Neverland (19 page)

“Angel? Are you awake?”

“A place you can’t reach…in the water…not on the island.”

“What is not—”
Freakin’ hell!
She’s talking about the treasure. And she’s still asleep. My heart pounds harder. I’m afraid it might wake her. When she doesn’t say more for a couple of minutes, I lean down to her ear and say softly, “Where is it, Angel?”

She sighs. Her warm breath feathers against my skin at my open collar. “In a cave…the rocks that look like a birthday cake…out here…can find it at low tide…”

Rocks offshore? North of Neverland… Low tide is a problem with the Jolly Roger. That part of the sea is rockier than at any other side. We can’t sail there. But if we take a dinghy—

Something splashes in the water fifty feet ahead. The mermaids. They have finally come.

If they’d showed up only ten minutes sooner, I would have called to them in an instant. I would have woken Angel and tried to reason with the fish girls to deliver our message to Peter. Now…I wonder what will happen if I don’t.

I have all the answers. Without her knowing, Angel told me where the treasure is. It’s only a matter of time now until my men find the rocks that look like a birthday cake at low tide.

One of the mermaids breaks away from her folks and warily swims closer. Her dark hair floats in the water. She locks her eyes with mine. Of course she knows who I am. And still, something draws her in. Her shoulders emerge from the water as she quietly bobs up and down with the gentle waves. She’s curious, I can tell. When her gaze skates to the girl in my arms, recognition flickers in her eyes. They must have met before. She looks at me again, tilting her head. I manage an odd smile.

If I don’t talk to her now, she might just dip underwater and be gone the next minute. There would be no other way to find Peter Pan.

A selfish thought invades my mind. I don’t have to take Angel home. She already told me where to find the treasure and the chest. I could keep her. Forever in Neverland. With me. Ignoring the fish girl in the water next to us, I cradle Angel’s head in my hands and, closing my eyes, I run my lips across her downy brow. I
want
to keep her. More than I want that damn treasure or the watch.

With a hurtful clarity, I realize the fairy was right after all. I’m at the edge of my biggest adventure. And I want to be selfish.

Chapter 11

SOFT MUMBLING WAKES me from a sweet dream about Jamie. I thought I heard his voice, but it could have been me speaking in my sleep that brought me back to Neverland’s reality at dawn.

Jamie’s lips are pressed to my forehead and he holds my hair tight at the back of my head. I look up and meet his warm eyes, but beneath them looms a layer of divisiveness. Maybe I can chase it away with a smile. “Hi.”

“Good morning,” he replies softly. “Did you sleep well on me?”

“Perfectly well,” I assure him. “You look tired, though. You didn’t sleep much, did you?”

“I didn’t sleep at all. Someone had to watch over you.” He graces my cheekbone with his knuckle.

Behind me something splashes in the water. I jerk around and glimpse a shimmering blue fishtail disappearing in the waves. Turning around, I beam at Jamie. “Was that a mermaid?” He nods but he doesn’t look as euphoric as I am. I know that we came here last night to see one, but for some weird reason I can’t recall why. “I heard you saying something. Did you talk to her?”

Jamie stares at me for an uncomfortably long time before he nods once. What the heck is up with him? I pout playfully and rub the frown away from his brow. “What did you two talk about?”

More silence follows. Jamie cocks his head, eyeing me warily. Then he says with a slight edge to his voice, “I told her I want to offer Peter a truce.”

“Right…” I mumble, suddenly confused, and scratch my eyebrow, lowering my gaze to the rocks beneath me. Something about all this should ring a bell. But it just doesn’t. “And why did you do that?”

Jamie cups my chin and tilts my face so I stare straight into his eyes again. “Angel, what exactly do you remember?”

“Huh?” What stupid question is that, for Christ’s sake? “Why, everything. You brought me out here last night.” A titillating grin slips to my lips. “And you kissed me.”

His features become graver than I ever remember seeing. “Before that,” he clarifies.

“Before that we were on your ship. And you kissed me there, too.” I can’t seem to stop smiling this morning.

“That is not what I meant,” he almost growls at me now. Then he rubs his hands over his face. When they drop to my shoulders, he looks me sternly in the eye. “What happened in your life last week? Or the last month? Where do you come from, Angel?” He speaks with such a low voice that a shiver races along my skin.

“I guess I’ve been somewhere, doing stuff.” The word
London
ghosts around in my mind. Maybe that is the answer. But all I connect with it are two young faces in the shadows. I don’t know who these girls are. And I actually don’t care. I want to dig out the cheerful Jamie again, so I nudge his nose with the tip of mine. “Why do you want to know?”

He hesitates. “You seem different this morning.”

Do I?
“Well, after spending the night with you I’m just happy. Is that okay with you, Captain Hook?” I tease him and place a quick kiss on his cheek.

He opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out and after a second he closes it again. The left side of his lips twitches slowly into a smirk. “I guess it is.” He rises to his feet and pulls me up with him, taking my hand and looking much happier than before. “Come on, let’s go. We’re done here.”

Jamie helps me climb the way back over the rocks, never missing a chance to hold me for a moment after lifting me over each gap. Just before we reach land again, I sling my arms around his neck and kiss him. “What’s your plan for today?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.” His eyes are shining now.

With my forefinger pressed to my lips, I cock my head, watching two seagulls sail in the breeze. “Hm, what’s a good way to spend a day in Neverland? Oh, I know.” I waggle my brows. “We could cruise around the island. And you could let me steer the ship.”

Jamie laughs my favorite warm sound. “You’re easy to please today.”

“Aren’t I always?”

“Not quite so much.”

Whatever that means…
I shrug and lace my fingers with his, swinging our hands between us as we wander along the path close to the shore. After a while, Jamie wraps his arm around my shoulders without letting go of my hand. “Do you remember where we went yesterday?” he asks.

“Sure. We went into the forest and you introduced me to the fairies.”

“For what reason?”

I shrug. “For fun?”

He eyes me sideways, his mood taking a turn to serious again. “When we sailed out with the Jolly Roger two days ago, where were we headed?”

“Around the island.”

“For what purpose?”

I stop and turn to face him, placing both my hands on his stomach. “Jamie, your questions are starting to freak me out. What is it?”

He stares at me for so long I feel the hair at the back of my neck bristle. But then he shrugs and shakes his head, the creases in his brows easing. “Nothing. Forget what I said.”

Forget what I said… Forget.
The word rings with misgivings in my ears. All of a sudden, I feel awkward and place a hand to my stomach. My gaze sinks to the ground. Should I be somewhere else right now? I know that Neverland hasn’t been my home for long, but now I’m here and I like it. There’s no reason to think about what I did last week or last month. Now is what counts. And I’m happy now.

Jamie grabs my shoulders and angles his head to look at my face. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.” I give him a cheeky smile. “I’m just hungry as hell.”

“Let’s get back to the ship and feed you then.” With his arm around my waist underneath his cape that I’m still wearing, he pulls me into his side and we stroll on.

After some time of gazing out on the sea, my mind wanders to the busy seaport and off to the fairies close by. “Hey,” I say to Jamie. “Wouldn’t it be fantastic to live in a house in the forest, just like Bre’Shun and Remona?”

“You liked it there?”

Leaning my head against his shoulder, I sigh. “It was beautiful.”

“We can build you one.” He chuckles and places a kiss on top of my head as we walk. “And then I’ll come to visit you every day, and you can cook me dinner.”

“Or I’ll come to visit you on the ship,” I counter, skipping ahead and turning. With my hands braced on his chest, I walk a few steps backward and smirk up at him. “And you can teach me how to be a cool captain. You can let me wear your hat again.”

He takes my hand and tucks me under his arm at his other side. “It’ll freak Smee out for sure.” The thought makes us both laugh. “We would have to find an awesome pirate name for you.”

“So? What were you thinking?”

Jamie shrugs. “It’s not something you just make up. The name must describe you somehow. Let me watch you for a little longer and I’ll come up with something nice.”

I huddle happily against Jamie, drawing in a deep breath of his enticing scent. The warm morning sun smiles at my face and the mellow songs of birds drift to us from all sides. Leisurely waves rolling to the shore complete this perfect picture. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else at this moment. In fact, I don’t want to be anywhere else than in Jamie’s arms ever again. He’s the man I’ve been waiting for. Gorgeous, caring, and with the right bit of danger underneath. He’s perfect. And I’m on the brink of falling in love with him.

Not long after, we reach the boat that Jamie tied to a rock by the shore. Giving me a hand when I climb in, he follows after me and sits with his back to the bow. His pecs, biceps and abs twitch every time he rows. I could watch him doing this all day.

As we near the Jolly Roger, the guy that usually hangs out on top of the highest mast bends out of his basket and shouts to the crew, “Cap’n’s back!” Immediately, Brant Skyler with his red bandana and shaggy-haired Smee come to help us moor the boat.

When all the men on deck see that I’m wearing Jamie’s cape and how he holds my hand even after I’ve climbed over the railing, lewd chatter starts and they throw juicy looks my way. Some of them even catcall.

I find this amusing. Jamie, not so much. He lets go of my hand and barks at the men, “Shut up, ye bilge rats and get to work! Take her a mile out and then head north!”

The crew hurries around on deck, nearly tripping over each other’s feet. They pull some ropes and the next second the Jolly Roger’s mighty white sails drop and billow in the wind. Craning my neck, I stare with an open mouth.

“You know, if you don’t want to live in that house in the forest all by yourself, I’ll always have a cabin for you on this ship,” Jamie says into my ear from behind.

I turn my head to him. “Nice offer, Captain. I might just consider it.”

“I hope so.” He massages the spot between my shoulder blades. “How do you feel?”

Looking down at myself, I grimace and tell him, “A little mucky. But fantastic otherwise.”

“The crew normally takes a jump into the water for a quick wash, but I figure that’s not quite your style.” He smiles. “You can use the shower in my quarters, if you want. I was going to take one myself and I’ll have Skyler refill the buckets for you later.”

I nod and follow him with my eyes as he leaves for his cabin. It’s much too warm for wearing his cape now, so I take it off, spread it on the boxes that we’d been sitting on the other night and settle in to watch the men moving about on the ship. It’s all so interesting and new. Wondering where I would fit into the crew, my gaze lands on the guy at the top of the mast. He’s holding a spyglass and scans the surroundings. With my small girl-hands, I’m certainly not made for hoisting the sails or dropping anchor, but keeping watch is something I can see myself doing. I’d be a real member of Jamie’s crew then. A
pirate
. I giggle and shudder with excitement.

The island is shrinking behind us as we cruise out on the gentle waves. After half an hour, it’s time to take up Jamie’s offer and wash myself. Skyler carried two buckets of water through his door a few minutes ago, so Jamie is probably done by now.

Tucking the cape under my arm, I walk to his quarters and knock on the door. When he opens, my mouth instantly starts to water. So many muscles under so much naked skin. My fingers itch to skim over his chest.

Buckling his belt, Jamie steps away from the doorway. “Coming for the shower?” He pulls a fresh white shirt over his shoulders and pushes his arms through the sleeves.

For that and the nice view.
I nod and suppress a grin.

“Make yourself at home then. I’ll be in my study until you’re done.” The door next to the small table in his cabin is still wide open and askew—only attached to one broken hinge. He walks away, and I hurry to the bathroom. The floor is wet from his shower. Careful not to slip, I pull off my dress and hang it on a hook on the door for later. The water is even colder this time, but the tangerine-scented soap still smells as good as ever.

Clean, dressed, and feeling fabulous, I enter Jamie’s bedroom, running my fingers through my hair a few times to detangle the knots. The place is empty, so I peek around the corner into his study. He’s sitting in his chair behind the desk. Arms folded on the wooden surface, he’s slumped forward, his cheek resting in the crook of his elbow. Beside him lies the big black pirate hat with the fluffy feather. Poor guy—he told me he was awake all night. Now it seems sleep has caught up with him.

On tiptoes I walk closer and study his relaxed face. His wet hair falls seductively over his forehead, entangling with his long lashes. In the silent room, his deep, even breaths are the only sound. A smile forms on my lips as I squat beside him.

Tenderly, I brush my fingertips through his hair, run them behind his ear, down his neck and along his arm to the back of his hand. It’s bigger than mine. Although he’s the captain of this ship, he’s not the one doing work, I realize. Or maybe it’s
because
he’s the captain. His hands are slightly callused but clean, his nails cut short. His fingers look strong, but I know how gentle they can be…when he touches me.