Lisa
Watching Cole sitting next to me at the dinner table in his cabin does something to me. My legs melt and my veins are filled with laughing gas. His knee touches mine under the table. I inhale his clean smell mixed with the scent of the sea. He devours me with his eyes, his smile sly and a little mischievous. The hair above his ears is gathered in a ponytail, the rest is spread over his massive shoulders.
My man.
Happiness vibrates through every cell of my body. And I can’t wait to explore the contents of the kinky chest.
But that I will have to be patient because at the table are Samantha and James. I’m so relieved Samantha is okay, and I’m excited to see her.
It’s the evening of the day their ship finally reached us. The ship’s cook has made us a celebration dinner, which is intimate in the dim lights of the lamps and feels like a double date.
James flashes a smile to Samantha—a combination of cockiness and shyness.
“Samantha, I told you meeting the right guy would change the way you felt about love,” I say.
She rolls her eyes in her mocking way. “You were right, hon. You were right.”
I chuckle. She even looks like she belongs in this century. She wears a gorgeous yellow dress—corset and all—with a pale-yellow-flower pattern and a square décolleté trimmed with white lace. Even her hairdo is eighteenth century. James is in a shirt and a blue vest that highlights his tan and his violet eyes, his hair in a short braid.
I’m the only one still wearing modern clothes; although, Samantha gave me one of her dresses. We traveled into the past at the same time, but somehow she has been here for a month while I’ve only spent one night.
I swing my gaze back to Cole again, and the sight of him takes my breath away. His white shirt is unbuttoned, exposing his tanned chest. I want to run my tongue over his pecs, down his washboard abs, and lower—
Oh God. My face flames. I’ve never had so many dirty thoughts in my life, especially in front of friends. Cole’s eyes burn, never leaving my face.
“And you, too, Cole,” James says. “I knew the right woman would come along.”
“To women from the future,” Cole toasts. We all laugh, raise our glasses of port, and drink.
“Can you imagine,” James continues, “that there are no women in our own time who can make us happy? Destiny needed to send them to us from the future. How bad are we, you and I?”
Cole laughs and squeezes James’s shoulder. “Quite bad. Quite bad.”
“But it wasn’t destiny, actually,” Samantha says. “James told me it was that man you both knew who owned a pub in Nassau. Adonis, the man with the snake.”
“He said something about voodoo,” I add. “Maybe he’s a voodoo priest or something.”
“Whatever the case,” Cole says, “he did us a great service. I’ll be forever in his debt because he brought Lisa to me.”
Our eyes lock, and heat runs between us. My breath quickens, and I want to straddle him right here and now.
“Jeez, get a room, you two.” Samantha laughs. “Lisa, I’ve never seen you like this. Carefree.”
She leans closer to the table and locks eyes with Cole, looking suddenly serious.
“You listen, Cole. If you let her get hurt or if you hurt her, I swear to God, I will kill you. I’ll find your ass in any Indies, East or West, and I will kick it.”
Cole chuckles, his eyelids crawl down, and he looks at me. “The only pain I’m planning to give her is the kind she’ll beg me for.”
“Oh Lord. TMI, buddy.” Samantha throws her cutlery on the plate with a bang that wakes Captain Bluebeard. The parrot begins to squawk unhappily.
“Chut. Chut. Chut up.”
“Aw, poor fellow, he woke up.” I stand and go over to his cage, then lift the sheet.
“Chut up,” he repeats.
“His name is Captain Bluebeard,” James says. “Cole rescued him.”
“Aw, a man who loves animals, Lisa. The man of your dreams,” she says.
“Exactly.” I return to my seat and cup Cole’s jaw.
“And we are most grateful you are taking us to Cuba. Making the passage with friends will be much more pleasant than on Captain Nielson’s frigate,” James says. “We think it will be easier to buy a villa and a plantation on a big island and get lost among other plantation owners, with me under a new identity. We are going to start a trading company—and Samantha is going to help me run it.”
“How did you find us?” Cole asks.
“We ran into Adonis,” Samantha says. “He’s back in his pub. He told us you were around here, and James hired a ship to try to find you. I was hoping you’d be here, Lisa.”
“Samantha, I am your servant,” Cole says. “You helped him get the treasure and changed his life. You brought him peace. It is as clear to me as the light of day.”
“Oh, Samantha,” I say. “This is going to be a great life for you.”
“Exactly. I have a man who I love and who makes me happy, and we are going to run a business together and live in the Caribbean! The eighteenth century kicks ass.”
Cole leans to James and murmurs, “Do you understand all the words they are saying?”
“Not all, I must admit. But I do enjoy hearing those interesting expressions from the future.”
Samantha and I laugh.
“Here’s to the four of us.” I raise a toast. “To Adonis, who brought us together, to love that crosses time and space, and to the ability to open up and change that makes it all possible.”
We clink, with happy smiles, and I kiss Cole while Samantha kisses James.
“Oh, blow the man down, bullies, blow him away,” Captain Bluebeard sings. “Way aye blow the man down…”
We all laugh, and I dissolve in the waves of happiness that wash through me. Being with the man I love, seeing my best friend find her own happiness with a wonderful man makes my chest tighten and brings me joy.
I look at Cole and squeeze his hand under the table, and even though it’s the only touch we’re sharing now, I feel like he knows what I’m thinking and feeling, because that’s what I see in his dark eyes.
I lean to him and whisper. “You’re the best and the wildest adventure that has ever happened to me. And I look forward to anything life throws at us, as long as it’s with you.”
“My darling,” he whispers back, his eyes burning. “Trust me, the next adventure that awaits you lies in that chest you called kinky…as soon as our dear friends leave us. I promise, you will never be bored with me.”