His lips tipped at the corner. “Make no mistake, they do want my booty. They want other parts of me too. Harder parts. Larger, firmer ones.”
“You’re sick.” Heat flushed her veins as her breathing increased just a notch, making her breasts feel heavy.
He laughed. “I am a man. What would you expect me to be?”
“Disgusting,” she said, not able to hide the smirk tugging at her mouth.
Slamming his hand on the desk, he stood. “I want to show you something. Come with me.”
“Is that an order, Captain Hook?”
“Do you want it to be?”
“You are really dirty, you know that? Is your mind always in the gutter?”
“Is yours?” he countered, the ghost of a smile still hovering on his face. “I simply meant that if you’d like to be ordered about, I’m certainly prepared to do it.”
“Oh God,” she stood, “you are really rotten, you know that?”
“So they say.”
When he didn’t seem to want to move, she spread her arms wide. “Well?”
His hot gaze rolled up and down her body, slowly, causing her to feel like someone had just doused her body in gasoline and taken a torch to it. “You will not go topside dressed in that.”
Frowning down at her frock, she patted the brown belt and buckle into place. “What’s wrong with it? I heard it’s all the rage in Neverland these days.”
“I’ve a band of pirates aboard this vessel, if you dress as a whore they will treat you as one. I should hate to have to fight for the sake of your honor. Now dress.” He pointed to the large wooden chest beside his bed.
Narrowing her eyes at him, she jerked her thumb over her shoulders. “You have dresses in there? So you’re one of those kind of guys, huh?” She eyed his thick, impressively stacked muscles and grinned sweetly.
But he didn’t rise to the bait; instead he walked to the chest, flipped open the lid and pointed. “Ask.”
Her brows gathered. “It’s empty. Ask what? Who? Is there another one of those demon bugs in there, a fairy ready to grant my every wish?”
Smirking, he ran his hand through his hair. “Demon bug. I do like that. The chest belonged to the King of the Air. Trapped inside is the soul of a genie.”
Bending over, she peered into the open space, smelling nothing other than the cedar planks inside. “You’re lying. You’re just teasing me.”
He lifted one shoulder, picking at the tip of his hook. “Hmm.”
She licked her lips. “You know that’s not really an answer. And anyway, I thought genies could only grant three wishes.”
“It’s a cursed chest, the genie can deny the wisher nothing. Endless treasure.”
“And it’s inside your cabin, maybe it’s not a lie. Seems like the kind of thing a dastardly pirate would want to keep close to him.”
Eyes sparkling, he tipped his head. “Perhaps. Or perhaps it was an elaborate lie to force you to bend over so I could sneak a look at your red drawers again.”
Biting her lip, she tugged the frock down, only now realizing she’d completely exposed herself to him. “You jerk.”
He laughed. “Be that as it may, you will not leave this room unless you change. So what will it be, little bird? Trust or no?”
“Why do you keep calling me that?” she growled, more because if she didn’t, she’d laugh. The man was obnoxiously hot and funny, who knew the villainous Hook had it in him?
“Because you’ve the skinny little legs of a bird and you fell in front of me like a chick from a nest. I’ll admit, I’ve another reason for asking you to change. I despise your clothing. In fact, I fight the urge to rip it from you.”
At first she almost grinned, until she noticed the sparkle in his eyes was gone. One part of his story did seem to be true, Hook hated Pan as much as the book portrayed.
Not sure what to say to that, she turned back to the trunk. “Oh glorious, magnificent, invisible genie, give me a dress. Something sexy, but not too sexy since I don’t want the pervs upstairs to think I look like a slut. Thanks.”
Again he laughed, and her lips trembled. She wasn’t used to cracking so many jokes, but he seemed to find her funny, which was odd. Normally she just annoyed the hell out of people.
A bright light flashed and then a large swath of red cloth overflowed from the top. “Red. Hmm, I didn’t ask for red.” She eyed Hook. “I think you rigged this thing.”
“Bloody hell, woman, get dressed and hurry. I wish to show you something before I no longer can.”
Grabbing the pile, she hugged it to her chest. “You planning to watch?”
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he dropped his hand to his leg and ran his hook along the bedspread. “My room. My rules.”
“You are a bastard,” she growled, but there was no heat behind it. A part of her wanted him to see, wanted to see what he thought when he looked.