SeaChange (11 page)

He shrugged. “It works for me.”

Heidi didn’t know how to respond to that, so she didn’t.
Instead, she changed the subject. “How many languages do you speak?”

“I don’t know. Never counted.” He tipped his head and she
could see he was thinking about it. “Five, maybe? English, Greek, Spanish,
French, Japanese. A little bit of Mandarin. I can read another few, and order
drinks and find the bathroom in a couple more.”

“Wow.” Heidi could still barely manage Spanish after living
in California for years, and her high-school French was decidedly rusty. “Did you
study languages in college?”

“I didn’t go to college. I guess it’s just a knack. I like
to read and I’ve traveled a lot, picked up bits and pieces wherever I went.”

He didn’t like to talk about himself—she’d picked up that
much. She stuffed the last bite of her fajita into her mouth and chewed.
Without any further conversation, they finished their dinner and worked side by
side to clean it up.

“Where’s your favorite place?” she asked him later as they
sipped margaritas by the rail. Hers was stronger than she usually liked, and
she wondered if he was trying to get her drunk. That didn’t make any sense
though—she’d already slept with him, after all.

The stars twinkled brightly in the deep indigo sky, setting
off splashes of reflected flickers off the gently rolling waves.

She gazed out over the endless expanse of ocean. “Now, come
on, tell me. Of all the places you’ve been, which is your favorite?”

“Home,” he replied immediately, as if no thought was
required. Then he hesitated. “But that’s about people, not places. Anywhere on
the ocean is my favorite, I guess. I don’t do well away from the sea.”

“I know what you mean,” she agreed. “I could never go back
to Minnesota, not for good, but that might be different if my folks were still
alive. As it is, I think I’m just a throwback to my Viking ancestors, needing
to feel the sun in my hair and the salt spray on my skin.”

“That said, I like San Diego,” he added. “It’s as much of a
home base as I have anymore.”

“Me too,” she agreed. “Though I like San Francisco, and
Hawaii is fabulous. And I’d love to dive the Great Barrier Reef someday.”

“It’s worth the trip,” he agreed. Then he wound one arm
loosely around her waist and chuckled. “Not Paris or Rome for you, huh?”

She leaned into him, soaking up the warmth of his skin
against her bare arm. “Oh, they’re on the list. I like history too. I’d love to
see Stonehenge, the Coliseum, the pyramids. But if it comes down to first
choices, I’ll always pick the sea.”

“Until some lucky man sweeps you off your feet.”

Her snort of laughter was probably anything but ladylike. “Oh,
please. Can you really see me as the type to settle down and be anybody’s
little woman? Baking cookies and driving a minivan to soccer practice?”

He chuckled, and the vibration of his chest was almost a
caress. “No, not that exactly. I imagine if anyone ever suggested it, you’d
kick his ass.”

“Damn straight.”

“But there’s far too much warmth inside you to waste by
spending your life alone. One of these days you’ll find the guy who’s smart
enough to let you do your research and still come home when you’re done. And he’ll
be one lucky S. O. B.”

“Maybe. But right now, I’ve got a career to build. The
sciences are still harder for a woman to make her way in, especially fieldwork.
I need to focus on that, not on a relationship. So if all of this is a subtle
way of warning me that you’re not the marrying kind, don’t worry, I get it.”

He’d shifted so he was behind her and she leaned back into
his chest, felt his erection pressing against her ass. “I don’t need
happily-ever-after, Jake. Life is way too short to worry about forever. I’ll
settle for happy tonight.”

She deserved better. He knew that but he couldn’t deny the
truth of her words. Heidi was human; her life would be regrettably short. His
wouldn’t, but he still understood that it was the small moments of pleasure
that made any existence worthwhile. And every moment with Heidi was a pleasure,
that was for sure. He pulled her more tightly against him and bent his head to
taste the side of her neck.

“Ummm. That feels good.” She tipped her head to the side,
giving him better access. Her arms looped up and back, wound around his neck,
and she rubbed her ass against his engorged cock but didn’t turn, kept her face
out to the open sea.

This left her chest wide open. He slid his hands up under
her top. She wasn’t wearing a bra and he’d been damn near drooling all through
dinner, wanting to get his hands on her gorgeous breasts.

Apparently she liked what he was doing. She moaned, pushed
her shoulders back, filling his hands. He rubbed and pinched, feeling her
nipples harden to pebbles under his touch. Her breath hitched, and he nipped at
the tendon on her neck, just hard enough to sting, at the same time as he
clamped down on both nipples. She cried out and he felt the ripples of a
mini-orgasm shudder through her. She was the hottest, most responsive woman he’d
ever seen.

Her hands unwound from his neck and she unbuttoned her
shorts, shoving them down around her ankles. Then she turned and started on
his.

He didn’t need any more encouragement, and she didn’t need
any more foreplay. He slid his hand between her legs, found her swollen and
dripping wet, while her hands were shaping his cock, rubbing up and down the
length of him. When he rammed two fingers inside her, she squealed, lifting one
leg and wrapping it around his hips. Her fist squeezed and Jake saw stars as he
fought to hold back his orgasm. He’d be damned if he was going to come before
she did, before he even got inside her hot body. He lowered himself to the
deck, keeping her legs spread so she straddled his hips.

She kept one hand gripped around his shaft, used it to
position him right at her entrance. The she shimmied her hips as she lowered
herself onto him and Jake saw stars again. Her pussy was damn near as tight as
her fist.

He leaned his head up, caught one of her hanging nipples in
his mouth. He sucked it deep, matching his rhythm to the motion of her hips as
she rode him hard and fast. Then he slid one hand between their bellies to play
with her clit. She was so wet that his fingers slipped easily through her
blonde curls, finding that taut little bud and strumming, coating it with her
own moisture. His other hand snaked around her back and played with the crack
of her ass, penetrating the puckered hole with just the tip of one finger.

The multiple sensations pushed her over the top, and she
keened his name as she started to shake. She came in long, slow waves, cresting
again and again when he kept up the onslaught. She squeezed her legs together,
clamped down on his dick with her still-pulsing inner muscles, and Jake went
over himself, spurting into her so hard he felt like the top of his head was
blowing off.

Eventually they both sank to their knees on the deck, bodies
still entwined. Jake sat back on his heels while Heidi straddled his thighs and
leaned her head against his shoulder. Both their bodies were slick with sweat
and their lungs were heaving.

“S-sorry,” he panted. He hadn’t meant to take her so crudely,
right out in the open.

But to his amazement, Heidi only laughed, the sound musical,
rich, and sweet. “For what? The best orgasm of my life? Oh, honey, the only
thing I regret is not having the energy to drag you off to bed and do it again.”

That thought had him hardening all over again inside her.
Without thinking, he pulsed his hips, gently moving in her tight heat.

This time Heidi’s laugh was a low, seductive purr. “On the
other hand, maybe I do.”

* * * * *

He waited to leave for as long as he could. Oh, he’d slipped
out of bed the minute he was sure she was asleep, but then he stayed in the
cabin for what was probably close to an hour, just watching her at rest. What
he wouldn’t give to be able to stay with her and hold her in his arms while she
slept. But he had three more nights of changing before the waning moon would
allow him to sleep through until dawn.

What was he thinking, letting himself get this deeply
involved with a human? It wasn’t just dangerous emotionally; he was putting
everything at risk, including the future of his entire species. Heidi was too
intelligent to be fooled for long. If he let her stick around, she was bound to
figure things out. Probably only her own disastrous situation had kept her
distracted for this long. Jake was damn lucky he wasn’t already in a deep pile
of shit.

Finally the bedside clock read 11:55, and the tingling
beneath his skin grew too insistent to be ignored. With one last wistful glance
at Heidi’s face, her strong features sweet and almost angelic in repose, Jake
slipped out of the room, latching the door silently behind him. He hadn’t
bothered to dress after their most recent bout of lovemaking, which had been
slow and sweet in the bed, a poignant and romantic contrast to hard and hot on
the deck. Since he didn’t need to pause and strip when he reached the deck, he
hopped over the rail and dove directly into the briny depths.

The moment he submerged, the change began, his body shifting
and stretching into his native form. He surfaced to draw a deep breath,
reveling in the feel of his longer, stronger muscles and the smooth thrust of
his powerful tail flukes through the water. He filled the air sacs along his
spine before diving deep below the choppy surface. The oxygen stored in those
internal pockets would allow him twenty minutes or so of underwater swimming,
though without the magical power inborn to his people, he couldn’t cast a light
spell to see in the total darkness under the waves. His magic had been part of
the price of the spell that allowed him to live on land.

But the moon provided enough light for his merfolk eyes to
watch the boat. He might be handicapped with regard to two-legged movement, but
he could still keep watch over Heidi while she slept. His satellite phone was
in a waterproof pouch around his neck and he knew Wen was standing by, probably
not too far away. The CIA operative was the only living being who knew Jake’s
story, including that he was vulnerable seven nights every month. Jake wondered
idly if there was anyone alive who knew Wen’s secrets. Sometimes when Jake
looked into Wen’s bottomless black gaze, he saw more darkness than any one
being could handle and stay sane. He never knew whether to envy the other man
or to pity him.

Caught up in his thoughts, he didn’t hear the other swimmer
approach until a high-pitched whistle split his eardrum. He spun and spotted
the dolphin, while reminding himself that in the ocean, such inattention to his
surroundings was a good way to get killed.

Hello, friend!
Jake chattered.

It was the white-sided dolphin who had helped him rescue
Heidi. The young bull was clearly happy to see Jake and chattered a cheerful
reply.

“Has the fast boat returned?” Jake knew the intelligent
mammal would understand which boat he meant. “Any trouble?”

No
, the dolphin replied, with a whistle and a slap of
his pectoral fins on the water.
But just in case they return, the pod has
moved out to safer waters.

“Good,” Jake answered. “But you’ve stayed here to watch for
trouble,” he surmised.

The younger male agreed.

“Have you seen any trace of the other swimmer?” Jake did his
best to describe Brad Van Dorn in terms the dolphin would understand.

No
. The dolphin sent a wave of regret. He sent Jake a
cheerful image of Heidi and her partner frolicking in the surf with the pod.

“She’s fine.” Jake answered the bull’s next query, sending a
vision of Heidi asleep in the cabin of Jake’s boat. His friend chirped a note
of approval, followed by a suggestive chitter and a rather graphic description
of what he thought Jake should be doing with Heidi instead of swimming with the
dolphin.

Jake laughed. “She’s resting,” he replied. “Worn out.” The
two exchanged a moment of pure male satisfaction, and then Jake grinned.

“I see,” he laughed. “You’ve got a little flippered hottie of
your own, don’t you?”

The dolphin laughed in agreement.
A few.
Dolphins
were not monogamous by nature.

“But they don’t mind waiting while you patrol, huh?”

No
, the young bull replied.
They know I’m worth
the wait.

They chatted for a few more minutes while each watched the
horizon for trouble. Though other marine life swam through the area and a
couple of boats passed by in the distance, nothing threatening approached the
boat.

I almost forgot
, the other dolphin chittered, as the
time approached for Jake to return to human form.
Someone was looking for
you today.

“What kind of someone?” Jake nearly shouted, almost
forgetting the need to maintain a low profile. Heidi slept lightly.

A dolphin
, the bull replied.
But not our kind.
He described what humans called a common dolphin—the same kind Jake had met up
with the previous night.

“Did he say what he wanted?” Jake asked, though he was
afraid he already knew.

He said another like you wants to find you
, the
dolphin said.
A pretty female with long copper hair. Part of your harem?
He whistled a note of pure masculine approval.

“That’s my sister,” Jake corrected him with a sigh. The last
thing he needed was for Leta to get caught up in this whole drug-running mess. “I’d
heard she was searching for me. If you see her, or any of her friends, tell her
it isn’t safe. When this problem with the hunters is over, I’ll send her a
message.”

Pod needs to stay in safer waters
, the young male
agreed.
If I see anyone, I’ll tell them so.