Page 51 of A Reckless Indulgence

Cav stands straighter. This is not their usual back-and-forth. Something swarms beneath her surface, drawn up from deep inside her. This is what she’s spent years thinking about.

It boils out of her, harsh and bitter. “You enter every room like it’s happy to see you. You swagger through every problem. You smile at every adversity. You yearn for nothing.”

The ship rolls again. He braces against the wall. “That’s not true.” His throat is thick when he shallows, always looking at her. “I want.”

“There’s nothing you need that you can’t have.” Her fingers curl into fists, irritation branching through her. “You couldn’t begin to understand.”

“Let me give it to you, then.” It slips out of him as easily as breathing. When he licks his lips, he can still taste the words. “Let me show you what it’s like to not be denied. To hear ‘yes’ to everything you want.”

She blanches, like the thought of Cav giving her everything she wants is a threat. Her hand lifts to her throat before she drops it again. “I don’t need that.” It almost sounds like she’s trying to convince herself. “I have my song.”

Oh, he remembers her song. The reminder tightens hot and heavy in his gut. Under her thrall, he was delirious to please her, soaking in every delicious second of her control. He swears he can see the memory dancing behind her eyes, but that’s not what he’s after.

“I don’t mean by force.” When the ship tips, Cav finds his sea legs and rides the wave as he follows the thought. “Has no one ever done something just to see you enjoy it? Been desperate to know your desires, just because they’re yours?” He steps toward her, his voice and body finding balance. “Has no one ached to fulfill them? To fulfill you?”

She fights the motion of the ship and clings to a hook on the wall. Her face goes pale when her legs hit the bed, forcing her to sit on the end of the mattress.

“You wouldn’t need your song.” Cav pushes off the wall and lets the motions carry him across the room until he’s standing before her. “What if someone could read you? Learn you so well that they sense what you need?”

The boat jerks and knocks him off his feet. He stumbles forward, catching himself with a hand on either side of her hips. Both their breathing is heavy, chests rising and falling out of time. A droplet of water drips from his hair, skirting down the column of his neck and tracing between the scales on his shoulder. They both watch as the water beads on the tip of one scale, dropping and splashing onto her clavicle.

He’s so caught up that he can’t catch himself when the boat dips again, sending him sprawling backward. She lands on top of him, knocking the air from his lungs when his good shoulder collides with the door. Lyx groans and pushes up onto all fours. She holds her weight off of him, but her hips are caged by his thighs. Her hair has slipped from its bindings and falls like a curtain around them, blocking out everything else.

His heart drums in his ears. He knows what she wants. He doesn’t have to think when the smoke coils in his throat and urges him to offer it.

“Slap me.”

TWENTY

Lyx

Slap me.

Lyx feels like she’s been electrocuted, but she can’t focus when the sea tosses her like she’s nothing. No matter how long it’s been, she’s never managed to get used to sailing through storms. With Tidus, no journey is smooth. Every single one is filled with choppy waves and angry skies as the ocean tries to drag him back to where he belongs.

Once upon a time, she relished rough seas. She basked in the turmoil. She sensed what the ocean would do. Now, she fears the unknown like any other land dweller. She can’t trust she’ll make it to the next port.

But the way Cav speaks to her is a distraction. He’s warm and pliant beneath her, making her head swim far more than the motion does. “Why?” she croaks. His mouth is so close that she’s not sure what she’s asking. She tries again. “Why would you offer that?”

“Because I think you want to.” His chest glows beneath the fabric. “Because I want to give you what you want. Because I like the fire in you.”

“No, you don’t.” She knows better. She won’t be fooled. Pirates do not want the sirens of legend or myth; they want a pretty woman to tame, to melt down and forge into something they can use. “You just want a toy you can break.”

She’ll show him. She reaches for his throat, prepared for him to flinch — but he doesn’t. In fact, he tips his head back and arches into her palm. His voice vibrates under her hand. “I want you to break me.”

His gaze looks so glassy under her touch. It’s impossible for him to be under the thrall of her song, and still, he looks so…compliant. Subservient. Obedient.

She can’t think with him this close. With him looking up at her like that. She pushes to her feet, but he eases up onto his knees. “You want to shut me up, right?”

It’s as if the ocean is playing along, pitching Lyx back against the bed and sending Cav sliding toward her.

His hands dart out to catch himself. “You’ve thought about it, haven’t you? Payback. Revenge.”

Her mouth twitches.

That’s answer enough. He shakes out the tension in his shoulders like a diver preparing for a plunge, presenting the untouched skin of his cheek. “So rough me up a little.”

Her palm itches to make contact. She presses it against her thigh to will the feeling away, but the sight of him on his knees twists in her stomach. When was the last time she touched someone without duress? Because she wanted it, not because it was required. Not because it was the only way out.