When Whitley winds up on the top of a pirate hit-list thanks to her con-artist father, she must hide her identity and board another pirate ship, trusting in one shape-shifting pirate named Bluff to help her escape. Too bad you can never, ever, trust...
(Thanks to @KathyStrong for the push to update! This was a fun chapter to write :) )
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Bluff
"You have to go first."
The look on Whitley's face is determined and feisty. I try to hide that I actually like it. Still, there is a trace of fear in her eyes.
She takes a long look up at the ladder leading to the crow's nest.
"This was your request. I'm not making you go."
She turns back to me. "But why do I have to go first?"
I smirk, passing over so many wonderful come backs.
"I still remember what you did as we were climbing from that window," she says.
"While I was saving your life from a pirate crew that would have dismembered you? I was such a scoundrel, I know."
"Yes, you saved me. But you didn't have to look up my skirt while you did it." She puts her hands on her hips, her face shows no sign of amusement, but her eyes... blue like the sea, and glistening with the truth she's trying so hard to hide.
I lean in closer, "Are you telling me you didn't like it?" I whisper.
She jumps backs in such dramatic shock. So obviously fake.
She may not have liked that I looked (but really, how was I to avoid it? It was look, and see her frilly panties, or not catch her) but she did like what come after. My bare hands on her legs, her body pressed against mine...
"I promise not to look, okay? But you need to go first, or risk falling to your death."
"You think I can't climb on my own?"
I consider this for a moment. I don't know if she can. Perhaps she could have the nerve, she'd surprised me in the past. "You don't have the hands or feet for it. Your body is just not used to that kind of climb. Wet wood and rope is not easy to climb for anyone, let alone a girl who has never touched rope in her life."
Her eyes narrow. "I've touched rope," she says quiet and pouty.
"When have you touched it?"
She doesn't respond. "I still don't trust you."
"Good. You're learning. Now start climbing."
She huffs at me, and pauses for another moment before determination clouds her eyes. "Fine." She says as she pull up the outer layer of her dress and wraps the inside cloth around her thigh, tying it in an awkward knot between her legs.
"Would you like help with that?" I smirk.
"You hush."
I watch as she works to turn her dress into a pair of very strange looking pants, amused all the while.
