Passionate Ink (8 page)

Misty laughed, suddenly out of her momentary funk. Cat sighed in relief as they polished off their salads and wine and Misty began to chat about auditions for acting jobs she had this coming week.

Later that evening, after Misty had left, Catalina called her customers, profusely apologizing, claiming an unexpected family emergency before rescheduling them for next week. She cleared the rest of the week too, moving other customers so she could spend all her time getting to know Calder more.

When she finally fell into bed, her dreams were filled with tentacles and sex and her man with the tentacle tattoo.

Chapter Six

Catalina arrived at Calder’s houseboat bright and early the next morning. When she reached the door, she smiled as she found a note taped to the doorknocker. Along with the note was a beautiful red rose with a pretty ribbon wrapped around the stem and tied into a puffy bow.

For my love
.

Catalina blinked back the unexpected rush of happy tears that bubbled up inside her.

Love? Was this possible? They’d just met. Yet since meeting him, she’d been thinking of him almost every waking hour, and then dreaming about him as she slept. She entered the houseboat and found it invitingly cool inside. Thankfully, he’d gotten a head start on the hot day. Red rose petals had been dropped along a line that went to the kitchen area. On top of the counter she found an enormous bowl filled with an array of fruits and chocolate-covered croissants.

Oh man, if he was trying to impress her, it was working. She picked a couple of white plates from a stack beside the bowl and filled them with strawberries, orange slices, watermelon balls and melon chunks. She topped each plate with three sweet-smelling croissants. Her mouth watered and she grabbed the plates and continued following the rose petals, which led down the hall, past the bathroom into his bedroom. She laughed when she spied another note pinned to the back doors.

No clothes allowed, my love
.

Oh my. He wanted her to go outside and up the stairs naked?

She giggled, suddenly daring and free. Oh yeah, she could handle walking around naked.

Slipping out of her sandals, she placed the two plates on a nearby bureau and slid off her light-blue blouse and accompanying short skirt. Then she removed her powder-blue bra, something she’d still need to chat with Calder about, concerning his remark about him not wanting her to wear a bra. Yeah sure, she would prefer not to wear one either, but her customers might not approve seeing her nipples jutting out against her clothing.

She removed her panties which she then hung over a nearby chair.

A damp, rumpled towel lay on top of the seat and she shook her head. Didn’t Calder know not to just leave damp towels around? They smelled musty in that condition. Lifting the towel with full intention of placing it over a railing to dry, she froze.

On the chair was a woman’s swimsuit. Not just any woman’s, but her bikini. The one she’d worn a couple of nights ago when she’d been in the ocean and had that weird blackout and dreamed of sex and tentacles and Calder. And after, she’d been naked, her swimsuit gone.

What the hell? Suddenly she was icy cold. How had he gotten her bikini? Was it just a coincidence that he’d fished it out of the water? She picked up her bikini bottoms and top. Dry. Okay, so this was incredibly weird.

* * * * *

Calder skimmed the top of the pool with a net, making sure every last bug was out. It wouldn’t be sexy, having Catalina covered in dead bugs as the two of them swam and fucked in the water. The good thing about having such a large houseboat, it was quite private up here because most of the other boats were smaller and lower. He wasn’t one of those men who wanted to be a visual spectacle when kissing and making out with his woman. Just thinking about finally finding his mate had him grinning happily. As he set the net into the nearby locker, he removed the radio and placed it on a chair. Some nice, slow music, like yesterday, along with Catalina, and they’d be all set for some early-morning mating.

His cock throbbed against his swim trunks and he moaned softly at the idea of taking her again. A sudden ping on the metal stairs had him turning around. His hearts beat faster as she stepped onto the wooden deck, her hands laden with two plates filled with fruit and croissants. He was famished. She was wearing the powder-blue robe again. Her not being naked was okay. She wasn’t as bold walking around that way as he was and he found her shyness very cute.

She would eventually get over it. When she shifted, she would have no choice. Octoposeidons preferred to swim without the constraints of clothing. They just swam, ate seafood and fucked. It was a leisurely life.

That is, until a mate became involved. Then their species needed to be on guard for attacking males who would be desperate to mate with a female, especially when her scent drifted along the currents, enticing others back to her. To them. The same could happen when she was in human form. If an Octoposeidon was within twenty miles of a female Octoposeidon, all he’d need to do was sniff the air and follow her scent. But Calder would deal with all that as it happened.

He’d been so excited to see her, at first he hadn’t noticed how pale her face was or how tightly pinched her lips were. Her eyes blazed with a fierceness that was like a punch to his stomach. Alarm raced through him.

“What’s wrong?”

She said nothing as she set the plates down on a bolted glass table between a couple of lounge chairs. She untied the sash on her rope and opened it wide. His knees weakened when he saw the bikini. He thought about lying. About pretending it belonged to a neighbor who’d dropped by for a swim. No, that sounded lame. Nudists didn’t wear bathing suits.

Shit.

“I can explain,” he began.

But she held up her hands for him to remain silent. He did, but his hearts were pounding insanely against his chest as he had hoped to break the news to her slowly. He realized now it had just been wishful thinking he could tell her in a gentle way she was a shifter. Her tattoos were already darkening, swelling and even glimmering, and her flesh appeared supple, fresh and pink as her body began to beautify itself to catch a male.

“Seriously, I can explain.”

Doubt flashed in her eyes. “Please, I don’t want any lies. At first I thought, hey, he found the bikini floating in the water and picked it up. But then I got to thinking, why would you pick it up? You didn’t know who it belonged to. You certainly would have no idea it belonged to me. Right?”

“Please, just let me explain, Cat.”

She shook her head vigorously, became more agitated. “No, no explanations. I think I know what’s going on. You saw my website or maybe someone told you about me. You found out I had a tentacle fetish. Okay so you figured, hey, I want my cock tattooed like a tentacle so she’ll be turned on and I can fuck her brains out.”

“Cat, that’s not it.”

She laughed. An edge of anger tainted her amusement. Okay, so more than an edge. She was really pissed off.

“So, you got your jollies by exposing yourself to me. Nice hard-on, by the way. I’m glad you got your rocks off. Then I figured you probably must have dropped something in my coffee. Maybe a hallucinogenic, and that’s why I don’t remember tattooing you, and that’s why I had all those other fantasies of you instead. I haven’t figured out how you got yourself tattooed, but I sure don’t remember doing it.”

“Cat, I promise you weren’t drugged. You did the tattooing yourself.”

“Um sorry, no, I don’t believe you. Then somehow the drug went into some kind of lull, and then I became coherent enough to let you go, allow myself to have a bit of normal time with my friend on the beach, until I went into the water, when you somehow grabbed me and I don’t know, maybe gave me another shot of whatever you gave me. Then you dragged me into your boat…because I know you were out there. I saw your boat. While I was drugged you removed my bathing suit, attacked me, maybe you noticed people were looking for me and then dumped me back into the water. Am I close?”

“Sweetheart, you’re not even close.”

“You’re an asshole, Calder. If that’s what your name even is. You’re a freaking mental case who gets off on exposing yourself, drugging your victims and then—”

“That’s enough, Cat,” he snapped as anger bit into him. He couldn’t swallow the thought that she would think such evilness about him.

“I should have known you were too good to be true.” Tears glistened in her eyes, and the sight of how unhappy he made her rocked his very foundation.

He may as well be blunt. “Catalina, I’m a shapeshifter.”

“You’re an idiot. I should report you to the cops.”

She made a move to leave, but he grabbed her wrist, hard enough to prevent her from going but, hopefully, not enough to hurt her. She tried to yank herself free but he held tight.

“Let go of me or I’ll scream my fucking head off so much you’ll wish you never met me.”

“That’ll never happen,” he soothed.

“You watch me scream.”

“I meant I’ll never wish I never met you. You’re my mate.”

She made a strangled gurgle. “Yeah, well, dream on, buddy.”

“Cat, please, this isn’t the way I wanted to tell you, but I can see I’m running out of time.”

Her eyes flared with another round of anger. “Damn right you’re running out of time. You probably didn’t expect me to catch on so quickly. Now let go of me or you will be sorry.”

“Will you promise to hear me out?”

“No. Let go.”

“I just need to tell you a couple of things. They’ll make sense. Then you will believe me.”

He had to tell her the truth. Now. “You’ve probably already noticed your eyesight is getting sharper. Your tattoo colors are more vibrant. Your skin is getting pinker, softer, more sensitive. Maybe your tattoos are swelling and moving.”

She gasped sharply and her eyes widened with recognition. Yes, she’d noticed changes, but then a veil of denial came down and anger splashed into her gaze again. She shook her head as if denying what he’d said was true.

“It means your body is beginning to readjust itself for the change. Watch yourself tonight in the mirror at sunset. Then you’ll believe me.”

The disbelief and disgust that flashed across her face just about dropped him to his knees.

“Before you go, I need to tell you something else. You’re a shapeshifter too. You’re an Octoposeidon. Nights we shift into part-octopus, part-human and days we are human. That evening when you lost your bikini, you’d shifted and I ripped it off you. We made love on the ocean floor before you shifted back again. I brought it onto my boat when I shifted back to human form. That’s how it got to my bedroom. I took it out this morning, to smell your scent, because I missed you so much. I forgot to hide it again.”

With a strength he didn’t realize she was capable of, she yanked her arm free from his grip. Her face flushed red with rage.

“You are fucking insane.”

And then she laughed. The stiff way she carried herself as she walked toward the stairs made him once again wish he’d been able to tell her in a more reassuring manner. He’d handled this very badly and he had only himself to blame.

“Cat, please don’t go like this. I can explain some more.”

“Leave me the hell alone!” she flung over her shoulder. And then she was gone.

* * * * *

“I’m pulling out tonight. Leaving for my next stop.” Catalina said to Misty over the phone. She tried like hell to keep the stupid emotional quiver out of her thick voice, but she just couldn’t damn well do it.

“But, you said you were staying a month, Cat. It’s only been a few days. Not even. What gives? Is it the new guy?” Misty didn’t give Cat a chance to respond. “It
is
the new guy. I knew it. He was too good to be true. Is he married? He really does have a girlfriend? I’m going to kill him. Give me his name and I’ll take care of him for you. I swear, Cat. I swear.”

It had been a mistake calling Misty. Gosh, why had she been so stupid in calling her friend?

Emotions, deep and raw, clutched at her chest and she didn’t dare say a word because she would start to cry.

“I’m coming right over. Stay there.” Before Cat could protest, her friend had hung up.”

Shit!

Cat closed her eyes and let the tears run freely down her cheeks. That’s why she’d called her friend. For support, to get her through this nightmare.

Gosh, how could she not have seen it? A guy who wanted his cock tattooed like a tentacle had to be nuts.

Yet, the idea had turned her on. Big-time. Did that mean she was nuts too? Yeah, definitely. To have fallen for a guy who thought he was a shapeshifter. And he thought she was one too! Too freaking funny.

No, she needed to get out of here. She’d reassure Misty that she would be fine and then she’d get the RV packed and be on the road in an hour. Two max.

She would be out of the state and well on her way in a few hours. She could drive all night. She just needed to put distance between herself and Calder.

God!
He thought he was a shapeshifter. A freaking what? Part octopus? Like he couldn’t have come up with something better than that? Didn’t female octopi die after giving birth and the males died after having sex or something?

Catalina slumped onto the kitchen chair and buried her face in her trembling hands. No, she wasn’t going anywhere. She was a nervous wreck. She’d get into an accident and get someone killed if she went out like this. She’d really fallen hard for Calder. Fallen hard and fast. Too fast.

But something way in the back of her mind went over what Calder had said about her eyesight getting better and her tattoos looking different. Her skin did look healthier and pinker and—