Biting her lip, she lifted her weight onto her thighs, still wrapped around his waist. A low breath huffed from him as he squeezed her arse with near-bruising intensity and took her weight as if it were nothing, lifting her from the rock.

Hips now free, she rode him, chasing those building waves. It only seemed to fuel his desire, sending his movements wild, powerful, demanding, more like the man she’d fought beside than the one she’d followed into this cave.

Their lips met, parted, fell upon each other’s necks, kissed, sucked. He tasted of palm wine and salt. They licked and bit and cried each other’s names until the waves broke over her, carrying speech, carrying everything away, leaving only pleasure so intense, so staggering it was almost pain.

On instinct, she rocked against him. Her breaths heaved, blown out by his pounding, urgent rhythm. The muscles in his arms and neck corded and a frown creased between his brows. He was close.

Swallowing, she drove harder and harder, but in chasing his last peak of pleasure, her own rose once more, intense and bright and building. Their sweat-slicked bodies glided over each other, a shockingly good fit, until the sparking light claimed her again, forcing breathless cries from her lips. Seconds later, a harsh moan sounded in his throat, and his whole body tensed, shuddered, and contracted, arms locked around her.

With a trembling sigh, he sank to his knees, still holding her close. His eyes opened and fixed on her, something profound, powerful in that look. He lowered her to the soft sand, and they lay that way for many breaths, the air between them heavy.

If that had been almost unbearable in intensity, this—his look—was too much to take. He—did he see too much? No. No, it was fine, she was just … so much had happened today …

To escape his gaze, she rose and planted a kiss on his mouth, loosening her legs from around his hips. With a low sigh, he rolled onto his back, forearm over his eyes.

They panted, breaths loud in the sudden stillness of the cave. Only the dim blue lights of the glow-worms glistened on the crystalline walls and glinted on the pool. The sky through the hole in the roof was a deep violet-blue now, all traces of sunset erased by darkening twilight.

Her limbs splayed, loose and heavy. She shook her head. To think she’d expected him to be nothing more than a warm firm body and a welcoming mouth, a fleeting comfort after today’s brush with death. After all, wasn’t that what she and Fitz had been for almost three years?

Well, this …

A low chuckle shook through her. “Well, you were certainly more than I bargained for, Captain Blackwood.”

He scoffed, and his arm dropped from his face. “Likewise, Pirate Queen. Bloody likewise.”

Changing Course