Falling For The First Mate

Chapter 21

“This isn’t my cabin, Kade, it’s yours,” Evanora whined as Kade pulled her into his room. Though she was truly thankful of the warmth and shelter from the freezing cold and now drizzling rain, she was a little reluctant to return to the cabin where she had previously rejected him.

“I told you,” Kade insisted, “we need to talk.”

“Then talk.”

Kade shook his head, tutting at her directness. He wandered over to perch on the bedstead, crossing his ankles amusedly as he struggled to read her facial expressions.

“I said we need to talk, Treasure, not I. And I’m fairly sure that you owe me an apology.”

“I do not!” Evanora stamped her foot on the ground and pouted, looking so childish that Kade couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath. This earned him another filthy look, one that not even a pirate could rival.

“I’m afraid you do,” he replied.

Nobody spoke for multiple minutes and the silence stretched between unmet eyes. It was clear- she was not going to give in, no matter what. Finally, Kade growled and pushed a hand through his tangled hair, his face vacant of all expression.

"Look, Evanora, if you didn’t want to be involved with me like that then all you had to do was say so…”

Now he was just making unfair assumptions. Evanora cleared her throat, desperate to tell her side of the story.

“Oh Kade, it’s not that,” she interrupted, and then trailed off when she saw a dangerous flame of hope kindle in his eyes.

"It isn't?"

He crossed the room before she could finish, stalking towards her with a wild determination. She backed away, but once again hit a wall before she could make her escape. When he drew near, she put a hand on his chest, which rose and fell with quickened breathing.

“Let me finish,” she demanded.

“Must you?” he murmured impatiently, reaching a hand to run a finger from her fingertips to her shoulder. Every nerve between the two points glowed in desperate anticipation. “Can’t you just let me keep my promise?”

“Which one?”

“The one where I show you how much better I am at kissing,” he whispered, leaning against her hold. “The one where I kiss you so hard you forget your name.”

Losing the urge to speak her mind, Evanora’s lips parted involuntarily, ravenous for his. Her firm grip on his chest loosened slightly as he began to close the gap between them, desire etched into his face and swimming in his eyes. Outside, thunder started a drumroll in the sky, the rain now falling in heavy sheets, extreme and wild. Even though she was putty in his hands, Kade came close enough to feel her breath, her delicate eyelashes against his cheek, and then stood still.

A tormented expression crossed his face as he remembered Captain Silvestre’s words:

'Love be the traitor of a sailor’s life. I don’t want to be losin’ me First Mate.’

And he considered the repercussions of such an impulsive action. If he was to kiss her now, as much as every cell of his being ached to claim her for himself, the curse would tear them apart. One way or another, it would only hurt them both. This could not end well, that much he knew.

So he pulled away.

“Kade, what-” Evanora’s face was torn. She was hurt, weakened, raw from the harshness of that almost rejection.