Sea Bride- Children of the Waves (5 page)

She opened her eyes to stare
into the depths of an endless sea, and her body shattered against the rocky
shores as her lover roared out her name and filled her completely.

Just then, Cori’s consciousness
woke up. Never in her life had she experienced such contentment. This must be a
dream. Why else would she give herself to a stranger? Yet, Xavior wasn’t a
stranger. He eased his weight off her, and she felt the loss of him filling
her. Slowly, reluctantly, she focused her eyes and gazed upon a world of
wonder. The sky overhead wasn’t a sky at all, but gray and green glowing rocks.
While she watched them move around, she concluded they weren’t quite rocks but
some sort of glowing worms. As long as they stayed on the ceiling about six
feet away from her, and nothing crawled on her, it worked. She hated creepy
crawly things.

She felt his body snuggle
against her. Glancing down, his muscular arm lay over her slender one, her own
tanned hand covered by a much larger, paler masculine one. Her body reacted
before thought could even form in her mind. She shifted further into his
embrace. When he nuzzled her neck, she moved into the caress. Xavior held her
so possessively and she thought about how they’d ended up here.
Xavior.
After she’d fallen overboard,
he’d saved her life. And the ache between her legs confirmed he’d made love to
her as no other man ever could.

She turned to face him,
ignoring the rocks they lay upon. Placing both hands in front of her, she
stretched her fingers open to stroke his chest. A chain rested around his neck.
He raised his leg and placed his heavy thigh over hers trapping her to him,
possessively, yet she felt no fear, only belonging, and again a sense of
familiarity. Beyond what they just shared. “You saved my life.”

“Yes. I did. Do you remember
what happened?”

“Yes. I recall falling into the
water, and you diving in after me. Kissing me, saving me.” She wanted to add,
Making love to me
, but held back.
Instead, she glanced around and felt the bump on her forehead. “Ow. I think I
hit my head.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just a little sore.”

“Good. We also made love. Do
you remember that?” He didn’t give her a chance to reply, but leaned forward
and captured her mouth with his.

Any pain as well as all other
considerations took flight. Being trapped in a cave seemed insignificant
compared to his kiss, his touch. In that moment, he again became everything to
her. She wrapped her arm around his neck and he drew her closer to his body.
His hardness pressed into her and she pulled herself even closer. In one move,
she lay on her back, but he kept his leg over hers. All she wanted was to spread
her legs and to hold all of his exquisite heat within the cradle of her body.
Again.

He pulled his mouth from hers
and raised his body, so he could look at her face. “You have no idea how long
I’ve waited to do this.”

She grinned and wrapped her arms
around his neck. “You can keep doing it, too.”

He smiled and his eyes lit up
like a lightning-infused sky. “Oh, I want to, but this really isn’t the time or
the place to linger. Not to mention the rock we’re lying on. We both probably
have bruises.” He laughed.

She loved the sound of his joy
vibrating against her chest from his.

“But don’t worry,” he
continued. “I want you, and I’ll have you again.
Soon.”

“Hmm, sure of yourself, aren’t
you?” Her stomach rumbled. “Oh—how embarrassing.”

He hugged her to him, kissing
her shoulder. Rolling off her, he sat up. Though, he didn’t move far from her
side, just pulled his underwear on and so did she, along with her damp top.
Then he shifted, lay back down next to her, and raised his hand to trace her
features with his fingers.

She couldn’t believe she just
had sex with this man, and she dare not think it any more than that, regardless
of what he said. It could be all blamed on an adrenaline rush from having
escaped death and wanting to celebrate life.
What else could it have been?
In truth, given half a chance, she’d
jump him again. She shook her head. “Why do I feel as though I know you? Like
we’ve met before.”

“I feel the same way, and maybe
we have.”

“Trust me, I’d remember.” She
drew her gaze away from his and glanced around again. “Where are we anyway?
This looks like some sort of cave.”

“It is.”

“But—where? We were in
the middle of the ocean. Are we on an island? How’d you find this place?”

“I just did. And no—not
an island, we got lucky, it’s an underwater cave.”

“Underwater?” She gasped. “But
how are we able to breathe?”

“Pockets of oxygen. See the
moss along the cave walls?” He pointed.

She could just make out some
sort of greenish brownish growth all over the rocks around them.

“They produce oxygen. That’s why
the air in here is so clean.”

“Thank God.” She inhaled
deeply. “Yeah, you’re right. What are you, some sort of oceanographer?”

“Of sorts.”

Sitting up, she looked over his
shoulder at the dark water. She couldn’t see the bottom. They lay upon a wide
flat rocky ledge, surrounded by more rocks and a pool of water about five feet
wide lay beyond his shoulder. “Ah, how are we going to get out of here? And
what happened to the ship?”

“We’ll leave the same way we
got here, swim. As far as the ship, I’m not sure. When I dove in after you, I
couldn’t get us back on board. The ship had already moved off because of the
storm. Since you were unconscious, I was more interested in trying to get you
to safety.”

“It’s a miracle you found this
place, much less that it even exists.”

“Yes,” he agreed.

She pulled her knees up to her
chest and wrapped her arms around them. “How far underwater are we?”

“A mile maybe.”

“What?” she screeched. “How?”

He just grinned.

“There is nothing amusing about
this. How on earth were you able to hold your breath to swim so far? How was
I?”

“I grew up in the water. I
breathe underwater.”

“Well, whatever you did, I’m
glad, but there’s no way I can swim back through a mile of water to the
surface. I’m not
that
good a swimmer,
nor can I hold my breath for so long. I’m still not even sure how we both made
it down here.”

A splash made her look toward
the water. “My God, it’s a dolphin. What’s that in its mouth?”

The dolphin swam over to them,
its head held high above the water. It stopped at the edge of their ledge.
Xavior sat up and moved forward, so he could remove the strap wrapped around
the mammal’s mouth. When he took it off, the dolphin dove back under and
disappeared.

“What the hell….” Cori glanced
over to see Xavior pull on the strap and bring up a large waterproof brown
saddlebag. At least she thought it was waterproof, since the water seemed to
bead on it instead of soaking through.

He placed it in front of them
and opened it. Then he took the things out and placed them on the rock beside her.

Cori stared at them in
confusion, speechless for a moment. “It’s like a grocery list of things we
need,” she concluded, finding her voice. A waterproof blanket, a couple of
bottles of water and two roast beef sandwiches wrapped in plastic bags lay spread
out before her. “All that’s missing is a change of clothes, a phone and we’d be
set.”

Xavior grinned in her
direction. He seemed to be enjoying this way too much and didn’t sit right.

“Okay, I give. What’s going
on?”

“You fell overboard and I
rescued you.” He shrugged. “As soon as you’ve rested a bit, had a little snack
and water, and regained some of your strength, we’ll leave.”

She glanced at the water, to
where the dolphin disappeared. “Okay, I’ll bite. Tell me what’s going on. How
did that dolphin know to come here and who gave it the stuff?”

Instead of answering, he
continued to open up the things he’d set out for them.

She frowned, her mind no longer
in a sexual haze. “Are you going to answer me or what?”

He raked long fingers through
his hair dark hair. “I will, but not just yet. It’s no mystery really. Maybe
they just found the stuff? I’ve heard of dolphins saving people from drowning.”

“Yes, but that’s not what this
is.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Why
are you being so evasive?”

He stopped and stared at her.
Taking her hand, he turned the palm up, lifting it to his lips. “Can you do me
a favor and trust me for a while? I saved your life. No harm will come to you.
I…I promise I will explain.” He picked up one of the sandwiches and offered it
to her.

Could she trust him? Something
weird was definitely going on, but he did save her life, not to mention made
incredible love to her, so surely it must count for something. “Okay, only
until we get out of here.” She took his offering. “So, we leave here, go back
in the water and somehow make it to the surface, then what?”

Xavior shrugged his massive
shoulders…those massive bare, wide, hard-as-the-rocks-they-sat-on shoulders.
“Then, we’ll see what we can do to make sure you enjoy your vacation. But
first, I would like it if you spent a little time with me, getting to know me.
My home’s not far from here.”

“Really? But I thought you said
you were an American.”

“I said I was born in American
waters. So by that I am, but I live elsewhere.”

“Well, right now, we’re in the
middle of the Caribbean Sea, miles from any land, so where exactly is home to
you?”

“It’s not far from St. John.”

“Oh, is it one of those private
islands I’m told make up the Virgin Islands?”

“Around there.” He gestured to
the sandwich she held in her hand. “Go on and eat. You must be starving, I know
I am.” He opened up the other sandwich and took it out. When the delicious
juicy scent of the beef hit her senses, her stomach grumbled even louder. She took
a bite of the bread in her hand and moaned. “This is fabulous.” Grabbing one of
the water bottles, she took a big gulp.

Together, they polished off the
sandwiches in no time. When they were done, he shook out the blanket and
invited her to lie back down on his clothes. She did and he lay next to her. He
only wore his undershorts and she was only partially dressed. He covered them
both with the blanket.

She lay facing him, and could
actually feel the electricity arching between them. Did she want to get to know
this man more? He held secrets. “Who are you, Xavior?” she asked, combing his
hair back away from his handsome face. “Who are you really?”

“I’m the man that’s going to
kiss you, again.”

She smiled. “Only, if I let
you.”

Chapter
Four

Those toasted brown eyes
sparkling at him held him mesmerized, drawing him to her, not that he didn’t
want to get closer, but she tugged at his soul. How he managed to pull away
from her before, without making love to her again, could only be explained as a
miracle. His body must have been created to respond to her, especially after
having experienced an orgasm for the first time ever in his existence.

Xavior wanted, no— he
needed
more. So far, the sea witch was
right: Cori was his bride. His body understood what his brain still marveled
at. He shifted closer to her, and she moved to meet him. When their lips
touched, his eyes drifted shut and his life flashed before him in brilliant,
vivid color. The tales got it wrong. You didn’t see your life flash before you
when you’re about to die. You see your future spread out before you when for
the first time, you felt truly alive and joined to another person.

A world of endless
possibilities opened up, all centering on the woman wrapped in his arms. A
woman he would never let go. First, he needed to be honest with her, to tell
her the truth. He would even pray to his first father, Poseidon, if he thought
it might help. However, he hadn’t answered a prayer in centuries, certainly not
for any of his sons or daughters.

She pulled away from him.
“What’s really going on Xavior?”

He twirled a strand of her hair
around his finger. Soft, like the rest of the woman beside him. “What if I told
you there’s another world that lives alongside the one you know? What if I told
you, I’m part of that other world?”

She shook her head. “What
world? What are you talking about?”

“Cori, my
people—I—we come from a world that exists below the waves, as you
come from the world that exists above it.”

“What?” She tried to pull away
from him.

He held her around the waist to
keep her near him. “I’m of the sea.”

She stilled and frowned.

He could feel her heart rate
increasing, and not from pleasure.

“Like a mermaid, or,
er—merman?” she asked hesitantly.