Divine (36 page)

I grabbed onto his
wrists and tried to compose myself in the thick silence, finally
mustering up a nod to bring relief to his face. His thumbs brushed my
cheeks with comfort as he smiled and gave me another breath of air.

It
was hard not to breath in the ocean, so hard that I had to hold my
eyes closed
for a moment,
mentally telling myself not to do it. I took the time to relish in
the feeling of his hands against the skin of my face, lovingly
holding me, making sure I was okay in his world below.

He wont let anything
happen to me.

My concentration broke
when I heard the faint sound of Jonah's laugh moving through the
water. The salt stung lightly at the delicate skin of my eyes as I
shot them open and watched as he said, “Look who's here,”
talking as if we were above the water, barely a bubble escaping from
his mouth as the words flowed out of him.

Fred swam gently into
the small space between our faces and turned to watch me with her
cute little round eyes. The vision of her started out clear, but she
blurred away as my eyes focused on Jonah's smile behind her.

I couldn't believe
everything that I was experiencing. I knew that Jonah was good with
water, but I had no idea that it meant he could talk and breathe
without a problem underneath the ocean's surface.

Fred swam away from the
space between us and floated next to me, happily moving her tiny
little fins. Still holding onto my face, Jonah's words flowed out,
“Can you hear me?”

I nodded with a smile
and took a hand off of his wrist to point to my mouth. He moved in
and blew out another gentle breath, filling my mouth with sweet, warm
air. He let go of my face and took my hand, smiling with excitement
as he started to swim away, pulling me right along with him.

The way his body moved
under the water made him appear to be like a human fish, darting
smoothly through the current with a relaxed way about him. The
protruding muscles of his arms and shoulders worked fluidly together,
adding to his magnificence as he pushed his way through the yellow
depths.

The longer we stayed
under the water, the more my fear of the bottomless ocean melted
away. I pulled his floating body over to me and sweetly offered him a
kiss before accepting some more of his air. He smiled as I let go of
his hand and pushed away from him to swim alone in the openness of
the deep water.

Well, technically I
wasn't alone; Fred was following closely behind me like a second
protector. When she reached my side I stuck my finger out and tickled
her while she floated along beside me. I couldn't believe that I had
a pet Boxfish that actually knew where I was in the ocean.

Jonah kicked his way
over to me and twirled around, easily doing somersaults and back
flips as if it were nothing. I caught him coming out of a spin and
moved in for another breath before kicking back off, stretching my
arms behind me in a failed attempt to flip like he did.

His muffled laugh made
me smile and release my bubbles of air. I looked up and watched them
float up to the surface of the water, popping when they hit the top.
Jonah was at my side in seconds, coming to my rescue with another
breath.

I pointed up to show
him the drops of rain that were beginning to land on the surface high
above us: the storm had made its way over the cove. With a nod of his
head he laced our fingers together and pulled me further down, taking
us to the bottom of the sandy floor.

I really had no idea
what he was wanting me to do, but when he let go of my hand to sift
through the array of ocean pebbles, I decided to join in and dig
along with him. But, my body wasn't like his in the water; he could
stay still wherever he was, whereas I had to work hard at keeping
myself from floating back up to the surface. I kicked heavily against
the sea to stay parallel with the ground but was struggling, and was
quickly losing what air I had left in my lungs.

The secure feeling of
his muscular body moved over me and he rested his broad chest against
my back, holding me down like a human anchor. I looked over my
shoulder and his lips met mine to blow me another breath.

After some time spent
digging around he stopped and clenched something tightly in his hand.
I tapped excitedly at his closed fingers, wanting him to open it and
show me what was inside, but he kept them wrapped firmly around the
mysterious object.

Not wanting to lose the
battle, I reached behind me and met his firm side to tickle him. He
laughed and shook his head in playful protest as he moved his hand
back and stuck it deep in the pocket of his black board shorts.

I
shifted below him, turning my body around to face him as he pinned me
gently to the sandy floor. It was a beautiful sight, Jonah in the
ocean. I looked up at him floating on top of me, so serene in the
water, taking him in with the sight of the drops of rain falling on
the ocean's surface high above him. His eyes were still glowing
yellow, keeping the cove glowing in the happy color, and they pierced
through me with a constant intensity. The usual spikiness of his hair
was replaced by flowing brown
strands
that moved with the current, and I dove my fingers through their
silkiness, pulling his lips to mine.

He complied willingly
and pushed against me with a deep kiss. I softened against his body
and closed my eyes, being completely overtaken with passion as his
hand traced slowly down my waist, exploring the curves of my womanly
body.

The need for air hit me
and my eyes shot open, revealing an ocean of green around us. I
pulled away from his kiss and looked at him with knitted eyebrows,
trying to relay my desperate need. He pulled me in and breathed one
last breath before grabbing me up and taking us back toward the
water's surface.

I couldn't believe the
speed at which he pulled me up along with him, darting through the
water and leaving Fred behind in the bubbles of his sharp kicks. We
shot out together with a giant splash that collided against the
pelting drops of rain. I panted heavily while looking up at dark
cloudy sky over us, drawing in sharp breaths of air, trying to
retrain myself to breathe above the water.

Jonah's green eyes
glowed as he watched me with a fiery affection, lighting up the water
of the cove around us with the passionate hue. But that wasn't all: I
watched in awe as the heavy drops of rain poured over his head,
changing from clear to translucent green as they rolled down his
face.

“
You can change
the rain, too?” I breathed heavily against him.

“
I can do a lot
of things,” he said softly with a mild smile. He pulled his
hand away from my waist to dig in his pocket, retrieving the item
that he had grasped in his fist at the ocean's floor. “You
wanted to see this, right?” he asked while holding his clenched
fist above the water.

“
Yeah,” I
laughed, “are you going to show it to me now?”

His face lit up with a
bright smile as he opened his fingers, revealing to me a tiny gray
rock that took the form of a heart. “I actually found this for
you the other day, but I wanted to give it to you in a special place.
So, I swam down to the bottom of the cove and put it there. I almost
didn't find . . .”

His sentence was cut
short as I moved forward and covered my mouth over his, swallowing
the rest of his words with a passionate kiss. He gave in and closed
his fingers around the heart-shaped rock, bringing the solidity of
his clenched hand back around my waist.

Our lips moved timely
against each other's, kissing deeper and deeper the longer they
stayed together. I dove my fingers through his wet spiky hair and
gently pulled at the strands, becoming completely lost in my lust for
him. My body shivered with longing while we kissed, feeling
increasingly wild as he held me up in the waves of the ocean that
slammed against us, slowly moving us back toward the beach. Once his
feet touched the sandy bottom he reached down and placed his arm
under my legs, picking me up in one effortless swoop.

The mission in his mind
was clear as he pushed through the shallow waves to take us closer
toward the shore. He stopped short of making it completely out and
gently brought us down onto the beach, leaving half of our bodies
still consumed by the rolling water.

The glowing vitality of
his eyes bore through me as he climbed over me, holding himself up
with the length of his arms and breathing heavily with emotion. We
both knew what we wanted; we both knew what was about to happen
between us.

I looked up at him
suspended above me; the heavy drops of rain rolling down his face
with their green vibrancy, turning clear as they left his skin and
fell against mine. I reached my arms up and gently slid my fingers
along the mountains of his shoulders, pulling him down for another
union of our lips.

A sudden clap of
thunder interrupted our kiss and he pushed himself back above me to
look up at the angry sky. “This isn't good,” he sighed.
“Lightning and water don't mix very well.” He gazed back
down at me with a disappointed smile. “I'm sorry; we should
probably go.”

I plopped my head to
the side with frustration and looked at the mountain of rocks next to
us, sighing in disbelief as the heavy rainfall pelted my face. It
always seemed like something got in the way of our coming together,
like someone was playing some kind of cruel trick on us or something.
It was too much to be there with him again like this. I wanted to be
taken over by him, consumed with my passion for him. But it seemed
like that was never able to happen.

“
Hey, look at
me,” I heard him say softly above me.

I didn't want to. I
kept my gaze toward the wall of stones, taking a moment to sulk while
the harsh feeling of the stinging rain on my cheeks slowly faded
away.

“
Ashy,” he
said smoothly, still wanting my attention.

When I finally gave in
and looked up at him, he was gazing peacefully down at me with green
eyes that were quickly fading back to their natural blue. His arm was
stretched out above him with his palm facing up toward the falling
rain, creating an invisible umbrella that kept the cool drops from
hitting us.

“
You
know I don't want to go,” he said in a low sincerity, “but
this is dangerous weather to be in. You can agree with that, can't
you?” Just as his sentence left his
mouth
a bolt of lighting lit up the clouds above us.

I jumped at the wild
flash and quickly nodded my head. “Okay, you convinced me;
let's go.”

We laughed as he stood
up and reached down for my hand, pulling me up next to him. He
grabbed his shirt and hat off of the wet sand and we took off running
up the rocks of the mountain toward the truck.

“
Bye Fred,”
I yelled back over my shoulder. “See you next time.”

I followed Jonah to his
side of the truck and climbed in when he opened the door. He got in
behind me and started the engine up, turning on the wipers to clear
away the rain-covered windshield.

I glanced down at the
time displayed on the face of the stereo. “Oh my gosh,” I
shrieked, “it's five o'clock already? I'm supposed to go out to
dinner with my parents tonight. I better get home; I didn't realize
how quickly the time went by.”

“
Time flies when
you're having fun,” he added with his husky voice. He turned
the truck around and drove us quickly down the dirt path, making an
attempt to get me home in time for my parent's dinner date.

I looked over at him
sitting comfortably in his seat, one hand casually on the wheel, the
other propped against the door of his truck. Drops of leftover rain
ran away from his messy, soaked hair, creating a visual trail for my
eyes to follow that led down his chest and onto his toned stomach.
His board shorts were drenched and clung seductively to him,
intoxicating me with the sight, tempting me to move closer to him.

He looked over and
caught me with my eyes fixed down below. “See something you
like?” he joked, sending a wave of heat rushing over my face.

I shook away my
embarrassment with a giggle and looked out my window at the sideways
rain. “I guess it's a good thing we left when we did; the storm
looks like it's getting bad. And yes,” I flirted to the glass,
“I see something I like.”

He chuckled softly and
brought his other hand to the wheel. “Ah, I thought you were
going to change the subject there.”

I
sharply looked over and raised my eyebrows at him. “Now, that's
a subject I
don't
want
to change.”