Yes

“You never told me your name,” Sasha observed as Brenan led her closer to the waterfront, the sound of her voice causing him to momentarily cease scanning their surroundings for any potential threats.

“Brenan, Brenan Kilgore,” Brenan introduced himself and stiffened up as Sasha pulled herself closer to him and slipped her arm around his. He didn’t have to look at her to know that she was smiling at him.

Fighting hard not to be distracted by Sasha as she walked right next to him, Brenan kept on looking to make sure that they weren’t being followed. If they were being shadowed, then the people doing it were a lot more competent than the two men who had pursued Sasha earlier, because Brenan had seen nothing that alarmed him by the time that they made it to his schooner.

As he led Sasha up the gangway, Brenan could hear the sound of men working aboard the ship, and once up on the weather deck he called out a greeting which soon caused Kyle to pop his head up into view.

The man was no longer wearing his knitted cap, though Brenan was much too amused by the expression on the man’s face as he saw Sasha for the first time to note the strange shape of his ears as they sat further down on the sides of his face than what was normal.

Brenan could feel Sasha tense up around his arm, which she had grabbed hold of again as soon as they had made it up the gangway, but she soon relaxed as Kyle offered her a warm smile and climbed up out of the hole.

Tyler followed up after his brother, and he too adopted a stunned expression as soon as he spotted Sasha, his jaw dropping a little and his blank eyes bulging to the point where they might come popping out of their sockets.

“Boys, this is Sasha, our new cock,” Brenan announcement caused Sasha to squirm ever so slightly against his side, “Sasha, this is Kyle and Tyler Jones.”

“How can I repay you?” If Brenan had intended to make it seem as though he and Sasha had met under different circumstances and already agreed on her position aboard, then she ruined those plans straight away with her question.

“By not being lousy at cooking,” Brenan responded, eager to avoid a position where her gratitude towards him would bring her to offer herself to him. It was the third time in just over twenty-four hours that he had found himself faced with a beautiful woman and was incapable of giving in to his baser instincts.

“How’s the sleeping arrangements, boys?” Brenan asked Kyle and Tyler, silently berating himself for not making sure that there were more than just two hammocks aboard the ship.

“Uh,” Kyle’s slowness in formulating his response made it obvious that he remained smitten by Sasha, “Davy came by with a few more hammocks, and said that we’d probably need them tonight.”

“Right, then I want you two to help Sasha put up one of them in one of the empty cargo holds,” Brenan began to give out his orders, “Sasha, you’re staying below deck until we leave port. I’ll send someone out to buy new clothes for you tomorrow, alright?”

Sasha nodded her head, and Brenan reminded himself that he shouldn’t ask for his crewmembers consent after giving them an order.

“Kyle, stay up here for a minute,” Brenan spotted how Kyle’s shoulders sank as he allowed Sasha and Tyler to walk past him and disappear down the ladder leading below deck, even if the way in which the redhead smiled at him as she walked past him seemed to do a lot to reinvigorate his spirit and brought a smile to his lips.

“Where’d you find her?” Kyle asked of Sasha once his brother had led her down below deck.

“In an alley, struggling against two men who were trying to **** her,” Brenan explained, satisfied at how his words caused Kyle to drop his smile and don a more serious expression, “And we don’t do that sort of thing on this ship, do we?”

“No Captain!” Kyle blurted out quickly enough that Brenan knew that he’d made a good choice in recruiting the two brothers.

“Good, now where’s Michaels?”

“He’s sound asleep, Captain, said something about not getting any last night,” Kyle reported.

“Good, we’re all going to need as much sleep as possible tonight, now head below and give your brother some help. And try not to stare too much at the pretty lady.”

“Yes Captain!” Kyle grinned and disappeared down the ladder.

While his crew was now all below deck, Brenan remained up above it, moving up to the gunwale and scanning the waterfront, the fact that he had saved Sasha from Veertor’s agents both causing him to wonder why they were after her in the first place and causing him to keep a keen lookout for anyone who might be watching his ship.

It took about thirty minutes before Tyler came climbing up the ladder again and heaved himself up onto the deck.

“Tyler,” Brenan felt quite proud that he hadn’t had any problems with distinguishing which of the brothers who was which, “what’s your brother and Sasha up to?”

“N-n-nothing, Captain,” Tyler’s stammering was worse than usual, giving Brenan the impression that he was nervous about something.