An Elemental Tail (5 page)

The object of his fickle attention set her
cup down. “So, Nik. Do you often pose for art students?”

“This would be a first.” Truthfully, if he’d
stumbled on it years ago he would have made the most of it. Easy
work, safer than pick-pocketing, better than shoveling coal and
harvesting fruit, or any of the other menial tasks he’d done to
survive before he’d got in on the share market. These days his bank
account allowed him to exist in modest comfort. This job was a
means to an end. An end he would have already reached if not for
Mr. Gardner.

“Enjoy it?” she asked with a little too much
glee, as if she knew about his struggle on the first day as she’d
petted the book.

“Not as much as the students. Lying there,
they seem to forget that I’m alive and listening.” Their eyes met.
“Mr. Gardner gives you a bit of grief.”

She gave a one-shouldered shrug like it meant
nothing. “He has a reputation for sleeping with his students.”

He nodded, pleased with her tough nature, and
felt a fraction better about himself. More like a man and less like
a sea cucumber. He wouldn’t damage her. She was resilient. She
would recover when he took the book. Of all the hands the book had
passed through, only Isla’s had made him pause. He swept aside the
tingling sensation that crept up his spine like paralyzing venom.
His problem was with Gardner. Once that was sorted, he could take
the book, Isla’s scholarship would be safe, and he’d be water.
Everyone would be happy.

Nik pressed on, determined not to be put off
by her reluctance to talk. “Does he blackmail them all?”

Her cup clanked onto the saucer. “He’s backed
off.” Her voice held an icy tone, a warning that he should do the
same.

Nik ignored it and sailed into the brewing
storm. “He’s still marking you absent.”

“Why do you care?” Her gray eyes
darkened.

He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck.
Beneath his fingers a small, ever-shrinking patch of scales
remained. Why did he? Gardner was none of his business, but Isla
was. The moment Isla had held his mutilated tail, she’d become his
concern because she held the power of the oceans in her hands. If
she chose, Isla could wreak havoc or becalm seas. Water would obey
her will as if she were Elemental. Except Isla wasn’t interested in
power; she loved her art.

A whisper of a thought surfaced: maybe he
wouldn’t have to steal from Isla. Maybe she would be willing to
return the book if her scholarship was secure.

“I don’t. But you do, and since I’d like to
take you out for a few more coffees, I’d be willing to back your
case with the dean.” He wasn’t lying. If he was looking to pass the
time while waiting for the book to reappear, Isla would’ve been a
very nice distraction.

“Ah, so if I don’t agree to date you, you
won’t help.” She leaned back in the seat, her lips twisted with
righteousness. She thought him no better than her pond-scum
teacher.

“I’ll help either way.” Nik smiled, hoping
like hell it looked sincere and not like the finger-curling
agitation that crawled through his blood and screamed in his ear to
take the book now.

She lowered her gaze to her cup. “Thank
you.”

Nik watched as she nibbled her lip, fighting
her desire like it was a terrible beast best destroyed. Whoever had
chewed her up and spat her out had left wounds that hadn’t healed.
Any other human woman, and a few Elementals, would have been on
their backs begging for more than a platonic coffee. Maybe that was
why Isla interested him: she was perfectly capable of walking away
like he didn’t exist. Something he’d never thought possible. She
who held his tail was immune to his charms. The corner of his lips
quirked up with amusement.

Getting Isla to succumb was more of a
challenge than getting the book back. After spending the weekend in
her hands and in her fantasies, he wanted to know what the body
beneath her crisp white shirt was like in bed. With the shift in
plan, he relaxed. He would help Isla, have some fun, and then get
back his tail.

Isla watched as Nik leaned back and stretched
out his legs. He was a fine-looking man, the kind who would haunt
the edges of her fantasies for a long time. Her nipples peaked in
her bra. She’d thought of him more than once over the weekend. Now
he was asking her out on a date. And she wanted to say yes. The
word rested on the tip of her tongue, ready to leap out if she
opened her mouth. Isla clamped her teeth together. There’d be
plenty of time for dating after college. Besides, she didn’t know
Nik, and he knew nothing about her. Yet he was willing help
her…maybe he deserved a chance.

Isla rested her chin on her hands. There was
no harm in talking to him. “Are you from around here?”

“No, traveling through.” He turned his cup a
full circle before taking another drink.

“Backpacker?” That would explain the nude
modeling. Bet his resume contained all kinds of strange jobs. For a
moment, Isla let herself envy the freedom Nik must have to come and
go as he pleased. A few more years of school, and she would have
that luxury. She’d travel the grand cities of Europe, sketchbook in
hand.

He nodded, but he was hiding something. Nik
ate and dressed too well for the average backpacker, yet nothing
about him was average. His eyes remained guarded and he didn’t
speak the lie a lesser man would’ve.

“Different woman in every city?” She asked as
a joke but was half hoping he’d agree, so her obsession would be
over. It would be much easier to turn down a man who was sleeping
his way around the globe.

His tongue darted over his lip, like he’d
been caught out telling fibs. “Not quite. I generally prefer to
avoid the entanglements relationships bring.” Nik neatly evaded her
question with another half-truth.

This time Isla didn’t care.

A crazy idea was forming, the kind where she
couldn’t lose. Nik was offering nothing more than a transient
affair. He wouldn’t stay and clot up her life and derail her
dreams. He would leave. It was perfect. He was perfect. Her nerves
tangled themselves around her stomach, pulling tighter with each
breath. If she didn’t make a decision, she’d pass out.

“How long are you staying for?” she
whispered.

Nik leaned forward, a glimmer in his dark
eyes. “How long do you want me to stay for?”

Their breathing was the only sound as they
weighed each other. The offer was on the table. All she had to do
was accept. Just this once she wanted to so she could see what the
fuss was about. Was she really missing out by staying single? Was
having a lover worth the sacrifice?

She could find out, test the water with a man
who by his own admission wasn’t after a relationship. Neither of
them would get hurt because they both knew the rules. Could she do
it with a stranger? A man she barely knew? She wouldn’t just be
taking a man home. She would be taking him to a dorm filled with a
hundred other students. In truth, she wouldn’t be doing anything
different to anyone else who lived there. Would Nik care?

“I live in a dorm.”

“Backpackers’ hostel.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Do you spend all of your
money on food and clothing?”

“People judge by clothing, and I enjoy food.
Where I sleep is of little consequence. What would you do?”

She’d grown up in hand-me-downs from discount
chain stores. And while she couldn’t afford fancy labels, she
refused to look like she came from the rear-end of the wrong end of
town. “The same,” she said.

That meant between them they wouldn’t have
the money for a hotel room. At least her dorm room was clean and
familiar. Some backpackers’ hostels were in worse shape than her
mother’s rented home.

Isla swallowed then let the words glide out.
“So, my place?”

“Tonight?” His eyes rounded in surprise.

“Isn’t that what you wanted? Why you came
back to the restaurant?” Beneath the table her foot twitched,
trying to release the tension strung through her body. If she
didn’t do it tonight, she’d lose her nerve. Then Nik would only
visit when she let her imagination take over.

“I thought we’d plot to take down Mr. Gardner
tonight.” His voice was serious, but the crooked grin gave away his
true intention. This was exactly what he wanted.

He wanted her, studious, snooty,
couldn’t-get-a-man-if-you-paid-for-one Isla. Her mother’s jibes
lost their sting and her confidence grew in the glow of Nik’s
desire. She picked up her coffee cup and drained the lukewarm
contents.

“We can do that in the morning. If you’re
still there.” Isla stood. Lips pressed tight, nerves wound tighter,
she tried to tell herself that if he was gone, it didn’t matter.
She could still take her case to the dean. She had the sketches,
and they couldn’t be faked. Having someone at her side lending
their strength to her cause was irreplaceable, even if he was only
the model.

“I’ll be there.” He pushed his chair back
with a screech.

For the first time, Isla realized how tall he
was. She had to tilt her chin to meet his gaze. He slipped his hand
around hers, cool and steady. She was sure hers quivered like a
trapped butterfly.

They left the coffee shop and walked a dozen
paces, Nik slowing his stride to match her pace. Isla stopped and
spun around. He caught her in his arms, his lips landing on her
mouth, stealing a kiss. It was over before she had a chance to
enjoy it. Isla blinked and gasped for breath, her lips wanting
another taste.

“The…the pharmacy is the other way,” she
explained, too aware of the hard male body pressed against her.
Heat bubbled like a hot spring in her belly. She stepped back and
mumbled at her toes. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Isla left him standing there. By the time she
reached the pharmacy she’d pulled herself together and was able to
walk in as if she bought condoms every other day of the week.

Nik waited, half expecting Isla not to
return. Half wishing she wouldn’t. Couldn’t she see he would take
what she would give and more, then leave like he’d always done?
Greta had seen him for what he was, a shallow puddle. A heartless
water Elemental amused by humanity. Well, humanity had been amusing
until he’d become human. Now it either bored him or pained him,
depending on the day.

Isla walked breathlessly back to him, hips
swinging. He watched her every step. She was everything he used to
love about human women. They were earthy; they felt with their
entire being with a depth of emotion he could barely understand,
yet wanted to be part of. She took his hand, grinning as she led
the way back to her place. Being human did have an upside. Sex
wasn’t the same without a corporeal body.

As Elementals with bodies of water, they’d
merge, changing forms as they chased the edge of joy. But it was
different. The intensity wasn’t there. Human bodies were made for
lust, and he was sure Isla was no different. The promise of what
was to come propelled him forward. He followed her up the two
flights of stairs to her room. The building was silent, giving the
illusion it was devoid of all life except them. She unlocked a
door, slipped inside, and beckoned him in. Nik closed and locked
the door.

His eyes were drawn to the bookshelves. The
air in his lungs slid out in one breath. The book made from his
skin and scales sat on shelves lined with textbooks. His tail.
After all this time, he was within touching distance. He stared at
the crimson cover. The way the colors shifted in the ambient light,
black through turquoise. The leather called to him, flesh to flesh.
He ran his hand along the shelf but stopped short of the book. He
was too scared to touch it in case that was all it took to undo the
spell that had held him trapped in this body for four hundred
years.

Isla slipped her arms around his waist; the
heat from her hands permeated his clothes, pressed into his body.
The scent of coffee and woman filled his thoughts. It was because
of Isla that he had found the book and if he took back his tail,
she would fail. It wasn’t his problem, but he’d experienced her
passion. He understood what the scholarship meant to her. It was
her
tail. The one thing she wanted—no, needed—above all
else. His fingers curled, gripping the wood laminate. A few more
days were nothing to him when he had an eternity to live. Her life
was a fleeting moment unrecognized by the movement of the
tides.

“Would you like to see my drawings of you?”
Isla gazed up at him, her lips curved in a smile that would undo
even the strongest of men.

Nik swallowed and closed his eyes. Was she
tormenting him on purpose? He wound his fingers in her hair to keep
from touching the leather that had been his tail, the pages that
had been his skin. The book that would make him whole.

“I know what I look like.” He kissed her
mouth to distract himself. To become lost in her.

Her kiss was sure, tempting him to take more,
and her heart raced against his chest, mimicking his. She let him
unbutton her shirt. He got two buttons down and stopped. Blood
pounded in his ears like waves against a sheer cliff. It couldn’t
be…he’d thought it lost, buried with the woman he’d given it
to.

“What is it?” Concern crinkled her
forehead.

He lifted the necklace, a pearl melded to the
shell. The oyster had been unwilling to part with its treasure,
even in death. He turned the pendant so it shone silver in the
light intruding through the window. The leather thong was missing,
probably rotted away, but there was no mistaking the gem. This
necklace had been a gift to Greta the night she’d betrayed him.

They’d lain together in the white powdery
sand, loving under the full moon. His island had been a sanctuary
while she’d repaired her ship that had been damaged during a battle
with the British Navy. A sudden storm had saved her from defeat.
Since he had joined her ship, she’d been unsinkable.