by Vivian Arend
He was there. The gridwork for the squares marked with metal frames instead of wood stakes like at an above-water dig. One square was clean down to the rocky bottom, the one next to it halfway cleared, and in it the open edge of a wooden box extended into his vision. Jamie adjusted his headlamp, the sound of his breathing loud in his own ears through the snorkel, air rushing through the thin tube as his excited gaze swept the area for one last glimpse.
It was gone.
He kicked in a circle to change his perspective. It had to be there. He’d found it just before they’d stopped for the day.
The necklace was gone.
He took a deep breath and dove, anchoring himself on the metal framework to shine his light deeper, closer. Seeing if the ocean current had moved the disk toward shore with the pressure of the tides.
Still nothing. His breath control was good, but not so good that he could stay down forever. After another few seconds of frantically tapping with his fingers along the edge of the wooden frame of the box, he let his death grasp loose and rose to the surface, sucking in clear night air. What the hell was going on? He was in the right spot, he was sure of it. A sliver of beach showed in the next bay, inaccessible except from the water, ragged cliffs towering over it. Jamie swam slowly toward the sand and away from the site, wondering what could have happened. He knew he’d seen the medallion. He’d showed it to a number of the team, and yet it was gone? He paced backward, letting the elongated fronts of the flippers drag behind him in the sand until he was far enough up the rolling waves brushed his toes.
The warm wind off the water dried his skin, the high salt content leaving a soft dusting of white behind as he sat on the sand to decide what could have happened. The head of the team must have already placed the necklace into the main collection. No student would have taken it and the tide couldn’t have dislodged it that quickly. He lay back and closed his eyes, trying to remember the details so he could draw the pendant when he returned to his room.
He must have fallen asleep, because when he opened his eyes the moon had shifted location. It now hovered over the western cliffs, a trail of silver light leading out into the sea. He smiled at the sight. This was why he didn’t want to be in an office his whole day, looking out windows at concrete and steel.
A fin broke the surface and Jamie jolted upright. Dolphins, playing in the moonlight. Two leapt simultaneously and crossed in mid-arc and he clapped with delight. He’d heard there was a pod in the area, but with all the time he’d spent in the water over the past month he’d never seen them. He stood to get a better view and swore.
A woman walked toward him from the far end of the narrow sand ledge that was inaccessible from anywhere but the water. He peeled off his flippers and walked toward her, wondering if she were hurt.
Moonshine backlit her and he was barely ten paces away before he noticed she was completely naked. Was she injured? Lost? He held up a hand.
“¿Está usted bien?” he asked. She looked like she was fine, but why was she wandering the beach in the nude?
“Sí.”
Jamie wanted to look away, but he couldn’t. A puff of breeze blew by carrying the most fabulous fragrance—spicy and rich, mouthwatering—and he stood immobile as he tried to place the scent.
Dusky brown skin with her long auburn hair draped over one shoulder. Full rounded breasts, dark nipples with large areolas and peaked tips. Her limbs were strong and smooth, waist tapering in, hips flaring out. At the juncture of her thighs tight curls covered her mound and he dragged his gaze away.
“Ven conmigo.”
The woman held out a hand as she commanded him to come with her. He took a few more steps and placed his hand in hers, her gaze enveloping him like a net.
His legs moved willingly as she led him back down the beach to where the green grass met the white expanse of sand. She tugged him to the soft surface with her and he went eagerly. When she wrapped her arms around him, he let his hands explore and touch, caressing her curves, stroking the valleys. She spoke softly to him in Spanish, praising him as he kissed his way down her body, crying out as he licked and suckled her breasts. A shimmer of blue rose from her skin and he watched in amazement as the light of fireflies hung suspended in the air around them. Part of him wanted to analyze what he saw, but most of him was fixated on how heavy his balls felt. How hard his cock had grown as he touched his mysterious woman. The air grew warmer and Jamie gave himself over to the urgent desires floating through him as he made love to the vision. They moved together and he shouted as he came, her legs wrapped around his torso as he drove into her from above. He buried his cock deep in her warmth and his release sucked energy from his limbs. She tugged until they lay side by side, gasping for air.
“Fue maravilloso, my young lover. Thank you.” She leaned up on one elbow, her eyes intense as she examined his face.
He laughed. “Thank you. I don’t even know your name.”
A sorrowful expression crossed her face. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does.”
She sat up and stared out to sea, shaking her head. He attempted to sit up but was still too exhausted to move. She rolled and reached behind him, pulling a necklace from the ground. When she dropped it around her neck he leaned closer to admire it.
He’d seen it before. Hadn’t he?
She rose, her long limbs shining in the moonlight, the sparkle off the waves a hypnotic mirror. One step at a time she walked away as a strange lassitude sank over him. He could have sworn she disappeared into the surf, but it was nothing more than a vision. A dream.
Wasn’t it?
He shook his head and found himself sitting on the beach not even fifty yards from the bonfire, music and laughing voices ringing in the air. He looked around in confusion. How had he gotten there? He went to stand, discovered he was naked and swore.
What the hell had he been drinking?
Jamie sat up quickly in the lawn chair, the memory of that long-ago night clear in his mind. The sheer embarrassment of trying to get back to his rooms without getting caught—he’d always remembered that part of the evening. But the rest? The woman on the beach, he’d never remembered that before.
He raced inside and scrambled for pencil and paper, scrawling images before they vanished completely. The dolphins, the beach. He drew as quickly as he could and still the memories became foggier. He dashed off another sketch—this one a portrait of the woman’s face, the medallion.
He sat back in a daze, confusion strong as he stared at the dozen pages scattered before him on the table. He looked through them one at a time, each triggering a moment of recall.
What had happened to him that he couldn’t bring up these memories unaided? Hypnosis? Trauma of some kind? There was far more to the mystery than he had imagined, and all because of shimmering blue lights.
Chapter Seven
The warmth of the morning sun caressed her skin, backlighting her eyelids with its brightness. Chelsea lay in a comfortable heap, her legs tangled with Braden’s, her hand resting on his chest. The whisper of a touch brushed her cheek, and she opened her eyes to see him staring at her. His gaze traced her hair as he stroked a loose strand back behind her ear.
The adoration on his face made her heart skip a beat.
“Good morning,” she whispered, not wanting to break the spell wrapped around them. Had they really made love last night? Was she really in his arms?
Braden rolled, pinning her to the mattress with his weight, his hips cradled between hers. He supported his upper body on his elbows and dipped his head to drop a line of kisses from her mouth to her ear. Goose bumps rose on her arms, and her nipples tightened.
“Good morning.” He nuzzled her earlobe with his lips before rasping his teeth gently over her skin. “How do you feel this morning?”
Softly spoken words that shot a shiver along her spine as he accompanied his question with licks and caresses, his fingers and tongue worshipping her.
“I feel fa
bulous, especially when you, oh God—”
Braden enveloped one aching nipple, teasing the peak with the tip of his tongue, the heat of his breath rolling over her skin like a brand. How long he laved her tender skin, she couldn’t tell. It went on and on and pleasure swirled around her, pushing her out of her comfort zone. The tender touches grew rougher, more demanding as Braden alternated from side to side. Neither breast was neglected long enough for the tingling heat to calm. Chelsea’s heart pounded harder, her breath catching in her throat as she trembled on the verge of control. Every touch sent a burst of fire from where his mouth made contact with her skin to between her legs. Her labia swelled with pulsing need, her clitoris so sensitive that when he snaked a hand down and cupped her mound she cried out. Her orgasm hovered close, the tension in her body primed by his loving attention. He thrust a finger into her core.
“You’re wet, Chelsea. Hot and slick and tight.” He pressed the thick digit farther into her sheath and set off a series of small convulsions throughout her system. Her legs shook, and she writhed on the bed under his firm grasp.
“Not enough. So good, but not enough. Please, Braden…” She tugged his shoulders, attempting to draw him back over her. Wanting to feel his cock press into her again and fill her. He evaded her grasp, slipping lower on the bed, the sheets flung to the side and discarded in a tangled mess on the floor.
“You’re beautiful when you come, Chelsea. Again. I want to see it again.”
He stabbed his tongue between her folds, wet and soothing in the midst of the fire he stoked. She watched as best she could, her eyelids heavy, her limbs lacking the strength to move as all the energy in her extremities pooled in her core in anticipation of the impending explosion. The next climax was going to shake her, and she desperately wanted to be connected with him when it happened.
“Please, Braden, I want you inside.” It took forever to say the words. Each time she expelled a breath, he plunged his fingers into her, his tongue and lips tormenting her sensitive clit. The demanding thrusts massaged the nerves lining her passage, liquid easing his way, coating his fingers and leaking out to cover her thighs. He lapped eagerly, humming as his tongue delved deeper into her, replacing his fingers. He grasped her hips and lifted her to his mouth, feasting hungrily as she lay at an incline, her shoulders digging into the mattress. Each intimate touch of his lips took her closer to the edge until with one final brush over her throbbing clitoris the dam burst and she came.
“Braden, oh my…” White spots hovered before her eyes as pleasure rolled over her like a tsunami. Before the pulses deep within her core could break off, he lowered her to the mattress and crawled over her. His cock, iron hard and wet at the tip, pressed into her still-moving body and she gasped at how amazing it felt. How right. Braden rocked his hips, each time stretching her a little more, gaining a little more access into her depths until he finally sank all the way to the hilt, their groins touching.
Fullness. Pure extreme pleasure. He pumped in slow motion, dragging his rigid abdomen over her already trigger-sensitive clit.
“You’re going to kill me.” Chelsea smiled at him as she wrapped her legs around him to make sure he didn’t stop. She dug her heels into his butt at the end of his stroke and the extra tilt made his cock hit a deliciously sensitive spot deep inside. She hissed with delight. “Yesss… Oh damn, more. Harder.”
Braden lost control of his tight, evenly measured pace and slammed into her. She gasped and clutched his shoulders.
“Again,” she demanded. She’d never felt like this before.
“Too hard.” He tried to ease off and she dug in her fingernails, the indent marks showing red against his skin.
“Not hard…enough.” She’d kill him if he stopped. Chelsea arched her back as he moved, increasing the speed and impact, and they both cried with pleasure.
One pounding blast followed after another until Braden hesitated, his pace growing uneven, his face tight as he stared down at her. She couldn’t protest because she was unraveling. From the top of her head to her toenails, an orgasm ripped through her, her pussy clutching Braden’s cock in tight pulses.
A stream of unintelligible words floated from his lips as he rammed in once more and froze. With their hips locked together, his cock jerked within her, setting off another string of pleasure.
Drunk on the pheromones flooding her system, the slow increase of his weight sinking onto her torso was the icing on the cake as he took her lips in a final passionate kiss. She let her hands caress the smooth surface of his skull, holding their lips together for one last moment of contact before he rolled beside her and collapsed with a groan.
“I’m sorry.” He turned to face her, stroking her cheek with the back of one knuckle.
“Sorry?” Chelsea stretched and her torso brushed his. The fleeting contact made butterfly flutters of pleasure race over her skin. Her brain barely functioned, and she couldn’t figure out what in the world he thought he had to apologize for.
“For getting too rough. I shouldn’t have done that.”
Damn idiot. She grabbed him by one ear and pulled.
“Shit, stop trying to peel me like a banana.”
She glared at him. “What the hell are you talking about, too rough? I loved every minute. If you didn’t notice, I was the one underneath you, having a good time. Earth-shaking orgasms and all that.”
Braden snorted, shaking his head. “You make me crazy, woman.”
“Ditto.”
Chelsea cupped his face in her hands. They stared at each other for half a second before bursting into laughter.
“You’re not going to make this relationship between us easy, are you?” Braden asked.
Chelsea couldn’t resist. She batted her eyes, showing her most innocent expression.
He rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. “Yup. That’s what I figured. Oh well, easy relationships are overrated anyway.”
The weekend passed far quicker than he’d imagined possible. They crawled out of bed Saturday morning and spent the rest of the day together without even venturing from the house. They cooked together—well, Chelsea cooked and he cleaned. They sat and talked. They enjoyed each other’s company and made love until he was sure he wore a goofy grin. Having had a taste of her, he couldn’t imagine how he’d kept them apart for so long.
The one lingering doubt remaining, he pushed to the back of his mind, not wanting to deal with it—not wanting the anticipation of jealousy to enter their relationship a moment before it had to. He would try his damnedest to satisfy her by himself as long as he possibly could. Allowing another man in their bed?—not yet. Hopefully not for a long time.
Sunday afternoon they were snuggled together on the couch, her head resting on his chest as she sat in his lap. He stroked his fingers through her golden curls again and again, the soft tresses draped over her shoulders shining in the afternoon sun.
“You happy, baby?” he asked.
“Umm-hmm.”
Contentment stole over him. “Me too.”
The doors to the deck stood wide open, letting the cool breezes off the ocean into the house. He thought about getting up to turn on the stereo for a little background music, but the wonderful lethargy in his limbs made it too enticing to simply listen to the ocean instead.
“Braden?”
“Yup.”
She pressed her palms against his chest and looked up at him. “Can I tell you something?”
He held in his chuckle. The intent expression on her face was endearing. “You look like it’s serious.”
She shrugged. “You know when I said I didn’t make it into college because of my SAT scores?”
He nodded.
“I…lied. My scores were perfectly acceptable, but I had to drop my registration. I didn’t have enough saved up to pay for the semester and housing, and it was too late to apply for student loans.”
What the hell? “I thought you had more than enough saved up.”
She snuggled ag
ainst him again, the tension that had built in her body as she spoke slowly leeching away. It had obviously taken a lot of courage for her to tell him, so he restrained from his first response of cussing a blue streak.
“I did. But then my dad got sick, and between the medical bills and him being off work, the family expenses stacked up. My sister Carrie has only two semesters left, so it made more sense to ensure she finishes her degree than for me to start mine. I chipped in for her tuition. Mom and Dad already rented out the in-law suite Carrie and I were living in, since we were both supposed to be gone shortly. That will provide a little extra income until Dad’s able to work full-time. Alexia said I could stay here until I find a place I can afford on my own.”
“Why didn’t you ask for help?”
Chelsea snorted. “Alexia offered, but I couldn’t take it. You think my dad wanted anyone to know he’d let his family down?”
Braden stopped cold. Chelsea’s parents were rock-solid members of the community and good people, but yeah, her father wasn’t the kind to want it advertised he needed help. Only this time it was Chelsea who’d taken the hit. “I wish I’d known.”
“I can get in next year. They said they would transfer my forms to the following September, since the archaeology program I want runs September to May. That will give me enough time to make sure I can cover the costs or get funding in place.”