Shifters and Spice: A Shifter Romance Box Set

by Desiree Holt

  Tiburon Diaz jumped down from the lifeguard stand and grabbed his rescue can. He doubted he’d need it but if he didn’t have the chance to shift, it could be a lifesaver. Literally. He ran across the sand, the wind whipping his hair into his eyes.

  He’d been watching her all morning from his perch atop the lifeguard stand. Long and lean, she had unusual coloring that made her look deliciously exotic. Corkscrew curls softened her face. She had an angular nose, high-cheekbones and very light eyes. Every time she’d turned over or adjusted the ties of her bikini, he’d noticed.

  So had his dick. He’d been hard since she’d plopped down her beach bag and bent to place her towel on the sand. She’d turned toward the lifeguard stand and given him plenty of time to imagine how the cheeks of her ass would feel in the palms of his hands as he pumped toward a release.

  Luckily, the beach hadn’t been crowded and he’d been able to keep a close eye on her and imagine fucking her for most of the morning. Until a mother with five kids showed up and took all of his attention. He’d almost forgotten about the woman in the string bikini until he’d noticed that her things were still near the lifeguard stand. He sorted through the beach warning flags until he found two with a small “R” written in the corners so that he’d know they were red.

  No one knew he was color-blind and he intended to keep it that way.

  One look through his high-powered binoculars and he spotted her, floating on her back, nearly a half mile from shore.

  He’d felt the storm brewing long before he saw the clouds. With his well-tuned senses, he could taste the electricity in the air and feel the change in the air pressure as the storm formed overhead.

  Clearly, she didn’t notice that a storm was eminent but then again, humans weren’t known for their awareness of nature.

  She probably wouldn’t even realize she was in serious trouble until he was close enough to help her back to shore.

  As soon as he was waist deep, he dove into the water head first, his powerful arms forming a steeple. He churned through the waters until he was far enough out to escape notice of any humans that might be lingering on the closed beach.

  He had to shift. Fast.

  Tiburon slipped out of his red swim trunks and allowed the waves to take the rescue can with them.

  He found it difficult to concentrate. The water was choppy and unsettled and his attraction to the woman in the bikini was jamming all his circuits. Under normal circumstances he could take his time with the shift, allowing his bones to transform into cartilage and his fins to form slowly, over minutes. But in this case, he had to shift quickly if he had any chance to save her.

  He focused on the smells in the water, the salt, the fish, but it wasn’t until he caught her scent that he began to feel himself transforming. He’d known when she’d been on the beach that there was something extraordinary about her. While he’d been attracted to and involved with plenty of human women, she had a different smell, a different vibration and he hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off her.

  He stayed underwater and waited for his gills to begin pulling oxygen from the ocean. As soon as he felt the rush of oxygen flooding his blood, he started swimming toward her, using the pheromones of fear rolling off her as his map. Her scent was incredibly complex and he wanted to lose himself in it.

  Maybe he could when he got her safely back onto the beach.

  Saving her life ought to earn him at least one night with her. He bet she’d be damn good at showing him a little appreciation. Since he’d first shifted into human form five years ago, he’d learn to really appreciate the human body and all the ways it could be used to express emotions like love and lust.

  In his Great White form, he was fast and he moved through the murky water with incredible speed. Using the electrical impulses her body was emitting, he headed straight for her. Seconds later, he swam under her legs, trying to alert her to the danger. They were long and lean and he loved the muscular feel of them against the length of his shark form. While he’d love to swim around her all day, he had to save her first.

  Instead of screaming, she continued to float.

  He bumped her again, harder this time, just a crack of lightning split the sky.

  * * *

  A large boom of thunder sounded, and Eva opened her eyes. She flipped upright to find that she’d floated hundreds of feet from the beach and she couldn’t spot the red and white umbrella that marked the lifeguard stand that had been right beside her. The wind had picked up, and grains of sand were being tossed into the air, making the beach blurry.

  She’d been drifting, somewhere between awake and dreaming; she’d been fantasizing about the Mayan God lifeguard. He’d been fucking her from behind, his fingers teasing her clit while she was holding onto the lifeguard stand.

  It felt fantastic. She’d been just about to come when she’d bolted awake.

  I can’t even fantasize about getting off.

  Another bolt of lightning crackled and panic gripped her. She couldn’t touch the bottom here and from the looks of the blackish-purple clouds pushing toward the ocean, she didn’t have much time to get safely back to shore. She was going to have to swim it.

  Eva filled her lungs with air and began to swim.

  Halfway to the beach, she ran out of gas. In just the few minutes she’d been swimming, the whole world had gone dark. Instead of the bright white-yellow sunshine of noon, it looked like evening. A crack of lightning split the clouds, and Eva realized she was in serious trouble. It was still a good swim to shore, and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath.

  That’s when she felt something, something large and muscular, bump into her just above her knee.

  A million possibilities swirled through her brain. She hoped to hell it was a large Red Drum, one of the species common to Sporting Island, but it didn’t feel like a thirty or forty-pound fish.

  It felt like larger, like a solid column of muscle.

  The skin rubbing against hers in a sinuous motion was rough, like sandpaper. There was only one thing in the ocean that had that texture: a shark.

  She’d grown up near the ocean. Her grandparents had owned a cottage on Cape Cod, and she’d always been aware of the things that lurked beneath the surface. While she knew that sharks, even small, timid ones like Blacktip Reef Sharks could be dangerous, she’d always been more interested in than afraid of them.

  There was something sensual, an underlying alpha sex appeal, about them that drew her to them.

  But this wasn’t the time to think about her weird attraction to the monsters of the deep.

  She had to focus, had to push her body, and get back to shore before she got into worse trouble.

  If that’s even possible.

  Another sliver of lightning shot through the clouds and thunder boomed just behind it. Eva felt every cell in body go to liquid. It was if she was soup on the inside. She tried to concentrate but focus was impossible. Everything, the cool water, the electrified air, the distant beach, slipped away until there was nothing but bruised darkness and the serenity of the deep blue.

  Setting the Hook

  Eva was never going to stop coughing. The salty water burned the back of her throat and gritty particles of sand brushed against her teeth. The storm still raged around her but at least the ground was solid and she was alive. That was something. She lay on her back and tried to catch her breath, but it still came in short gasps.

  The storm was moving out to sea. She watched the purple-white lightning as it moved east. Her heart rate began to slow, and she felt curiously calm to have almost drowned just a few minutes ago.

  She had no idea how she’d gotten back to the beach. The only thing she remembered before washing onto the shore was the curious sensation of sand paper brushing against her skin and the feeling that someone, or something, was helping her get back to safety. Her arms and legs were so tired, she felt like she’d run a marathon. Or two.

  After a few minutes, the wind died down, and Eva
pushed herself to her feet and set out to find her things and head back to the tent. The beach was empty. Her towel, along with everything in her beach bag was soaked. She nearly cried when she discovered her e-reader wouldn’t even turn on.

  Shit. Now I’m stuck here without a man or anything to read. Worst. Vacation. Ever.

  “Are you alright?” A deep, accented voice asked.

  She turned to find the Mayan God lifeguard standing just behind her. Where the hell had he been when she’d needed his ass?

  “Fine. Thank you.”

  “I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to get you back to shore.” He’d taken off his sunglasses and his eyes were the color of expresso. Close up, he was even more attractive than he’d been in the lifeguard stand.

  “You helped me back in?”

  “You don’t remember?” He grinned, revealing perfectly white teeth. They were so perfect, they looked new. Several of them were quite pointy, and she found herself wondering why he seemed so familiar. She’d never seen him before arriving on Sporting Island, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that she knew him from somewhere.

  “No. I don’t. I was floating and then something bumped me. A big fish, a shark. I have no idea. Then I realized a storm was coming, and I was scared. How did I get back to safety?”

  “I helped out a little.”

  How could I not remember being helped back by this man?

  With his muscular, tanned arms and leg muscles so defined they looked like they belonged to a statue, she’d like to take him for a test drive.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “Can I help you with your things?”

  Eva wanted to say ‘yes’ but she had no idea what they’d find back at the tent. “I’m fine, but thanks. The tent isn’t that far.”

  “You’re camping?”

  She nodded. “My best friend and her boyfriend are here, too.”

  He raised one eyebrow and grinned. “That could be interesting. Especially in a small tent.”

  While Eva had been attracted to several women over the years, she and Mandy were just friends and Dr. Derek wasn’t her type. As an ER doctor, he was smug, egotistical and always had to be the smartest person in the room. “Not this trip,” she said, licking her lips.

  “Maybe you’d like to come back to my place, take a nice, warm shower. The bath houses aren’t exactly luxury and I have wine.”

  The slight Spanish accent made his voice even sexier, and while Eva didn’t make going home with strangers, no matter how hot they were, a habit, she might make an exception. She’d had her eye on this guy since she’d set foot on the beach.

  Damn right I’ll make an exception. What’s a beach trip without a little heat?

  Being a high school teacher in a small town in a Bible Belt state wasn’t exactly the definition of sexual liberation, and while she was two hundred miles out of the zip code, she wanted to have a little fun. Craved it. Needed it.

  “I don’t even know your name.” She ran her finger under the string tie of her bikini and his eyes immediately went to her hip. Desire filled his eyes, and he bit his bottom lip. He might not have noticed her until she nearly drowned, but judging by the tent in his shorts, he was definitely paying attention now.

  Maybe there will be sport on the island after all.

  Her core muscles clenched in anticipation and her nipples went hard.

  “I’m called Tiburon,” he answered. “Tell me yours and I might shower with you.”

  “Eva,” she said, handing him her beach bag. It wasn’t the only thing that was soaked. “Let me text my friends to let them know I won’t be home…” She let her voice trail off, hoping he’d fill in the blank.

  “For a while.” He shouldered the bright orange tote and extended his hand. “This way.”

  * * *

  Tiburon walked just behind her, inhaling the scent of her. She smelled like lime mixed with vanilla, scents that were still new and exotic to him. Even with only his human senses, her smell overwhelmed him. He wondered if she tasted as good as she smelled and quickly decided that finding out was at the top of his list. He watched the way her ass moved when she walked, her hips tilting to one side and then the other, and he felt himself grow harder with every step. The string bikini hid very little, yet he ached to see the skin beneath.

  Eva was doing something to him, something he didn’t quite understand, but he liked it. A lot.

  He’d spent more than twenty years as a Great White, swimming in the Atlantic, all the way from the tip of Maine to the Keys. It wasn’t until he reached his sexual maturity that it had happened. Just off the coast of Cape Hatteras, a research vessel had spotted him. After hours of chasing him through the water, they’d stuck him and implanted some sort of tracking device. In the months that followed, strange things began happening to him.

  At times it had been hard to breath, even though water was rushing over his gills as he swam. His electro-location system went buggy, and he had a hard time following the smaller fish that provided his nutrition.

  And then, one night, in the middle of a late summer storm, he’d washed onto the beach just south of Charleston because he’d become disoriented in his quest for deeper water. Lying on the sand, his body had changed. Totally changed.

  It had been incredibly painful the first time. The sounds alone still made him wince. In less than an hour, he’d gone from being a Great White, fourteen feet of teeth and cartilage, to a six-foot human with an incredible drive to fuck human women.

  Talk about a learning curve.

  For months, he hadn’t known that he could toggle back and forth between the land and the water. After he’d ripped off the tracking device, he’d wrapped himself in a forgotten beach towel and followed his new, albeit duller, instincts. Spanish was the first language he’d learned to speak by listening to the guys who came by at night to clean up the beach and the boardwalk. As soon as he spoke decent English, he’d landed a job as a lifeguard and gone against his very nature. He’d gone from predator to savior, and he still didn’t understand why.

  But tonight, he was going to stay in his human form and enjoy every minute of it.

  By the time they reached his bungalow, less than a mile down the beach, his whole body cried out for release. “I’ll start the shower for you,” he said, unlocking the door and stepping back so Eva could enter first.

  The house was small, just three rooms, but he’d put a lot of work into it. His boss, Joe Mulligan, was a perpetual beach bum who’d inherited this house from his parents. When he married a woman who had a much nicer condo just across the bridge, he’d rented this one to Tiburon.

  “It’s so much like my grandparents’ place in Cape Cod,” she said. “I love it.”

  “Thanks. It’s small but it fits my needs.”

  “What are your needs?” Eva’s light eyes sparkled, and she licked her lips again.

  “That’s a loaded question.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Right now, you need a shower.” Sand was caked to her back and legs and her curls were a tangled mess. A mess he’d like to make worse.

  “There’s places I might not be able to reach on my own.” She stuck out her bottom lip in a faux pout, and it was sexy as hell.

  “I’m willing to help out.”

  “That would be a lifesaver.” Eva reached behind her neck and slowly untied her bikini top and let it fall to the floor. “I want to make sure to get all the sand off.”

  Her breasts were full and perfectly-shaped. He longed to tug at the hard nipples with his teeth, but he wanted to see the rest of her first. Tiburon wanted this to last for as long as possible. Without breaking eye contact, she shimmied out of her bikini panties and stood naked in front of him.

  Her body was perfect, from the luscious breasts to the flat of her stomach to the perfectly trimmed bush. He loved the way her bikini had created three perfect triangles highlighting the best parts of her. The scent of her wafted across the room, and his dick went
harder still. He’d never wanted a woman the way he wanted her.

  He didn’t think they were going to make it to the shower.

  “Can I help you get ready for the shower?” She moved toward him, taking slow steps that caused her tits to bounce, and he nearly came in his shorts. She hooked one finger inside the waistband of his trunks and leaned toward him until her lips were only inches from his. “We need to make sure you’re clean, too.”

  The tip of her finger trailed just below his waist, and he shivered with the want.

  He kissed her. He’d wanted to be soft with her, seduce her but he couldn’t hold back. It was as if his human side was colliding with the shark part of him, and it left him with no self-control and a desire as sharp as a knife’s edge.

  His lips crushed hers, demanding that she go with him, and she did. She locked her fingers behind his neck and pulled him even closer. She slid her tongue into his mouth and it threatened to drive him over the edge. She tasted like coconut and sun and woman and he wanted to sample every inch of her. Head to toe.

  Tiburon moved to her neck, nibbling and licking until he reached her breasts. “These are perfect, just perfect,” he said. “I can’t wait to have them in my mouth.”

  Eva arched her neck and pressed his face into her chest. “Me either.”

  He took one nipple in his mouth and nipped at it with his teeth until it was as hard as a diamond. He massaged the other one between his thumb and index finger. Tiburon dipped lower and licked the skin underneath her breasts. She tasted so damn sweet. He wanted to lick every inch of her.

  “I want more,” he growled and urged her backward until she sat on the sofa. “Open your legs.” He kissed a path up one thigh and then down the other. Her skin was flawless, smooth and even, and he could have spent hours just enjoying the feel of it against his tongue.

  God, she smells amazing.

  Her scent heightened his arousal. Even though he rarely shifted these days, his sense of smell was still miles better than most humans and the scent of her arousal nearly drove him over the edge.