by Susan Hayes
Both of them watched as the figure on the rocks turned her back to the ocean just as the wave that had sent their boat rocking broke over the headland in a surge of water and foam. As the water retreated they both swore in unison when the figure in the blue jacket was nowhere to be seen.
“Fuck!”
“You can’t get in close enough to get to her, if you try we’ll end up on the rocks for sure!” Rory was already toeing off his shoes and tugging his jeans off as Evan tried to get them in close enough to spot the missing woman.
“Once we spot her, I’ll get you as close as I can, but then you’re going to have to swim for it.” He glanced back at Rory, a grim smile on his face. “Let’s hope she’s not afraid of wild animals.”
“If she is, she’s going to drown.” Rory kicked his jeans off and yanked off his jacket and shirt, the winter wind instantly cutting through him like an icy dagger.
“Found her! Port side!” Evan cranked the wheel and the boat cut hard to the left. “She’s caught in a riptide by the looks of things, and being pulled out by the current. At least you’ll be swimming with it once you get to her. I’ll get in as close as I can.”
Rory spotted a flash of blue in the water and uttered a groan. She was still more than fifty meters from the boat, and in water this cold, she’d already be suffering from the first stages of hypothermia. It was going to be close.
He summoned the change as he dove over the gunwale, gritting his teeth against the cold that burned his skin for a brief moment before the transformation finished. Thick fur covered bare skin as he claimed his true form, and by the time he broke the surface a few feet from the boat, he was completely comfortable. Rory drove himself upward with a thrust of his tail, trying to spot the woman he knew was somewhere beyond the waves. “She just went under and hasn’t come up yet.” Evan’s voice sounded in his mind.
Not wasting the time to reply, Rory dove back under the water and swam as hard as he could in the direction they’d last seen her. In this form he could hold his breath for ages, and his senses were more acute underwater. He dove deep enough to escape the churning chaos of the waves and almost immediately picked out her scent and the sound of her panicked coughing. At least she’s still breathing.
The roar of the boat’s engine faded as Rory swam toward the strangely enticing scent of the woman he needed to find. He put the enticing part firmly on pause and focused on finding her, and relief coursed through him when he spotted her treading water at the far range of his vision. He started swimming hard toward where she struggled, but another wave pushed her under before he could reach her. He covered the last few feet as quickly as he could and situated himself under her outstretched arm, using his momentum to drag her up to the surface with him.
She clung to him weakly, too disoriented from the cold and exhaustion to do more than gasp for breath.
“Seals again?” she finally spoke, her teeth chattering and her voice hoarse from coughing.
With no idea what she was talking about and no way to speak to her even if he did, Rory just grabbed a mouthful of her sodden jacket and started tugging her toward the boat. He managed to keep her head above the surface when the next wave rolled beneath them, and she uttered a sob of relief as she spotted Evan steering the Storm Lord straight for them, right in the path of the current so that the tide was doing the bulk of the work of carrying them to the boat.
Her clothes made her almost impossibly heavy to pull along, and she was too far gone with cold to manage more than a weak kick of her legs as she struggled to stay above water.
Rory let go of her jacket to nudge her sharply with his nose, trying to rouse her from her stupor and she groaned, but this time when he grabbed ahold and pulled she managed to kick a little harder and paddle with her arms.
As they got nearer Evan killed the engine and let the boat drift toward them to avoid injuring them when they swam for the stern. By the time Rory got her to the swim platform at the back of the boat, they were both exhausted. Evan was already leaning over and he grabbed the nearly unconscious woman by the arm and hauled her bodily up into the boat. As she vanished into the craft, Rory swam himself onto the platform and transformed, hanging onto the pitching grid as the icy water washed over his very naked ass.
“Jesus that’s cold!”
“Who was that?” the woman asked, her speech slurred.
Rory ducked back down just in time for another wave to drench him from the waist down. The last thing they needed was for her to do the math and figure out her rescue party was short a seal and up a human. Not that she’d likely remember any of this after what she’d just been through, but secrecy was paramount to the safety of Rory’s family and the whole colony.
“Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you inside the cabin where it’s warmer.”
“Y-yes puh-puh-please.”
Rory waited until the deck was quiet before he hopped back onboard and wrapped himself in the thermal blanket Evan had left for him. From inside the cabin he could hear Evan calmly chatting to their unexpected guest, and he felt an urgent need to get dressed and join them. Ever since Rory had detected her scent in the water he’d been feeling odd, and now the idea of her being out of his sight had him fighting to get his jeans back on over still wet skin. He needed to get in there and see for himself that she was going to be okay. He didn’t even bother with shoes, and his shirt was still in his hand as he started to head for the cabin. He made it halfway there before he stopped dead and swore as Evan’s voice sounded in his head again.
“You need to drive the boat. I’ll take care of her.”
No matter how much he wanted to join them, there was no way he could. Someone had to stay and get them back to a safe harbor, or they were all going to be swimming again.
“Bastard.” He sent the blistering thought back to Evan before turning his attention to the wheel. He dragged his sweater back over his wet hair one-handed and started the engine, swinging the Storm Lord around in a wide turn so that they were heading back to the colony’s private dock.
He glanced down into the cabin and bit back a growl as he realized Evan had taken their passenger past the kitchenette and into the cramped space that passed as onboard sleeping quarters. His fingers tightened on the wheel and he found himself increasing the speed of the engines, despite the risk of damage. What the hell is wrong with me?
Chapter 4
Evan took one look at the woman’s pale face and knew she was in shock. Worse still, her lips were almost blue with cold and her teeth chattered so hard she could barely speak. She leaned against him as the boat pitched and rolled, and he found himself wrapping his arms around her as he bundled her in layers of blankets and bedding. He heard Rory curse at the cold and knew he’d reverted back to human form, but only a small part of Evan was thinking about his blood-brother. Most of his thoughts were taken up by the curvy bundle of shivering woman that was currently clinging to him. A bolt of pure lust thrummed through him as he caught a hint of her scent beneath the smell of wet wool and seawater.
He drew her tighter against him and then turned them both, pointing the way to the cabin as he distracted her from the fact there was a naked man cursing and crouched just out of sight on the swim platform. Evan got her into the narrow galley and was about to sit her down at the table when Rory’s mental snarl of frustration hit him. So he was grumpy about driving the boat, was he? Then Evan was going to give him something to be grumpy about.
He half walked and half carried the shivering blonde down to the sleeping area and helped her get seated at the edge of the bed. Then he crouched down in front of her and unwrapped the blankets from around her shoulders with gentle hands.
“My name’s Evan Sinclair and you’re aboard our boat, the Storm Lord. Want to tell me your name, sweetheart?”
“J-J-Jessica,” she stammered and tried to smile. “But every-y-one c-calls muh-me J-Jess.”
“We saw that wave hit you and drag you into the water, Jess. This time of year, rogu
e waves happen. You were lucky we were around to pull you out.”
“W-was going to die.” Tears welled up in Jess’s ice-blue eyes and she shivered again.
“Not today you’re not.” Evan felt a wave of protectiveness wash over him as he brushed a strand of pale-blonde hair off her cheek. “You’re safe now, Jess. We’ll get you home. But first I need to get you warmed up. Will you let me take off your wet clothes?”
Jess’s eyes widened but then she nodded and reached up to try to grasp the zipper of her jacket. When she couldn’t wrap her fingers around the metal tab she looked into Evan’s eyes and nearly melted his heart as she tearfully asked, “Help me?”
“I got this.” He winked at her, trying to make her feel at ease as he unzipped her jacket and peeled it off her, tossing it onto the floor of the small cabin where it landed with a squelch. “How did you manage to stay afloat at all wearing this?” He grabbed the sopping weight of her woolen sweater and shook his head in amazement. “It must have been a bitch to swim in.”
“Nearly imp-possible.” Jess nodded and he was pleased to notice her speech wasn’t quite as slurred now.
Suddenly her eyes widened and she grabbed his wrist with both hands, locking onto it with a death grip. “There was a seal out there, wasn’t there?” Her hands were like ice where they clung to him. “I didn’t im-magine it, did I?”
“A seal?” Evan’s thoughts raced as he tried to come up with an answer that wouldn’t out his entire colony’s secret while not denying everything and making Jess question her sanity. “Yeah, there’s a whole colony of them living in Kismet Cove. That’s where we’re going, by the way. That’s where we live and we have a private dock there.”
“I saw…” Jess trailed off and frowned. “I thought there was a seal helping me.”
“Really?” Evan quirked a brow at her and smiled. “Well, who knows, maybe there was one, I was too busy steering the boat to notice.” He got her sweater off of her and tossed the entire soggy mess onto the floor on top of her jacket. Beneath she was wearing a light T-shirt, and he skinned it over her head before she could even think to argue.
Without thinking his gaze fell to her tits and all the blood left his brain to flood his cock. Hello, curves!
He managed to force himself to look up before she caught him staring, but the image of her ample breasts spilling over the lacy cups of her bra was still burned into his retinas.
It was only when she shivered and wrapped her arms around her bare stomach that he remembered that she was still freezing cold and half drowned. Get it together! He ordered himself and lifted the thermal blanket back up around her shoulders.
“Do you think you can stand up? If you can, I’ll get these jeans off of you and then we’ll wrap you up good and tight until we get to shore.”
Jess nodded slightly and stood, nearly falling forward as she tried to cope with her lingering exhaustion and the rolling of the boat. “I don’t usually l-let guys get this far on the first da-date.”
“I promise I’ll behave.” He winked at her again and prayed to whatever gods were listening she didn’t notice the rock-hard evidence of his interest tucked behind the fly of his jeans. Evan moved as quickly as he could, one hand wrapped around her hip to steady her as he undid her pants, trying to focus on helping her and not the fact that his mouth was at the perfect height to…No. I am not going there, he told himself again and glanced up to see the faintest hint of pink on her cheeks. Realizing she was blushing, he gave her a lopsided grin and let go of her pants to grab her hands. “Hold onto my shoulders and I will have this done before you know it. Then you can curl up and get warm again.”
“Okay.” She placed her hands just as he told her and hung on as he wrestled the wet denim down and off of her. He caught an eyeful of black lace and satin underwear and had to bite back a groan. It was an act of pure will to tear his gaze away from her lace-framed pussy and tip his head up to smile at her.
“All right, back into bed with you. Uh, I mean…shit. You know I didn’t mean that the way it came out, right?”
She managed to grin as she sat back down and moved into the middle of the bed. “I know.”
As another bout of shivering hit her. Evan realized she was going to need more than blankets to get her body temperature back up. “Without sounding like I’m hitting on you yet again…” He stripped off his shirt and gave her a sheepish grin. “You need a heat source, and well, I’m it.”
“Skin to skin cont-t-tact,” she agreed, and he was grateful she understood he wasn’t being a lecherous creep.
“Exactly. So move over a bit, sweetheart.”
Jess scooted further into the middle of the bed and Evan lay down beside her before piling every bit of spare bedding he could reach over the top of her shivering body. He moved closer and drew her into his arms, wincing as her icy skin made contact with his chest. Her ample curves pressed into him and that delicate, enticing scent was back in his nose as she cuddled up to him and wrapped her arm around his waist.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yes,” Jess gave a contented sigh that sent another surge of blood straight to his dick. Evan was stiffer than he’d ever been in his life, and he shifted his hips back and away from her before she inadvertently snuggled up to his hard-on.
“Pervert.” Rory’s mocking voice filled his head, but Evan could sense there was tension behind the joke. Tension and…jealousy? What the hell? In all the years since Evan had been Rory’s friend and later his blood-brother, the two of them had never been jealous of each other. They shared everything, including the women in their lives, and until now there’d never been a problem.
Evan glanced down at the woman that was more or less wrapped around him, and he gave in to the urge to stroke the silken strands of hair that fell over her face. It was so light it looked almost platinum blonde, and he grinned as he noticed the purple streaks in it for the first time. It seemed their little mermaid had a sense of whimsy. Without even thinking about it he stroked down her back until he found the bound end of her braided hair and undid the elastic. He started undoing the strands with his fingers, and was halfway up the length before he realized what he was doing. I’m just being practical. It’ll never dry in that braid. He tried to rationalize his actions and then snorted in derision at himself. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he’d never had the urge to play with a woman’s hair before. He was usually too busy trying to get them out of their clothes.
The engine noise shifted to a low grumble and Evan realized they must be nearing the dock. He didn’t bother to get up and help. Both of them were able to run the boat single-handed when required, and right now Jess needed him more than Rory did.
He felt the bump as they touched the dock, and the boat rocked as Rory shut off the engine and made the short jump to the wharf to tie them up.
The movement was enough to make the woman in Evan’s arms stir and lift her head, her pale eyes blinking sleepily as she looked around. “What was that?”
“Just Rory’s heavy-handed driving, sweetheart. Nothing to worry about.” Evan grinned up at her before drawing her back down into his arms. “He’s tying us up right now. You’re safe and sound.”
“M-kay.” Jess’s eyes were already closing again as she settled back onto the bed. Unable to resist any longer, Evan cupped her cheek, his thumb tracing the plump pout of her lower lip. He’d never had a woman trust him so completely, and it worried him. Was she like this with everyone? If so, she was going to get hurt, or likely had been already. Just the thought of someone hurting Jess made him grit his teeth, and he held her tighter as the need to protect her coursed through him.
Holy shit. Evan tensed as he finally figured out what was going on with him and Rory. He made a mental list and ticked off the symptoms one at a time. Protectiveness, check. Possessive feelings, check. Powerful attraction, check and double fucking check. He blew out a breath as the truth hit him like a punch to the gut. The woman he and Rory had just fished out of
the ocean was a potential mate. The only trouble was, true mates were never human, and he’d never heard of a selkie damned near drowning. Something wasn’t adding up.
* * * *
Jess knew there was a reason she should open her eyes, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what it was. It was easier just to drift in the comforting warmth that surrounded her like a cocoon than to puzzle out what was wrong. She was warm, and Evan had said she was safe…Jess’s brain slammed on the brakes and then reviewed her last thought and a second later she was sitting up in bed, her arms crossed over her nearly naked chest as she stared down at the blond god looking up at her in alarm.
“What—” was all he got out of his mouth before she started screaming.
“Where am I and why am I naked? And who the hell are you?”
Jess grabbed the blankets still wrapped around her and scrambled backward until she hit a wall.
“Just calm down for a minute, Jess. I’m Evan, remember?”
“No! I mean…maybe?” She realized he was only half dressed and panic washed over her again. “Where are your clothes? And where the hell are mine?”
She heard footsteps coming at a dead run and the next thing she knew another man burst into the room. Jess squealed in fright and tried to stand up, slamming her head on the low ceiling. Stars burst behind her eyelids and she dropped back down to the bed with a cry of fear and pain.
“What the fuck did you do to her, Evan?” the new arrival bellowed.
“Nothing! Now will you shut up? You’re scaring her.”
“I’m scaring her? Really? I was up top when she started screaming.”
“Shut. Up. Rory,” Evan snarled and Jess could hear him moving on the bed. “Jess, sweetheart, it’s okay. You got taken out by a wave and we pulled you out of the water. Your clothes are right over there, but they’re soaking wet. Are you remembering any of this yet?”