Part 41 (2/2)
Two weeks later, the gypsies broke camp.
Though Sparrow found saying goodbye to Opal and her friends difficult, her new life with Lock thrilled her. Her only concern was that he wouldn't be happy settling down. She didn't doubt his love for her, but she knew he needed pa.s.sion beyond the bedroom. Perhaps when his s.h.i.+p was built and he returned to sea, his adventurous spirit would be satisfied.
”Where are you going next?” Sparrow asked Prem and Mita as the two stood beside their wagon, ready to leave Rose Cove.
”Begonia,” Mita replied. ”It's been quite a while since we've been there.”
Sparrow nodded, smiling gratefully. She knew the gypsies had avoided Begonia while she traveled with them.
”Would you take a message to my friend Shea-Ann?” Sparrow asked.
”Of course.”
Sparrow embraced the couple. ”I'll miss you. You're always welcome in our home.”
”And you're always welcome in our camp.” Mita glanced at Lock. ”You, too, as long as you're with her.”
”Thanks.” Lock grinned. ”I think.”
Sparrow and Lock watched as the caravans and wagons disappeared over the hill.
”Tomorrow we'll leave,” Lock told her. ”Sure you want to go digging up money for the next month or so?”
”I'm not letting you out of my sight again.” She grasped his wrist as they returned to their camp.
”I might not let you out of my arms again.” He picked her up, kissing her neck, his beard tickling her skin.
She clung to him, giggling. ”I think I can live with that.”
By the end of the summer, Sparrow and Lock had collected the money he'd hidden and built a house on the outskirts of Rose Cove. Sparrow cleared s.p.a.ce for gardening and once the house was finished, Lock, along with a hired crew, began building his new s.h.i.+p. Shea-Ann sent a message that she and Daphne were doing well in Begonia, but they missed Sparrow and would visit as soon as she could get away. Sparrow looked forward to seeing her old nanny again, and even Lock seemed happy about Shea-Ann's visit.
”I can't wait to see her again,” Sparrow told Lock as they sat down to dinner the day she received Shea-Ann's letter.
”I'm almost looking forward to seeing the witch, myself.”
”When she visits, do you think you two could try to get along?” Sparrow scolded.
”If I tried to get along with her, I think she'd be terribly disappointed.”
”You're incorrigible.”
”Maybe once, girl, but I'm quite tame now.”
”Not from what I remember about last night.”
He grinned and kissed her. ”I'm going to get some exercise then I'll be back and really give you something to remember.”
”Modest as always.”
He winked and stepped outside.
Sparrow cleared the table then followed him. She sat on the fence behind their house, watching Lock practice his martial arts forms in the field where Sea Storm grazed. She thought how utterly content she was in her marriage. Though Lock spent his days farming and working on the s.h.i.+p, nights were devoted to her. They talked and danced together, swam in the ocean just outside their door, and made love on the beach. Lock was an attentive and satisfying husband, and she knew he genuinely enjoyed their life together. Still, she sometimes wondered if part of him was bored.
Her gaze followed his every movement, loving the play of his muscles as he blocked and kicked. Every chiseled inch of his tall form seemed to lure her. Simply watching his long, rock-hard thighs and calves as he s.h.i.+fted stances was enough to make her wet.
When he finished practicing, he peeled off his sweaty vest and approached her. Rather than appearing tired by his practice, his expression was as l.u.s.ty as she felt.
”I need a swim,” he said, wiping his broad chest with the rolled up vest.
”No you don't.” She tossed him a coquettish look and beckoned to him with one finger. He reached for her, and she ran toward the house. He chased her, catching her with a few long strides and lifting her in his arms.
”Lock!” She giggled as his beard tickled her neck. She clung to him as he kicked open the door and closed it, placing her on a stool by the wall so she was a bit closer to his height.
His mouth covered hers, and she ran her hands over his sweat-slicked back and shoulders, feeling him slide off his trousers and kick them aside. She closed her eyes as his c.o.c.k, hot and steely like the rest of his body, slid into her p.u.s.s.y.
She fastened her legs around his waist and he growled, walked two steps to the bed, and flung them both on it.
Sparrow clutched his back, her body straining to keep time with thrusts so hard and fast she thought she might die of pleasure. Lock's warm, panting breath fanned her neck. His hands squeezed her b.u.t.tocks and caressed her ribs.
”Oh, Lock, don't stop!” she gasped, threading her fingers through the damp hair at his temples.
His mouth covered hers as he thrust harder, faster, while she wrapped her legs around him and lost herself in the ride. She cried out, desire stabbing her. Her entire body pulsed, her p.u.s.s.y clenching his c.o.c.k, her fingers gripping his hard, wet back. Tearing his mouth from hers, he growled his desire as he climaxed.
”Sparrow, I love you so much!” he gasped, his body crus.h.i.+ng hers, but she didn't care. It was the most marvelous feeling in the world, being pinned beneath him.
After a moment, he moved slightly aside, tugging her to his chest, before they both fell into a deep, satisfied sleep.
Lightning ripped a jagged streak through the sky, disappearing into the tossing black ocean. Thunder was disguised only by the crash of waves as they washed over the deck of the sinking s.h.i.+p.
Waves swept men overboard while others clung to the mast or fought their way through the deadly black sea to a lifeboat scarcely safer than the vessel.
The scanty crew battled for life against the indomitable tide.
Lock leapt awake to a clap of thunder that shook the house. He threw off the sheets and reached for his trousers. Though drenched in sweat, he trembled like he hadn't since he'd been tortured in Begonia.
He knew from experience his dream hadn't been ordinary. It was real. It was clear, just as when he'd dreamed his own whipping so many years ago and the vision of Sparrow and the storm at sea, except this dream wasn't of something to come. It was happening now. He knew it, and this time, he could stop it.
Sparrow woke just as he was heading for the door.
”Lock, what's wrong?”
He heard her voice in the distance, but his mind still spun with the nightmare. He raced to the barn and guided Sea-Storm into the blinding rain, not bothering with saddle or bridle.
<script>