Clarissa's heart thundered when he tossed her onto his bed. The pirate's lips, so brutally chiseled into his sea-beaten but handsome face, parted in a hard smile as he ripped open her bodice. "Ah, such lush beauties, these," he breathed, wedging his knee between her thighs. "Peaks like berries, just awaitin' my tongue ... lappin' at your creamy skin, sweet lady, as I feast upon your fleshly delights." Gasping at the sandpaper texture of his face, Clarissa curled in upon herself. Quite against her will, she writhed beneath his hot, solid weight. That was no ordinary sword pressing into her abdomen ... surely long and thick enough to ravage her down there, the way this swashbuckler had already taken her imagination captive. Again against her will, of course. "Please, sir," she rasped. "I'm betrothed to Lord Lustingworth, pledged to him as a virgin bride-" "Lustingworth, eh?" The buccaneer raised up, shaking with his laughter. "You haven't heard about all his little bastards? By all the wenches a-workin' in his castle? He won't notice your bein' broke in. Ripe and ready for-"
"YO, HO, HO!"
"-and a bottle of rum!"
"-it's a poi-rate's loife fer me!"
"No! No! That's the wrong frickin' movie, Trev!" came a strident cry. "You can't play Captain Jack if you're gonna mess up the script and-"
A startled intake of breath made Cat look up from her story. From her nook in the loft, she peered over the railing to see the tallest of the three costumed swashbucklers pressing the point of his glimmering sword to his challenger's bare chest ... right between the swells of that low-cut hot pink evening gown.
"It's my house," came Trevor Teague's terse reply. "If you don't like the way I play pirate, take your balls and bat and go elsewhere, Bruce."
"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" Grant Carey crooned. The sleeves of his flowing laced-front shirt billowed as he stepped up to deflect Trevor's sword with his finger. "I see no need for bickering over petty-"
"I am not being petty!" Bruce insisted with a swish of his long blond wig. "As Elizabeth-the smart one, who gets things accomplished!-I'm only pointing out-"
"If you want to make points, stud your bra," Trevor muttered. "Cat should play the part of Elizabeth. She would at least bring some originality-and real breasts-to the role. Something besides flicking that fake hair in my face every time-"
"Don't even think about it, guys. I'm trying to work." Cat immediately regretted the frustration in her voice, but it was getting late and she hadn't reached her page quota for today. Her story felt way too clich