Guilty Pleasures by Bertrice Small Read Free Book Online Page B

said.
    “Babe?” Rick’s voice answered. Despite his claim he sounded sleepy.
    “Just back from the Blairs’ barbecue,” Carla said. “Everyone is fine. The baby is adorable, and Tim is a fool over her. Everything okay?”
    “Yeah,” he answered. “We’re flying back Monday morning. We’ll be into Kennedy by midday. Tomorrow Ryan is taking me sightseeing.”
    “Then you’ll need some rest, sweetie,” Carla told him. “Two calls in just a few days. I think you miss me, Mr. Johnson,” she teased.
    “I do!” he said with such sincerity that she was touched.
    She had always taken Rick’s love for granted because she loved him back. Now, hearing the deep emotion in his voice, Carla realized that she loved him more now than when they had married all those years ago. And she missed him too. “Want me to sing you a lullaby?” she said. “Or can you go to sleep now like a big boy?”
    “I’ll sleep now,” he said, and she heard the smile in his voice.
    “Travel safe, sweetie,” Carla said. Kiss. Kiss.
    “I will. See you Monday,” he replied. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. And the line went dead.
    Somehow she didn’t feel like accessing the Channel now. Carla went straight to bed. On Sunday she had dinner at the Egret Pointe Country Club with Tiffany and Joe.
    Tiffany got her aside in the powder room just before they were leaving. “So? Last night? Did it rock your world?”
    “Rick called while I was out and wanted me to call him back. I just didn’t feel like dealing with the king of the pirates after that. You know, Tiffy, I’ll go back tonight, but then I think I’ll delete that pirate fantasy. I’m going to get myself a chalet up in the Austrian alps, where I can go and relax when I need a break from the ER.”
    “And . . . ,” Tiffany queried, grinning.
    “Welllll, maybe a ski instructor now and again, but only now and again,” Carla said with an answering grin.
    Could she really delete the pirate fantasy she had enjoyed for so long? Yeah, Carla thought as she showered before getting into bed, she could. Like anything too delicious, a surfeit of it could become dull and/or sickening. One more wild ride with Lord Julian Hawke, the king of the pirates, and she was through. Climbing into bed, she picked up the Channel remote and pressed the A button to find herself alone in her bed.
    Beyond the French doors, the sea sparkled. There was a ship just sailing into Half-Moon Cove. It wasn’t hers, but it did fly the Jolly Roger from its topmast. Her bedroom door opened and Lord Hawke strode in and out onto the porch without a word. “Is it your ship?” Carla asked.
    “Aye, just back from Jamaica. They’ll be carrying a letter from Governor Morgan confirming my claim to Amorata Cay.”
    Carla sat up. She didn’t bother to hold the sheet to her bared bosom. “You’re very certain,” she said. “But if your claim is just, I will have one thousand pieces of eight counted out from my treasure room for you. You will then sign the island over to me, your grace, and leave. I shall have to go a-pirating now to make up my loss.”
    Turning, he stared fixedly at her full, generous breasts. “I want to see you being fucked by another man,” he said bluntly. “I want to hear you scream with passion, my pirate queen. My first mate, Nestor, wants a go at you.”
    “He’s worn my poor servant Violetta out with his enthusiasm,” Carla noted to Lord Hawke.
    “She hasn’t satisfied him in the weeks we’ve been here,” the king of the pirates said. “He needs to lodge that cock of his into a woman filled with fire as you are.”
    “And if I say nay?” Carla asked him.
    “If I say aye, there is no nay, my pretty little bitch, and I say aye!” he told her. “That defiance of yours has earned you another spanking, wench!”
    “Will you fuck me before you depart with my gold?” Carla asked him boldly.
    A slow smile lit the face of the self-proclaimed king of the pirates. “It will be my last act before I