Page 68 of Catching Trouble

“Absolutely. I see you straddling a cannon—leading your crew into battle. I’m not sure you could carry off an eye patch, though.” I lifted my arm, taking his stubbled chin in my fingers, turning it to the light that’d snuck past the tarp. “No. You don’t have the bone structure.”

Maxime’s smile broadened, and his eyes crinkled at the corners. My breath caught. He was spectacular.

With my fingers still at his neck, I moved them down to his chest—to the compass hidden amongst the nest of kelp and coral painted there. I danced my fingertips over his skin, and I swear his breath quickened, his chest rising and falling faster than before.

“This is another one that gives you away.”

“How so?” he asked, his voice as gravelly as the rocks we were nestled against.

“Well, like most men, you’re hopeless with maps and you refuse to ask for directions.”

Maxime chuckled, and I moved to the scattering of stars on his sternum. “And these? They mean you’ll always find your way back to the people you love and…” I met his gaze. “And those who love you back.”

The glow in his eyes was all I ever wanted to see. As if he was a precious piece of art, I moved to his other pec, tracing the patterns of currents and waves to a beautiful picture of a mermaid. She had long curls, just like mine, and curves for days.

I moved closer to get a better look. “She’s beautiful,” I whispered. “Who is she?”

He shook his head slowly. “Nobody.”

I feathered my fingertips over his skin, his heat blazing into me. My heart pounded in my ears. We were so close, I could almost taste him. “I don’t believe that. I think she was someone special, Maxime. Someone you wanted to keep close to your heart.”

I rested my palm over the hard bulge of his pec.

As our skin met, he closed his lashes, and his heartbeat battered against my hand.

Heat bloomed low in my belly. Emboldened, I slid off his lap and straddled his thighs, rising to my knees. I traced my hand over his face, brushing the planes of his cheekbones.

“Maybe she was your first love.”

As I spoke, he opened his eyes, his dark lashes framing them like shadows.

“Maybe she was the first woman you ever kissed.”

Maxime opened his mouth, as if to speak. When his sweetbreath brushed my lips—Poseidon help me—I leaned in to kiss him.

He didn’t pull away. Instead, he let out a ragged breath and, slowly, gently, kissed me back. It was the softest press of our mouths—warm and lingering.

But when Maxime lifted his hands to grip the tops of my arms, my storm-induced bravado stuck in my throat. Was he about to push me away?

His gaze locked onto mine, and I blinked. Surely, he could feel the heat consuming my body. He must know how much I wanted him. I’d made a move and there was no going back.

For the longest moment, he just stared at me.

A tight sensation crept up my chest, pushing against my ribs. I tugged in fast breaths as his eyes bounced around my face, until finally, he whispered my name.

After a long, torturous moment, Maxime brought his hands to my face and kissed me properly.

Abandoning hesitation, I met his tongue with mine, our kiss turning darker and deeper.

I bit at his lip, desperate to know how he tasted. Desperate to know all of him. And the moment I dragged my fingernails over his chest; I opened a floodgate.

In one beat, Maxime’s arms were around me, his touch slow and deliberate, tracing the lines of my body until my muscles turned to jelly. I matched him, letting my hands roam his bronzed stomach, learning every ridge and plane, committing them to memory.

As we moved in sync, our breaths fell into rhythm—shallow, quick, and greedy. Tension coiled between us, tight and electric.

And then, damn King Neptune, with a jolt and a harsh scraping noise against the hull, the boat lurched, ripping us apart.

With the movement, we clasped each other, frozen in time,holding our breaths. The only sounds were the wind outside, and the lap of the waves against the cave walls. We must have been pushed against a rock. My heart thundered in my chest—in my ears too. His face gave nothing away. No flicker of thought, no shift in expression.