Maximum Witch: That Old Black Magic, Book 3 (29 page)

“Are you sure?” He stared at his hand as if he could see through the bandages. What exactly had Cassie given him? “Maybe I’m just that hot.”

Love speaks volumes without a single word.

Silent Storm

© 2011 Vivian Arend

Pacific Passion, Book 3

In the months they’ve traveled together, Laurin Marshall and Matt Jentry’s attraction has grown beyond spectacular sexual passion into a deeper emotional connection. Still, Laurin wrestles with one last question: how a water shifter and an air shifter can possibly find permanent common ground.

Matt is content to wait patiently for Laurin to realize he has no desire to change her sky-borne nature. Until a giant golden eagle touches down on the
Stormchild
and tips the delicate balance of more than just the boat.

Laurin’s obvious affection for the newcomer comes as a shock. And so does the flash of jealousy that interferes with his shamanic ability to heal the man’s malady. While Matt struggles to balance his conflicted responsibilities, Laurin attempts to reconcile her undeniable feelings for one of her kind with her desire for Matt.

Somewhere between the ocean depths and the mountaintops, they need to find a love strong enough to call them both home to the
Stormchild
.

Warning: Familiar lovers (hot) with old rivals (hotter) and a wild curse-melting ménage (hottest yet). Get ready for one exotic paranormal that will make you look to the skies and sea with longing.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Silent Storm:

All around her, towering mountains descended sharply into the sparkling waters of the Pacific. Their ragged surfaces were torn as if a giant hand had grabbed desperate snatches from the earth, leaving behind nothing but thin air and harsh ridges of granite exposed to the brilliant August sun. Along the waterline, where the tide’s highest marks had ripped and torn the land, sun-bleached logs lay in tangled heaps, the exposed roots of massive cedars now tormented remains of once majestic trees.

The world kept changing. It was inevitable.

Laurin Marshall guided her kayak along the inlet, letting the crisp morning air fill her lungs, seeking a moment’s respite from her internal turmoil. Her mind was filled with images, emotions, and uncertain longings. Two years had passed since she’d deserted her mountain clan to find a place among the water shifters known as the People of the Sea. Only a couple months ago her life had been radically transformed again.

She dipped one side of the double paddle, then the other, moving her arms in a smooth, even rhythm. Trying to let the pace of her heart and the motion of the routine soothe her aching soul.

There were so many things she loved about this life. The water, the proximity to the coastal mountain ranges. The way the water reflected the emotion of the seasons in the colors filling the seemingly endless sky.

She couldn’t get enough of the beauty before her. So different, and in some ways raw and stark, compared to the Rockies where she’d grown up. Oh, the mountains of her home reached even higher to the sky, and when she flew, shifted into one of the forms of the People of the Air, it seemed there was nothing between her and the stars. But here, the ocean spoke to her. It had a voice and a song—poles apart from the wind in the pine trees or the flutter of a breeze against a mountain lake.

The sea was vibrant and alive, and she’d fallen totally in love with it.

Laurin paused in her paddling, letting the kayak drift as she rested out of the wind in a small bay. Around her a pod of dolphins surfaced, a couple of the younger ones sliding cheekily alongside her craft, their pectoral fins slapping the water beside the gunwales and splashing her. She laughed aloud and held up a hand to ward off the worst of the attack.

The matriarch of the group surfaced and sang out, and Laurin wished again she could understand what she was saying. The female, with her beautiful smile, dipped her head then submerged, the rest of the pod following. An immature male rose one final time into the air, twisting and landing beside the kayak. Laurin was instantly drenched.

She had to smile. The sea and her people were amazing, even though she’d never been so waterlogged in her life. Part of the downside of being partner to the shaman of the Pacific Inside Passage. Laurin picked up her paddle and headed for the thin strip of sand visible just ahead of her. There were dry clothes in the aft compartment, and if she’d read Matt’s note correctly, there should be a relaxing break waiting ahead.

He joined her on the beach. Six feet of brown skin, firm muscles and a grin that was all for her. The neat khaki shorts he wore did nothing but draw her attention to his bare chest and the ridge of his abdominal muscles carving down under the beltline.

“Did you have a good paddle?” Matt pulled the prow of the kayak far up on the sand so she could step out onto solid ground. His thoughtfulness warmed her, even though she scarcely needed to worry about staying dry. He guided her with a steady hand as he helped her from the cockpit. “Laurin, why are you soaked?”

Because your people gave me homage? “
Enthusiastic teenager, I think.”

Matt Jentry wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, his even heartbeat under her ear now so familiar and so right, she could barely imagine not having him close by. Somewhere near, to touch, to talk to. She glanced up at his beautiful face, firm cheekbones, strong jawline. She couldn’t imagine never getting to taste him again.

“Well, that’s an intriguing look. You going to share what’s on your mind to go with that enticing expression?” His voice was husky and low, and her need for him blossomed into full desire.

She couldn’t imagine life without his lovemaking either. She reached up and brought their mouths together.

He kissed her softly, placing a series of light bites along her lower lip, dragging the surface into his mouth and letting it go. She explored with her tongue, teasing his lips, his teeth, his tongue. All the while his hands were busy at her buttons, her waistband. Stripping off her clothes, baring her to the elements. She willingly did the same for him, thrilling at the encounter of her fingers against his torso. The slight breeze brushed her skin, and she wondered again at the remote locations he always managed to find. There were no clans close to this inlet, no human eyes to see them naked and entwined.

Matt lifted her in his arms without taking his lips from hers. She closed her eyes and simply soaked in the experience. The warmth of his touch versus the cool of the blanket he lowered her to. The heat of his kisses, now descending to worship her breasts and tease her nipples to tight peaks. The breeze stroked a cold finger over the wet tip and it tightened even more.

He hummed in admiration. “I did have a picnic lunch arranged, but I’m not sure if I have the strength to wait. Are you hungry?”

Laurin stared up at her lover of two months, the man with whom she had a mystical connection they were still trying to figure out. A mental and emotional connection beyond the ordinary—that only grew stronger the longer they were together. “I’m always hungry for you.”

They moved together with an easy rhythm, the first fumbling moments of becoming lovers seemingly far in the past. It was straightforward, but not boring, the passion between them rising fast and staying strong. Whether it was because their magic clicked, or because somehow they truly fit together well, Laurin didn’t know. And at this time, didn’t care to analyze.

She needed him. As always.

Matt pulled her close, stroking his hands down her naked torso. He cupped her butt and slid her over him so they were centered on the blanket. It took him a second to sit upright before pressing her backward slightly to expose her breasts to his attention. His lips fastened around one tip, drawing a string of desire through her entire being, an echoing pulse beginning in her core. Each suckle triggered a responding internal throb, and she moaned, dragging her fingers through his dark hair to hold him close.

Receiving his full attention was a humbling experience. Laurin had never felt this way about previous lovers, had never had a connection that went deeper than the physical pleasure they shared. With Matt, his steamy touch was wrapped up in the layers of emotion she felt from him. It mixed with traces of thoughts that tangled her mind, and there were moments she didn’t know if it was her ideas or his driving her crazy with desire.

Warm skin, wet lips, the hard surface of his shaft between them. Laurin adjusted her legs to kneel on either side of his thighs, her sex covering his rigid erection. She rose and lowered slowly, letting him slip along her core as the moisture from her body coated his cock.

Images of him slipping into her—of the pleasure he felt—rolled back through the strange and powerful link they shared. Combined with the scent of the sea, between the remembrances of the past times they’d made love and this current time, the sensory overload grew almost devastating. It wasn’t simply the touch of his hands massaging her breasts, there was the lingering sensation of his mouth, and an echo of a time in the past when he’d pinched and teased her nipples until she could barely think.

It was lovemaking with layers of memories, and each time it grew more powerful. When Matt grasped her hips and adjusted her so his erection slid into her depths, she wasn’t sure how much of the pleasure was from this occasion and how much from the past.

Maximum Witch

Jodi Redford

Who says getting eaten by a shark is a bad thing?

That Old Black Magic, Book 3

Willa Jameson is having one whopper of an identity crisis. Odd memory flashes that aren’t hers. A sultry voice in her head that’s obsessed with sex. Even weirder, she finds herself in the jaws of a rogue leviathan, dragged to the bottom of the ocean—and rescued by a hunky…
shark
?

The last thing Sheriff Max Truitt expects to find on his daily, deep-Atlantic patrol is a human—especially one who breathes underwater. Compelled to take her home, he waits for the beauty to wake up and reveal her name. Instead he’s treated to a punch in the nose, then a sexy romp hot enough to boil water.

The next morning, embarrassed by the sizzling, scandalous things the voice in her head drove her to do, Willa slips away. But if there’s one thing a determined shark excels at, it’s tracking his favorite meal.

Solving the mystery that is Willa is no simple task. When they finally unlock a dangerous secret hidden deep in her subconscious, it drives a wedge between them…and puts them in a desperate race against an evil that seeks to rain down a watery Armageddon on all mankind.

Warning: This book does not contain sex with a puffer fish. There’s not even sex with a seahorse. However, there’s plenty of smoking-hot lovin’ with a shark. And even a steamy M/F/M threesome. So slap on your snorkels and swim fins, things are about to get wet and wild.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520

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Maximum Witch

Copyright © 2011 by Jodi Redford

ISBN: 978-1-60928-530-2

Edited by Sasha Knight

Cover by Kanaxa

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: September 2011

www.samhainpublishing.com