Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
I do.
Up high in the crow’s nest near the top of the mizzenmast is a woman framed by countless stars, her ink-black hair melting into the night sky.
“Maren,” I whisper, wondering what the hell she’s doing all the way up there. From the way she’s standing so close to the edge of the platform, one hundred feet up in the air, she seems close to toppling over to what would surely be her death.
I sprint over to the mast and start climbing up the ropes that lead to the top, the ropes swaying as I go, trying to cover a hundred feet as quick as I can.
Finally I reach the top, the wind whipping against my face.
“Maren,” I say, pulling myself up onto the platform.
She whirls around to look at me, nearly going backward over the low rail and I quickly lunge for her, pulling her back in.
“What are you doing?” I whisper, my hand going around her waist and pulling her close to me so there’s no space between us. She’s just in her chemise, her black hair waving around her shoulders, her eyes wide with fear.
“I couldn’t sleep and I’ve always wanted to come up here,” she says softly. “I’m sorry.”
I swallow hard, looking over her face. “No. Don’t be sorry. You just gave me a fright is all.”
“You thought I was going to jump?” she asks, her gaze resting on my lips for a moment.
I give her a small smile but it doesn’t feel very assuring. “I saw you with that shard of glass the other day and I…I guess I’m thinking of the way we met.”
“When I punched you in the face.”
“When I rescued you.”
She looks away with a wry smile. “You did not rescue me.”
“You were drowning,” I remind her, my grip tightening around her waist, one of my hands splayed at her back and keeping her pressed against me, as if letting her go now would result in letting her go forever.
“You were drowning and you weren’t trying to fight it,” I add. “And I don’t blame you for it. All the abuse you’ve had to endure, the regrets that still poison you. It can lead a woman to madness. It can lead anyone to madness.”
“Except,” she says slowly, a flash of pink tongue coming out to lick her lips, “except now, I truly have gone mad.” She glances up at me, a fierce look beneath her lashes. “Don’t you think? What is madness if not rage? If not a monster?”
With one hand still holding tight at her waist, I put my palm at her cheek, cupping her face. Her eyes fall closed at my touch, her chest rising with breath. “Then perhaps the both of us are mad, if madness and monsters are one of the same,” I murmur. “But we can be mad together. We can drown in our madness together.”
Her throat moves as she swallows and I lean in, the tip of my nose brushing against hers. I can feel the heat of her lips radiate toward the heat of mine. In the distance thunder booms and the hair on my arms stand straight from the electricity in the air.
“Sometimes…” she whispers. “Sometimes I feel like I’m falling apart, slowly, then all at once.”
“You are not falling apart, luv,” I tell her, speaking so that my lips touch hers. “You are just falling into place.”
“Is that place with you?” she asks, her mouth moving against mine, barely a kiss at all.
“What do you think?” I tell her, then I close the gap. I kiss her hard, I kiss her deeply, I kiss her with possession. My tongue slides against hers, her mouth opening wider to accommodate me, and my hands keep her in place, keep her right here with me as the kiss draws us both together in a way that is just as intimate as sex, perhaps even more so.
Her hands slide up my shoulders, gripping me there, and my heart does another flip, competing with my cock for attention.
I pull away for a moment, trying to steady my breath, steady my thoughts, and I rest my forehead against hers, cool from the night air.
“It’s been so long since I’ve felt this way about anyone,” I murmur, the emotions too buoyant to keep submerged any longer.
“What way is that?” she asks, her voice breathy, husky, hopeful.
“Like you’re the moon and I’m the tides, and every thought, every need, every want, is drawn to you, Maren.” I laugh to myself. “You’re right, this is madness and I’m drowning and I don’t give a damn.”
This time she kisses me, her hands trailing down my back, holding me close, my cock rammed up against her hip, her thin shift providing no protection against my hard heat.
With a grunt I reach down and I bunch up her shift to her waist so that she’s bare below then I pick her up in my arms and whirl her away from the railing so that she’s pressed up against the mast that rises through the center of the platform.