World of Aquatica: When a police captain uses a free pass to explore a marine park, he runs across a man whose blatant pursuit turns his life upside down.
Captain John Casinov has two loves in his life—his family and his work. When his son, Jonathan, and the man’s family visits from Santa Cruz—primarily to try to convince him to retire and move south—John takes advantage of one of his detective’s offer. He accepts a bunch of free passes to the marine park, World of Aquatica. While there, he finds his interest snagged by a big, friendly, black-haired man. The handsome man brazenly introduces himself as William Roush... then he asks John on a date. While he’s flattered, John laughs it off while declining. Undeterred, William approaches John a second time later that day, so he accepts. Imagine his surprise when John discovers who William actually is—the partial owner of the marine park. John doesn’t understand why a man who’s young, confident, and rich—who could have anyone he wants—would pursue him. When William shares that shifters are real, John wonders at the man’s sanity... until William actually proves it. Can John come to grips with his newfound knowledge and accept William into his life? Or will retiring and running be the decision of the day?
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Drifting With a Giant Squid
Copyright © 2019 Charlie Richards
ISBN: 978-1-4874-2474-9
Cover art by Angela Waters
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Drifting With a Giant Squid
Beneath Aquatica's Waves Book 5
By
Charlie Richards
Dedication
The truth is a snare. You cannot have it without being caught. You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you.
Chapter One
“Dad, have you thought about what we talked about the other night at all?”
Damn. Being trapped in my son’s SUV, riding shotgun, means I’m a fucking captive audience.
In truth, Captain John Casinov had avoided thinking about Jonathan’s encouragement of retiring—plus his offer to help him move south. John loved his job. True, he loved Jonathan and his son’s family, too, but he was way too young to retire.
God, I’m only... huh... fifty-one, already.
In this day and age, that’s still really young, though.
John had worked damn hard to earn his captain’s position. While on occasion he found the rote administration duties tedious, he still enjoyed the few cases he took on as well as the camaraderie of his boys in blue. The guys on the force were a second family.
“Dad?”
Lying through his teeth—and swallowing back a huff of annoyance by humming—John told him, “Yeah, I thought about it. You know I like visiting you all, Jon.” He focused on his son and forced a reassuring smile. “But I can’t imagine what I would do down there.” Reaching over the space between the comfortable chairs, he squeezed Jonathan’s bicep in a show of fatherly appreciation. “Give me a few more years, huh, son? I really like where I’m at.”
Jonathan’s eyebrows furrowed as he glanced John’s way. He opened his mouth, and John spotted it a mile away. His son was going to launch into another spiel about why it was a good idea for him to move.
Just as quickly, Jonathan’s features shifted into a wide smile. His hazel eyes—so similar to John’s own—twinkled. “Well, I have a couple lady friends down there that are really looking forward to meeting you.” Jonathan winked as he told him, “They’re both in their forties, I think.” Scoffing, his son added, “You know it’s not polite to ask a lady about such things, but they sure gush over your pictures on the mantel whenever they come over for dinner.”
Huh. Okay. That’s not the direction I thought Jon would take this.
Unwilling to discuss his love life with his son—or lack thereof, actually—John focused on another aspect of Jonathan’s words. “I’m kinda curious why you have ladies in their forties over at your house.”
“Oh. Ha.” Jonathan rolled his eyes before glancing in the rearview mirror. “They’re part of Grace’s Bible study group. Hey, Grace. Tell my dad about Molly and Linda.”
John turned in his seat to regard his daughter-in-law. He knew Grace was very active in the church their family attended in Santa Cruz. Not only did Grace lead a women’s Bible study, but she also taught the eight-to-ten-year-old class of children’s church every Sunday morning.
While John wasn’t particularly religious, when he visited them, he would attend services, too. John adopted an approach more geared toward to each his own as long as you don’t try to shove it down anyone else’s throat. Over his many years on the force, John had seen many cases where religious organizations had done fantastic things for a community. Unfortunately, he’d also found many cases where religious zealots could be dangerous to the community, too.
When Grace lifted her focus from her Women’s World magazine, the athletic blonde smiled at them. “I’m sorry, honey. What was that?”
Jonathan repeated himself, an indulgent smile curving his lips.
“Oh!” Grace’s smile widened, and her blue eyes twinkled. She even laughed softly before saying, “Molly and Linda are in my Bible study, and both are lovely women.” Leaning forward, Grace touched John’s upper arm. “Both inside and out. And boy do they sure ask about you, Father. They would both love to meet you.” Grinning, she added, “I know we’ve never really talked about what interests you in a lady or if you’re even interested in dating, but is there something I can tell you about them that might interest you in coming down for a date?”
It always warmed John’s heart when Grace called him Father. He loved the kind-hearted and beautiful woman Jonathan had managed to win the affections of. With John working so many hours, Jonathan had spent much of his time first at daycare, then at school, youth centers, and even after school sports activities. John sometimes didn’t even feel as if he’d raised his son.
The years have flown by so very swiftly. And now my grandkids are fifteen and twelve. Just wow! Hmm... maybe this is something I need to think a bit more about.
John cleared his throat as he took in Grace’s expectant expression. Feeling his cheeks heat a little, he opened his mouth, then closed it again. Glancing at Jonathan, John saw his son’s ever-so-slight smirk.
It hit him suddenly that he’d totally been set up.
How long has Grace been urging Jon to make some kind of comment like this?
“Well.” John drew the word out slowly, thinking quickly. “I admit it’s been a while since I’ve thought about dating.”
As in, almost
seventeen years when Jonathan was dating Grace.
“I have pictures on my phone,” Grace stated suddenly. Leaning down, she grabbed her purse. “Let me show you.”
As she began shoving her magazine into her purse, obviously preparing to pull out her phone, Jonathan countered, “How about we do that at lunch, dear? We’re here.”
Never had John been so happy to arrive at his destination. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel flattered to hear that he sparked the interest of some random women. John just wasn’t certain he wanted to deal with figuring out how to please a woman again. He’d failed epically the first time, after all.
But I’ve never shared I would be more interested in dating a guy, either.
Fighting back a sigh, John dismissed the whole issue. It didn’t matter anyway. He’d never met a man who’d interested him enough to make him want to crack that door.
“Wow, kids! Look at this place,” Grace called, pointing out the window to the right. “It’s huge! Father, how did you hear about it? Is it new?”
Appreciating the subject change, John stated, “It’s been here over ten years, now, I think. So fairly new.” He pointed toward the entrance indicating VIP parking before grabbing a mirror hanger from his wallet and hanging it. “One of my detectives, uh, Detective Grisham Canton, he hooked up with a guy who works here about six months ago and moved in with him.” Laughing, John added, “Never thought of Grisham as the settling down type, but he’s head-over-heels for Cuzco. A very cute couple. They’re the ones who gave me these free passes and the VIP parking tag.”
John watched as Jonathan’s brows shot up. “An openly gay couple in homicide?” he commented as he stopped at the booth and rolled down the window. “That’s new.” Then he turned and greeted the person manning the booth and took the map he offered, saying, “Thank you.” Jonathan listened as the man told him where to park.
Once Jonathan had started the SUV moving again, John revealed, “Actually, not so much. There are a number of men—and even a couple of women—who are open about their sexuality.” John found himself fascinated to hear his family’s response... and his heart even pounded a little harder in his chest. “Discrimination is dealt with harshly... any kind of discrimination.”
“Huh.” Jonathan’s brows furrowed, but he didn’t say anything else as he guided the SUV through the lot.
“Well, that’s lovely.” Grace’s response drew John’s attention to his daughter-in-law, and he took in her smiling countenance as she was gathering the bags and urging their children to get ready to exit the vehicle. “I hope we have a chance to thank them sometime. It’s awfully nice that they would get passes for us all.” Pointing at Anita, their fifteen-year-old daughter, she stated, “Hand me that sunscreen, would you, sweetie?”
Anita pulled her attention from her phone and grabbed the tube of sunscreen she’d left on the seat beside her. While handing it to her mother, she commented, “Carley is a lesbian, Dad. Didn’t you know?” Then she turned back to Grace. “I pulled up the map of this place on my phone. Can we go to the left, first? There’s a pool where you can pet stingrays.” The teenager’s blue eyes gleamed with excitement. “And I read that our passes are the special ones that include tickets to a tiger shark show. How cool is that? There’s a showing in about an hour and a half at ten-thirty. Can we see it?”
“A tiger shark?” their twelve-year-old son, Pryce, piped up. “Awesome! Can we go?”
“Oh, that does sound exciting,” Grace replied as she pushed open her door. “Hon, don’t let me forget to order a gift basket as a thank you for Dad’s nice detective and his partner.”
Having parked the SUV and turning it off a moment before, Jonathan cleared his throat. Even though his cheeks were just a slight bit pink, he replied, “Of course, Grace.”
John smiled to himself as he followed his family toward the entrance of World of Aquatica.
Damn, how did my son end up with such a good woman?
Still, John couldn’t help but wonder if Grace would be that welcoming if the notion of dating a man came from her father-in-law.
* * * *
William Roush grinned broadly as he glanced around at the over a dozen kids and parents clustered around the stingray pool. The walls of the cement pond were two feet high, but the interior was only a foot deep. The bottom was coated with sand, and inside the pool swam four stingrays.
Two were real stingrays, and two were shifters.
As a shifter himself, William could easily see the differences. Unknowing humans, however, would only recognize that two were larger than the other pair. The bigger ones were making it easy for the youngsters crowding around the pool to reach in and brush their fingers over their upper backs.
“Now these guys might not look aggressive,” William warned as he monitored those around the pool’s actions. “But they are related to sharks.” Seeing several kids’ heads pop up, their eyes focusing more fully on him, William settled into a serious expression. “Stingrays use their tails not only for maneuvering, but also for defense... and that can be dangerous, since they have venomous and spined tails.” Snapping his fingers to draw the attention of a teenager who was petting a little too close to the back of one of the shifter’s bodies, William cautioned, “That’s why you’re only to pet these guys on their upper back near their head.”
Once the wide-eyed boy nodded and returned to stroking Gillian where he should, William swept his gaze over the others in the area. He knew the female stingray shifter would never harm a human while she was on duty in the petting pool, but that didn’t mean one of the non-shifters wouldn’t. William’s job at the pool—as well as Serena’s, who he was teamed up with that day—was not only to assure the health of the stingrays but to keep the humans safe, too.
“Isn’t it a stingray that killed that famous animal expert guy?” William turned his attention to the right, so he could focus on the speaker—an athletic-looking teenage girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes, then burst out, “Steve Irwin, right?”
William nodded, all the while betting her parents were just dreading the moment the pretty girl started dating. “That’s right.” Wincing, he shook his head. “He was filming an underwater documentary and was pierced in the heart by a stingray barb.” Sweeping his gaze around the area, William cautioned, “That goes to show that even someone experienced with animals can have an accident. No matter the animal, always be careful.”
Many of the children bobbed their heads in acknowledgment. Some of the adults did, too.
“You really let just anyone pet something so dangerous?”
Turning back to his right again, William looked beyond the teenager to a dark-haired man who was most likely her father—judging by the way he pulled her hand away from the pool. “Think of it as taking your kids to the county swimming pool,” William told him, smiling as he ignored the guy’s abrasive tone. “There are rules put in place for everyone’s safety as well as a lifeguard on duty.” William pointed at a sign on the far wall. “No climbing into the pool. No touching a stingray’s tail. Always listen to the instructor. Be gentle.” Offering a disarming smile, he continued, “Our stingrays are used to being touched, but we work very hard to keep everyone safe. In World of Aquatica’s eleven-year history, we’ve never had a single sting.”
William knew that was in part due to the fact that the shifter stingrays easily kept the others calm. Hell, if there’d been a giant squid petting aquarium, William would have happily allowed the humans to touch him. That kind of exhibit would have been damn impossible to explain, however, no matter how much money it would bring in.
He and his older brother, Kaiser—their pod’s alpha—had even discussed it once.
His words must have placated the man—either that or it was the way his wife rested her hand on his arm and stated, “Relax, Jonathan. This is why we came over here,” for the guy nodded and backed off.
Once the human had m
oved backward, allowing his two children access to the pool, William found his attention snagged by a third adult. This one was obviously older with gray at his temples and short, salt and pepper hair. He wore jeans that showed off muscular legs and a light jacket that did nothing to hide his wide shoulders and trim form.
While William pegged the human as being in his late forties or early fifties, he thought he still looked amazing. His mouth watered with a desire to taste his full lips which were curved into a smile as he peered into the pool and guided the younger sibling’s hand so he could pet Carlton, the second shifter in the pool. Even his blood heated and flowed south, causing his prick to plump.
Curious at his body’s reactions—and feeling his squid urge him forward—William drifted closer to the man. That was when he smelled the subtle, slightly salty aroma mixed with a masculine scent. Inhaling deeply even as William glanced around—he still had a job to do, after all—he analyzed the scent more fully.
Oh, fuck a duck!
Excited realization coursed through William.
This human is my mate!
William couldn’t stop the huge grin that curved his lips. A shiver of anticipation rolled through him as he swept his gaze over the man again. He licked his lips, then swallowed hard as he swiftly thought about ideas on how to woo the human.
The first step is obvious.
Seeing the way the young man was having trouble reaching Carlton, William took it as his opening to get closer to the pair... and his mate. “Hey, buddy,” he greeted the youngster. “Let me help.” William reached out and, using his much longer reach, touched Carlton’s side and guided him closer to the pool’s edge. Grinning at the boy, William added, “Don’t try that at home, buddy. These guys know me.”
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