William

We had set sail from Barbadua planning to overtake a merchant ship and take on sailors to make up for our missing crew. So that part, at least, had gone exactly as planned.

But what I hadn’t planned was to find myself so enraptured with one of those new sailors.

After they finished transferring the most crucial supplies over to the Neptune’s Jewel, I’d had the stunning man taken to my cabin. And then I’d left him there as I went to find out everything about him I could before I actually spoke to him.

Now I stood belowdecks, in the hold currently serving as something between jail cell and berth-space for our new crewmen.

“You.” I pointed to the nearest sailor from The Felicity. “Tell me everything you know about that young man.”

The sailor stuttered a bit, but he managed to tell me the most pertinent information about the gorgeous man I now had immured in my cabin.

It turned out he was a “new sailor” in every sense of the word—he’d been a stowaway on The Felicity and had only been working as a crewman for a few weeks.

By birth, he was the youngest son of an Earl.

Educated, rich, beautiful.

Perfect.

And, oh by all the gods of the seven seas, I wanted him.

“I could probably ransom you, you know,” I said as I unlocked my cabin door and walked in half an hour later.

Just the sight of him sitting on my bed send heat rushing to my cock. Almost instantly, I was hit with an image of the two of us naked, our legs intertwined, mouths open against each other.

The fantasy was shattered as he turned a fierce glare on me. “Unlikely. My father already has an heir and a spare. I’m expendable. My brothers are much more important than I am. If you can figure out how to nab one of them, you’re more likely to make a killing.” He paused. “Or is that get killed? I get those confused when I’m talking to murderous kidnappers.”

That was going to be a difficult preconception of me to overcome—especially since it wasn’t exactly false. As he well knew, since he’d seen me have some of his shipmates thrown overboard, after having their throats cut.

Including his last captain.

“I have that done for effect, you know,” I said. “And to save lives. If we take out the leadership first, the captain and the most loyal fighters, the rest of the crew usually falls in line. It saves us from having to kill many more sailors than we might have to, otherwise.”

His eyes narrowed, and his mouth tightened, and almost instantly, I was back in that fantasy—only this time, it was focused on his lips, trailing down my chest, to my stomach, and lower...

I looked up to find his sea-green eyes watching me. His gaze flicked down to my cock, and his face grew red as he took in how hard and swollen it was. With that pale skin and reddish-blond hair of his, it was going to be easy to see his reactions, no matter how he tried to cover them with a full beard.

I didn’t say anything, choosing rather to wait to see how he responded to my physical state. It didn’t take long for me to see that he, too, had swelled at the thought of my reaction to him.

“Your crewmates say your name is Ned?”

“Short for Edward,” he mumbled, his voice scratchy and hoarse as he glanced away from me and shifted where he sat, trying to relieve some of the discomfort of his engorged cock.

“I could take care of that for you,” I whispered, my tongue flicking out to lick the corner of my mouth.

His lips parted as he realized what I was offering, and his breath caught in his throat. “I...I can’t.”

“Why not? Everyone saw how I looked at you. They know I was asking questions about you. When you leave here, the entire crew—both crews—will assume I fucked you. And my crew, at least, won’t be at all surprised.”

He blushed again at the word “fucked.” I tilted my head and stared at him, trying to determine why he was resisting his own desire. I supposed it could be prudery. Some British ships carried sailors who truly believed that love between two men was evil. Not that ridiculous twaddle about the children of alphas and omegas being abominations—that was pure rot. But some of them also believed the act of love between men was a sin.

Had I found one of those?

Of course, most sailors were more practical than that, understanding that relationships would form aboard a ship. The best of them were clear about whether they were merely shipboard romances, or if they could last longer.

I suddenly found myself hoping that this had the possibility of lasting longer than simply the time it took to get to port.

“I can’t,” he said.

Assuming I could get our romance started in the first place.

“You’re the pirate who overtook my ship. You killed my captain. It would be wrong.”

I dropped my voice almost to a whisper. “Even if you want to?”

“Even if.” His tone matched mine.

“I will never pressure you or force you,” I said, moving to sit next to him on the bunk. “But I want you. I am available if you wish.”

It was foolish. I knew it was foolish. The last thing I needed aboard the Neptune’s Jewel was a nobleman. They didn’t make good pirates, accustomed as they were to having things done for them. To take him as a lover was even more ridiculous. But from the instant I laid eyes on him, I wanted him.

From that moment on, I knew I would do anything to have him.

Including wait for him, if necessary.