G'baena's Pirates Read Online Free PDF Page A

that he didn’t do any real damage.
    G’baena started to rise from her seat, and for a moment, Devlin had to fight the urge to hold her back. Del saw her move and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You stay,” he said quietly. “I can find my way to my quarters.”
    He turned his gaze on Devlin for a moment, his clear blue eyes assessing, asking a silent question. He must’ve found what he sought because he nodded and then left the room quickly. G’baena watched the young man walk away, a small smile on her face.
    “He’s an interesting young man,” he said carefully. “Very protective of you.” G’baena smiled sweetly.
    “Considering what he’s been through, it’s amazing that he can be so comfortable around people. I still find myself wanting to cringe and lower my eyes whenever I pass someone in the hall.” She blushed then, confirming in Devlin’s mind that G’trobians were very close to humans, at least in their reactions. Tee-ani had even suggested that humans and G’trobians shared a common ancestor. She hadn’t yet figured out the genetic quirk that made all G’trobian male births identical twins, but he knew Tee-ani well enough to know she’d keep researching until she knew the answer.
    Devlin leaned over the table and with a gentle hand lifted G’baena’s gaze off her cheesecake and onto him. “Don’t ever feel the need to act like a slave. You are free and safe and protected here and considered an equal. As the captain, Jordan may run this ship, but he’s worked hard to make sure that everyone has a function, a place to belong. We work as a team, as a family on this ship now, and no family member is more or less important than the others.”
    She nodded her understanding, but he could read a million questions in her eyes. He couldn’t help himself. Grasping her hand in his own seemed so natural, so necessary, that he held her warm fingers tighter than he first intended.
    “It’s okay to ask me anything. Anything you want or need to know, you just have to ask.” He could see her struggling, see her grimace as she tried to find the words to say whatever she wanted to say, but at the last moment, she seemed to change her mind and ask something completely different. He’d been expecting a question about the ship or maybe about humans or human culture in general, but the question she did ask had the blood pooling in his groin.
    “Will you have sex with me?”
    The piece of lasagna he’d been chewing lodged in his throat, and he tried desperately to remedy the situation without making a fuss. He could just see his epitaph now—he choked on lasagna in the mess hall with a hard-on. He finally managed to swallow the mouthful and grabbed for his glass of water.
    “Did I say it wrong?” G’baena asked quietly, concern and embarrassment written all over her pretty face. He reached across the table to cup her cheek in his hand.
    “No, honey, you didn’t say anything wrong. You just took me by surprise.”
    “Oh,” she said in a non-committal tone.
    Devlin shifted in his chair, trying to ease the ache in his groin without cutting off the blood supply to his legs, almost groaning aloud with the discomfort. G’baena fidgeted in her seat and looked like she was going to make a run for it, so he grabbed her hand again and held on tight.
    “G’baena, I’m sorry, I just don’t know how to react here. You were held captive as a sex slave. I thought sex would be the last thing on your mind.”
    She shook her head, her face coloring again as she awkwardly tried to explain.
    “I…uhm…wasn’t, they didn’t, I mean…” She blew out her breath in irritation and then pinned him with her gaze. “I was sold as a virgin, so no one touched me in a sexual way.”
    Devlin was starting to feel like he’d fallen into a non-orientable wormhole and popped out in some alternate universe. “You’re a virgin?” he whispered anxiously.
    “No.” She shook her head fretfully. “I’m a