" we very well could be entangling ourselves in something far more dangerous than we yet realize. . . "
Twenty-one year old Livina McAllister awakens one fateful morning aboard a ship; not just any ship, but the Jolly Roger, commanded by a young Ca...
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KILLIAN JONES WAS NO STRANGER to what it was like to feel completely and undeniably lost. Abandoned by his heartbroken father soon after the death of his sweet but painfully ill mother, he had been forced to quickly learn that this world was not only a cruel place, but an undependable one, filled with so many undependable people. There was a time in his life where he felt as though he were walking on a very fragile tightrope, with nothing to keep him steady and balanced. It wasn't until he had something of his own that he could truly be in control of, something he knew didn't have the ability to just up and leave him one day; it was only then that the constant sense of feeling lost truly began to fade from his aching heart. That something, of course, was the Jolly Roger.
It would be a complete and utter lie if the young Captain Jones were to say he hadn't had many beautiful women in his time, many of which whom had set foot on the Jolly Roger itself. In a lousy, drawn-out attempt to soothe the agony that created a shell of itself around his soul, Killian used the female population to his advantage, but no woman was quite like the one standing before him this day. He was only twenty-four, this was true, but it was no secret that his ability to lure any young woman into his bed went far beyond his years. His dashing looks and seductive, witty charm had pulled more young lasses into his private cabin than he could count; he had lost track months ago and he proudly carried this fact like a badge on his leather jacket.
There was something about this woman in particular, though. She was petite in stature, smaller than most, yet the tone of her voice and look in her eye demanded your attention and respect. She was a force, this he was sure of; it was just the magnitude of her force that he was curious to find out. He was the type of man that liked to know just what he was dealing with, to ensure no possible way of being undercut down the road. It was a tactic he was forced to learn from a young age, determined by his life at sea and his time in Neverland, a life that could often turn dangerous and deceptive rather quickly if one was not about their wits at all times.
Trust had always been a concept Killian found himself struggling with, a constant battle between heart and brain, the classic fight of logic vs. feeling. There were times when he found himself suspicious of his own crew, men who had proven his loyalty to him years ago. Many would consider this enough time to prove one could be trusted but in the mind of this captain, you could simply never be too sure. In order to be a truly successful pirate, there always had to be some element of secrecy, and he was determined to protect his own at any cost. As far as Killian was concerned, feelings were nothing more than a painful liability. People had proven him right on this time and time again, all unique in their ways of letting him down. So were women, seemingly the largest liability of them all, which was why Killian Jones was nothing less than the definition of "no strings attached."
He had a nagging feeling that this intriguing woman would be no exception; if he got too close, she would become a liability, and he didn't have time for anything truly distracting. He had things to do, people to see and absolutely no time to fall in love with a perfect stranger. But despite his pretentious way of thinking, a way that always proved to protect his heart well, he couldn't find a successful way to stop thinking about her. Plotting his next trek at sea seemed to be of no use. Taking inventory of their last pirating heist did little in decluttering his mind of her. Taking a stroll along the deck, yelling orders to any member of his crew he could find, only made him feel more pathetic than before. He could not get attached. He would not. He would focus on the task at hand, nothing more. That was all she was, he quickly decided, a job he had to do. So why did it feel as though she was all he could think about from the moment he hoisted her small body onto his ship?
