The Pirate Queen

Chapter 35

Eric's eyes fluttered open when the dawn light from the open window hit his face. He knew instantly that he was in bed with Ariel, and then two seconds after that, that Ariel was still asleep.

She was laying on her stomach, head turned towards the wall and back half-twisted towards him and the door. The sheet was bunched up around their waists, a subconscious byproduct of the ocean heat and humidity. Most nights in the gally Eric didn't even bother with a blanket.

Slowly Eric turned to face Ariel, half leaning up on his elbows. Her face was buried in the pillow, arms crossed under her head. Her hair was a red wave between them, curling and tangled as a fisherman's net. He flicked at some of her hair, but his eyes were tracing across her back.

In the light, he could see more of the finer details his hands had run across last night. There were a scattering of freckles and moles across the pale, smooth skin of her back from shoulders to hips. It reminded him of the stars, and he reached out to trace them lightly with his fingertips.

He'd gotten not even halfway down Ariel's spine before she mumbled into the pillow, "What. Are you doing."

Eric hummed out a note and resumed his gentle caress of her skin. ""My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations,"" he replied. "My feelings, however, can be found mapped out on your skin."

Ariel didn't respond, but she didn't move either, so Eric kept tracing. He found ways to draw out some of his favorite constellations between the marks on her back. Then he began tracing out his own, random shapes and images. He traced out a heart, starting from the center of her spine and drawing it out as far it could possibly go before bringing it back in.

"Eric," Ariel whispered.

He looked up to find out she'd turned her head to look at him and he hadn't even noticed. "Yes?" His hand stilled, fingers splaying out on her skin.

There was a funny look in her eyes as she regarded him, watching him carefully. "You-" She started, then stopped as if gathering up her courage to speak her thoughts bare in front of him. He waited, laying down so he was back at eye level with her.

"You were looking at me how-how I've seen you looking at the stars."

He moved his hand from her back to her face, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes. Eric wasn't sure he'd ever get tired looking at her eyes. Not just the color of them, his favorite shade of blue and green, but what was behind those eyes. Passion and determination and fire and love. Love for her crew, her adventure, her friends. Maybe for him.

"I'm as enchanted with you as I am with the stars, but it's you I get to hold and marvel."

A small smile tugged at her lips. "Will you ever stop sounding ridiculous?"

He grinned in response, propping himself back up on one elbow, reaching out with his other arm to roll her onto her back so he could lean down and kiss her. "Never," he mumbled between kisses. "Not when it gives me my favorite thing in the world."

"And what's that?" She brushed the hair off his forehead, holding it back with her fingers. He didn't think she realized that by keeping the hair out of his eyes he had a perfect, unobstructed view of her face.

He grinned and kissed her cheek. "Your smile."

"Oh, shove off." She pushed his chest and he rolled away, laughing when a knock came at the door.

"Captain? Alastair has some questions for you," Flounder called through the door. "And Jora thought you both might want breakfast."

Eric's head snapped to the door but Ariel only laughed as she sat up, running a hand through her tangled curls. "Sure, Flounder. Be out in a second!" She rolled over Eric, standing and stretching her arms above her head and giving him a perfect view of her ass and the toned muscles of her back.