A.O.E.M.: Finding Magic

by Katherine A. Moore

  She hadn’t really appreciated his appearance last night, at least not after the first serious glance. Not after he’d come on to her like a sleazy lounge lizard with his shirt partially unbuttoned and his “God’s gift to women” attitude.

  Today he seemed almost boyishly contrite. Her gaze swept along his muscled thighs and paused below his waist. Amanda’s heart rate picked up a notch. No, correct that -- there was nothing at all boyish about Lorcan, if the bulge in his denim cutoffs was anything to go by.

  He cleared his throat, sounding somewhat hesitant. “I actually planned to go snorkeling today. Would you care to join me?”

  Damn, even his voice was sexy -- velvet soft and thick with Irish.

  Snorkeling?

  Amanda stared out at the colorful coral reef shimmering just beneath the clear waters of the bay. She’d thought of snorkeling, something she’d never done before. She’d feared going alone.

  The beach here was deserted, except for the two of them. Did she really have the nerve? She glanced once more at Lorcan. She hadn’t planned on this, not really.

  He smiled at her.

  Well, maybe, way in the back of her mind…

  Did it really matter?

  Amanda lifted her glasses and smiled back at him, willing to accept his apology after all. Even willing to take a chance. He was acting the perfect gentleman this morning… and damn, but Lorcan was one gorgeous male.

  This was a vacation, after all. Amanda took a breath, made her decision and threw caution to the winds. “I don’t have the equipment.”

  “I do.” Lorcan lifted a mesh bag filled with two sets of flippers, diving masks and snorkels. “Join me?”

  Amanda nodded, then set her straw hat and glasses aside. Her heart pounded so hard she wondered if Lorcan could hear it, thudding away inside her chest. She’d never done this before, not even on a closed set. So what if it was typical island garb? She sucked her stomach in and said a quick little prayer for support, if nothing else.

  Lorcan stood up and helped Amanda to her feet. His big hand was warm and strong, surrounding hers with just enough pressure to tug her lightly out of her comfortable lounger. When he touched her, she saw him blink, almost wide-eyed, as if he might be feeling the same, electric connection she had zinging through her veins.

  The paperback toppled to the sand. Amanda ignored it. Lorcan almost reluctantly freed her hand and grabbed the bag of gear. Amanda hesitated only a moment longer, then swept her colorful caftan over her head.

  All her nervousness was worth the look on his face when she stepped out of the folds of woven cotton wearing nothing but a bright red thong bikini bottom… and barely enough blonde hair to cover the tips of her bare breasts.

  Lorcan really tried to play it cool. He didn’t stare, controlled the desire to drool… didn’t even reach out to touch one of those perfectly formed globes attached to an absolutely gorgeous chest.

  No, he handed fins and snorkel to Mandy and controlled the whimper caught in his throat until they’d both submerged in the warm, crystalline waters of the bay.

  He was swimming with the woman of his dreams and she was practically naked!

  More important, his hand still tingled where he’d touched her. Was she truly the one? Lorcan had heard of the magical connection, the link that existed between an heir to the throne of the Dragon clan and his Chosen One. Of all the women Lorcan had touched over the years, not once had he felt anything remotely close to the shock that raced from Mandy’s warm fingers, through Lorcan’s hand to spread like white fire throughout his body before lodging deeply in his groin.

  Now, paddling slowly through the clear, warm waters, Lorcan watched Mandy with a new fascination, a knowledge he’d not had before. He had to touch her again, had to find out if his senses were telling him the truth.

  He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about any of this. Did he really want a mate? Did he have a choice?

  Mandy might have been a sea nymph, her body so perfect, her thick hair flowing around her beautiful breasts, the tiny red thong merely an accent to her glorious backside and perfectly rounded tummy.

  Lorcan wasn’t wearing much more, just a tiny strip of fabric to cup his privates and a thin strap bisecting his buttocks, but Mandy didn’t pay him a bit of attention.

  No, she appeared totally focused on the glorious sea life beneath the surface, the flashes of brightly colored fish, the deceptively beautiful coral with its knife-like edges, even the occasional sea turtle lumbering slowly yet gracefully through the clear waters.

  They danced with the fishes, played tag with a huge, ferocious looking eel, even posed beside a rather calm giant stingray. Lorcan pushed his concern over Mandy’s status as his Chosen One to the back of his mind and let his worries go with the tides.

  It was a day of magic. A day when a prince felt like a child again, when the magic of Chimera claimed two more sentient converts.

  He’d lost track of time, but the sun had lowered on the horizon by the time Lorcan decided there had to be a missed meal somewhere. He dragged Mandy away from the coral beds and the two of them crawled up on the white sands like a pair of stranded dolphins.

  Gasping, laughing, Mandy rolled to one side, her sand-sprinkled breasts mere inches from Lorcan’s hungry lips. “Thank you. That was amazing. I never would have gone on my own.”

  He couldn’t help himself. His fingers reached for her, found the swell of her breast, the sharp peak of her turgid nipple. “No, Mandy. Thank you. This has been the most amazing day. Watching you, watching the life beneath the sea… wonderful. All of it.”

  She smiled, leaned closer and kissed him. He knew she meant a quick peck to his lips. He caught her, his mouth waiting for her touch, his tongue primed to invade.

  Lorcan reached out, held her by the back of the head, pulled her close and tasted her for the first time. Her mouth was closed, but his tongue gained entrance. She moaned, opening to him, flowering for him, her tongue sparring with his, her lips exploring, her teeth nipping at his lower lip.

  He pulled her close and she came, willingly. Her breasts met his chest, her well-muscled thigh covered his hip. Lorcan surged forward, found her center, barely hidden behind the tiny scrap of red.

  Groaning, he pulled his mouth free, tilted his head and found her right breast. The nipple was raised, hard and blushing a deep rose, inviting his mouth. He brushed the sand from her warm skin with a brush of his cheek, licked the peak, nipped it with his teeth then settled his lips around it for some serious suckling.

  Mandy arched her back, forcing her breast against his mouth, her pubic mound hard against Lorcan’s groin. A wave washed over their ankles as the tide slowly but surely rose.

  Lorcan fumbled with the bare scrap of fabric that covered him, ripped away the smaller piece that covered Mandy. Her hands grasped his shoulders and she whimpered, a small, needy sound deep in her throat that caught him, held him in thrall.

  She was hot, wet and ready, her folds of flesh swollen and wet from seawater and feminine dew. Lorcan teased her first, rubbing the broad head of his cock against her clit, dipping it briefly inside her wet vagina, then returning once more to the swollen bud awaiting him.

  He’d fully expected sand. Somehow, not a single grain clung to his cock or Mandy’s sweet pussy.

  Only on Chimera…

  Lorcan dragged the solid crown of his cock over her clit. Mandy cried out, a strangled sound of need, of desperate desire. Shifting to lie beside her, Lorcan found her opening with his fingers, explored deeply, swept his fingers over her clit, then rolled back between her long legs and aimed his cock for the hottest, wettest spot. Mandy was ready, her hands fluttering over his ribs and across his back, her body straining, tissues swollen and hot, primed for his invasion.

  Lorcan thrust once, hard and fast, driving deep, then again. Mandy shattered around him. The tight, grasping muscles inside her hot pussy clung to his cock, clenching and releasing him as Lorcan slowed his assault to long, slow strokes in and ou
t. Mandy whimpered when he changed his speed and direction, and cried out when he occasionally pulled all the way out to brush her hot juices across her swollen clit.

  Mandy shuddered beneath him and whimpered. He thrust harder. She screamed, tightened her legs around his waist and climaxed again in his arms. Lorcan buried himself all the way, his balls pressed against her ass, his cock seated so deeply he bruised his pubic bone against hers.

  Gloved within her wet heat, Lorcan paused, caught on the edge of orgasm. Then, hips driving, mouth open in a silent scream of pain and pleasure, he rammed deep and hard, filling Mandy for all he was worth. His cock swelled more within her tight channel, clasped in Mandy’s tight muscles.

  Like a driving piston, Lorcan thrust faster, harder… balls aching, lungs bursting, heart more engaged than it had any right to be…

  Lorcan threw his head back and shouted. His climax exploded, powerful, overwhelming, frightening and intense. His semen shot up out of his balls and down the length of his hard cock, flooding Mandy’s wet heat. His hips continued rocking against her, as if of their own accord.

  Mandy grasped Lorcan’s shoulders and screamed. Her heels dug into the small of his back. Her pussy closed tightly around his cock and she shuddered, giving up one more climax as Lorcan’s heart pounded in his chest and his breath whooshed out of straining lungs.

  His head spun. Blood pounded in his ears and when he opened his eyes, Lorcan saw black spots instead of Mandy’s lovely face. A buzzing filled his head, the sound of a thousand bees, and the Dragon within fought for release, fought to claim the woman in his arms.

  Lorcan had heard about such as this, but never expected to experience the full majesty of finding his mate. He’d not expected any of this. Definitely didn’t want it, the mystical attachment between two souls. A mating such as theirs was a covenant, unbreakable, unending.

  He felt it. Defied it. Denied it… and pumped his fertile Elven seed deep in the waiting nest of a seriously feministic, modern human woman.

  Amanda had never felt so replete, so completely drained and satisfied. Even covered in sand, she couldn’t recall an orgasm as emotionally and physically complete as the one still thrumming through her body. Lorcan lay, half on, half off her, his lungs expanding like a bellows, the pounding of his heart against her chest outpacing even the cadence of her own speeding rate.

  Amazing. There was no other way to explain what she’d just experienced with what was, in essence, a total stranger. The most complex, fulfilling, overwhelming sexual climax of her life and it had to be with a guy who had insincerity nailed.

  She brushed her fingertips through his thick, black hair. Lord but he was a gorgeous man. Perfect body, perfect smile, perfect technique… perfectly pointed ears?

  Amanda frowned, swept the hair back from his ears and stroked the smooth tips. His ears were definitely pointed. Not just little points, either. No, they were unlike anything she’d ever seen.

  Just then, Lorcan’s lips found the pulse point in her throat. He nuzzled closely, his tongue finding the line of her jaw, the corner of her mouth.

  Amanda forgot about his ears.

  Lorcan licked and kissed his way down her body, spending a great deal of time on first her left breast, then her right. When she was arching her back and moaning, he moved on, licking tight swirls in her navel, then nipping at the tiny, neatly trimmed thatch of pubic hair just above the juncture of her thighs.

  Warm seawater reached Amanda’s knees, lapped softly, bathing her between her legs, then receded. Lorcan’s mouth followed, his tongue finding her swollen clit, his teeth nipping the lips of her vulva.

  Filled with his seed, her pussy wet and swollen, she shifted, unwilling to have him taste her. Lorcan’s hands found her buttocks and he knelt between her legs. He grabbed her hips, tilted her pelvis and drove his tongue into her hot center.

  The sun beat down on them. The beach was open to anyone who wanted to walk this way. Birds flew overhead. They could be discovered at any time.

  Throwing caution to the winds, Amanda moaned once more, raised her knees to offer Lorcan better access and gave herself up to his licking, biting, searching mouth.

  This was, after all, Chimera. The island of illusion, of love.

  He nibbled gently at her clit, then licked. Long, slow, hot strokes of his tongue, each time delving deeper inside, until she felt his upper lip pressing on her clit and his tongue twisting and turning against tissues already sensitive to his touch. Amanda whimpered, her fingers diggin deep furrows in the wet sand, then reached up to grab Lorcan’s shoulders.

  Lorcan’s fingers massaged her buttocks, traced the seam between her cheeks, swirled around her tightly puckered ass. He found a rhythm, his tongue going deep, his fingertip pressing against her sphincter. The waves rose a bit more, cresting over her mound, covering Lorcan briefly with each pass.

  His finger pressed harder, his tongue went deeper, and Amanda’s head spun with the multitude of sensations. He breached her anus at the same time his teeth found her clit. A wave covered him completely, but Lorcan’s tempo never altered. Amanda screamed. Her body convulsed, her thighs coming together, holding Lorcan as yet another climax took control.

  He soothed her with his tongue, his lips, even his teeth, then planted gentle kisses all about her neatly trimmed mons. His fingertip softly circled the sensitive ring of her ass and he brought Amanda slowly, but surely down from her orgasm.

  Amanda’s body went limp and boneless as Lorcan dragged her gently up the sandy wave-swept beach, just beyond reach of the froth. It came to her then, as she lay there in the warm tropical sands, gasping for breath, her eyes closed against the brilliant afternoon sun, her hands caught in the thick, black hair of a man with unusual ears and extraordinary skill, that now, after so many long, empty years, she’d finally found the magic.

  Chapter 5

  Gone was the smarmy, lounge-lizard pick-up artist who’d approached Amanda the day before. Lorcan was amazing, funny, sensitive, self-deprecating. They talked for hours, showered beneath a stream of fresh water falling from the cliffs, made love more than once, then gone back into the warm waters of the bay to clean the sweat from their bodies. There, in the soft blue waters of Chimera Bay, Lorcan made love to her again.

  He held her with an unusual reverence and this time, when he looked at Amanda, there was a deep question lurking in his brilliant green eyes. “Am I the only one who feels something magical about this day?”

  Amanda shook her head. “No. I felt it the very first time you entered me. As if all the questions I’ve ever asked finally had answers. As if the empty parts of my soul were filled. Is it us, or is it the magic of the island?” She swept her hands along his finely shaped jaw, then lifted the dark hair covering beautifully pointed ears.

  “Who are you, Lorcan? What are you?”

  He dipped his head. “Can you love me, my Mandy? Can you feel the magic for more than today?”

  She nodded, mesmerized by the depth of passion in his voice. Had it only been a day since he’d first touched her?

  He stepped away from her then, gloriously naked, his body as perfect as any carved in marble by the artists of old. His gaze was intent, his eyes glowing. Lorcan’s chest expanded as he took a deep breath, and then he began to speak.

  “I am not human. I am Elven, of royal blood. I am Prince Lorcan of the Northern Realm of the Lands of Eldar, ruler of the Northern Eldar, direct descendent of the First Kindred, Dragon Clan. I believe, with all my heart and soul, that you are my Chosen One. I find you, my lovely Mandy, to be a woman befitting the title of Princess of the Northern Realm. I pray you heed my call, that I might court you in the manner befitting one who would wed the prince.”

  Amanda blinked. What the hell? She was still assimilating the northern realm-prince-wedding jargon when Lorcan suddenly wavered in front of her. His form shimmered, glowed, then slowly shifted and stretched until she faced, not the man she’d made love to all afternoon, but a full-blown, gossamer-winged, s
harp-taloned, large-toothed, green-eyed Dragon.

  Amanda did the only thing any modern woman under the circumstances could do.

  She fainted dead away.

  Lorcan frowned, stared down at her perfect, prostrate form. “Well, that approach needs some work,” he said. Then he curled up beside her to wait for Mandy to awaken.

  Lorcan watched over her, soaking up her scent, her womanly tastes still lingering on his tongue and lips. He’d never experienced anything like the lovemaking he and Mandy had shared over the course of the past day. There was no longer any doubt in his mind she was his chosen mate, ergo, there was no way he could -- or would -- give her up.

  He sighed and nuzzled her prostrate form. Somehow he’d have to help her get over this odd reaction to his shift. Of course, he knew very little of human women. Lorcan wondered if they were all so easily frightened.

  Waiting grew tedious when Mandy didn’t stir. The day had been long and they both needed time to rest. Unfortunately, Lorcan hadn’t been able to keep his hands off of Mandy at all during the day. Even now he wanted her, if only to have her sleeping beside him where she belonged.

  After a bit, Lorcan regained his princely form, gathered the unconscious -- or was she merely sleeping? -- Mandy in his arms, and carried her back to her bungalow. He left her sleeping soundly on her bed, her blonde hair spread out like a golden halo, with a note on the pillow beside her. Kissing her lightly on her parted lips, he tip-toed from the room.

  * * *

  Les stepped out of the shower and grabbed a large towel. His dick was so hard it almost hurt to dry himself and he’d practically come when the shower spray hit the damned thing, so he toweled carefully between his legs and over his belly.

  Tady said to save it. Damn it all, Les intended to save it, but the little guy better be prepared for a whole lot of Lester Ondáge tonight!

  Les rubbed the soft cotton towel across his chest, glanced at himself again and sighed. His balls were still as slick and smooth as when Tady’d shaved him the night before. Not a single whisker marred his groin or butt. Les rubbed his hand across his bewhiskered chin and wondered what magic Tady had that kept hair from growing back.