Read Branded By Kesh for Free Online Page B

exactly what you want. You want the freedom to come and go as you please, fucking whoever takes your fancy.”
    I looked back at Jaxxon in shock. He was so angry. I hadn’t realised he felt so strongly about the kind of relationship I wanted. He’d always been supportive of me and the decisions I’d made, but I’d never found a man in the three years we’d been together that I wanted to explore a relationship with.
    He’d never seen me with another man. He’d never had to stand there and watch me be intimate with another man, and it was obvious to me from his anger that he didn’t like it, couldn’t handle it.
    Had I made the wrong choice when I’d agreed to start something with him? Had he lied to me about how he felt about the kinds of relationships I wanted? It was the only thing that made sense in the face of his anger.
    Kesh hadn’t said anything in response to Jaxxon’s little speech. I looked up at him, not sure what I would find. His black eyes burned into mine, searing me with the anger in them. He leant down so our faces were close together.
    “I’m giving you fair warning, Magnolia. When you become mine, I won’t share you. You’ll belong to me and only me.”
    He turned and stalked away, leaving the echo of his words ringing through the kitchen.
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    Kesh’s words stayed with me for the rest of the day. He didn’t come for a midday meal nor the evening meal. I had a lot to think about, his words repeating over and over in my mind, confusing me with the conflicting emotions I felt.
    His assertion that being a pirate was about freedom had me reconsidering my initial reaction. I still didn’t agree with what they did. However, I could understand their desire to be free. After all, that was what I wanted in my relationships. Somehow, I had to make Kesh understand that.
    I was angry with Jaxxon for the way he’d told Kesh the kind of relationship I wanted. I would have eased it on him in a far gentler way, the way I’d told Jaxxon. Then again, Jaxxon had agreed to the kind of relationship I wanted and now he had changed his tune, so maybe that wasn’t the best way to tell Kesh after all. Maybe saying it straight up was the best way to go. It didn’t matter anyway, because he knew now and had made his position clear on what kind of relationship he expected.
    My reaction to his parting statement confused me. His declaration that I would belong to him left me feeling a strange sense of excitement that I didn’t understand. No man had ever claimed me so thoroughly. No man had ever demanded so much of me. To belong to him and only to him—it scared me silly.
    What if another man came along that I had chemistry with? I wouldn’t be able to see what kind of connection we had, how we could come together. I couldn’t explore a relationship with any other man. However, if the man I was tied to were Kesh, would it matter? Or would the chemistry we had burn out as quickly as it had started? Would we have sex and find it was just a brief fire that once quenched had no substance to it, had no holding power?
    For the first time in a long time, I was questioning what I always thought I wanted. I’d watched my parents’ open relationship and seen how they made it work. While loving each other they had allowed each other the freedom to explore other relationships, and I’d always thought that was what I wanted, too.
    Now I felt confused by the strong connection Kesh and I seemed to have, by what he made me feel, and confused that although I was sad that my relationship with Jaxxon seemed to be at an end, I wasn’t heartbroken over the fact. Did that mean I hadn’t loved him?
    I let Penta go after we’d cleaned up for the night, I had some things to prepare for breakfast and wanted the quiet and solitude of being in the kitchen by myself to think about what was happening in my life. We were going to be aboard this ship for such a short period of time, whatever I had with Kesh might