Passionate Ink (4 page)

She exploded. Her mind splintered, her body shuddered and his tentacles pulsed and tightened as he tensed and trembled right along with her. They floated that way through the bubbles, their tentacles holding and caressing each other. Intuition told her he was satisfied and loving the after-sex ambiance. It was as if she was in tune with his body, his instincts, his love for her. As if they were one being.

He opened his eyes and suddenly everything seemed real. Too real.

Gorgeous, green eyes blinked at her and shock crashed through Catalina like a rogue, ocean wave. She
really
was underwater. Breathing. What the heck?

What had just happened wasn’t a fantasy. It was real! The shock suddenly made it difficult to breathe and terror ripped through her as she thought about drowning down here. Then, without warning, she was thrust away from him and upward. Ripped from his embrace, pummeling up through the murky liquid like a rocket. Her head broke free from the water and she frantically gasped for air.

“Cat! Cat! Oh my God! There she is! There she is!” Misty’s panicked shrieks echoed in Cat’s ears from somewhere behind her. Cat’s feet miraculously touched the sandy ocean ground and she stood neck deep in the water. Stunned at what had just happened, she couldn’t understand how she suddenly had feet and arms again. Heck, she couldn’t get a grip on how she could have so easily accepted she’d just had tentacles, and that Calder had been part-human, part-tentacle man and had been making love to her.

Confusion gripped her and she turned around and gasped as a bright light shone over the half-foot waves, blinding her.

What happened? Why was she in the water? Where was her air mattress?

“Miss. Miss. Are you all right?” Some guy called to her as he furiously paddled a surfboard through the surrounding darkness. An irritating light arrowed at her from the newcomer and suddenly all she wanted to do was dive back under the water. Back into the love and pleasure of being with Calder.

Catalina shook her head. No, she must be going crazy. Not Calder. But something had tugged her under the water. Something delightful.

A shark? An octopus? She remembered tentacles. Lots of them wrapped around her, pulsing in and out of her. She moaned softly, reliving the powerful thrusts and magnificent orgasms. But, she hadn’t been human…

She’d been one of whatever the hell she’d been. She’d had tentacles herself.

“Cat? Is she all right?” Misty’s voice shrieked through her confusion. How in the world had Misty seen her? It was so dark on the beach Cat couldn’t even see the shoreline.

“Miss, your friend is really worried. Can you talk to me?” The man was right beside her now, belly down on his surfboard, a dark silhouette on the water’s surface. That irritating light was slicing into her eyes again.

She held up her hand to shield the light. “I’m fine. I just went out too far.”

“I don’t know. You were gone pretty long. We were all looking. We couldn’t see you. I’m going to take you to the first-aid station and get you checked out.”

He slipped off his surfboard and into the water beside her. He wore a helmet and the light came off the front of it.

Her rescuer was just a young guy of maybe eighteen years.

“I’m going to hoist you up on my board and then climb on top and paddle behind you. Are you okay with that?”

She nodded numbly, but then suddenly stopped. Her bikini top was missing!

“Um, no. No. I’m fine. I’ll walk back.”

“That’s a bad idea, miss. You might slip under again.”

Again? Yes, yes, she had been under the water. But how had she been able to breathe? How in the world was she going to explain her missing top? She ran her fingers lower and froze when she touched cool skin. Her bikini bottoms were gone too! She was completely naked.

Oh goodness. Something had definitely happened in the water. She began to tremble.

“I’ll just hang on to the surfboard and walk with you,” she compromised.

“Okay, but that’s against my better judgment.” He hoisted his lean form back onto the board.

She only took a few steps before the water came to just above the curves of her breasts. She stopped and finally confessed her situation. Or at least what she hoped he would believe to be her situation.

“I…actually I don’t want to scare my friend. I got caught in an undertow. My top got ripped off and I’m really cold. Can you just go back to her and get my throw?”

“I’ll get your friend to bring it out.”

“No, please. I’d rather you go and get it. I need a moment to compose myself.” Actually, she needed a few moments to reorient herself and try to figure out what had happened.

The man nodded. “Sure. Sure. But once again. This is against my better judgment.” He slipped off his board again. “Here, hold on to this. Tight. I’ll get it.”

“Thanks.”

When he left, she couldn’t help but look back out across the ocean in the direction she instinctively knew she’d been. The sun had set. The sky had turned a velvety, dark purple, bursting with glistening, white stars. Nothing moved on the quiet surface of the ocean. Not a wave. Not even a ripple.

Her breath backed up at the beautiful glass-like surface of the endless ocean. Far in the distance, a roll of white puffy clouds danced on the horizon and a large white houseboat was anchored out there too.

As she stared at it, her shattered nerves seemed to calm, just like she’d calmed earlier when she’d first gone into the water. A beautiful rainbow slowly arched over the boat. Then all too quickly the rainbow disappeared and the boat was swallowed up by darkness.

She should be relieved that she’d somehow gotten free of whatever had held her. Instead, she yearned to go back out there. To be with him.

With Calder?

Oh yeah, she must be losing her mind. Big-time.

* * * * *

Calder’s three hearts pounded madly as he swam near his houseboat, his body satiated from the quick, intense sex he’d just had with Catalina. He hadn’t anticipated taking her tonight. He’d anchored his houseboat about a mile off the beach from where her RV campsite was located and watched the area with binoculars, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. When, in the late afternoon, Catalina and another woman around Cat’s age came out to lie on the beach, his hearts had soared. He’d waited on his houseboat, loving the way those tentacle tattoos hugged the backs of her legs and wrapped around her waist. Damn, she was sexy. He kind of felt guilty spying on her, but after leaving her today, he’d only wanted to see her again.

While he thought about her, Calder slowly crawled with his tentacles. He’d been so intent on watching Cat, he’d almost shifted on the houseboat. Usually he found a more secluded spot to anchor for the night, but tonight he’d barely hit the water before he began turning. It had been a close call, but well worth hanging around the area.

He’d loved curling his tentacles around her breasts, tweaking her nipples. Watching how her pretty mouth parted and panted. She hadn’t even realized she’d turned. It was normal in the beginning not to realize what was happening. But her brain would catch up.

He could still feel her cool silky flesh tingling against his suction cups where he’d latched onto her newly formed limbs. Throbbing arousal pulsed through his tentacles, especially the ones that had penetrated her.

He hadn’t realized she’d shifted until her sexy scent embraced him in the water. His instincts to mate with her had kicked in and, using his tentacles, he swam quickly and found her.

She’d been languishing on the surface of the ocean. The fact her head was underwater and she’d been breathing made him realize the gills, prevalent to their species, had formed behind her ears. He’d aligned with her and brought her down to the ocean floor and, following his instincts, he’d made love to her.

After the sex, he’d sensed she was changing back to human form and he’d propelled her to the top of the water. The sudden shift in Octoposeidons wasn’t uncommon in the first few days when a female or male entered the beginning of their change. Some, when in their human form, drowned due to the unexpected shift back and forth, unless of course they had an experienced one around to help them. The same could be said when shifting from human to Octoposeidon on land, except this was called dry drowning.

He focused his thoughts back on Catalina.

She was probably frightened. Didn’t know what had happened. Perhaps she was even thinking she was going insane. He should go to her and explain. He shouldn’t have waited today. He should have warned her what would be happening to her arms and legs and that she would be able to breathe beneath the water during the nights. He doubted she would have believed him anyway. But now that the mating had begun, she would experience unexplained sexual urges.

A new sense of desperation swept through him. He wished he could be there to comfort her and reassure her she wasn’t losing her mind. But he wouldn’t be able to shift again until the first rays of sunlight sparkled against the ocean water. Until then, he was trapped here beneath the ocean. Without her.

In the near distance, he spied Catalina’s bikini top and bottom floating close to each other about a foot below the surface and his hearts quickened with excitement. Propelling himself through the current, he grabbed each piece. Using the sensory organs on his tentacles he took in her scent and within a second it turned his body into an agonizing ball of alertness. Her female scent was all over the material. He absolutely loved her sexy smell. Like wildflowers and ocean waves and female.

Calder closed his eyes and curled his tentacles tighter around the suit pieces, embracing them, wishing she was here. For the first time in his entire shapeshifting life, he couldn’t wait until morning. Couldn’t wait until he had land legs again. Couldn’t wait to be with Catalina.

* * * * *

Catalina trembled from head to toe as she stepped into her tiny shower. Despite her earlier comfort at seeing that wonderful rainbow out on the ocean, over that houseboat, her relief had collapsed as Misty ran down the beach and into the water to hug her with such fierceness it unnerved Cat. There were several other people milling around, concerned for her safety, and all she wanted to do was get to the privacy of her RV.

“My God! I thought you were dead. I was sleeping for a good hour. One second you were there and then I drifted off to sleep, and when I woke up I couldn’t find you. Someone said they saw a red air mattress about a mile out in the ocean and then I really freaked. And like I told the lifeguard, you would have woken me up if you’d decided to go somewhere. I was about to call 9-1-1.”

“She should go to the first-aid shack so I can check her out,” the young man said.

“I’m fine. Seriously,” she lied. “I’d just like to get back to my RV and get changed.”

Thankfully her throw covered all necessary private parts and, because she’d remained in the deep water and put the throw on while there, it was sopping wet and she was truly cold.

“I should have asked you these questions earlier, but you mentioned an undertow. Did you black out? Hit your head? Anything like that?” the lifeguard questioned. He shifted nervously and Cat figured maybe he hadn’t followed proper protocol about calling 9-1-1 due to his inexperience or panic.

“Oh my God, Cat! You could have drowned,” Misty cried and once again threw her arms around Catalina.

“I’m fine. Believe me. I just got pulled out and had to swim back.”

The lifeguard didn’t appear to believe her as he frowned and shook his head. Gosh was she that transparent?

Thankfully, he went to report the incident, but Misty had been like a clinging vine as she’d brought Cat to her RV and insisted on spending the night. But Cat had been adamant Misty was overreacting, reminding her friend she would be late for her date with a hottie fireman on her one night off. It had been hell getting her to leave, but Cat had just wanted to be alone to think.

Thank God for dates.

Catalina stepped into the shower and the warm water beat down against her pleasantly sore nipples. Gosh, not only were her nipples tender, but the harsh crash of water made them bead and harden with exquisite arousal. Actually, the silky water splashing against her skin made her flesh tingle wonderfully, as if the liquid were embracing her, hugging her, comforting her. It was weird to think about water being her friend, especially after what had happened out in the ocean.

She shivered as she remembered looking down at herself, admiring her tentacle tattoos and imagining them coming to life.

Maybe she
had
been caught in an undertow and conked her head. Maybe she had imagined her arms and legs being tentacles and mating with some half-human, tentacle man who looked like Calder. Yeah, she must have hit her head, and maybe it had been some Dorothy-in-the-Land-of-Oz adventure?

She sighed heavily and reached for her peach-scented soap. Whatever had happened, she’d blacked out today. Twice. All this blacking out was just not normal. But both times she’d fantasized about Calder.
Huh, odd
. Maybe Misty was right. Maybe she should go see a doctor.

Lathering her body, she paid particular attention to her sensitive pussy and sore ass. Triple penetrated? By tentacles? Those were crazy ideas. Really crazy. If she went to a doctor and explained what she believed had happened, she’d be thrown into a mental institution for observation or, at the very least, told to have brain tests done. Tests she just didn’t have the money for since she wasn’t even insured!