by J. K Harper
Okay, more than half the time.
With a quick frown, he banished the thoughts to that blank place he'd found as his dragon earlier today, diving and swimming in his beloved ocean. His only allowable focus at the moment was to find the woman who'd seen him underwater. The woman who had seen him in his dragon shape. That should not have happened. He'd automatically been cloaking himself, as all dragon shifters did in their wild forms. They were invisible to the human eye. Yet it had been extremely obvious that she realized what she was looking at in the long moment before he finally came to his senses, turned tail, and swam faster than hell away from the strange woman.
The woman who'd not only seen him, but had been poking around his treasure. And also actually holding a piece of it.
Kai still was shocked and fascinated on multiple levels. He hadn't been able to touch his treasure himself for the past five years. Not since the spell. He'd also been under the distinct impression that no one else would be able to touch it either. Every member of the Long family had come with him to the hoard, each one trying to get to it and pull it out themselves to see if there was a simple way to break the spell. No luck.
They then brought down beneath the waves some of the human members of the fealty family that had willingly and lovingly served the Longs for millennia to see if they could touch the treasure themselves. Fealty families were composed of humans that were blessed with longer, healthier, just a touch more magical lives than the usual human. Just as trusted as a dragon shifter, the human family members that ferociously and protectively served the Long family would never betray a dragon shifter. In fact, they would do anything, including give their own lives, to protect the Longs. Not that dragon shifters need that much protection. Usually.
Despite everyone's best efforts, no one was able to touch Kai's treasure hoard. It was as if some sort of invisible force field pulsed around it, repelling them when it only should have repelled any others who were not a part of his family. A force field that had somehow been set, they finally realized, by the last-minute death spell that had bound the hoard upon his mate's untimely demise as she tried to protect it from thieves five years ago.
Kai had not allowed any members of the Long's fealty family to serve him after the horrible incident. He'd traveled alone for so many years, aimlessly roaming the planet in his dragon form, that he'd had no real need of them. At least, that was his excuse. If he were ruthlessly truthful with himself, he knew it was simply because he could no longer endure stark reminders of his loss, in the form of people around him who had known and grieved her as well.
After his initial period of mingled shock, mourning, and numbness, Kai had finally reached the grim conclusion that even if he couldn't touch his own treasure, the very spell that repelled them all still would ensure its safety, as their own spells had for centuries. No one could ever find the shipwreck. The family had been very careful to alter historical documents to indicate that the shipwreck had occurred far from where everyone else thought it did. Everyone thought it had been sunk by a mighty storm, coming to rest at the very bottom of the deep ocean, hundreds of miles off the coast. In actuality, the shipwreck lay very close off the shore of Santa Catalina Island.
Despite the initial upset that the shipwreck had caused in Long family ancestors, it eventually was deemed perhaps one of the safest places to keep some of their treasure hoard. No better place could ever protect it, especially with each member of the Long family placing a tiny bit of personal power into the additional blocking spell that never let the shipwreck show up on any modern scanner or even to casual human eyes, should any diver ever come to the area. The wreck was visible only as shadows to the naked eye from either the air or surface of the water.
Except that now, it was no longer a secret. Kai wasn't sure yet exactly what that would mean, but it couldn't be good.
The babble of the bar and its smells made him both wince and wrinkle his nose a bit. He usually liked it here. Tonight, however, it felt like a necessary evil he had to endure in order to find the woman who had been able to get so close to his spelled hoard. Kai had no idea how she had not only found his shipwreck, been able to see him, and most importantly been able to handle part of his personal treasure hoard. But he certainly intended to find out.
An odd sensation had shivered through him when her fingers, even though encased in her dive gloves, softly caressed his gold. He'd felt as if she'd reached into his own heart and very gently touched it. As if she were touching the most amazing thing she'd ever encountered in her life. The shock upon shock of the moment had so disoriented him that he fled. His compass was off about that, too. Kai Long never ran from anything.
Wanna bet? The darkly angry tone of his older brother slid into his head, challenging his thoughts. Snarling to himself, Kai refocused on the bar.
Even though it was a Tuesday, it was also summertime on Catalina. Any night of the week this time of year, the place hopped with frenetic, sexy energy. He carefully looked at every party that tumbled through the doors as he sat at the bar, nursing his whiskey sour as he watched for the dive crew to come in and celebrate their find.
Being not just well-known with the island locals but well-connected had almost immediately led Kai to the California University's maritime archeology program and its exploratory dive team, which he'd known about for years. He always shook his head at the team's nickname: Ancients Quest. Sounded more like a reality TV show than an academic research group. While they weren't being public about what they were doing, there was no doubt it was them. They had a lab on the island and probably spent more time diving in these local waters than almost any others in the world. If anyone had a chance of ever stumbling on the wreck, it could be them.
Kai had a secret weapon that he used to check up on the details of the team. He didn't typically use his position at the Institute to nose around the potentially nefarious doings of dive teams, for the simple fact that they pretty much never were nefarious. But earlier today, he'd made a trip to the office he didn't spend much time in and went through certain records. His sleuthing uncovered a few things. The names of the dive team members, and their stated purpose for the dive.
Their stated purpose had nothing to do with where he'd inadvertently discovered them earlier today. Something nefarious was definitely afoot.
The only others in the world who might possibly have been able to find the Santa Maria, masking spell notwithstanding, would be other dragons, or commercial treasure hunters. Kai knew the strength of the Long family spells were too strong for other dragons to break, so he dismissed that thought. As for commercial treasure hunters, it would only have happened if they'd gotten exceptionally lucky and stumbled upon the ship's actual resting spot. He checked up on every commercial team on the planet, which numbered very few. Not a single one of them had a female diver at the moment. But the academic Ancients Quest team did. Two divers, one shipboard operations. From the names he'd dug out from all their signed paperwork, he wasn't quite sure which one might be the woman he'd seen. However, he was going to find out. Tonight.
Jason, the bar's owner who was also one of the evening's bartenders, had told Kai that varying members of the dive team often came in here when they were on the island. They were a good crew, he said. They seemed like really decent people.
Right.
Finishing his drink, Kai pushed his glass across the bar counter toward Jason, nodding his head to signal another one. To his credit, Jason didn't say a word or change expression as he whipped up another perfect whiskey sour with practiced ease and slid it down the bar toward Kai. For one thing, Kai held his liquor better than nearly any human could. His dragon shifter genes insured that, not that Jason knew anything about those. More importantly, he never caused trouble. On the most practical level, even though as a lifelong island homeowner he had a car he was allowed to drive here, he walked almost everywhere on the island like everyone else did, which Jason knew.
Sipping his drink, Kai let the energy of the day ro
ll over him and calm the flurry of questions that had spun and danced in his mind since his encounter with the woman hours earlier. He really hoped she was attractive. Young would be nice, too. And not hitched to some other guy.
Kai knew how to open women's legs and lips. Jaw hardening, he thought of how he'd practiced that art form with relentless accuracy during the past three years. He was a charming bastard when he wanted to be. He could get women to drop secrets by using his own smooth sweet talk. It worked for him every time, no matter a woman's age or relationship status. Sliding through life with his remaining primary goal being to have ever increasing amounts of fun that involved enormous adrenaline rushes by bedding every woman he could find across the world was more than enough to encourage him to actually get up every day.
Even on the occasional day when the ice around his heart had constricted so hard that it threatened to never allow him to breathe again.
"Hey." Jason's voice, low from behind the bar. "Earth to Kai. That's them coming in right now."
Kai snapped his head around. A group of about seven or eight people had just come into the bar, their exuberant spirits instantly apparent. Quickly, Kai glanced through them, trying to pinpoint the right one. Three women were in the group.
A tall, slender blonde. Maybe. But he was pretty sure she was too tall to be the diver he'd seen.
The short, solid woman looked like she wasn't the type to take shit from anybody. Hmm. If it was her, Kai would have his work cut out for him.
The third woman in the group, who came in at the tail end, finally caught his eye. Waves of dark hair settled around her shoulders as she flipped around to laugh at something her companion said, the guy following her in. Every line of her body screamed self-assurance, independence, and an irrepressible delight for life that Kai could sense even from across the room.
Something about her seemed oddly familiar, too. Kai narrowed his eyes a bit and stared at her. They settled at one of the tables, clearly ready to enjoy their evening.
Despite himself, Kai felt the slow, tingling thrill of the chase come over him. This girl was gorgeous. If he hadn't had an ulterior motive, he would've gone for her anyway. She seemed like just the type to enjoy a night of romping fun with him, and then not worry too much about being set loose in the morning. In fact, she seem like the type just as happy to set him loose.
Even so, the challenge was still implicit. He sat casually on the barstool, taking another long, slow sip of his drink as he regarded the party as they excitedly laughed and chattered among themselves. He'd still have to tread carefully. But that didn't matter. Kai Long had enough tricks up his sleeve to make women willing to spill their deepest secrets to him.
Anything to help him forget.
With a quick tip of his hand, he slammed back the rest of the drink, then stood up. "Whatever that woman is drinking," he said to Jason, jerking his chin a little bit at the gorgeous girl he still didn't take his eyes off of, "I'm buying. Except make it the highest-end liquor you have, and put everything on my tab." Without looking back, he sauntered across the crowded room, heading straight for the woman who unknowingly held the key to his most important secret.
Chapter Four
The excited energy of the group bounced over to Gabi, making her feel as fizzy as the bubbles of the champagne in the small glass she held. The Deep Blue Bar wasn't really used to people calling for bottles of champagne. It was just a casual beach bar. Even so, they did keep bottles of bubbly in stock. The bartender, also the owner and a nice guy, greeted Gabi and the crew when he brought over a bottle, opened it with a flourish, and poured them each a small glass.
"Whatever you guys are celebrating, thanks for coming in here to do it."
The table burst into laughter again, their high mood absolutely uproarious and willing to get silly for almost any reason. Gabi raised her glass toward the team, everyone following suit. "To us!" Before she sipped her drink she added, "And to the pieces of history that thank us for finding them."
"Here, here," echoed around their small table as everyone else tipped back their glasses.
Gabi had managed to keep her analytical academic side and her wildly questioning old world side carefully balanced ever since her incredible encounter with the dragon beneath the water earlier. Thoughts tossed around her mind in an unrelenting whirl before she finally managed to put the kibosh on them and focus strictly on the rest of the day they'd spent meticulously documenting their stupendous find. The bumpy press of the small gold nugget against her finger was an uncomfortable reminder of her hidden purpose there.
Frankly, she could hardly wait to use the little bit of the shipwreck's treasure for her means, then return it to the ship so it could end up being documented along with everything else. She really was just—borrowing it for a short time.
That fabricated misrepresentation of the truth creeped and crawled up and down her spine the entire day, until she was finally able to get back to her little room at the lab's housing unit and carefully deposit it in her desk drawer. She'd deal with it first thing in the morning.
She'd also finally broken down and called her family's home just before leaving for the bar, eager to share the spill of her thoughts with someone who would understand: her grandmother. But her brother Mateo had answered and said that abuela was sleeping. Gabi was loath to have her disturbed and simply said to give abuela a kiss from her when she woke and that she'd call back later in the week.
There wasn't anyone else in her family she could really talk to about this. Even though her dad had been raised with some of the same stories, he didn't embrace them nearly as passionately as Gabi's abuela did. He'd been so proud of Gabi when she'd gone to college, then grad school, attaining degree after degree and accolade after accolade. He was very proud of her for being a scientist with a very logical mind. She knew there was no way he would appreciate hearing anything about freaking dragons swimming beneath the sea.
Besides her grandmother, her best friend Lacey was the only other person Gabi could think of to talk to. Feeling edgy and restless, she broke her own usual vow to focus on work and her own playtime when on the island and left a message for Lacey earlier that day. She hadn't heard anything back yet. Hopefully it meant Lacey was getting down and dirty with that sexy billionaire Gabi just knew was meant for her bestie.
In the meantime, all Gabi could do was drink champagne, celebrate discovering the shipwreck with the rest the team, and just quietly let the back of her mind spin as it tried to figure out what the hell was really going on. The one thing she knew for a fact was that she wasn't crazy. She'd seen a dragon. And at some point, she'd figure out what it meant.
"Whatever it is you're celebrating, I'd be more than happy to pay for another bottle of champagne for you and the table, gorgeous." The low, bone-rattling, sensual voice came from Gabi's left. She swung her head around and up to look at the man speaking.
Wow. Abruptly, all thoughts of shipwrecks, scientists, fantastical beasts, and pretty much everything else in the world disappeared from Gabi's head. Staring at her with a slow, teasing grin was the sexiest guy she'd ever laid eyes on in her entire life. Tall, fit, just brawny enough that she knew he could go all night and then some, the guy was pretty much a wet dream walking. Mocha brown eyes that seemed to have glints of ocean-green sparks in them were set in a face so ridiculously gorgeous that Gabi pretty much wanted to lick the man.
She swallowed hard. The entire crew had stopped talking. She felt Shane kick her under the table, and without looking at him—even if she could have dragged her gaze away from Mr. Sexy staring back at her—she knew Shane would be wearing his "you'd better jump on that right now, girl" expression.
Gabi's usual sense of game seem to be slow on the uptake today. She blinked at the guy and half opened her mouth to respond. Except her mind felt ridiculously blank. Oh, come on. She knew how this worked. Guy, bar, come-on, bam. Easy.
Then why couldn't she think of a single remotely intelligent thing to say?
"Better yet, maybe you'd like to join me alone for a drink?” His deep, rolling voice whispered over her nerve endings, setting every single one she had to tingling. “I'll still buy another bottle for your table. But I'd like to get to know you a little better." Mr. Sexy's expression was an open invitation.
With a forceful jolt, Gabi managed to lurch herself back into the world. Buck up, Gabriela, she muttered in her head. You've got this. Arching one eyebrow at him, letting her best devilish grin spread across her own face, she answered in what sounded like her usual steady, flirtatious voice, "Sure. It depends on which bottle of champagne you order, though. Are you gonna go all cheap on my team's asses? Or are you gonna throw down with the good stuff? Because they're awesome. And so am I. We deserve the best."
Whoa. Well, yeah. She was usually pretty sassy with guys. But this was a little over the top even for her.
Mr. Sexy's grin just unfolded into a low, rippling laugh that traced itself over Gabi's skin, tickling at her already aroused nerve endings with the promise of something incredible. Oh, yeah. She knew what that meant. She and this guy had chemistry. She could tell that right now.
Tonight, she'd be celebrating in more ways than one.
"Seems like the lady knows what she wants, and knows very well what she's worth. I'm Kai."
He reached out a hand to her. Gabi smiled even more at hearing his name. Kai. It meant ocean in Hawaiian, which this guy looked like he was. That had to be a good sign. She was down for anything that had to do with the ocean. Especially a very sexy, very interested guy.
"Gabriela," she said, reaching her own hand out toward him. "My friends call me Gabi."
"Gabi." Sultry and rich, his voice wrapped around her name as if it were an exotic taste dancing over his tongue and lips. Gabi's hands trembled just the tiniest bit. Holy crow. She'd never heard anyone say her name like that before.
