I shrugged, laughing. “When you gotta go, ya gotta go. Remember not to look at me on your way out.”

I walked over to the dresser, setting my phone down, checking the time—ten minutes until midnight. I yelled, “It’s ten till. Don’t take too long.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he answered before shutting the door.

I puzzled at that, moving to a drawer to grab a sleep shirt. My fancy lingerie was all ready to go for tomorrow night, but he wasn’t going to see me in it until we were official. That was being saved for my wedding night surprise. No doubt that would be eclipsed by whatever stunt he had up his sleeve for the honeymoon.

I turned toward the bed, facing away from the rest of the room and unbuttoned the rest of my dress, choosing to wait until he left to take it off. It would definitely be better not to wave my naked body at him like a red cape in front of a bull. In the state he was in, he’d charge, probably with steam coming out of his nostrils, too. I snickered at the thought of the horny bull charging. Beast mode fiancé indeed. Poor guy was so randy he was probably going to get blisters on his hand from wanking tonight.

I made a mental note to save that joke as a parting taunt on his way out the door. Suddenly, the toilet flushed, the faucet turned on then off, and the door opened. I kept my back to him as he re-entered the room.

“It’s five minutes to midnight,” he muttered when he stopped.

I remained facing away from him. “Yeah…so goodnight. Love you. Sleep well.”

“The rule is that we’re not supposed to see each other, right?”

I hesitated. His voice sounded weird, like he was trying to suppress amusement. Like he was planning something. I shifted from one leg to the other. “Uh…yeah.”

He started walking again slowly, and I let out a breath of relief—until I realized that he wasn’t moving toward the door.

He stopped when he was right behind me. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. Trembling, I tilted my head to the side, listening. He whispered, “I have five minutes.”

I swallowed. “But you can’t do anything in five minutes. So scram.”

He wrapped his strong fingers tightly around my right wrist. When he spoke, his mouth was at my ear, breath creating tingles that cascaded like a waterfall down my spine. This power over me was real, and he knew exactly how to wield it. “I’ll be the judge of how much I can get accomplished in five minutes.” He looped something around the wrist he held. What the—

“Adam, what the hell are you doing?”

He didn’t answer as he grabbed my other wrist, pulling both of my hands over my head.

“Will you please stop fucking around?” I snapped in irritation. He was making it hard enough to say no already. Adam was a patient man, most of the time, having proved that in the past. Twenty-four hours more was nothing compared to the wait he’d already endured

“Oh, there will be lots of fucking around in here shortly.”

“It’s got to be midnight right now,” I said, but let him continue his charade of tying me up. But when he cinched my wrists together, he pulled tight enough to pinch the skin, like he meant business. He was taking this joke a wee bit too far.

“Adam—”

“I told you I wasn’t giving up.” He leaned down and sucked my lobe into his hot mouth until I shuddered with delight. Then he pulled away again. “Have you ever known me to be a person to give up? Even when asked nicely? Especially when asked nicely.” Suddenly, he hooked an arm around my waist, nudging me toward the closet door.

“No.” My heartbeat accelerated in anticipation.

He pressed my back to the closet door and ran his eyes down the length of me. “Oh. You unbuttoned the rest of your dress. That was nice of you. I won’t have to rip it now. It’s a hot dress. Not as hot as what’s inside it, of course.”

He looped the strap, which he’d apparently pulled off one of the cotton dressing robes that hung in the bathroom, up over the door of the closet, wedging it in the doorjamb. My hands were thus suspended above my head.

“Okay, you’ve had your laugh. Ha ha. Now let’s—” I moved against the door to try to yank my hands out from where they were tied. They didn’t budge. Shit…how did he do that so easily? “I unbuttoned the dress because I was getting ready for bed—not to do you any favors.”

“A happy coincidence, then.” He scooted the dress so that it was now wide open, and all I had on underneath was a lacy bra and the aforementioned easy-access panties. With one quick flick of his wrist, the bra snapped open from the front. He unhooked the removable straps, and it fell to the floor.

“You need to go now.” I tried hard to make my voice sound as stern as I could.

He nodded, looking at his watch. “It’s eleven fifty-eight. I have two minutes.”

I heaved an impatient sigh. “What are you doing?”

He reached up and stroked my nipple again, smiling with satisfaction as it beaded instantly under his touch. “We are in the Caribbean, aren’t we? I’m a pirate, and you are my captive wench.” I couldn’t help it. Despite my irritation at this moment, I found him too adorable with that gleam in his dark eyes. He was quite pleased with himself. And when he punctuated his declaration with a hearty “Arrrrrr!” I burst out laughing.

“Okay, you’ve had your fun. Now get out of here. It’s, like, thirty seconds to midnight.”

“Tsk, tsk.” He shook his head. “I cannot do that, Miss Cinderella. Shiver me timbers.” He walked over to the dressing table where the hotel had left me a first-class basket of supplies and started to rifle through it, grabbing things and putting them in his pocket while muttering about “plunder.”

“According to you and some supposed wedding rules committee, we aren’t supposed to see each other on our wedding day before the ceremony.”

I leaned my head back against the closet door with a weary sigh. “Yes.”

“And our wedding day starts at midnight, correct?”

I sighed again, heavily. “Now you’re being a pest.”

“A pest, you say?” He moved to the lamp I’d switched on and flicked it off, throwing the room into darkness once again.

“A pirate pest, yes.”

“I was going to tell you that I have devised an ingenious solution.”