Never Been Witched

by BLAIR, ANNETTE

  “Only while I was getting in. Shush and enjoy the scenery.”

  She held her paddle, in case he needed a good smack, and enjoyed the scenery. He looked back and did a double take. “Feel free to paddle at any time.”

  “Oh, you need help getting us there?”

  “Double the weight, double the paddling.”

  “I beg your pardon, but we do not weigh the same.”

  “Shut up and paddle.”

  “I’m dipping in my oar,” she said. “In, out. In, out. The Eagle should consider doing the same.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “THIS is scary,” Destiny said. “Maybe we should go back.”

  “Nah, we should paddle away from the shore so we can arrive at our destination by crossing the waves rather than letting them roll us.”

  “I think home.”

  “I think the open sea.”

  “Bad idea.” But he’d already turned them so they could take a circuitous sea-jaunt jug handle toward their appointed destination. It made a weird sort of sense, until the water began to swoosh and swirl and the kayak lifted out of the water.

  Destiny screamed, and Morgan shouted.

  The swirling water around them seemed to explode with a whoosh! and they were drenched and dripping.

  A dolphin came up beside them and laughed. Whew. But another came up on the other side. Frolicking dolphins rocked them like paper dolls in a paper boat.

  “Morrrrgannn.”

  Four, maybe five dolphins, played beneath and around the kayak, raising it up and plopping it back down, splishing and splashing, whooshing and thrashing, while the pointy-nosed clowns came up to make fun of them.

  Destiny pulled the paddle carefully from the water on the right so as not to hit one of the dolphins, but the other end got Morgan in the head.

  That was the crack she heard, right before he slumped forward.

  “Dear Goddess, I’ve killed him!”

  Destiny unfastened her splash skirt and stood to reach for him, but two dolphins jumped up beside them . . . and rolled them over. Destiny surfaced to find the kayak floating upside down and no Morgan in sight. She dove beneath it and found him opening his splash skirt to get out. They surfaced together. “Are you all right?” she asked.

  “Grab the kayak,” he shouted. “Where are the paddles?”

  She grabbed the kayak. “I’ve got a paddle. Where’s yours?”

  Together they righted the boat. Morgan unsnapped a couple of watertight bags containing small sauce pots and handed her one.

  “Time to cook?” she asked.

  “Time to bail, so we can get back in.”

  The air nipped at her wet face and frozen fingers. “You said this wouldn’t tip. Good grief, you’re bleeding.”

  He felt the back of his head and came away with bloody fingers. “Did you hit me with your paddle?”

  “I didn’t want to hit a dolphin.”

  “So you knocked me out, instead?”

  “Bail,” she said, and the dolphins laughed. “Good thing they don’t eat people. They don’t, right?”

  “I don’t know. You look pretty tasty to me.”

  “Cute.”

  “Let me get in first,” he said. “Then I’ll help you in. I have experience.”

  “You lie. You said it wouldn’t tip, but you have experience getting back in after it does? This water is freaking cold.”

  “I know. I’ve tested it twice since you got here. Am I bleeding, again?”

  “This was not my fault. You chose to move us away from shore and toward Dolphins R Us.”

  He helped her climb back in while she felt like a beached whale, then she landed with a thud and only felt dizzy. She fastened her splash skirt but didn’t know why. She couldn’t get any wetter.

  “If we roll again,” he said. “Just hold your breath and don’t get out. I know how to roll us back up.”

  “If you had said that back at the lighthouse, I wouldn’t be here.”

  “That’s why I didn’t say it.”

  “I’m cold.”

  “You’re whining.”

  “The wind is blowing, and I’m freezing my ass off.”

  “It’s a fine ass.”

  “You should know. You slept with it in your hand for most of the night.”

  “Ditto,” he said, though he didn’t turn around and from where she sat, she saw his ears get red.

  Such cute ears. Progress in the sex department, anyway. “I wanna go home.”

  “Look, there’s the waterfall. That’s our destination.”

  “But I’m wet.”

  “That’s why you brought dry clothes.”

  “Boy am I stupid for thinking second layer.”

  He pulled the kayak way up on the beach in a small lagoon that you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t this close.

  “It’s not quite low tide,” he said. “We’ve got a few more hours of easy sailing.”

  “That was easy sailing?”

  He helped her out of the kayak and took out their dry clothes. “Do you want to change here on the beach, behind the rocks, or wait until after we swim in the hot springs?”

  Her teeth chattered. “Are you sure there are hot springs?”

  “No.” He pulled her closer to the cliff to break the wind. “That steaming waterfall, however, is coming from a hot spring about twenty feet above us. There should be a natural opening in the rocks somewhere along here, according to my personal geological theories. Are you game?”

  “I’m wet and freezing,” she snapped. “You nearly drowned me.”

  “You clocked me.”

  “I did have your permission, in the event you were not going in the direction I wanted.”

  He sighed. “Let’s find a cave where you can change.”

  “Let’s.”

  His theory seemed to be correct, at least in the cave aspect, because he found one that seemed to go upward and onward. Shivering and teeth chattering, they changed with their backs to each other. This was no time for sexual exploration.

  “Let’s explore,” she said once she warmed up.

  “Being warm and dry sure improved your disposition,” he said.

  “Watch it Eagle Boy, you’re treading icy water.”

  “Eagle Scout. By the way, cave exploring is called spelunking.”

  She pulled up her hoodie and shoved her wet hair inside. “And I’ll bet caves don’t have bats like kayaks don’t tip.”

  He tugged playfully on her hood, and a rush of lust ran through her. At the moment, she rather liked him. “Who knew I could have fun with Eagle Who Lies Through Teeth About Tipping Kayak.”

  He took her hand and tugged. “Let’s go, Sea Witch.”

  She stopped to catch her breath. “Are we climbing, or is it my imagination?”

  “We’re climbing. Look behind us.”

  “Wow,” she said. “Behind us is below us.”

  “We may come to a rock wall any second but—do you hear water running?”

  “I do. Oh, please let it be hot.”

  “There’s an opening between the rocks, here, but it’s too small. Not sure I can get through.”

  “Oh, let me try. I’ll just go for a quick hot swim and be right back.”

  “You want to greet the cave bats by yourself?”

  “You’re mean.” She shoved him playfully, but he didn’t expect it and let himself fall against a rock that turned out to be loose.

  “Shit!” He pulled her against him and covered her head with his body.

  Destiny braced herself, but no rubble fell, not a pebble. She opened her eyes, and they both looked around. “The opening’s bigger now,” she said. “And the sound of running water is louder.”

  “So it is.” He tested the rock he’d hit, and it moved back and forth. “Nature’s swinging door,” he said, pulling her through the larger opening and taking a minute to get his bearings.

  “Sweet Palace of the Earth Goddess,” Destiny said. “This will be wonderful
for your aura, Morgan. In nature, there are ions that invigorate and cleanse the aura. Take some deep breaths. It’ll help.”

  Morgan raised a brow, but she huffed, so he took some deep breaths.

  “There. That didn’t hurt, did it? And your aura is brighter.” She looked around the cave, totally in awe. “Harmony told us about this place, but it’s more gorgeous than I imagined. She was right. It is spiritual. The stalagmites and stalactites are like male servants who don’t come to life until the Goddess needs them to do her bidding.”

  “I don’t remember Harmony saying anything like that, and I helped pull her up the rabbit hole.”

  “She didn’t say it. I did. That’s how I feel. And look, there’s the giant amethyst geode that’s part of the cavern wall.”

  Destiny went and chose several bright, beautiful amethyst clusters from the crystals on the floor beneath the geode, for spell work. She slipped them into her hoodie pocket. “The crystals you find are sacred and more powerful than the ones you buy,” she said. “Amethysts bring peace of mind and the understanding of death and rebirth. As a psychic, I use them to clear spiritual and psychic blocks. They ease psychic stress and amplify intuition.”

  Morgan blinked. “With you, I never know which/witch end is up.”

  Destiny nudged him. “Disbeliever.”

  “I disbelieve nothing,” he said, as if disbelieving his own statement. “Now I’m freezing my ass off.”

  Destiny shivered. “I’m not cold.”

  “Right.” Morgan took her arm. “Let’s follow the steam to the hot spring.”

  “Cool.”

  “No, hot.”

  “It looks like a cauldron on the bubble.”

  “A cauldron? Nice image. Like frogs and lizards are boiling in there?”

  “Let’s get naked, go for a swim, and see what develops.”

  He scoffed. “Promises, promises.”

  “Do not mock me. I’ve issued hand-painted invites. You’re primed, and the big guy’s on the rise.” She threw off her jacket and made sure he got a peek at her Great in Bed sweatshirt. She turned around to take off her panties, so he’d catch Smile If You’re Horny across her ass.

  She looked back at him. “Hah! You’re horny!”

  “I was smiling about the tattoo at the base of your spine. What is it?”

  “You can examine it, at length, later, in warmer climes, but it’s a white owl, a symbol of those who need to acknowledge the shadows of the past while looking toward a new phase of light and happiness.”

  Morgan grunted. “Easy for you to say.”

  “Not at all. Remaining in our comfort zone is easy, but it isn’t growth, and forward movement is our goal on earth, no matter our spiritual path.”

  “I guess it is.”

  “Are you gonna get naked or not?”

  She jumped in. “Sweet scintillating seduction,” she shouted, her words echoing around them. “This is decadent!” She shivered. “It’s steamy, stimulating, sultry, and seductive.” She floated past him so he could get a good look at what he was missing. “Step in, Morgan the Horny, for a sensual taste of delight.”

  That fast, he stripped and stood there facing her, letting her eat him up with her gaze, despite his full-body blush. A god of Mount Olympus, an Adonis, erect and proud. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on his sinewy, sumptuous body.

  “You look like you belong in a Goddess Palace, but I’m glad you’re mine, for now, I mean, as a sex toy, you know. You, Morgan Jarvis, are as sexy as sweet scrumpy cider.”

  “You, Destiny Cartwright, have teased me about as much as I can stand.” He jumped in.

  Finally, he was gonna take the bait!

  Chapter Sixteen

  HE swam around her as if in some kind of ritual mating dance. Above and beneath the water, fingertips touching, toes, torsos coming closer and closer then moving away.

  The most beautiful man she’d ever seen knew best how to hide beneath a cassock—according to her vision, not his admission—beneath a growl, a frown, and his grumblestiltskin temper. His anger, however, could not be removed as easily as his cassock. Deep-rooted anger simmered inside him. Something from his past festered, infecting every aspect of his life.

  He hurt, and she wanted to heal him.

  She wanted him. For sex, for playing and adventuring, for tipping kayaks, spelunking, lunches on the dock, sharing their art, talking, long walks, for sleeping beside . . . and for sex.

  Not a good sign for two people as different as a witch from a cassock wearer.

  Bloodless bloodhounds from hell, he could be on sabbatical for all she knew. Did cassock wearers take sabbaticals? Except that he’d said he wasn’t one. Nor a priest either.

  If he avoided sexual commitment now, imagine how he’d run if he knew she was falling for him. Oh no. Goddess, no, she couldn’t let herself fall, and she certainly couldn’t let him suspect that she was in danger of it. He wasn’t emotionally ready for anything more than sex. Who was she kidding? He hadn’t exactly said yes to sex, yet, either.

  She swam away from him toward the opening in the cliff where the spring overflowed into a waterfall that caught rainbows in its mist before it reached the ocean. “I see the kayak,” she said, rising up in the water to peek out. “Is the tide changing?”

  “We have time,” Morgan said, coming up behind her, slipping his arms around her waist, kissing her shoulder, her neck, his boner beneath her bottom tickling her so close, so very close to the center of her need. He nibbled her ear and nipped the lobe, ran a hand through her hair, down her spine, around her owl tattoo, and along her hip toward the place where she pulsed with want.

  He found her with his hand, almost by accident. She could tell, because he nearly pulled away. She gasped as he did, so he touched her after all, tentative at first, until he thumbed her, examined her with a finger, as if counting her folds and memorizing her. He found her slick and willing. Unerringly, he found her clit and raised her up, and up, and higher still, until he made her fly.

  She turned her head into his neck while he methodically pleasured her, taking his sweet, determined time like no other. Not that she’d had many partners, but more than him.

  For her, it had been a while, and this man, this book-taught genius, brought her a degree of pleasure that had her clawing at him and shouting his name.

  She tried to reach for his splendid cock, but he pulled away. “This is for you. Just for you,” he said. “I need—I need to know that I can please you more than last night’s . . . experiment.”

  She tilted her head. “An experiment, Professor? More like a sexsperiment.”

  He granted her point with a nod. “You don’t have to understand. Just accept me.”

  “I do. Oh, Morgan, it’s better than anything, better than a superlong vibrating kangaroo made of battery-filled plastic.”

  Something like a grumble or a snigger formed beneath her ear, down deep in his chest. “One more time,” he whispered, tickling her neck with his breath. “We have to catch the tide before it takes the kayak off to missing-clothes heaven, somewhere deep beneath the sea.”

  She gave him his way. A glorious way. A kiss to die for and an extended orgasm that outlasted her. That final rise, a climbing-out-of-her-skin orgasm shot through her until she fell limp and heavy in his arms. “I can’t float anymore,” she whispered against his neck. “If you let me go, I’ll drop to the bottom like a rock.”

  “I’ve got you,” he said, swimming them back toward their clothes. “I won’t let you go.”

  If only, she thought. “I’m too exhausted to get dressed.”

  “I’ll help.” He dried her off with his spare jacket, and she leaned against him as he pulled up her panties, stuck her bra in his pocket, and slipped her shirt and hoodie over her head.

  “Hey,” he said. “This is my hoodie.”

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  He gave her an endearing look, proud almost. “You’re welcome. Sit so I can get your socks and boots on you
.”

  “Nobody ever helped me like this,” she said, pointing her foot and watching the play of muscles on his naked back as he slipped her socks on her then struggled to push her boots on over them.

  He shrugged in his perfectly fitted man skin. “Close your eyes and rest while I get dressed.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so. I wouldn’t miss an inch . . . I mean a peek. Great hawk tattoo on your butt cheek, and is that an angel on your thigh?”

  “I know it seems irreverent, but I needed to put them where they wouldn’t show in bathing trunks.”

  “The angel makes sense,” given Meggie’s companion, “but why a hawk?”

  “I like hawks. They . . . speak to me.” He shrugged, pulled on his jeans, and stuffed his boxers in his pocket. Be still her heart; he was going commando. She hoped she’d get to unzip him and let the big guy out into her hands later.

  She tried not to show her thoughts. “Hawks move between realms, connecting both worlds. People with hawk totems see the future.”

  “So you should have the hawk,” Morgan said. “Not me.”

  “You’re the one who chose the symbol of prophetic insight, not me,” she countered. “Funny thing is, people who don’t develop their psychic skill have a tendency to over-analyze and lose their way.” She tilted her head. “Remind you of anybody?”

  “Nope. C’mon, let’s go.”

  He walked her to the cave’s swinging rock door, keeping his arm around her all the way down the granite incline. Her knees lost their wobble, though she could sleep for a week. “I’ve never experienced what you made me feel in the hot spring, Morgan. You deserve a gold medal.”

  He stood straighter. “You sound drunk.”

  “I am, as if I blue-ribboned in the everlasting orgasm competition. I could be stopped and ticketed for exceeding the legal limit for extended sexual satisfaction.”

  “We’ll paddle slow, in case there are sex cops in the water.”

  “You’ll paddle slow. You lost the other paddle. I gotta close my eyes.”

  He got her into her seat, pulled a blanket from storage to wrap around her, even over her hair, and closed her spray skirt.

  “Oh, this is bad,” she said feeling drifty. “Now I’m satiated and warm, and very kindly disposed toward you. Not kidding, I’m gonna sleep. I haven’t been this sexually satisfied in ages.”