“Shall we play our game?” He raised his glass in invitation.

Roselyn was feeling much more relaxed and genial after a filling meal and good wine. “I must warn you that I am very good at parlor games.”

“Are you?” The flirting pirate was back. “It has been quite a while since I spent time in a respectable parlor. Perhaps I should be given a handicap?”

“Perhaps,” she conceded. “What would you like to play? Charades? Cards? I’m quite good at chess,” she offered.

“I was thinking of a card game,” he began, but when her smile spread in confidence, he added a twist. “Of course, we’ll have to play by Pirate Rules.”

“I might be sorry I said this.” She smiled. She was a very good card player, “but I’m game.” She felt sated after the meal and a little warm after the wine.
Roselyn was rewarded by his sexy chuckle. Oh my, is he a beautiful man.

“Are you ready to hear the rules, then?” Jack placed a deck of cards on the table between them. “We will each draw a card, high card wins; low card must drink and answer a question.”

“I get to shuffle,” she declared. “I don’t trust you not to cheat.”
He handed her the cards with great ceremony and she began to mix them up. When she gave the deck back to him he fanned them out on the table.

“Ladies first,” he offered.

Roselyn smiled with confidence and extended her hand. She pulled out a card with her index finger and slid it across the table towards her. She flipped it over and her smile faded when she revealed the six of hearts. Jack reached his hand over the deck of cards and with a flourish withdrew the queen of spades.

“Too bad,” he clicked his tongue. He splashed a good size gulp of wine in her glass and indicated for her to drink.

Roselyn brought the glass to her mouth and took a sip but he shook his head.
“Oh no, my dear,” Jack told her, “Pirate Rules require that you drink all of it in one gulp.”

“Not very lady like,” she mentioned, but she tossed the rest of the wine back.

“Pirates don’t usually have a problem with unladylike women. Now for my question.” Jack tapped the table with his card and eyed her while he contemplated his first question.

The Sea Rose by Amylynn Bright is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.