Well, not asleep anymore, he amended as he opened his eyes. On the last shriek, she’d bolted upright and her big blue eyes had popped open, wide, wild and terrified.
“Heidi?” He didn’t want to startle her further, so he moved slowly, spoke softly. “Heidi, it was just a dream. You’re okay.”
She shuddered, shaking the whole bed.
“Dream,” she muttered, and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. “Right.”
“Rough one, huh?”
“Yeah.” She was still shivering so he sat up next to her and wrapped her in his arms. She jumped a little at the initial contact, then went limp, settling back against his chest with a massive sigh.
“Last night?” He pulled her all the way into his lap and held her close.
“Oh yeah.” She nodded against his chest.
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not really. You know what happened. Gunshots, smoke, the Zodiac ripped in half. Then Brad reached out for me, begged me for help, and I couldn’t save him.”
“You never mentioned that part before.” He smoothed his hands down the length of her back, over her nightshirt but under the heavy fall of her hair, and leaned his chin on the top of her head. “Did you see him go into the water?”
She paused, and he could almost hear the wheels grinding in her head. “I don’t think so,” she mused. “I remember spinning in just half the boat. I remember looking for Brad, but I don’t remember seeing him. I guess my subconscious just added that last part. A few seconds after the Zodiac ripped, it flipped over and that’s when the lights went out.”
“Sounds reasonable.” She’d relaxed a little, sagged against him some, and his body was starting to get other ideas.
“Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“No, it’s stupid.”
He snorted, chuckled. “Heidi, you may be many things, including blonde, but I can safely say stupid isn’t one of them. Nobody’s judging you here anyway. If something occurred to you, say it. Sometimes thinking out loud can help.”
“Okay, but you’re going to think I’m nuts. It’s just that my Scottish grandmother supposedly had some sort of ESP. She called it ‘the sight’. Most of the family never really believed her, or at least admitted to it, but she always knew who was calling before she picked up the phone, and that was way before caller ID was invented. If somebody was hurt or sick, she’d always know before anyone called her. She’d show up with soup or something any time I stayed home from school sick. I know as a scientist I’m not supposed to buy into that sort of thing, but with Granny I guess I always did.”
He couldn’t come out and tell her that he knew for a fact that magic existed, now could he? But he could ease her fear by not playing skeptic. He shrugged. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio…”
Heidi smiled in relief at his easy acceptance. “Exactly. Anyway, Granny always claimed I inherited a share of it. I mean, I’m not psychic, not really, but once in a while I do get these creepy feelings and they usually turn out to be right. When my parents died, I knew something terrible had happened the minute I woke up that day. I didn’t get the call for another hour.” Her voice started to rise, her spine again.
He squeezed her in a quick hug. God, did that feel good. “No need to get defensive, I believe you. Go ahead.”
“God, this is too weird.” She gulped in a lungful of air. “Out there in the Zodiac, I got one of those feelings and I told Brad we needed to head in. Before the cigarette boat showed up. It was just this icy chill down my spine.”
“But he didn’t listen?”
“No, he did, but the motor was old and didn’t want to start. They were there by the time he got it going.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah. Big-time.” She took another deep breath. “And sometimes I have dreams that tell me to do something, seem to point the way. They’re almost always right. I tell myself that it’s just my subconscious being smarter than the rest of me.”
“Which could be true.”
“Yep.”
“Or it could be that you are, in fact, a little bit psychic.”
“I really don’t know what to believe. But tonight, maybe my subconscious, or Granny’s sight, or whatever the hell the voice in my head is, is trying to tell me that Brad’s still alive. He could be, couldn’t he? Still out there somewhere and needing help?”
“Wow.” He rocked back against the pillows, dragging her more fully into his lap. It felt nice, so she let it happen. It had been a long time since she had anybody but Brad to lean on in a crisis, and that had been a very different sort of friendship. She buried her nose in the hollow of Jake’s neck, breathed in the salty, musky scent of him, felt the vibrations in his throat when he spoke. “That’s a pretty big leap.”
“I know. It sounds stupid when you say it out loud.”
“Not stupid. Wishful, perhaps.”
She adored the fact that he didn’t laugh, didn’t tell her that she was crazy. Even Brad had only humored her strange forebodings. He’d never really accepted them. She’d never even thought about telling a boyfriend, not since the one she’d been dating when her parents died had immediately broken up with her and told her to go see a shrink. There hadn’t been any since she’d felt close enough to trust with her secret.
Jake continued. “But wishful doesn’t mean wrong. Next time I talk to Wen, I’ll ask him to check the hospitals and such up and down the coast. He’s got a vast network of contacts in Mexico. If anyone can find Brad, it will be him.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem. It would be nice to know I didn’t screw up as badly as I thought.”
“You really did try to find him, didn’t you?” She pulled back just enough to look at his face, then reached up to smooth the furrow between his eyebrows.
“For an hour. After that, I figured it was too late, and I wanted to get you back to the States, to a hospital.”
“Thank you for that too, even though I didn’t end up needing it. And for God’s sake, please don’t beat yourself up. I know you did everything in your power to find Brad.”
He smiled and gave her another hug. After that, it was the most natural thing in the world to reach up and kiss him.
“Hmmm. Good morning,” she purred when they came up for air a few minutes later.
“It’s looking that way,” he agreed, rubbing his leg along hers. He shifted her in his lap so she was straddling his hips, then he dipped his head down to nip along her collarbone, pushing aside the neckline of her stretchy cotton nightshirt. “If you don’t want this to happen, now’s the time to say no.”
Tingles from his little bites were running along her skin and sending urgent messages straight to all her feminine parts. She tilted her head to give him better access. The hard ridge of his erection pressed up through the thin fabric of his running shorts and her damp panties. “I know this is probably a bad idea, Jake, but I really, really need to feel alive right now. We’re both adults, both single. And it feels like you want me.”
“Hell yes.” His mouth claimed hers in a kiss that was more overtly sexual than any they’d shared before. His tongue penetrated deeply, thrusting in and out in a raw imitation of what was to come. Heidi tilted her head up and welcomed his invasion, rubbing her wet mound along the thickness of his erection and pressing her breasts against the solid mass of his chest.
“I know I’m not the perfect California girl,” she whispered when they came up for air. “I got the blonde part right, but somehow missed the bit about weighing ninety-eight pounds.”
“No, you don’t look like you’ll break when I fuck you,” he rumbled. “Is that supposed to be a bad thing?” He lifted his hips, pressing his hardness against her more firmly. “Does it feel like I find you unattractive?”
“No.” She pulled back to pull her nightshirt off over her head. Jake groaned and tugged her down so his mouth could ravage the aching peaks of her breasts.
&nbs
p; “Magnificent,” he murmured before he slurped one whole peak into his mouth. The pleasure sent another spasm through her pussy, setting up a rhythmic pulse. She rubbed her mound against his massive hard-on, but she didn’t shift enough to dislodge his mouth. He suckled her hard while his hand found the other engorged nipple and rolled it between his fingers.
She felt a climax building, which made no sense. She’d never come without a hand or vibrator on her clit. She moaned out loud, then caught herself and stopped. He stopped sucking for just a second to whisper.
“Go ahead and scream. It turns me on.” Then he licked her nipple before using his teeth and biting.
That did it. Her hips bucked, her pussy clenched and she screamed out loud. He continued to suck and caress her nipples and rub his hips against hers while the climax rolled, then gentled his attentions without breaking stride as she came down.
“Feel better?”
She did, and then again she didn’t. She still wanted him, for real this time. “That was wonderful. Now I want you inside me, Jake. Please.”
“My pleasure.” He lifted her off him and began to shimmy out of his running shorts while she followed his lead and pulled off her wet panties. Then he knelt there on the bed beside her, magnificently naked.
“Wow.” He was big, longer and thicker than she’d ever seen. She reached out to touch his rock-hard cock, saw it jump when she brushed it with her fingers. A small drop of fluid was already leaking from the engorged tip and she leaned over to lick it off. His groan and the salty, slightly bitter taste were enough to trigger a round of aftershocks in her core. She fell back against the pillows, spread her legs wide and instinctively slid her hand down to feel her own wetness. This wasn’t like her at all, but she wasn’t going to waste a moment of this pleasure on regrets.
“Take me, Jake.” Her voice was a cracked, husky whisper.
“Oh yeah.” He moved over her, bent his head down to take her mouth, while his hand positioned his cock at her waiting entrance. He rubbed it back and forth a couple of times, coating his skin with her wetness, finding just the right angle. The he paused, poised right on the verge. She almost cried, willing to beg him to thrust inside. “Open your eyes, little Valkyrie. I want to see them when I take you.”
She did, looking up into his dark, heavy-lidded gaze. He smiled fiercely and never blinked, never looked away as he flexed his hips and shoved deep inside her in one smooth thrust.
“Like that?”
“Yes!” She felt so stretched and full it almost hurt but nothing had ever felt better in her life. She canted her hips up, wanting to take even more of his thick, hard length.
He smiled wickedly as he slid out just a touch. She squeezed her arms around his waist and raised her hips in protest, trying to draw him back. “Want more?”
“Oh please,” she whimpered, still holding his gaze. “Fill me. I want everything you’ve got.”
“You asked for it.” He thrust hard and deep, hitting her G-spot and stretching her muscles farther than they’d ever gone. “Goddess, Heidi, you’re so fucking hot and tight, I’m not going to last very long.”
“Good,” she cried, rising to meet every thrust. He lowered his head to her nipple and sucked, drawing another cry from her before she gasped. “I want you to come.” She wanted to be flooded with his semen, filled with the essence of life.
“You too,” he murmured around her pebbled nipple, still working magic with his tongue while he stroked into her with his cock. “The first one was just a preview.”
She didn’t correct him, tell him that she didn’t do multiples. She couldn’t have formed the words if her life depended on it. Then again, judging by the way her womb was contracting, he might be right this time. She gripped his waist with both hands, digging her nails into his smooth skin, and wrapped her legs around his ass.
He pounded into her, his cock seeming to grow impossibly larger and harder with every stroke. She felt his muscles bunch and the sweat break out on his skin even as he drew harder on her nipple and rotated his hips as he thrust.
And the world exploded into a brilliant burst of light. She screamed as the waves of pleasure flooded her senses, her body clenching with powerful pulses, sucking him deeper inside, holding him tight to her womb. He cried out himself then, letting go of her nipple to bury his face between her breasts as he pumped into her, hard, fast, short strokes that threatened to go all the way through her. Finally he shoved hard one last time and shot his semen into her waiting pussy. The hot jets pulsed for what seemed like an eternity, flooding her, filling her with pleasure and life.
They lay like that for a while, each trying to breathe and gather strength. Tiny aftershocks fluttered through both of them, each one’s shivers setting off new ones in the other.
“You okay?” he murmured.
Heidi wasn’t sure how many minutes had passed when Jake raised his head from her breast and spoke.
“Fabulous. You?”
“I’m not the one who almost drowned the other night,” he reminded her. He shifted off and slightly to the side, fingers idly tracing patterns on her stomach. “And I’m pretty sure that two screaming orgasms is not the medically recommended therapy for a concussion.”
She stretched. Yep, everything still hurt, only now she didn’t care as much. “It should be,” she argued. “Works for me.”
Jake laughed, kissing her gently on the cheek. “Lady, you are a force of nature.” But she didn’t hear him. A soft snore escaped her as he realized she’d already fallen back asleep.
He leaned up on one arm, watching her, wondering what the hell he’d just done. Oh, not the sex. He’d had that coming for a while, he figured. Go too long without, it was bound to explode. And explode he had. Inside her. Without a condom.
He banged his head with the heel of his hand. Stupid, stupid, stupid! If he had a kid, would it come out with feet or fins? He had no idea what the magical transformation he’d undergone had done to his DNA. And for the past seventy-eight years, he’d been damn careful to never find out. This was the first time in his existence as a human that he’d ever had sex without a raincoat. Though back a few years, they hadn’t been all that reliable, so he’d also used an herbal spermicide provided by a witch he’d met in Tahiti. Since no one had ever come hunting for him with a merbaby, he figured he’d done an okay job of being careful.
What would he do if she got pregnant? He couldn’t take her home, like his kind had done with rescued humans for hundreds of years, adding fresh stock to what would be an otherwise uncomfortably dinky gene pool. He was forbidden to enter his homeland until the spell had run its course. And that was twenty-two years from now. He didn’t think she’d want to raise a baby among his people on her own, cut off entirely from her own world. But if the child were mer, it wouldn’t survive on land. He’d have to do something, beg his mother for help. And that thought made his stomach turn. His mind replayed a scene from their last encounter.
“You’ll come swimming back for help, just as you always do.”
“No, Mother. I’m sick of this place, of your rules. There’s a whole world up there, and I’m going to live it. I wouldn’t come running back here if you begged.”
“So be it.”
She’d turned, throwing her hands above her head as she swished away, leaving him to his fate. Jake had taken the chance his uncle’s spell had offered, had swum to land and started life anew. With legs.
He wasn’t going to think about having that conversation, not unless it became necessary. Eventually he dozed, waking to the feel of Heidi’s warm, strong hand wrapped around his cock.
“Mmmm. Looks like somebody’s finally awake. Or part of you is, anyway.”
Jake’s eyes flew open as her warm breath danced across his thigh and her tongue trailed a line along the crease of his hip. “Good morning,” he managed to croak.
Her chuckle was warm and playful and vibrated against the tip of his erection. “Not a morning person, Mr. Delos?” She daintily
licked the tip of his penis, dabbling her tongue in the slit to capture the droplet that had already collected there.
“Morning, afternoon, midnight—you can keep doing that any time you like.” He shifted a bit so his head was up on the pillows, allowing him to watch the erotic vision of her head bent over his lap, her little pink tongue tracing the underside of his crown.
“Then I think you’ll like this even better.” She slurped the whole head of him into her mouth and sucked, pumping his shaft with her hands in the same rhythm. Jake felt his whole body tense with the imminent explosion.
But he hadn’t even kissed her yet. Hooking his hands under Heidi’s arms, he hauled her up his body and took her mouth, thrusting his tongue deep while he settled her wet mound over his straining cock.
“Yesss,” she whispered against his mouth as she slid down, impaling herself on him.
The tight heat of her body gripping his was almost enough to send him over immediately. Wanting to make sure she caught up, he slid one hand between them to find her damp slit and play with the swollen nub.
Heidi whimpered and let go of his mouth to gasp for breath as she rode him hard. He pumped up into her, almost blind with his need to possess her in every way possible. Her body was bowed over his, so he nipped down on the tendons of her neck, tasting the salty sweetness of her skin.
And the world exploded around him.
Heidi’s orgasm gripped him like a fist, triggering his own, a rush harder and more intense than he’d ever experienced. He held her there for long, long moments, until the tremors subsided and he could actually speak.
“Holy shit,” Jake muttered, Heidi still collapsed on top of him. “Are we both still breathing?”
“Not really,” she gasped. “You’re crushing my ribs.”
“Oh. Sorry.” He eased his arms so they still encircled her waist but weren’t squeezing her breathless. He was still inside her, softer but not totally lax. It felt so good, so right, he never wanted to move again.
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