. Too many judgmental people hovering with inquisitive, judgmental gazes...
No. Just no.
She would rather jump in acid. Unfortunately, as an adult, she didn't have an easy out from it. Especially since someone had to pay the bills. Her boring filing job at a large law firm was perfect for her. She had her own office, didn't have to
see
the clients, and could avoid people for the majority of her work day.

It was also the dullest job on the planet—hence, the gift of a birthday cruise from her friends. A much needed adventure, they'd said.

As a woman threw herself at him, clinging tightly, Serena snorted. The pirate's eyes widened and he slowly peered down at the female clinging to him like a parasite and cleared his throat. He painstakingly sheathed his sword and tried to dislodge her. He obviously hadn't done the pirate act before. Maybe it was his first night at it, which was odd considering the cruise was in its last few days. In that moment, he seemed almost kindred soul; a victim of a crowd that wouldn't leave him alone.

The few friends she had helped her through the times when people—in general—overwhelmed her. Perhaps that's what she'd do for her birthday: pay it forward. Taking a deep breath, Serena steeled herself for the inevitable horror of talking to people she didn't know. The karma for the good deed should turn her luck around at least.

"Okay, everyone, okay. Break it up. Captain, eh, Morgan here will be back tomorrow. He has to go feed his parrot." Serena grabbed the pirate's arm and tugged despite protests from the crowd that there wasn't an actual parrot. The thick leather of his jacket was soft to her touch, his arm firm and warm beneath it. She shivered, but not because she was cold. Just the opposite. He didn't budge, and heat rose into her neck and face. She hoped she hadn't done something that would come back to embarrass her. She hated public embarrassment. Didn't handle it well, much to her friends' amusement.

Instead, he stared at her hand and then his gaze slowly traveled up her arm to her face. Eye contact hit her like cannon fire—a sharp strike wrecking her resolve and leaving her bare as the world around them splintered away into the farthest depths of perception. As though he experienced what she had, his lips parted. Then a sly grin tipped up the corner of his mouth and she gulped while harsh, cold reality came pouring back with rapid intensity. He definitely had the swashbuckling rascal appearance down, and Serena feared she wasn't as immune to it as she hoped.

"Oh, my God. That look," a woman from the crowd said, breaking the remnants of whatever spell had tethered Serena and the pirate momentarily together. "That right there. Pillage me, pirate man. Pillage me
hard!
" Giggles and scandalized gasps from the crowd pulled Serena free of her inertia while a little boy loudly questioned what pillaging meant, to many awkward chuckles.

"Right," Serena added when the man didn't play along. Her heartbeat thumped rapidly in her chest, and her breaths quickened with panic the longer he and all those people had their attention focused on her. "You can either come with me or stay with them. Your call." She had to escape the crowd before she started hyperventilating and embarrassed herself further. She was making a damned fool of herself. He hadn't needed her help, and she had made an assumption she wouldn't again.

The pirate regarded the women and children with a sneer, only appearing to recall their presence when he turned to seek out what pulled her focus from him—which created more of an excited ruckus in the crowd than before. He leaned down to grab a dirty old sack and draped it over his shoulder before gesturing for Serena to lead the way. She turned, headed toward the corridor she'd come from without waiting to see if he followed.

She could hear the crowd behind them start to disperse, and once they rounded the corner, alone, Captain Morgan drew her up short. He took her hand and brought her knuckles to his lips, kissing them lightly. "I must thank you, love, for the daring rescue."

Flutters erupted in her abdomen and she shivered. He had an English accent, but it was also influenced with inflections of the Caribbean islands. A cacophony of dialects within one deliciously masculine timbre.
Great. Now I'm one of the pirate worshipers.

"Any time." She yanked her hand free of his and uncomfortably fiddled with a lock of hair. "Look, you may want to work on your whole spiel before tomorrow or they'll eat you alive."

Captain Morgan scowled. "What devilry is this place? A gargantuan ship full of cannibals?"

"What?" He had to be joking, but his horrified expression prompted her to add, "Oh, no. No. I didn't mean they would
literally
eat you alive. I mean figuratively, as in a figure of speech." Serena waited for him to laugh, fake punch her shoulder and say, "Just kidding." He didn't.
Damn. He is really into character now that he isn't being mobbed
.
Must have stage fright.

The pirate slid his hot gaze down her body, taking in her exposed thighs beneath her denim shorts and lingering on her floral halter top where it flirted with her midriff. He licked his lips, and Serena had to glance away and gulp air. Why hadn't she worn pants and a sweater? Never mind the ninety-six-degree weather.

The hall was narrow, and he took up way too much of it. Her room was near the end of the topmost deck, and the urge to run started appealing to her. A man had never looked at her with so much raw hunger, and she didn't know how to act like she hadn't noticed. She certainly wouldn't encourage him and make him expect things she wasn't willing to give.
Well, being willing isn't the issue. Actually acting on it is.
Which left her with no other option but retreat. Safer that way. No embarrassment or awkward conversations.

Meeting new people had always been hard for her, especially men. All the witty things she would say in a normal conversation wouldn't come to her until she replayed it in her mind later. Once she knew them for a while it became easier, but she sucked at flirting and she couldn't even hold eye contact for long, unless she was spitting mad. Anger gave her more backbone than she usually possessed. A blessing and a curse, depending on the circumstance.

"Wench," Captain Morgan said, taking a far-too-bold, lingering glance at her chest. "Did I die and arrive upon a vessel of debauchery as a reward. Is this the afterlife?"

Serena sputtered.
Is he using pirate pick-up lines? Seriously?
Furthermore, was he hitting on her? Of all the comebacks she could think of, the best she could manage was, "Did you call me a wench?" When he blinked in reply, she sighed, rolling with what she had, as weak as it was. "Of course you did." Waving her hand to shoo him away, she added, "Go debauch elsewhere. I'm going to bed. Try to get it together before going back out there among that crowd. Goodnight."

She turned her back to him and made a hasty retreat, perhaps shuffling away a tad
too
quickly. Becky Ann would be appalled by her behavior. When Serena told her the pirate actor kind of hit on her and she ran away unmolested, her friend would kick her ass. She knew Serena was a failure at picking up men, but she wouldn't have let her flee like a frightened doe.

In fact, it was probably a godsend Becky Ann had gotten sick because she would have locked the two of them in a maintenance closet until satisfied they'd hit all the bases and at least one home run. Her best friend was extremely comfortable with sexuality, too much so when it came to her method of matchmaking. It was exhausting dodging her friend's ideas of a good time when she sent them her way with a cocktail and a devil-may-care smile.

As Serena fumbled in her pocket for the keycard, she peeked over her shoulder and squeaked. Captain Morgan had followed her and waited a few feet away with an almost expectant gleam to his eye. He raised a golden eyebrow and crossed his arms when she failed to unlock the door. "Open the cabin door, wench. I am weary, but have enough stamina to see to you properly first."

The implication in his words hit her gut, releasing butterflies that fluttered in varied directions. All that made her female went on high alert—preparing, hoping, longing.
Ah, shit.
She'd screw this up. "The hell?" That was her, screwing it up. "You're not coming in. This is my room. Go find your own." He was being creepy, wasn't he? So why did her breathing deepen at the thought of letting him into her room?

It could never happen. She couldn't seduce a man if she tried. Lack of confidence, feeling foolish...good ol' anxiety.

The pirate shook his head. "I shall bunk with you until we dock. Perhaps you can solve the mystery of this...ship." He gestured around him.

Was he for real? "Um, how about...no."
Mystery? What mystery?
Her body and her mind were on two different wavelengths. At least her mind had sense, and it was telling her to close herself in her room and lock the door. This man was dangerous, but not because he was a fake pirate. She was attracted to him, and she hadn't set out to hook up on a cruise—no matter what Becky Ann had to say.

The pirate seemed to consider this, scratching the stubble on his chin, showing off the multiple silver rings which flashed in the lighting.
Both
ears were pierced with small gold hoops. She'd never really been into men with piercings, but they suited him. "I savor the chase, love. I can wait all night." His knowing smirk implied that he knew good and well she desired him. Pity for him it wouldn't matter.

"I'm not playing at anything." Had her voice sounded as husky to him as it did to her?

He invaded her personal space, placing a palm against the door and caging her against his body. Serena's breath caught and he raised his other hand to brush her hair away from her face in a gentle caress. She trembled as he mumbled, "You are." His hands were rough, big, warm. What would they feel like against her naked body?