The first thing Jack noticed as he ambled up beside her was her hands, resting gently on the railing. They were small. She had long, slender fingers tipped in perfectly-manicured nails that appeared razor-sharp. The edges of her palms – what he could see of them – were calloused; probably from years of labor and battle. He wanted to touch her hands; to know how they felt – to know if the calluses were as rough as they looked, or if they were only an illusion.
“You know I can hear you, right?” She asked, startling the near-silent pirate. “You jingle when you walk. I heard you coming before you came out of your cabin.”
“Sorry, Love,” he hissed, tilting his head with a smile. The beads in his hair jingled. Siobhan, still looking out across the early-morning sea, smiled slightly in response. “Didn’t mean to startle you. Curious is all.”
“About?” she asked disinterestedly. In truth, she was having a very hard time not caring…but he didn’t know that.
“Various and sundry items of little importance to such a powerful lass as yourself.”
“Then why the hell are you staring at me?”
“No reason, Love.”
“Does this tactic work on all the girls?” she asked. He could hear the derision in her tone, and smirked at her.
“What girls?”
“Oh, come on…you’re a pirate. That itself is synonymous with lecherous creep.”
“Come again?”
“You’re a pig! A pervert! A whore!”
“Thank you, but that’s hardly the way to talk to an admirer, methinks.”
“Admirer?” She turned away from the railing and faced him, her left eyebrow raised as high as it would go. That was the point when Jack realized he had said too much. The truth was, he did admire her for all her strength, packed into such a small, frail-looking body. Her strange eyes, her pointed ears, her perfectly-tapered fingers…
Fingers he imagined touching him.
Jack had to visibly shake himself to disperse the wild images playing behind his eyes. Siobhan noticed it and tilted her head to the side curiously. She was staring at him with those exotic eyes, and they weren’t helping his concentration. He could feel himself floundering badly. His calm, cool veneer was paper-thin at this point, and any small nudge would crack it completely in two.
“Well, you know Love, it isn’t every day a pirate finds such a fragile young lass on his ship,” he said.
“Fragile?” She stiffened and her eyes narrowed. “Who the hell said I was fragile?”
“No one… no one! One would only imply that such delicate features,” he looked at her hands as he spoke, “would present the appearance that such strength could not exist within the confines of said skin.”
“What?” Siobhan shook her head as Jack cleared his throat and tried to piece together a much more…understandable…phrase. She smiled at him, and his insides lit up. “Nevermind…when you figure it out,” she added, and pushed away from the railing, “let me know.” As she passed, she took hold of his forearm and squeezed slightly.
She disappeared below decks quickly, her pale skin still leaving an impression behind his eyes. That simple touch set his skin on fire, and Jack knew he would not be able to control himself for long. One way or the other, he had to have her before she left his ship.