Danea
Newport/Aftport #2
Karen Nichols
Copyright 2012 by Karen Nichols
Smashwords Edition
Published by Karen Nichols. Copyright, Karen Nichols. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author except for brief quotes used for review purposes.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
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Chapter One
Noah Decker half listened to the sound of sand crunching beneath the tires of the large SUV with ‘sheriff’ emblazoned on the sides. His gaze was more focused on the smaller new station wagon vehicle next to the outcropping of heavy rock. Further along the sand, a pike was stabbed into the ground almost at the water’s edge, near a collection of weathered, grey logs. A large thick towel was draped over the end of the pike. It was a sight he’d become very familiar with over the last two months.
Now and then a slight breeze swept in from the surface of the Pacific Ocean and moved the corners of the towel. Aside from that movement, and the rhythmic inhaling and exhaling of the ocean as it flowed over the shores, nothing moved.
He turned the key to off but left them dangling as he stepped onto the sand and walked around the front of the vehicle. Noah leaned against the hood, the warmth of the engine radiating over him. Strong arms encased in a light jacket crossed over his chest as he stared out toward the water. There was a light breeze sweeping in over the water that barely lifted strands of loose almost midnight colored hair from his collar.
Nothing moved, he thought. After repeating this same behavior for the last seven weeks, every single Monday morning, he had yet to figure things out. He’d spent a lot of time trying to get answers but Danae wasn’t really forthcoming when he asked questions. He knew it wasn’t his eyesight. That was perfect and then some. But he still never saw her surface, as she claimed, and take in breaths of air.
He never saw her moving in the water at all until she began walking from the depths toward the sand. Gloriously naked, short hair curling around her ears and face; the small pebbled nipples alert while she was completely oblivious to her surroundings or appearance.
He’d tried walking toward where her stake had been planted in the sand. Once. That first day seven weeks ago.
His gaze swept the sand and found them immediately.
Her guardians. Loud, seemingly random squawks from the over two dozen of the largest gulls on the Pacific Coast. He knew that for certain because he’d returned to his office and researched them online.
Glaucous-Winged gulls with a possible fifty-eight inch wing span. He’d never seen gulls that size before and the only time he ever saw them on the beach, was when Danae was swimming in the early mornings.
When he had tried going to where her towel hung, they were polite at first. Some walked over the sand, squawking and nipping at his boots. When that didn’t deter him, half a dozen of them began swooping in on him from above. It was more than enough to convince him that he really wanted to wait at the Jeep for her to surface. Even the fiercest of predators didn’t brook two dozen determined gulls.
So it appeared they’d come to an agreement.
He stayed by his Jeep and they didn’t come after him. A dozen or so flew in repetitious figure eights over the ocean. Another dozen seemed to be doing long distance surveillance, sweeping out along the length of the coastline and then back to where half a dozen walked the sands, pacing patiently.
A few ventured closer, waiting.
And he knew what they were waiting for. He sighed and reached into the front seat of the Jeep, lifting the large tied off plastic bag filled with bread pieces. He had thought, the first time he brought the bribe, that it might get him closer to where her towel lay draped over the large collection of logs.
Gulls took the offering, but others watched him. And when he took a few steps forward, they quickly reminded him that he was crossing their agreed upon boundaries. So he hadn’t bothered after that, but he still brought them bread. He’d never seen gulls behave quite this way before and he’d spent most of his life on one coast or another.
****
Most wouldn’t consider it a gorgeous morning. But then most weren’t Danea Polnari. She made it to the shallows without missing a beat and rolled effortlessly to her side and then to her back. She leaned on her elbows and let her head fall back between her shoulder blades; eyes closed and face just barely above the cold, salty water.
The constant flow of the tide pushed her easily higher on the sand until she rolled again, but to her knees to rise from the water. The push and pull of the water never bothered her and mostly went unnoticed as she walked up the gradual slope toward the smooth, sandy beach.
Two hands swept up, through the short pale brown hair that barely went past her ears. Lashes the same color blinked and cleared, the instant urge to use her hands – as good as that would work – to cover herself, swept over her harder than any wave in the ocean.
Somehow, she resisted.
She’d asked him, no, she’d told him to stop coming to the beach. She’d told him she was fine and no one would bother her. But each Monday morning, rain or shine, the erstwhile sheriff appeared. It might not bother her so much if he were old and dumpy. Or even young and redneck type.
But no. He had to be a few years past thirty and tall and lean and she was positive he had a lot muscles beneath the clothing he wore. His dark black hair was pulled back at the nape and secured with a black elastic band, bringing focus to the sharp planes of his face, the dark shadow across his jaw and his large dark eyes.
And she was everything but that. Unless you listened to her sisters – half-sisters – her brain corrected with a little growl. If you chose to listen to them, she was so far from attractive, it was their constant joke. Danea considered herself…plain. And a little curvy, like her mother. Except her mother used positive words like voluptuous and statuesque. That one always made her giggle.
If nothing else, growing up with seven gorgeous sisters had taught her to never show her weakness. And striding naked from the cover of water to where she’d left her over-sized towel without weakening and running for the towel, was a true test if ever there was one.
Her hands only shook a little by the time she reached the thick towel, silently grateful for the cover over her body. She turned away from the dark eyes she knew were watching and raised a hand at the birds perched and flying above the sands, their large white and grey bodies meshing with the overcast morning weather.
With a few squawks and flutters, they dispersed and were gone.
Danea slipped her hand into the special pocket of the towel and pulled out a set of keys, their jangling noise in the mostly silent morning echoing off the mounds of sand around her.
“Good morning, Sheriff,” Danea worked up a smile th
at did nothing to hide the embarrassment inside her. But as long as she didn’t look at the hunk of a sheriff, she was okay, she thought, working keys that shook just a little into the lock on her car door. “You’re about early for a Monday morning. Are you here to arrest me for public indecency?”
Noah sighed. “The prosecutor for the city would laugh me out of her office.”
“Could you do me a favor and please turn around while I get dressed?”
“A little late for modesty, don’t you think, Danea?” But he turned his back, staring out into the low, loping waves as they rolled onto shore.
“I told you I’m alright. You don’t need to come out here,” Danea moved quickly, snarling at the panties that clung just a little more than necessary on the damp skin as she hopped and twitched. She had her bra snapped into place before dropping the oversized t-shirt over her head and reaching for her jeans at the same time.
“And you won’t stop and think someone with their head up their ass might come out here and…”
“Here? At this time of the morning? Seriously?” Danea burst into giggles that she hastily swallowed when he spun to face her, closing the distance between them until he was leaning over her. One hand rested on the roof of the car, the other clenched the open door. “I…umm…I can take care of myself…and…”
“And you think some idiot’s going to be nice about it if he wants to rape you and leave you on the shore for me to find?”
Danea knew there was an answer inside her because her mouth opened and closed a few times but nothing came out. She tried clearing her throat as she wiggled to tug the jeans up her legs. There were times she wished she had a lot less leg than a woman five-nine should have. Now was one of them.
“I’m not the kind of girl guys chase down to rape,” she said, her focus on the button that refused to slide into place. Until his hands came out and gripped her shoulders, pulling her to her feet. Their faces were inches apart. “Sheriff…”
“Rapists don’t give a flying fuck about type, Danea,” Noah Decker gave the briefest of thoughts to his self-control.
“I know how to defend myself,” she said quietly, freezing in place as his hands slowly opened and stroked down her arms, pinning them to her sides. “I’m very careful.”
“You’re here. Alone.”
“Once a week at six in the morning! No one has ever stopped or even noticed except you,” she said hastily. She pushed her face just a fraction closer. “Are you alright? You seem stressed.”
“I…” Noah abruptly released her, pulled in a long breath and stormed off to his vehicle. “I don’t want you out here swimming alone, Danea. If you’re here next week, I will arrest you.”
Chapter Two
Danea winced in sympathy for the gears he was grinding in his effort to back the SUV out of the sand. She decided that prudently, answering right now, a very bad idea. He needed a girlfriend. Too bad her sisters were against shifters. Technically, she corrected, it was her father who was against them. She doubted her sisters would care one way or the other.
She quickly finished dressing, shook out her towel and tossed it over the seat before sliding in and giving her already dried hair a fluff. One thing about the benefits of salt water on her hair, made it nice and curly. She slid a small clip to keep a wayward strand from her eyes, the side part always sending some strays over her eyes.
She thought about Noah Decker and sighed. She really didn’t want to see him with a girlfriend. She drove quietly, not even in the mood for music. A sure sign she was off. She could find another place for her weekly swim, she thought as she locked up the car and went to the back door of the large day care and unlocked it. She didn’t want him angry with her, even if it was the only contact they had.
Two hours later the small coastal daycare was in full Monday swing. When Danea looked up from wrestling with the very active one year old who thought pale brown curls were for tangling fingers, her lashes flew wide.
****
Noah crossed the large open room and used two hands to gently pry the small pudgy fingers from the riot of curls at the side of Danea’s face.
“You gotta learn to be nicer to the girls, Jimmy,” he told the little boy, taking the child and handing him off to a younger worker who came forward. “Can we talk in your office?”
“I…sure…yes, of course,” Danea pushed against the floor and climbed to her feet, stumbling a little only to find a pair of very firm hands on her waist. One hand went to her head, fingers massaging vigorously over the spot that had been pulled and twisted.
“Easy there…alright?” He didn’t release her until she nodded, maybe just a little too quickly, but she nodded so he backed up a step, allowing her to lead him into her office.
Her daycare had been a welcome business to the area. He didn’t know how she did it, but she found people who truly wanted to work there and the news spread over the last six months until she was almost at capacity.
Danea was positive she could feel his eyes on her ass as she led him into her office, letting the door close behind them. She turned to face him and almost crashed into his chest. Two palms were up and pushing.
“Umm…space…space is good…”
“I came with the firm intention to apologize for my behavior this morning,” Noah let his gaze drift from the wide dark eyes watching him to the arched and full bow of her lips. “And somehow all that just disappeared from my good intentions,” he murmured seconds before lowering his mouth to hers.
That was when she heard a low, sexy growl. Then everything else in her mind just shut down on her. She liked his lips. She liked the way he used them to tease. She liked the heat and the taste of bitter coffee when he stroked his tongue along her lower lip and nipped at it until she opened her mouth for him. She really liked the firm, solid chest beneath her hands and the hard thumping of his heart.
Noah had been fighting everything inside him, most of all the instincts of a wolf that categorically told him this was his mate. Mousy, meek and almost invisible to the rest of the population. At least that had been his thoughts until he saw her rising out of the sea that first Monday morning seven weeks ago.
And the kiss she returned was far from his first assessment. Very far. A low groan broke from his throat when she shoved her fingers into the hair at the sides of his head.
She was on her toes, pressing her body against his like he was the last brick wall to hide next to in an alley. She was sure she’d imprint herself there soon, it was that warm suddenly. She liked the feel of his hair against her palms, through her fingers. It was thick and coarse, all uneven lengths that barely touched his neck and fell over his eyebrows now and then.
And he was strong. He held her tightly against him, his shoulders against the door to her office.
Her office.
Oh, god, she was behaving like a…in her office…
Danea shoved hard against his chest and stumbled back until her behind hit the edge of her desk. Pale brown lashes fluttered, her head shaking in denial.
“What’s wrong with you? Why did you do that?” She sputtered, forcing her eyes to focus, her toes to uncross and the really hot bits between her thighs to go back to sleep. Quick.
“I wasn’t doing it alone, Danea,” Noah said carefully, adjusting his jeans and taking a cautious step forward.
“No, no…I know that…and I am very sorry,” she wrapped both arms around her head for a long minute, dragging in a deep breath and holding it. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“It’s fairly simple to explain. A man and woman find themselves attracted…”
“No. Oh, no. That’s not possible. I’m not the attracted to sort,” she told him unequivocally. “You…you’re…my sisters…half-sisters…they’re more your style,” she shook her head, wild curls bobbing back and forth. “Apology accepted. I know you were angry this morning and I’m sorry. You really shouldn’t worry about me, though. I’m just fine on my own. Always have been, always will be. It w
orks that way, you know? Well, thanks for visiting, but I really have to get back to work.”
“Danea, have dinner with me tonight.”
She stared at him. Noah wore a confused, even bemused grin that seemed to shoot right into her soul. She felt her knees weaken, from the low sound of his voice and the dark eyes that followed her as she moved around the room to the door.
“I…dinner? I can’t have dinner with you, that’s crazy,” She reached for the doorknob but found her wrist surrounded with a set of fingers that gave a little tug. Her body struck his and didn’t move. She couldn’t say she’d bounced…because she doubted there was anything on him that would cause a bounce and her body was in momentary shock.
Danea shook her head to clear the spinning, the palm of her free hand patting his chest.
“It’s very solid…strong…” she was babbling and knew it, clamping her lips shut when she saw the corner of his mouth tilt as her palm stroked over the smooth surface of his shirt. She pulled her fingers back like they were on fire.
“Tell me why you can’t have dinner with me.”
“I don’t know you. I don’t…you don’t…we’re not…”
“One complaint at a time, please,” he laughed. “People generally use things like dinner to get to know one another, Danea.”
She felt his laughter at the same time his hand placed hers on his shoulder before pressing against her side to travel lower to the enticing curve of her hip.
“Maybe you should visit the local doctor,” Danea said carefully. She’d started to wiggle, trying to back away only to realize exactly what her squirming was accomplishing. Her body froze and her head went back to meet the slightly heated look on his face. “Sorry. I didn’t mean…it wasn’t my intention…” she swallowed hard.
Newport/Aftport #2: Danea Page 1