Except Kell, who disliked me and Oleg, who was kind of monosyllabic and a little scary but mostly he was okay too.

“Thanks,” I replied quietly and Lund grinned at me.

“Wife,” I heard and since it was Frey’s voice and that could only be me, I turned to see him striding toward me.

My knees wobbled and not only because he, as ever, looked hot.

“We’ll leave it at that for the day,” Lund muttered, I looked from Frey to him, nodded and smiled and he moved away to collect my lost dagger.

I turned back to Frey who was now very close. He didn’t touch me but he was way in my space.

Hmm. I knew what that meant and that meant firstly, he did not want us to be overheard and secondly, he actually did want to touch me but this was something he avoided doing too much of in front of his men. There were times he did, of course, but in broad daylight in the middle of the waist deck with us having a large audience was not one of those times.

“We have plans, wee one,” he reminded me of something he so totally didn’t need to remind me of. “I need words with Kell. I see your lesson is finished?”

I nodded.

“Good,” he muttered, “I’ll meet you in our cabin.”

My knees wobbled again and my ni**les tingled but my head nodded.

He grinned like he knew what was happening in my head and under my sweater and that grin was so good, my ni**les got hard and I felt a really nice spasm.

“See you there, honey,” I whispered.

His eyes flared and he whispered back, “Indeed.”

I decided to get to the cabin firstly to make the tea and secondly before I melted into a puddle on the deck in front of everyone at just thinking about what would happen after I made the tea.

So I did that, smiling at Frey then turning my head as I walked toward the bridge deck and calling, “Later boys!”

I got some chin lifts and Max called back, “Until later, Finnie.”

Then I hightailed it out of there.

When I got to the cabin, I saw the good news was Skylar was a really good cabin boy. He didn’t make the bed because there was pretty much no point but he delivered water for washing, took it away, cleaned out the basin, brought food, took away the dishes, cleaned clothes and spent not a small amount of time shining brass.

He also made sure I had a kettle of boiling water, a cup and tea infuser.

The bad news was, by the time I made it to the cabin, I’d begun to get nervous.

What if it didn’t work or it went wonky? What if Frey wasn’t into this kind of thing? What if we got a bad batch and not-so-good things happened?

I stood by the boiled kettle that, in the not even close to warm cabin was cooling fast and worried my lip. Then I heard a noise outside and jumped, thinking it was Frey. I looked to the closed door; it didn’t open so I looked back to the kettle.

I did not partake of drugs, this was an adventure Mom and Dad warned me (repeatedly) was not worth risking.

But this was the bark of a beautiful tree. It was natural. It wasn’t drugs… exactly.

Shit!

There was another thump outside and I jumped yet again, looking to the door. After several moments with no Frey I decided to suck it up.

It was now or never.

And I lived in the now… with Frey.

I grabbed the infuser, poured the tiny, glittery, gorgeous pieces of bark into it, shaking the pouch to make sure they were all out. Then I screwed the infuser closed, dropped it into the cup and poured over the steaming water. Then I waited, staring at it wondering how long it should infuse. Then wondering if I should wait for Frey before I tried it.

Then I took hold of the little chain, dunked the infuser several times and watched with fascination as glitter flowed out of the infuser, permeating the liquid and making the water in the cup actually glow.

Yes… glow.

Totally freaking cool.

I pulled the infuser out, set it aside and after taking a deep breath, before I lost my nerve, I lifted the cup to my lips and took a sip.

Holy moly!

I stared into the glowing cup.

Heaven. Absolutely divine.

I took another sip tasting licorice and peppermint with hints of vanilla.

God, celestial.

Taking another sip I decided that the gods of this world had to exist. No other being could create something so heavenly.

On sip four, I felt it start and on sip five it grew stronger. I knew it because I was no longer tasting the tea, I was feeling it. The flavor had intensified to such an extent it was a thrill simply experiencing it. Sip six brought more, the coolness of the air in the cabin started stinging my skin, the drafts gliding across were almost physical. The shine on the brass on the instruments on the walls had grown so bright, it was nearly blinding. I could feel every centimeter of the handle of the cup weighing on my fingers. I could hear the men moving about on deck above me.

Wow. This stuff worked fast and it was awesome.

Sip seven and I’d had half the cup. I wanted more, it was delicious, divine, freaking bliss in liquid form but I forced myself to set the cup down to save the second half for Frey.

Then the warmth slid through me, starting right in my sex and slinking up, down and out until it heated me from top-to-toe, every inch of my skin, every centimeter of my innards. The warmth was so intense I had to put my hand to the table to hold myself steady because I thought my legs might buckle from under me.

It didn’t freak me out because the sensation was nowhere near scary.

It was beautiful.

So beautiful, so intense, so pervasive, I felt like I was going to overheat.

God, if Frey didn’t get to the cabin soon, I was going to have to take care of myself.

And I knew I’d enjoy every… freaking… second.

I heard his boots on the steps outside and my feet moved me directly to the door. They did this because suddenly my hands itched to touch him, my tongue was dry with the need to taste him, my stomach was hollow with hunger for him and my sex ached for his to fill it.

And because of this, he barely closed the door when I was all over him, pressing close, my hands gliding up his chest to curl around the back of his neck. In position, I insistently pulled his mouth down to mine.

“Fin –” he got out which was good, perfect, his mouth was open and since my lips were there, my tongue slid inside.

Oh yes. Ho boy. Yes.

I had my answer. I’d never tire of the taste of him, ever.

I felt his hands on my h*ps and the touch was light but it burned into me and felt so freaking good I moaned into his mouth.

That mouth tore from mine as he shuffled me in a few steps and I pulled on his neck to bring him back.