by Jaci Burton
His lips captured hers in a kiss that she swore spoke volumes to her. A kiss of desire, of longing…of love?
Surely she was transferring her own emotions into Trey’s kiss. He didn’t love her—if he did, he’d ask her to stay. Wishful thinking on her part wasn’t going to change his mind.
And she’d never beg a man to love her, would never plead with Trey to be allowed to stay. Instead, when it was time to go, she’d go.
Maybe it was a good thing he was going to erase her memories. She’d die knowing she was missing this for the rest of her life.
He thrust deeper, then moved them off the mossy bank until they floated in the water. Trey swiftly flipped them over and she found herself straddling his thighs, her cunt impaled on his cock. The position allowed her to slide forward and back, brushing her clit against his pelvis.
“Lord, Trey,” she murmured, the unbelievable sensations sending her into a frenzy of movements. Her pussy tightened around his shaft, squeezing him hard.
“You’re so tight, Jasmine. Your body was made for mine.” He reached for her breasts, gently squeezing them together and sliding his thumbs over her erect nipples. She tilted her head back and rode him hard.
The wild colors of Oceana floated above her, around her, her mind and body one with Trey and the exquisite beauty of the sea. She couldn’t take much more. Tears blurred her vision as the intensity of feelings overpowered her.
This was the last time she’d make love with Trey. She knew it, and so did he. He poured out his feelings in his movements, in the way he lightly brushed her breasts with his fingertips, then leaned up to capture her mouth in a devastating kiss.
Her climax roared through her body. She stiffened and clutched Trey’s shoulders as she rode out the sweet sensations arching inside her. With a loud groan, Trey came with her, spilling his seed in quick, short thrusts.
Jasmine collapsed on top of him, feeling them move as they slowly floated back down to the sea floor. She couldn’t keep her hands still, wanting to memorize every plane and angle of his body, knowing that no matter what kind of spell he put on her to take her memory away, her heart would always be his.
“The antidote worked, Jaz. The dolphins are gaining strength every day.”
She heard the sadness in his voice, and knew it equaled her own. She also knew what he was trying to tell her. Reaching for his face, she slid her palm over his jaw. “I’m glad.”
She wanted to say more. Tell him you love him, tell him you want to stay! But the logical part of her refused to listen to her heart. If he wanted her to stay he would have asked. His feelings didn’t mirror hers.
He turned her over onto her back and hovered above her, his smile gentle.
“It’s time,” he said.
“I know.” She fought back the tears, refusing to let him see how much this was going to hurt her. She wished she could tell him she loved him. She wished she was strong enough to face the rejection afterwards, but she couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth and say the words.
Kissing her lips lightly, Trey whispered, “I love you, Jasmine.”
Shock silenced her. Had he said what she thought he’d just said? Before she could respond, he brushed his thumb over her forehead, and darkness began to descend upon her.
“No Trey, wait!” she cried, but her words came out slurred. She struggled against the heaviness forcing her eyelids closed, but she knew it was futile.
She wanted to tell him she loved him, and now she’d never get that chance. Her hesitation had cost her the man of her dreams.
The tears flowed freely as she sailed into unconsciousness.
Chapter Sixteen
Dear God, Jasmine had the worst hangover of her life, and she couldn’t even remember drinking the night before.
She massaged her temples, reluctant to open her eyes against the morning light streaming in through the mini-blinds in her bedroom.
Her brain felt like it was covered in fuzz. For the life of her she couldn’t recall what she’d done last night that would make her head pound like this.
Gradually she squinted open her eyes, then groaned and forced herself out of bed. A shower and some very strong coffee were in order. She wondered what day it was. From the location of the sun radiating into her window, it had to be mid-morning, so she hoped like hell it was the weekend.
Or else she was very, very late to work.
By the time she showered and ate she felt a lot better, except for the weird gaps in her memory. She’d just go down to the lab and read through her notes. That should help clear her mind.
Okay, so it was definitely Saturday. Friday’s date on the calendar had been crossed out and there were only one or two of the weekend staff on hand. She smiled and greeted them. They waved, everyone grinning because the dolphins were all going to pull through.
Elation soared through her as she scoured her notes and reviewed the latest blood test results on the dolphins. The bacteria had been eradicated, the dolphins were eating again and showing signs of energy and playfulness. They were about ready to be returned to the ocean.
Stepping outside into the beautiful day, she squinted as she peered through the gates towards the ocean. Something pulled at her when she looked at water, a force so strong it tightened inside her stomach and caused her physical pain.
Brushing off the weird feeling, she headed out to the aquarium tanks, grinning when she saw the dolphins swimming and playing. She breathed out a sigh of relief, thankful they’d managed to come up with the antidote to the new strain of bacteria.
She sat on the edge of the tank and dangled her feet in the water, laughing as the dolphins came up and ‘spoke’ to her. Even they seemed happy, and she was certain they were anxious to get back to the ocean.
“Soon, my friends, you’ll be back home where you belong.”
That nagging sense of longing hit her again, and she found her gaze drifting toward the sandy beach and beyond. Thrilled by the impending release of the dolphins, she couldn’t seem to shake the melancholy that had been with her since she woke up this morning. Tears formed and she sniffed them back, thinking she must be having some massive PMS attack to be feeling so sad over nothing.
“Well, well, well, Dr. Quinlan. Very soon the dolphins will be back where they belong.”
Rolling her eyes heavenward in a silent plea for mercy, she turned to Claude. “Yes, they will be.”
He sniffed, pulling the cuffs down on his starched shirt. It was Saturday, for God’s sake. Didn’t the man ever put on a pair of sweats and get comfortable? Probably not. She bet he starched his underwear too, the stuffy prick.
“Perhaps we can get back to training our own dolphins for the upcoming shows, then. God knows these creatures have been a horrible financial drain.”
Jaz couldn’t bite back the retort that hovered on her lips. “Yeah, it’s a shame they didn’t die the first few days. Look at all the money you’d have saved.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to, Claude.” She stood and brushed by him, fed up with his penny-pinching, uncaring treatment of animals. She stopped in front of him. “I’m going to petition the board to return this aquarium to a research facility. I’m turning in my paper on the antidote for the new bacterium we discovered, and going to request it be printed in the Journal for Mammalian Medicine. Hopefully we’ll get enough grants and interested parties to make this place what it should have been all along—a research facility, not a theme park.”
“You have no say in the matter, doctor.”
He had no idea. “Watch me, Claude.”
“I’ll have you fired.”
She laughed at his sneer, no longer caring what he did or said he was going to do. “Would probably be the best thing you could ever do for me.”
She walked away without another word, determined that she wouldn’t sit by and let this happen. The first thing she’d do is email some of her colleagues and get them down here to start running the show. Sh
e was a good mammalian veterinarian, but this place needed to be staffed by the bigwigs in research.
Once she got the ball rolling on that, there wouldn’t be a damn thing Claude could do. The snowball effect would take over and he’d have to remove the sideshow circus and focus on research.
Back in the lab, she made notes on her observations, then planned for the release of the dolphins. Once she finished up at the lab, she went back to her apartment.
She should feel a great elation and sense of satisfaction, but she couldn’t seem to shake the depression that had grabbed hold of her today. The thought she was supposed to be somewhere else stayed with her well into the evening. She tried reading a book, then doing some research, finally settling on a glass of wine while she sat outside on her balcony.
Listening to the waves crashing into the shore seemed to offer the only comfort.
What was wrong with her, anyway? Why did she feel a compelling need to kick off her shoes and run headlong into the ocean?
What was down there that she wanted so damn badly?
She wished she knew, because these feelings were driving her crazy.
* * * * *
“You’ve managed to irritate just about everyone in your sector of Oceana, Triton.”
Trey ignored Ronan and concentrated on monitoring. “So?”
“So I think it’s time we have a talk.”
“I don’t feel like talking.” He didn’t feel like doing much of anything except watching Jasmine. Of course he did it under the guise of watching the preparations for the dolphins’ release today.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her, hadn’t been able to stop watching her since he’d erased her memories and took her back to land. God, he missed her so much it was like a knife permanently wedged in his heart.
Trey felt Ronan’s hand on his shoulder. “You love her.”
Denial sat poised on his lips, but what was the use? “Yes, I love her.”
“What do you plan to do about that?”
“Nothing.”
“Because of Leelia?”
No way would he answer that.
“You can’t deny yourself the pleasures of a life mate simply because one woman hurt you, Triton. Leelia and Jasmine are two different women. Besides, Leelia never loved you.”
He knew that now. Leelia no longer mattered to him.
“Jasmine, however, does love you.”
Trey turned to Ronan. “How do you know that?”
Ronan smiled. “Because she looks upon you the same way Isabelle did with Dax. I may not know a lot about love, Triton, but I’m smart enough to see it when it brightens a woman’s face.”
She loved him? Had he been so convinced they didn’t belong together that he’d been blind to the fact she loved him?
“I don’t approve of land humans living down here, Triton, and you know that. But it seems my guardians have a habit of falling in love with them. First Dax, and now you. And I must admit, Isabelle has been quite an incredible find. She has assimilated into Oceana better than I thought a land human could.”
“I’ve never heard you say anything positive about Isabelle being here.”
Ronan shrugged. “I was withholding judgment until I saw how things worked out between them. After a year, it’s going very well and they seem in love, but what do I know of such things?”
Trey laughed, knowing how cynical Ronan was about anything having to do with matters of the heart. Then again, not too long ago he’d been just as cynical. Until he’d met Jasmine. “Your day will come, Ronan.”
“Sooner than I’d like it to, I’m certain,” he said, looking for all the world like he’d just eaten something that didn’t agree with him.
“Love happens to all of us at some point. With me, I just didn’t recognize what wasn’t love, and what was.” And he couldn’t believe he’d just admitted that to Ronan, or to himself. For too long he’d denied his feelings for her. Hell, he’d denied the feelings she obviously had for him. Maybe he didn’t feel worthy of love after Leelia. Maybe he felt that if he pushed love away, it could never hurt him again.
Maybe during this whole process he’d had no idea what the hell he was doing. And he’d handled things with Jasmine badly, because he couldn’t just reach out and accept the love she gave.
Even Ronan knew how Jasmine felt. And how he felt. It was time to stop denying what was so clear to everyone. Time to bury the past. He was worthy of Jasmine’s love.
“Your Jasmine is special, Triton. Even I can see that. She loves the sea—it shows in her eyes, her heart, it courses through her blood as if she was born in Oceana. Her soul belongs here…with you.”
“You’re the one who was so adamant about getting her out of here without her memories, Ronan. Why the change of heart?”
Ronan shrugged and looked at the monitors. “Maybe I’m just getting old.”
Trey snorted. Ronan was as ageless as time itself.
“And maybe I just can’t fight destiny. Maybe you shouldn’t try to fight it, either.” He laid his hand on Trey’s shoulder and squeezed, then turned and walked out.
After Ronan left, Trey looked at the monitor, watching Jasmine yelling at her crew as they hoisted the dolphins into the boat that would take them to the water.
A part of him still refused to hope that what Ronan said was true. Did she love him?
He flicked his hand across the monitor and drew closer to Jasmine’s face.
She had tears streaming down her cheeks. Closing his eyes and tuning in to her, he felt a slam of emotions that he hadn’t expected. Loneliness, sadness, a melancholy that tore him apart.
No, she didn’t remember him, but some part of her felt a loss of something that had been monumental to her.
She did love him!
Emotion so powerful it took his breath away and nearly knocked him off his feet. He stepped backward and ran his hands through his hair. Never had he felt such a connection to a woman.
Never had he felt such love soaring through him at the thought of a woman.
He realized now how juvenile his attraction to Leelia had been. Her face was no more than a distant memory now.
The woman he loved, the woman he needed, stood on a boat silently crying out for him.
His woman. His Jasmine.
Their souls were connected. She belonged in Oceana, with him, and by God he was going right now to claim her.
* * * * *
Jasmine watched the last of the dolphins being lowered into the sea. Her heart flew along with the quickly swimming dolphin.
She’d miss them. That’s why tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. They’d come to her near death and now they were returning to their homes healthy again. A part of her traveled with them, envious of their ability to explore the oceans.
When she could no longer spot them swimming around the surface of the water, she motioned the boat to head to dock. Suddenly, her friend, the perfect Bottlenose, popped its head up near the port side. She leaned over and smiled. “Well, hi there, pal. Your friends are free now. Go on, go play with them.”
But the dolphin stayed near the boat, following along as it began the slow trek to shore. Why wouldn’t he swim off with his pod? “Go on, pal, you can go home now!”
Still, it followed, all the way to the dock. Unusual for a dolphin to hang out around the other boats in the harbor, yet this one seemed reluctant to leave. The rest of the crew had long since disembarked, yet Jaz couldn’t bring herself to walk away just yet.
She climbed down the ladder and sat on the diving ledge. The dolphin swam up to her and she reached out her hand, running her fingers over its ridged spine.
“Yeah, I’m gonna miss you too, pal. I’ll miss all of you.”
It chattered noisily as if in response. Jasmine splashed water back at it and hung around awhile longer, content to just sit with the dolphin swimming nearby. But finally she knew it was time to go.
When she stood, the dolphin swam off, heading out to sea.
> That feeling of loss surrounded her again as she watched the dolphin disappear under the water.
With a sigh, Jasmine headed back to shore.
Her work with the sick dolphins finished, she tidied up the lab and filed her notes, then sent out emails to some of the most prominent mammalian specialists in the country. Several had already responded saying they’d love to take over research duties at the aquarium.
It was all going to work out perfectly. By the time the specialists finished with Claude, he’d have no choice but to convert the aquarium to research only. Her dolphins would be safe.
And she’d be leaving. Where she’d go, she had no idea, but there was something more for her out there.
Something called to her. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew she no longer belonged at the aquarium. She just wished she knew where she did belong.
After she showered she fixed a glass of wine and watched the sun sink into the water. Its bright orange glow held off the fog, allowing Jasmine to watch the brilliant colors spread out over the ocean’s surface like a fiery blanket.
The sight was breathtakingly beautiful. But Jasmine felt no joy over it, nor was she happy about the dolphins’ release today.
What was wrong with her, anyway? Why did she feel so incomplete, so lost?
A knock at the door had her shaking off the sadness. She opened it, surprised to see Dr. Triton Sanders standing there.
He looked delectable in jeans and a T-shirt that showed off his sexy physique. Her heart lurched in her chest, surprising her. They’d only worked together briefly and he’d long ago left—why would his reappearance have such a profound effect on her?
“Dr. Sanders, what are you doing here?”
His grin had her thinking decidedly unscientific thoughts. “You’re supposed to call me Trey, remember?”
No, she didn’t remember at all. Then again, she didn’t remember a lot of things lately. Maybe she needed a vacation. “Sorry, Trey. Come in, please.”
He stepped inside and she motioned him into the kitchen. “Care for some wine?”
