by Sara Daniel
“That’s not what you’re here for this week,” Myron reminded her with a chiding look.
Holly decided to humor her. After all, she had nothing better to do while she was waiting for the computer to become free. “And where do your cards say I should be right now?”
“You need to go to meditation. You have a lot to think about.” She lifted her eyebrows and looked at her pointedly. “Do you not?”
Holly sighed. Myron and her cards were right. Besides the work that she wasn’t able to accomplish, she did have a lot to think about. She was here because Justin had dumped her and she’d been desperate for an explanation. Well, she’d gone straight from his explanation to sleeping with him again, as if their breakup had never happened.
She thanked Myron and went outside to meditation. She sat on a mat, faced the ocean, and closed her eyes.
She relived the sensuous moments in the hot springs and in his room last night and fretted over the client she’d left in the lurch. But eventually her mind emptied of everything but the pounding of the surf.
She was a strong woman. She’d made a good life and a career where she provided well for herself. She enjoyed having a boyfriend and a companion, but it wasn’t a requirement. She was doing fine on her own.
Marriage and babies were all right for her sister and the rest of her family. She didn’t need to keep up with them and meet their expectations. She was a grown woman. She didn’t need to answer to anyone else.
She’d first scoffed at the emotional healing offered at the Wiccan Haus, but the truth was she was healing by discovering her own inner strength. She hadn’t given herself enough credit, and therefore others hadn’t recognized the respect she deserved either. For the owner of a public relations firm, she’d done a poor job of building her own PR strategy. But that was all going to change.
She wanted Justin in her life, but their relationship was over. He’d never wanted to take part in family gatherings and her dreams for the future. She wasn’t going to settle for what little he did offer anymore.
For the remainder of the week, she would work him out of her system, help as much as she could to heal his body and spirit, and concentrate on her own healing. Then she would return home with confidence and inner strength. She didn’t need Justin’s explanations and permission to move on with her life. She was giving herself permission.
Justin reached across the bed. He was alone. He sat up and looked around the room. He didn’t see Holly anywhere. Damn. He’d really hoped waking up this morning would simply constitute rolling over and sliding into her. His body should have been more than satisfied, considering how many times she’d fulfilled him last night, but he craved her on a much deeper level than the physical.
He still didn’t know what he was going to do with his life as a civilian, but every time he tried to imagine it, Holly was front and center. He leaned over his knee. The swelling was down to what it had normally been in the last couple weeks.
The poultice and soap Sage had sent really seemed to help. He wished Holly was here offering to rub what remained of the soap bar on him, but since she wasn’t, he took it into the shower and washed himself again. He didn’t feel any tingling like last time, just the vague discomfort of bending into an awkward position. He needed Holly’s touch. Wherever she was.
What if Tom had come back? Would she think to check in with security to find out if the island was safe before she left the lodge? He exited the room, scowling, and headed downstairs.
He didn’t see Holly in the lobby, but Sage was coming toward him, swinging her basket with her ever-present cheerfulness. “I was just coming up to your room to give you a new poultice and bar of soap.”
He didn’t bother to smile in return. “The soap helped last night, but it didn’t make much difference this morning.”
“Did you use it in the hot springs?”
“Not this morning.”
“Use it in the hot springs.” She pressed a smooth tan square into his hand. “This soap needs to interact with the minerals in the water to bring out the full healing properties of the herbs.”
He’d experienced the amazing healing potential in the hot springs, but he wasn’t convinced the water or Sage’s herbs had anything to do with it. He was certain, however, that he didn’t want to go there alone to find out.
“For the best result, wash under the waterfall in the alcove where the fresh water mixes with the mineral water. Then go to where the hot spring jets out in the pool and lather up there. Then go back under the waterfall. I recommend bringing a friend to help.” She winked, but he knew she wasn’t flirting with him. She was talking about Holly.
He didn’t care about the instructions for getting the best results from an herbal soap. Holly was the only therapy he was interested in. But he wouldn’t take any chances with her safety. “What about Tom? Is it safe to leave the human floor of the Haus, let alone go that far away from the lodge?”
“You’re safe,” Cyrus said grimly, walking through the lobby, his dark sunglasses covering his eyes. “He escaped through the portal last night. We don’t expect him to come back for a while, if at all, considering the injuries he left with. But we’ll continue to keep watch.”
Justin didn’t ask Cyrus to elaborate on the injuries. There was no need. Wherever he and Holly went on the island they were guaranteed safety until the portals opened again this evening. Unlike Cyrus, he didn’t expect Tom to stay away for long. “Any idea where I might find Holly now?”
“At meditation,” Myron said from the front desk. She shook her head over her cards and frowned, but he didn’t hang around to ask what the cards said he should be doing.
“I’ll have a picnic delivered to the hot springs,” Sage called after him.
Justin found Holly on the lawn with her mat under her arm, chatting with Esther Gladstone. The other members of the class were dispersing in different directions, looking refreshed and relaxed.
He watched from a distance for a moment. Holly looked taller. Which was ridiculous. With all the strange powers and gifts of the Rowan siblings, he doubted any of them would alter a person’s height, even Sarka, although it wouldn’t have surprised him if she could. He continued to study her and decided it was how she held herself today, straighter with more confidence.
Mrs. Gladstone noticed him first and waved him over. Then she said goodbye, squeezing Holly’s hand and patting his shoulder before leaving them alone together.
Justin held up the bar of soap Sage had given him. “I’m under strict instructions to wash my knee in the hot springs and make full use of that waterfall. I was hoping you’d be available and willing to help.”
She hesitated just long enough that he started to sweat. With her admission that she’d come here for him alone this week, he’d taken for granted her automatic acceptance. Then she smiled with fake cheerfulness that made him sweat a little more. “Sure, sounds like fun. I’m up for hot, kinky sex this morning.”
She started walking down the trail without waiting for him. She made their relationship sound shallow. Sure, they were going to have hot sex, but nothing with Holly was shallow. She put her whole heart into everything she did.
He followed her to the pool. She already had her shirt off by the time he arrived. A picnic basket and towels were on the rocks, just as Sage had promised. Holly didn’t seem curious about the contents of the basket or glance at him to acknowledge his arrival. She simply continued undressing, shimmying her pants and panties down her hips.
He groaned and stepped toward her. “I cannot get enough of you.”
In answer, she tossed him a sexy smile and dove into the pool before he could touch her. He watched her swim across the pool and rest at the edge of the curving rocky alcove where the waterfall rained down.
Justin stripped off his clothes. With his knee throbbing again from the walk, his motions were clumsy. He could hardly stand to take his eyes off her as he kicked his shorts off from around his ankles.
He’d let
Holly go once, but it was a mistake he wouldn’t make again. He still didn’t have anything worthwhile to offer her. Somehow he had to make her believe that just being himself was enough.
She’d convinced the Gladstones that being themselves was all she wanted from them, and she’d even found jobs for them at her company. He could empty the trash and unclog the toilets and keep away any jerks she didn’t want getting too close.
With the soap in his hand, he dove into the water after her. He kept his eyes open, coming up on the amazing underwater view between her legs. She twisted in the water and bent down, her lips meeting his before he broke the surface.
“Let’s go under the waterfall.” She stood in the narrow opening between two rock cliffs and held her hand out to him. He allowed her to take the bar of soap from him and pull him to standing. The fast stream of the cool waterfall trickled over his feet as he followed her through the narrow opening. Inside was an open-air cavern surrounded on all sides by sheer rock cliffs, save for a few rock benches with a waterfall cascading through the center.
Holly walked over to stand under it, spreading her arms and spinning in a slow circle. A shaft of sunlight came straight down through the opening at the top of the cavern, casting prisms of light on every droplet that flung from her fingers. She was beautiful. She was magical. And he hoped against all hope that it wasn’t too late for her to be his forever.
He stepped under the falls with her and touched his lips to hers as the waterfall pelted them. He cupped her ass in his hands, lifting her up under the water. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her hot core seeking his hardness. His knee didn’t shake a bit.
He felt as strong as Superman as he lowered her onto his shaft. The waterfall pummeled a steady rhythm at the joining of their bodies. They weren’t just breathing together. They were breathing in tune with nature and every spirit on the island.
Justin lowered himself onto one of the benches while she leaned back to soap his leg. She rubbed the soap against his knee, while he stroked her clit. She gasped and bucked, coming apart against him, but kept her soapy hand moving over his skin.
He led her back out from the waterfall and into the warm pool, coaxing her legs to surround him again and hugging her chest-to-chest as he swam across to the natural jet of hot water.
“I could make love to you like this forever,” he murmured into her wet hair.
“Too bad we don’t have forever.” She kissed him hard on the mouth and rocked her body against his, obliterating the warning of his brain to ask her what she meant. All he knew was that right now he was in heaven.
The picnic, naked on the benches in the secluded cavern, with the waterfall covering them in a fine mist was the most decadent pleasure Holly had ever engaged in. Justin held up a strawberry under the waterfall, and she sucked it off his fingers. He moved under the full spray of the falls and took her nipple in his mouth. They swam back and forth from the jets to the waterfall until they were sated from food and sex and ended up napping on her meditation mat.
After they woke, the sexy mood had vanished. Justin was on edge, checking where the sun was in the sky and urging her to quickly dress. “The portals open in an hour. We need to get back to the lodge.”
“Am I supposed to know what a portal is?” Holly remembered Justin and Tom bonding over what a pain in the ass they were, even as Tom shot at Justin. There was a lot she didn’t know about Justin, a lot he wasn’t sharing and even more that she doubted she’d ever understand.
“It’s the way Tom gets on and off the island. He’s not here now.”
“So there is another way to get home besides the ferry.” Damn it, she knew this place had to have a system that included more than one boat a week.
“It’s not for humans. It leads to the Para world.”
She froze in the middle of tying her shoes. Myron was right about Justin knowing and believing in something she still couldn’t understand might exist. “Which is different from the human world how?”
He shrugged. “Different realm. Different species. Different powers. And as far as the human world is concerned, it does not exist. Are you ready to go?”
“So Tom from the Para world wants you dead, and he has to come through the portals to get you.” She hoped saying it would make sense of the situation. It didn’t. “Does the island security think he’s coming back tonight?”
“No, but we’ll be safest on the third floor of the lodge, just in case.”
“Then let’s get up there.” She’d keep Justin locked on the third floor if it would keep him safe from this threat that was out to get him. She was more than happy to cap off their sexual fantasy afternoon with an indoor romp. She wasn’t going to have a single regret about what might have been by the end of the week when she left him and moved on.
Justin hardly favored his right leg at all, as they walked back. Sage’s soap was an excellent remedy. Hopefully, they could come back to the hot springs tomorrow and continue his healing—and her infinite pleasure.
Bob and Esther Gladstone were in the lobby. Their eyes lit up when they saw her. “We’ve spent all day talking about your offer. Do you have a minute?”
She glanced at Justin. Professionally, she was excited about the possibilities of working with this amazing couple and the personal touch they were so willing to give that her clients would respond to. But right now she hated to give up a minute of the precious, limited time she had left with Justin.
He didn’t seem to mind though. “We have a half hour before we have to be on the third floor.” He went to the house computer while she talked, which she couldn’t help noticing was available for him without a wait. She finished her conversation at the same time he finished what he was doing, and they met at the elevator.
Even though the computer was open, she didn’t feel the need to grab it. Work could wait until she returned home. She was focusing on the things she needed to this week. Her assistant would take care of her clients and anything else that couldn’t wait for her to return.
She went to her room and held the door, offering Justin the opportunity to come in. He took it, closing the door behind him. His eyes had been hooded, and he’d been quiet ever since he got off the computer.
She was curious, but she wouldn’t ask what he’d learned that had affected his mood. If it didn’t pertain to this week, it didn’t make any difference to her. And she knew from experience that he wouldn’t offer details anyway.
“I got a job offer,” he said, surprising her.
“Really? That’s great.”
“Well, you tell me if it is.” He didn’t sound sure. He paced to the window. “It’s an international security company. I’d be basically doing the same thing I did for the military.”
“Which was?” Before she’d come here, she thought she knew, but now she was certain she didn’t have a clue what he’d invested his entire life in. What she did know was his military career meant more to him than she did. If he couldn’t stay in the Army, doing the same thing for a private contractor would be the next best thing.
“I’d be fighting paranormal threats to the human world on behalf of governments that can’t acknowledge these worlds or their threats exist.”
If she hadn’t come here and experienced all this bizarre stuff she couldn’t explain, she might have thought he was crazy. But hearing him say it now, it made perfect sense. She had no doubt he was the best in his field. “That sounds like a perfect opportunity. Your knee is healing better than the doctors ever dreamed.”
He walked toward her again. “I’d probably only get home to see you a handful of times a year.”
She squeezed her hands tightly together. She’d made the right decision. Her heart panged at how numbered their days were together, but she wouldn’t be part of a half-assed relationship any longer. She was worth more than that. She also wouldn’t ask Justin to give up the part of his life that mattered most to him.
She admired him for his belief in the higher cause he was serv
ing, but she wouldn’t settle for his leftover attention again either. She gave him her brightest smile. “Well, as I recall, you’re not coming home to me anyway. We’re through.”
He looked surprised, hurt even. “What are you talking about?”
“That little text I received from you. I don’t want to see you anymore. Sorry.” Her breath hitched as she repeated it. She would not get back together with him just so he could hurt her again.
“You showed me I made a snap reaction that was wrong and I regretted it. I thought we moved past it. Last night and today clearly proves we’re back together.”
“Really?” How sad. He did expect her to settle for his leftovers. Well, it was time for him to know what their time together meant to her. “I thought we were working each other out of our systems so we could move on with our separate lives after we leave this week.”
“Working each other out of our systems?” he echoed. His voice was low and dangerous as he stepped toward her. “So you were fucking me all day just to fuck me up?”
She wasn’t intimidated. In fact, she was looking forward to the hard sex that would follow. “Don’t get self-righteous on me. You’ve enjoyed our convenient sex as much as I have. Just because I want something different from my future relationships—something you’ve been very clear you’re not interested in offering—doesn’t give you the right to be angry over what we’ve mutually enjoyed together.”
“Don’t tell me whether I have the right to be angry. I’m pissed as hell, and I’ve got every right. And I want to make love—make love,” he repeated, “—until you tell me you can’t live without me in your life.”
“Then do it,” she challenged. “Make love to me like you mean it. We both know I’ll enjoy it.”
Chapter Eight
FOR A FEW MINUTES after he’d opened the e-mail with the job offer, Justin had thought the pieces of his life were going to work out in a best-case scenario. He could do the job he was trained to do, have full use of all his body parts, and still have Holly at his side. Now it felt like everything was crumbling. Holly didn’t want him. The job felt empty without her to come home to. Even his knee, which had been relaxed and pliant, started throbbing.
