He Divorced Me at His Ship's Christening, So I Held the Ship novel · Chapter 8 of 24
Chapter 8: The Bowline
Filipa's POV
Ruel pulled the last turn of the bowline snug around my wrists, and I felt the soft old cotton hold.
"Test it," he said.
I pulled.
The knot closed a little tighter and did not slip, exactly as it should.
"You've done this before," I said.
"Eleven years in the Navy." He looked down at me with the dark bay behind his head. "I've tied a few."
"Not on a woman."
"Not on one I wanted to hear say my name."
I lay on my back on the Santa Rita's forward hatch cover with my arms stretched above my head.
The line was made fast to the bitt behind me.
Overhead the stars were out for once, thin and white over the dark water.
The lights of the Coronado Bridge strung themselves across the bay in a long blue curve.
Out by the tuna docks, a sea lion barked twice and went quiet.
The boat was empty except for us.
Anselmo had taken his cap and his thermos home at nine and had not asked one question.
"Say it," Ruel said.
"Say what?"
"Whatever you're thinking," he said.
"I'm thinking that nobody's ever tied me to anything I didn't pick myself."
His face changed.
"I picked this," I said. "I picked you. I picked tonight."
He bent over me and kissed my mouth, slow and warm.
"Good," he said. "Then I'm going to take my time."
He undressed me one piece at a time, with no hurry at all.
He pushed my sweater up and over my bound arms.
He kissed my stomach, my ribs, the soft underside of each breast.
The night air raised bumps along every inch he uncovered.
He unbuttoned my jeans and drew them down my legs, and I lifted my hips to help him.
His eyes went over me in the starlight, and he took a long unsteady breath.
"Look at you," he said again, and I would never get tired of it.
"You keep saying that."
"You keep being worth saying it to."
He knelt on the deck beside the hatch.
He ran one palm slowly up the inside of my leg, from the knee to the top of my thigh.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of He Divorced Me at His Ship's Christening, So I Held the Ship are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 7 · All chapters · Chapter 9 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend