The Admiral

Arden Lexington

I had no clue how to make up a bath for James, baths aren’t exactly something we do on ships, but James would probably drown if he tried rinsing himself off in the sea in this state. The best I could do was have Jack set up a large basin of hot water and helped James wash. Jack brought some fresh clothing, and I watched James get dressed, unsure if I should be helping or not.

The reality of James being alive still really hasn’t sunk in, and I’m left wondering if any of this is real. He was dead to me for almost a week, and now here he is, resurrected and watching me watching him as he slips his shirt over his head. Unable to contain my emotions I start to cry. I couldn’t cry when I thought he had died and now he’s alive and I’m in pieces.

James comes to sit next to me on the bed and wraps his arms around me, pulling me close, “I’m sorry, I can’t seem to stop.”

“Cry Arden, cry till your heart is content,” he says pulling me onto his lap and holding me close to his warm chest.

When I eventually hear his heart beating, I let the sound calm me down and just listen. James’s fingers brush up and down my arm, and I’m finally able to take a deep satisfying breath. I look up at James, he just smiles at me softly and starts to wipe the tears off my face.

James’s hand glides gently down to my neck, his thumb seems to trace my jaw as he examines my neck. His hands are so large, I imagine he could snap my neck with one hand without exerting any effort. He follows his fingers with his eye as he trails them down my throat and between my breasts.

“I want to hear you say my name Arden,” his eye darts to meet mine.

Even with one blown out of his head, his fierce gaze hasn’t lost its effect on me.

“James,” I hear myself almost stutter at his intensity.

Whatever it is he’s doing to my insides right now I don’t want it to stop.

He shakes his head with a devilish smirk playing on his lips, “Not like that my love.”

James’s fingers slipped into my pants and wasted no time finding my core as his lips came crashing onto mine. My body lifts into his touch, desperately needing to be closer to him. I want him inside me, I need him to consume me, to possess and ruin me, all to remind me just how alive we are.

James knows exactly how to extract his name just the way he wants to hear it. When I’m shaking from his touch he doesn’t stop and holds me firmly in place as I squirm in his arms. The powerlessness to escape him only adds to my arousal and prolongs my orgasm to such an extent that I feel his hand reach around to cover my mouth in order to smother the sounds I’m incapable of stifling myself.

As the pleasure slowly subsides and my body tries to regain awareness of itself, I go completely limp in James’s arms.

“That was exactly how I wanted to hear it,” he says into the top of my head.

I chuckle into his chest, burying my face into him. I missed his smell. He has such a specific scent that works to completely envelope me, like a shield where the shit of the world can’t touch me.

James held me until he tired, and we lay down without a care in the world. With the Fleet soon to be cut from our lives, there isn’t much holding us back. Now I can start thinking of the plans I made and incorporate James into my ideas.

In the morning James was strong enough to walk himself to the galley and we were able to join the crew for breakfast. I thought I had already shared. My last meal with my crew, but now that James is here this will make for a much better memory.

As we began to eat the table started filling up with the usual suspects, all very happy to see James up and about again.

Thomas was the first to bring up his capture, I’m sure he’ll want a full accounting of the events that transpired for the record.

“What I can’t get my head around is why he didn’t kill you the moment you boarded his ship,” Debag eventually said.

“He recognized me from the Academy, and seemed to hold a grudge,” James says casually.

I honestly didn’t think they even knew one another. Wyatt and I mostly kept to ourselves, and he never mentioned James doing anything bad to him. I’d have probably walloped James at the time if I found out if he’d been bullying Wyatt.

“What did you do to him?” I ask a little more sternly than I should have.

James looks at me, clearly finding something about my reaction amusing, “I kissed a girl he liked.”

I feel my brows furrow, “How many girls at the Academy did you kiss exactly?”

“Just the one, Arden," he's clearly perplexed at my confusion, "You didn’t know he was in love with you?”

“Arden is completely and utterly naïve at reading men in this department,” Charlotte laughs, “She's too busy hating the world to recognize love when it smacks her right across the face.”

Charlotte’s words sting, but she’s not wrong. Giddeon nods knowingly while loading food onto his fork, shooting me a wink when he sees me watching him.

When I look at James now, smiling at me with nothing but love and adoration all I can do is try not to waste any more time hating the world, as Charlotte put so eloquently.

James talked more about his conversation with Wyatt and what happened up until he was shot. Listening to him re-tell his side of the story felt as if someone was slowly sticking needles under my fingernails. I didn’t realize I had been balling my fist so tightly under the table until James’s hand gripped mine and I could breathe again.

After breakfast, James went to see Doc while I climbed the ropes and said a final goodbye to the ship. Again. When I saw him come above deck wearing an eye patch, I thought he looked even more fierce and dashing than ever. Of course, I’d have preferred him uninjured, but watching him walking along the deck as he searches for me, I know I will love this man regardless of what body parts the world takes from him.

I look over at Ox who waits to leave and start climbing down the rigging to meet James. He finally spots me making my way down and smiles. This is it, it’s time to leave this old life behind and find out who Arden Lexington is when she’s no longer The Admiral of The International Pirate Hunters Fleet.