The Selkie (22 page)

out on his face, and she leaned forward and licked it from him, making him thrust even harder. He felt so good, filled her so completely. She felt embraced by a warm sea, buoyed up by salty waves.

Before she knew what was happening, she felt submerged in deep water. Swimming with Calan, his arms wrapped around her. His cock still joined to her, making her ache with the pleasure. She didn’t know where they were, but it was beautiful.

They continued swimming in the darkness, through what appeared to be a seemingly endless cavern. Maggie wondered at the dark shapes made in the water as Calan’s strong head cut through the brine, leading them onward. She looked around them. Clearly, they were soaked, but she felt strangely dry and warm, even as they drove deeper and deeper into the sea.

It seemed they were swimming forever. Time felt skewed. Unimportant.

All she knew was that she was wrapped up with Calan, surrounded by his body, and nothing else seemed to matter.

She nestled in closer to his body and looked up at his face, feeling his heat. She rubbed her hands down his strong back, luxuriating in the feel of his skin, in the ripple of each strong muscle as he moved against her. He felt so good. Naked and hard. His arms clasped about her, holding her more tightly than anyone had ever held her. Still propelling through the water, kicking his webbed feet behind him with a powerful force, yet still able to kiss her and fuck her senseless.

Even though she worried about opening her mouth to him, in case a rushing flood of water finally decided to bombard her body, she let his lips nudge hers apart. When she opened to him, she didn’t taste seawater at all. The water had become like air. All she tasted was Calan. Hot and salty and sweet.

Delicious.

His cock pressed deeper into her body, seeking sanctuary in her bower. She slid her hands down to his ass, feeling, wanting him closer. He gripped her, one hand behind her head, the other wrapped around her back. Swimming with him in such an intimate fashion, she’d never felt so close to another being in her life.

She wanted the feeling to last forever.

However, within moments, Calan stopped kicking. And just as her pussy began to clench with the most delicious agony imaginable, he dared her to look at him again and she did.

And knew she loved Calan Kirk with all her heart. Somehow, it had happened.

As their bodies both began to cease their trembling, he gently laid her down on the hay bale. The sea had disappeared, and Maggie felt a strange sorrow. Even still, he was with her, so she couldn’t feel sad for long. He cradled her in his arms and she felt safe enough to sleep there in the stable with him. She was with Calan, no matter who or what he was, and that was all that mattered.

Right before she closed her eyes, Maggie happened to look up toward a small window on the nearby wall. Took note of how dazzling the stars appeared, as if fueled by their passion. And she noticed, full of wonder, how a perfect rainbow arched across the night sky.

A rainbow at night. Miraculous.

But then she looked at Calan, felt the warmth in his eyes as he gazed at her, and everything made sense. The rainbow came from him, just as surely as the thunder and

lightning had before.

At peace, she closed her eyes.

Chapter 12

When she opened them, it was still night. She found she was covered with the flannel blanket and Calan’s leather jacket. The large garment was tucked all around her and was as warm and comfy as a quilt. It also smelled like him, which was an added plus. She looked up, dying to throw her arms around him and saw him standing at the little window, gazing out into the darkness. He was nude, his long hair trailing down his back, over the dips and curves of his musculature.

He looked so beautiful, but the turn of his shoulders was inexpressively sad. She’d only ever seen him with a posture that was proud and almost regal. This was the bearing of a man who seemed hopeless.

Why?

Then she realized. He was staring out at the beach. Could it be the lure of the sea was ripping him to shreds inside? Could it be he wanted to leave her? No thought had ever made her feel more dead inside.

Eventually, he will want to return to his beloved sea.
Her gran’s words came back to taunt her.

Dismissing the notion, Maggie padded over to him. She didn’t care that she was still nude as well, she just wanted to make him feel better. He heard her approach and turned, sucking in a quick breath at the sight of her naked form.
“
You’re a sight for sore eyes, pet.
”

He enveloped her in his strong arms, and Maggie wrapped her arms around his waist. She breathed him in, burying her face in his chest hairs, and listened to the steady thumping of his heart.

The most precious sound she’d ever heard.

Little by little, standing on her toes, she kissed her way up to his neck and then licked at the little hollow under his Adam’s apple. As she did, she felt his hard shaft pulse against her stomach.

Bliss. How she wanted him to lay her down once again, to plunge inside her, and make her feel as if she were coursing through the black waves of the sea again.

But she needed to know what was saddening him. Needed to know if it was something she could fix. Or if it was about
her
.
“
Tell me about Kyla.
”

Calan held her away from him for a moment, looking severely down at her, as a teacher would a student who’d let a bad word slip. But then his face softened.
“
There’s not much to tell.
”

“
Calan, please.
”

He seemed to be considering whether or not he could trust her with the information. It didn’t take long.
“
Kyla was a friend of mine, for many years. She was selkie. We grew up together. Did everything together. She was there when I discovered humans for the first time. There, when I had my first sip of wine. There, for everything.
”

“
She must have meant a lot to you.
”

“
She meant the world to me.
”
He squeezed her arms gently.
“
As a
friend,
Maggie, only as a friend. But I haven’t had a lot of those, so it pains me she’s gone.
”

As much as it bothered her, she couldn’t deny the rush of relief she felt upon hearing

the words
as a friend
.
“
What happened to her?
”

He paused, and then launched into the tale.
“
Just as a selkie man can be captured, so can a selkie woman. Two fisherman came upon her pelt a year ago. They claimed her and she went with them, figuring she’d have a spot of fun and then return home with her skin.
”
There was a sheen of tears in his eyes.
“
It didn’t quite work out that way. The men who’d found her abused her terribly. They kept her locked up for weeks on end and treated her like a dog. Angus and I found her body on the beach one day soon afterward. Dumped like a piece of trash.
”

Maggie’s heart grew heavy at the vision of the dead selkie girl on the beach, lying used and abused.

“
I’m sorry, Calan. No wonder you’ve been distrustful.
”

He held her close.
“
Not of you, Maggie. Never of you. You’re different. You’re kind and gentle, and you make my heart soar.
”

Just as hers was soaring.

So Kyla was a sad memory to him. Then what was making him stare out at the sea with such longing?

Turning in his arms, so that he was embracing her from behind, she looked out the stable window. Out in the surf, playing like a group of puppies, were some seals.
“
Selkies,
”
she said, gasping.

“
Aye,
”
he murmured against her ear, capturing her lobe between his teeth and tugging gently. Maggie stiffened as a sensual shiver rippled through her body. The shiver became a quake as his right hand snaked its way down her belly, kneading its fullness, and then dipping down between her wet lips.

Maggie parted her legs for him. She had no choice. All Calan had to do was whisper her name and her legs automatically spread for him.

He slid a webbed finger inside her core, penetrating her with delicious ease, and then drew it out again. Just when she suspected he might be done doling out his sweet torture, he circled her clit with that same finger, making her knees buckle.

The whole time Calan stared out the window with her.
“
See the big black one? That’s Machar. With Angus occupied with Elsie, he fancies himself the boss man. Look at the way he’s frolicking.
”

Maggie could barely see. With the way Calan was touching her, she could barely think.

He kissed her shoulder and groaned, sliding two fingers inside her.
“
The one with the lighter streaks in his fur is Jamie. And the one with the ginger shimmer is Edan.
”
He stroked and stroked.

“
Uh-huh,
”
she barely managed to say.

A third, marauding finger joined the others, stretching her, making her sigh.
“
The two brown ones are Breannan and Drummond. In their selkie form, they look like twins.
”
He pulled his wet fingers out of her pussy, found her clit once again, and lightly tugged.

“
Oh God!
”

Calan spun her around, backed her up to the stable wall, and got down on his knees in front of her. Before she could say a word, before she could ask if the sight of his brothers swimming in the surf made him depressed, Calan spread her legs and embraced her with his mouth. Drinking her in. Sucking and sucking until she came against that wooden wall.

And as her spine-shredding orgasm leveled her, Maggie forgot to ask anything.

* * * *

When she woke up the next time, the sun starting to illuminate the corners in the little stable, Calan was fast asleep.

Maggie turned over in his arms and raised herself up on her elbow so she could look at him. Really look at him.

The gentle rays of sun were sneaking between the wood slats that made up the walls of the stable, streaking across his face. His chocolate hair was tousled behind him, a wave of brown silk across the hay bale. Sculpted shoulders were peeking out from under the blankets, begging her to lower her lips to his skin. And yet, she refrained, not wanting to wake him. Not wishing to disturb the picture of the sensual, slumbering angel.

He was perfect. At the same time, he was perfectly wrong for her.

He was selkie. He had to be.

What possible future could she have with him? None. Could she seriously run away with him the way Elsie had with Angus, knowing that at any time his skin could be pilfered by someone else? That he could be impelled to jump into another woman’s bed, just because she might happen upon his discarded skin on the beach? Maybe Elsie could live with that sort of uncertainty, but Maggie? The woman who’d already been tossed aside by two other lovers?

Still, that not-so-quiet voice inside her railed against whatever logic she was using to justify her actions. The voice that dared to proclaim,
“
You love him. You know you’ve loved him from the first day you saw him in your dreams.
”

It defied all reason and sense.

She couldn’t let herself be hurt again. No. She’d run now, before things went too far.

They’ve already gone too far. The moment he first called my name, they went too far.

Maggie silenced the voice in her head. With slow, subtle movements, she pulled away from his arms and got off the bale, and then quietly dressed so he wouldn’t awaken. As she did, she gazed down at his face, the face she’d seen in both incarnations. Seal and man.

And tried so hard not to fall back into his arms.

The best thing she could do was find his skin for him. Then she could help him return to the sea and set him free. He would be happier in the sea, she could tell. When she’d glimpsed that momentary sadness in him as he gazed out at his brothers in the waves, it had almost killed her.

Anyway, it wasn’t as if he loved her.

Before he ever started rustling in their makeshift bed, Maggie slipped out the stable and ran down the beach toward Gran’s house, away from her selkie lover.

* * * *

Calan awoke, needing her already.

In his very long life, he’d had a few dandy moments. An assortment of good times. Nothing had been as mind-bogglingly fulfilling and marvelous as being able to make love to Maggie Collins. To be able to fall asleep with her bundled in his arms had been even better.