Read Branded By Kesh for Free Online

a good thing that Kesh hadn’t come down, because I felt like demanding to know why he hadn’t told me, why he’d kept it hidden that they were pirates. I wanted to demand to know why they were pirates. What right did they think they had to just steal the cargo from other ships?
    My disappointment and anger at Kesh grew as I put the supplies away and started to get ready for the next meal. Another jolt of the ship sent me careening into the bench in the middle of the kitchen, to bang against it painfully, pushing my anger higher. I hadn’t had time to process what Kesh had made me feel with his kiss that morning before my family had turned up, and as I cut vegetables up for the next meal, I wondered why he affected me so strongly.
    He was just a man.
    He was just like any other man I’d met, yet, he turned me inside out with a soft brush of his lips against mine.
    I was in the store cupboard smelling the packets of herbs when I felt a presence behind me. I knew it was Kesh. I was attuned to his presence, and my whole body jumped to attention whenever he was near.
    Tingles raced down my back and my heart started to race at his nearness. I did my best to ignore him and continued on with what I was doing. When I’d selected the herbs I wanted I went to walk out, only to have my way barred.
    “Can you move out of the way, please?” I asked refusing to look at him.
    “You’re angry,” he said quietly.
    “No, Kesh. I’m disappointed,” I replied, looking up into his black eyes. The markings on his face bore a beautiful, intricate swirl that only seemed to highlight the planes of his face. That only seemed to accentuate the smooth expanse of his forehead, the sharp cut of his cheekbones and the strength of his jaw.
    “That’s not all you feel, Magnolia, disappointment wouldn’t have you ignoring me the way you have for the last few minutes.”
    My anger flared. “Don’t tell me what I feel, Kesh.”
    “Then be honest, Magnolia.”
    “Fine. Yes, I’m angry with you. You should have told me you were pirates.”
    “And what would you have done? Would it change anything? You can’t deny that there’s something between us, and the fact that we’re pirates doesn’t change that.”
    I stared at him incredulously. I couldn’t believe he’d just said that.
    “Of course it changes things, Kesh. You’re pirates, for stars sake. Everything you are goes against everything my parents have raised me to believe. The Universe has ways of balancing things out, and what you and your crew are doing will bring the Universe down on top of you.”
    “We’ve managed to survive so far without the Universe retaliating, Magnolia. Even if I believed in this all powerful Universe that you seem to think is out there, it wouldn’t stop me from being part of this crew. What we have is freedom, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the Universe.”
    His words resounded inside me, hitting at something that was close to my heart, but it was only one thing we had in common. This need to be free.
    “That’s why we won’t work, Kesh, because you believe something completely different to me. We’re too different,” I told him.
    “If you believe we won’t work because of that, you’re lying to yourself, Magnolia.”
    How dare he! I was not lying to myself. I’d always tried my hardest to be honest with myself about what I felt and what I wanted. Yes, I wanted him, but any kind of relationship, even a short-term one, wasn’t going to work. We wanted different things. We stood for different things. What we believed in was different. I wanted a man who held similar beliefs to me, a man who understood me, and I didn’t think Kesh would understand me. And I didn’t know him well enough to know if he’d try.
    I pushed past him, my shoulder brushing up against the heat of his body. Anger thrummed a tune inside me. I was so angry with him that I almost vibrated with it. I placed the herbs down on the counter next to the cut