The crows nest, p.1
The Crow's Nest, page 1
The Crow’s Nest
A journey of emotional discovery on the White Pearl
A Romantic Suspense Novel
By
Isabel James
Copyright © 2019 Isabel James – All rights reserved
The Crow’s Nest
Copyright © 2019 Isabel James
Editor: James Calderaro
Proofreaders: Melanie Marnell, Charlotte Strickland, Kemberlee Snelling
Published by Isabel James
Book cover design by Linzi Basset
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, business establishments, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Isabel James has asserted their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this eBook/book only. No part of this eBook/book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Warning: This book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase.
Disclaimer: Neither the publisher nor the author will be responsible for any loss, harm, injury, or death resulting from the use of the information contained in this book.
Et non examinatus
praeficitur vita opus esse censeamus indiscussum
Contents
Author’s Note
Dictionary
Prelude
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Excerpt: Truth Untold
More Books by Authors
About the Authors
Stalk Isabel James
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
This story is a journey filled with the discovery of raw emotions and unbridled eroticism between Jack Cavallaro and Liz Bennet. Their tale to find love is proof that you’re never to old to find true, soul-depth kind of love.
Jack Cavallaro
“It’s not your p*ssy, baby. It’s mine. You just get to wear it.”
It was Kismet. A one-in-a-million chance encounter. Stopping in for a quick double shot espresso, then suddenly, magically, there she was―a beautiful brunette across the room at Cafe Des Artiste on the upper Westside of Manhattan.
Liz Bennet
“Well, hell, honey, if I have to explain it, I must be doing something seriously wrong.”
In New York on a business trip, she had no intention of becoming entangled in an affair with anyone. But the second she touched his hand, that notion died instantly when the surge of an electrical current ripped through her core, leaving her stunned.
One fortuitous meeting unleashed their wildest fantasies and sealed their fate. They threw caution to the wind and leapt together into the void on an emotional journey that would change their destiny forever.
Fate intervened when Jack’s past caught up with them. Will Liz’s mistrust and Jack’s unwillingness to acknowledge the truth tear their newfound love apart? Will he be able to keep her safe when the characters from his past show up for revenge?
Two people, searching for the right one for an entire lifetime, play the odds to discover the truth. Will they find it this late in life? Can they prove to themselves that one is never too old to find love?
Or would a black hole of emotional scars and demons completely crush them?
This story is a journey filled with the discovery of raw emotions and unbridled eroticism between two lovers who have given up on finding love.
Wishing you all well and trust you will enjoy this story.
Kind regards,
Isabel James
Dictionary
In Alphabetical order.
A piu tarde - See ya later
Andiamo al cucina - Let’s go into the kitchen
Aprire le gambe cazzo - Open your fucking legs
Cabishe? Mi fai schifo. Puttana - Understand? You disgust me. Whore.
Cazzo - Fuck
Ciao, bella - Hello beautiful
Cio che e tuo, e mio. Questa figa è mio. Hai capito bene? - What is yours is mine. This pussy is mine. Understand?
Da mi lo ... voglio di piu. Scoparmi. Scopa la mia figa col quello cazzo. Scopa mi - Give it to me ... I want more. Fuck. Fuck my pussy with that cock. Fuck me
Devo andare - I have to go
Dimmi - tell me
Dobbiamo parlare. Sono fuori sul ponte. Vieni, subito - We have to talk. I'm outside on the deck. Come quickly.
E loro non hanno mai dimenticare - And they never forget
Esprit de corps - Pride
Fa Schifo. Ma, che puzzo - It’s disgusting. But what stink (Fix)
Figa - pussy
Figlia di papa - Daddy’s little girl
Hai paura - Are you afraid?
Hai ragione - You’re right
Hai un profumo cosi buono - You smell so good
Het jy my lief? - Do you love me?
I coltelli sono fuori - The knives are out
Io ho una testa durissima. Tu recordi bene? Giusto? Allora, stai tranquillo. Lo so che tu capisci tutto - I have a very hard head. You remember well. Right? Now, stay calm. I know you understand everything
Is dit so? Dit is voorwaar uitmuntende nuus – Is that so? It’s spectacular news.
Ja, dit is – Yes, it is
Ja, my seksie Sicilian, ek het jou lief - Yes, my sexy Sicilian, I love you.
Kleine Boeremeisie - Little farmer girl
La piccola motociclista. Incredibile - The incredible little motorcyclist
Ma belle petite femme - My beautiful little lady
Ma, che un stronzo - But, what an asshole
Ma, che una bella figa - What a beautiful pussy
Mal verby - Past crazy
Ma, L’opera continuera - The opera will continue
Mi disgusti - You disgust me.
Mi hai capito bene, si? Senti mi bene, puttana - Have you understood me, yes? Listen to me well, bitch
Nee, dis nie nodig. Ek onthou dit – No, it’s not necessary. I remember it
Piccolo genio - Little genius
Pollice Verso - Thumbs Down
Qualcose dolce da - Sweet things from
Qualcuno dovra morire - Someone will have to die
Quelli occhipinti verde - Those beautiful green eyes
Ragazzi’s - Boys
Sempre stai scherzando ... minchiata - You’re always joking … bullshit
Sfigato - Loser
Sono esausto - I'm exhausted
Stunod - Dummy
Tesora mia - My darling
Tessora mia, devi stare attento - You must be careful, my dear
Testa dura - Hardheaded
Testardo e testa dura? Io? Non ho dimenticato come si e sffaciato - Stubborn and hardheaded? They never forget
Ti adoro, Liz. Sei il mio amore - I adore you , Liz . You are my love
Ti amo, mi amore - I love you my darling
Ti voglio fottere - I want to fuck you
Ti amo - I love you
Tu hai una testa dura, mio caro - You have a hard head, my darling
Un po piu di café - A little more coffee
Un Siciliano pazzo, tu sai molto bene, cazzo - A crazy Sicilian and you know fucking very well
Uomo-a-uomo - Man to man
Va fan culo, stronzo di merda. Cornuto. Pensi che tu sei un l’uomo grande. Sei stupido e pazzo - Go fuck yourself, shithead. You think you’re a big man. You’re stupid and crazy.
Va fan culo, strunze - Go fuck yourself
Va fan culo, strunze. Lo sai che loro sono cazzo, gli Barese. Capito mi hai? - Go fuck yourself, shithead. You know they are fucking, the Barese. Do you understand me?
Waar is daardie goedkoop slet vriendin van jou? - Where is that cheap slut friend of yours?
Prelude
The beginning ...
Today’s Special: Instant attraction with a double dash of chemistry.
She stood facing the bar, bent slightly at the waist. Her tightly compacted hindquarters were displayed in all their curvaceousness, rounded and taut with the heart-shaped aperture that described the intersection of her sinewy thighs and pelvis.
He picked a table opposite her, several rows away from the bar. Leaning back, he stretched out then settled in with his arms slung passively across his chest, pretending not to look but soaking in the view with the furtive glances of a practiced voyeur. His eyes narrowed and swept in her lithe form that was clad in the delicate spare silk of an acid green party dress, hung precariously on a pair of chiseled shoulders by the frailest of angel hair spaghetti straps.
Slowly turning around, she stood and faced him, alerted by a tingling on the nape of her neck. She had spotted him the second he walked in; not so tall, lean with thickly muscled legs shea thed in tight jeans, the full features of someone, possibly Mediterranean, with a head capped in the closely cropped tonsure of almost silver-gray hair. Tossing her satiny chestnut brown mane, she caught him again undressing her with the leering countenance of a wolf quietly sizing up its prey.
She lowered her chin to meet the gaze of his blazing hazel eyes that, from across the room, silently calculated her height, weight, power and speed but more importantly, her ability to read and react to a developing situation. A cold shiver ran up her spine and plucked the raised cilia-like downy hair on her thighs.
Intrigued by the chance of witnessing an uninhibited, private exhibition of her sexual prowess for his own personal satisfaction amidst the din and employment of patrons, he waited patiently. Waited for a subtle gesture, a nod, a knowing glance, some glint of recognition that would signal her intentions that she was a player in the game.
Situated together in a gambit of sexual brinkmanship, it was her move, and she moved without hesitation. With the stealth of a sniper, she leaned back into the wooden bar, with elbows akimbo, and took aim at him by seductively spreading her legs open in a provocative gesture. One that was engineered to entice his senses just enough to make him aware that he was being targeted.
Jack felt the skin on his forehead twitch against his skull. A sheepish grin tiptoed across his mouth in anticipation of a lively encounter with a worthy opponent. His groin tightened as he watched her rose-colored tongue brush her lips as she pushed away from the bar to catwalk towards him. A playful grin pulled taut her pouty mouth.
Reaching his table, she gestured with the long fingers of her right hand to the seat opposite him. A smooth, husky voice tore open a rich seam of burgeoning lust that wrapped itself snugly around the nerve endings in his loins, sending shards of heat spiking through his core.
“May I join you?” she asked, looking down at him, somewhat unsure now which way to proceed and wondering what door she had just kicked open.
Jack felt his pulse quicken. A sharp breath hissed through his teeth as he barely managed to respond with a raw, “Um, yes, please,” and nodded at her to sit down. He watched her slink into the seat, her body folding gently at the waist.
Transfixed by the deft choreography of her slender hands, his mind began to flash on fantasies acted out and preserved in the amber of youthful experimentation. He stretched out his left leg in an attempt to make an unseen adjustment hidden beneath the tabletop but failed miserably by inadvertently sliding his leg between her knees, just brushing the inside of her thighs.
She felt the intrusion but accommodated his leg by opening hers.
“That was fast,” she said, as she leaned in on a pair of entwined hands. “What should I expect next? The right leg?” Her voice dropped half an octave into a husky timber.
Caught off guard by her sudden advance, Jack decided to play the fool. In a self-deprecating mime, he raised his shoulders, threw his hands up and mugged her with his best Cary Grant.
She glanced at him with a look of restrained amusement then broke down laughing, trying immediately to check her glee by clasping her mouth shut with her hand. Her laughter was infectious. Feeling emboldened by his ability to make her laugh, he took up the challenge and slid his right leg in between hers while reprising his comic impersonation. His timing was impeccable. He raised his eyebrows and grinned as she gurgled with laughter.
She patted dry her long eyelashes with the middle finger of both hands and looked across the table at his grinning face. “I haven’t laughed that hard in years,” she chuckled.
Jack was fascinated by her. She appeared younger than she probably was with silky and glowing skin but the telltale signs of crows-feet at the side of her eyes indicated she might be closer to fifty. The thought excited him. As did the vision of those long fingers caressing taut flesh linger in his mind. As if reading his thoughts, she reached across the table in a unilateral display of daring and took his left hand in hers. He flinched. Her fingers caressed the heavy silver ring that he wore on his index finger.
“A silver-skull biker ring,” she mused staring at the beautifully hand-crafted grotesque ring. “Do you ride?” she asked, dropping her eyes to watch how his full lips formed around his reply. She licked the underside of her top lip as she brushed a hand under his chin. His groin tightened.
You are naughty.
“Yes, I do,” Jack said, clearing his throat as the words croaked to the surface. He had never been so unnerved by a woman, at least not at first sight. She, oh, so subtly, stroked his index finger between hers and then shot a blazing glance at him, now boldly encroaching into his personal space without any backup.
He struggled to drag the thinnest breath into his lungs. She fingered the thick silver ring with a feathery touch, knowing full well the manifestation of cause and effect would have as a surge in blood pressure into the burgeoning protrusion crowding his loins.
Her eyes smoldered knowingly as she watched tiny opalescent beads of perspiration appear and situate themselves in a random pattern clinging to the skin above his upper lip. The tip of her tongue appeared again in a menacing reptilian display, flaring like a cobra’s hood, snaking out to wet a corner of her mouth.
She switched the subject and turned down the heat. “Is that your beautiful white Harley out in front?” she asked in a voice that sounded as if it were cured in bourbon and cigarette smoke. Her eyes focused directly on his.
“Uh ... yeah. That’s mine.” He berated himself as he struggled to separate his mind from the throbbing in his jeans.
Cranking up the flames again, she returned her fingers back to fondle the ring. Watching her slim hand holding onto his large weathered fingers made his mind wander once more and he cursed himself, sotto voce.
“Mind if I ask you something?” he said inquisitively, trying to regain his rattled composure.
“Have at me,” she purred, sending such an unexpected shard of heat into him that any unoccupied space that once existed between his legs had now completely disappeared.
“Oh, really? Well then, I just might do that,” he parried back in a lunge that caught her in a blush of red that bloomed to reveal a weakness in her defense.
Touché, darling. Now it’s my turn.
He slashed at her again to maintain the momentum. “Would you like to come?” Pausing with a straight face for maximum effect, “On my bike?” Another pause, “For a ride some time?” The purposeful hesitation was not lost on her. She reeled back into her seat surprised by such an audacious move.
Jack turned his hand and caught hers. Watching her, he traced the creases on the inside of her palm. Her breath caught in the back of her throat and her eyes widened. His provocative question was answered by a shimmering glint in her eyes. She squirmed in her seat, her hand becoming moist inside his. He felt an easy presence return that relaxed a look of uncertainty on his face.
I’ve got you now. You’re beginning to glow. Let’s see if you run.
She made a tactical retreat to save face. “I make jewelry, too. Heavy pieces similar to your ring. I’ve got some beautiful samples in my car. Want to come for a quick look?” she asked sounding naive in the hope for an answer that would either end the game right there and release the tension or prolong it with a walk to the underground parking lot into the deep end of the pool where she could be in way over her head.
Jack’s eyes narrowed to measure the gauntlet that she had just thrown down on the table. Thoughts about what he was about to do to her ran through his mind as he leaned back in his chair. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears as he visualized the debauchery he would bring to bear on her whole body. The wolf was sniffing eagerly at the door.
“I usually don’t follow women to secluded dark corners, especially one I hardly know. I’m Jack, by the way.”
His eyes challenged her to defy him, but her smile was disarmingly beautiful. A silent promise in itself to be quickly sealed as he nearly leapt from his chair to flush her out from the safety of the lit cafe into the enveloping cover of approaching darkness.
He held the door open as she walked under his arm, the top of her head barely reaching his chin. A whiff of citrus perfume teased his nose as he breathed her in.
