“Are you built like other men?” she asked, her glance dipping to skim over his short gold tunic and metallic armor.
He should have looked silly. What was he doing costumed like some actor in an Italian
sword and sandals
flick? But his garments, what there were of them, weren’t a cheap imitation. And he wore them without a hint of awkwardness. Not every man had legs like that. She couldn’t ever remember seeing a male with such a beautiful physique. Alex was muscular without being bulky, tall and impossibly broad-shouldered with a chest that any bodybuilder would have envied.
“I’m glad you approve.” His smile became a wicked grin. “Would the lady care for a closer inspection of what’s under my cuirass and armor?”
She laughed to cover her chagrin. She’d thought she didn’t care if he read her mind or not, but it was unnerving to think that he could hear her thoughts even as they blossomed in her mind. “How would I know? I’ve never taken an Atlantean to my bed before. You might have scales and a tail.”
Dark jade swirled with emerald flames in his large, haunting eyes, and her stomach knotted as he caught her hand and brought it to his lips. She wondered if he was going to kiss it or sink fangs into it like some underwater vampire, and she had to force herself not to tremble as moisture flooded her woman’s cleft. Instantly, an intense desire to have him inside her, here and now, seized her.
Alex brushed his lower lip with the tip of his tongue, turned her hand and pressed his warm mouth against the hollow of her wrist. Pleasure shot through her, making her heart pound and her breathing quicken. He pulled her into his arms and their lips met. She slipped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer as his hard body stiffened against hers.
His mouth scorched hers in a searing kiss of intensity that sent her thoughts reeling. Every cell in her body responded to his touch. Strong fingers tangled in her hair and pulled her head back as their tongues met and entwined, and sweet sensations swept to the tips of her toes. “Come,” he whispered hoarsely. “Bathe with me.”
The sound of his voice echoed in her head, making her tingle and turning her bones to water. His fingers traced the line of her neck, sliding down to caress her buttocks and clasp her ever closer. She could feel the molten heat of his swollen sex. He was larger than she had suspected, and the knowledge that he wanted her badly added to her desire.
“Maybe we should skip the foreplay and get right to the main course,” she suggested as Alex lowered his head to nibble at her throat and press warm kisses in the hollow between her breasts.
He laughed as his big hand spanned her hip and stroked the curls at the apex of her thighs. Ree shuddered and pressed against his hand, sighing as he slipped a finger into her damp cleft.
“Yes,” she urged him. She wanted more ... needed more.
“Not yet,” he said as he slipped an arm beneath her legs and gathered her in his arms to carry her to the pool. “Every meal is better for a little spice.” Controlling his own need was difficult, but it was important to him that he give as good as he got. Alex could felt the gathering storm of sexual need overwhelm him. He knew he had to rein in the urges that set his blood to boiling and his soul aflame.
She was warm and pliant in his arms, and her skin tasted of the salt sea. No longer human and not quite Atlantean, Ree was a rare and delicate flower, exotic and mysterious, and eminently intriguing. He’d lost count of the number of women he’d made love to, but this one promised to be unique. He kissed her naked shoulder and nipped at her ear, savoring the silken texture of her skin and inhaling her delicious scent as he waded into the enchanted pool.
“Wait,” she said, and untied her garment so that it fell around her waist, leaving her beautiful breasts bare. They were round and full with shell-pink nipples, and the sight of her made him half mad with wanting her—wanting to fill her with his hot flesh and possess her. But still he held back the rising tide of passion.
The water rose around them to his waist and shoulders. Still holding her tightly against him, he ducked under the surface, letting her clothing fall away and the bubbling foam anoint every inch of their skin. He lifted her up above him and she wrapped her shapely legs around his waist.
“Make love to me,” she said. “Now!”
CHAPTER 8
A
lex laughed and brought his mouth down to hers. He wanted her with every fiber of his body. His heart thudded against his ribs. Human or not, his blood burned for her. Being with her like this went against everything he’d ever been taught or believed, but at this moment, it didn’t matter.
He wanted to savor every moment of their lovemaking. He wanted to taste every inch of her skin and discover the curves of her woman’s body. He wanted to hear the cadence of her heartbeat and quickening of her breathing. Every instinct told Alex that she was wet and ready for him, but no matter the physical pain he experienced in waiting, he wouldn’t trade immediate gratification for the greater pleasure he expected to give them both.
Instead, he found her mouth and kissed her, tenderly at first as they fitted lips to lips, and then with greater intensity. He trailed kisses over her face and down to her throat. “Ree,” he rasped. “Beautiful Ree.”
Matings between adult Atlanteans were so intense they sometimes bordered on violent, but when both parties were willing and eager, the lines between pleasure and pain were faint and often disregarded. Holding back the red tide of passion would be a challenge for him, one Ree made even more difficult by her quick shuddering breaths and the heat radiating from her body.
Her hands were on him, moving over his neck and shoulder, massaging and stroking. “Alex,” she murmured. “Alex.” She cupped a full breast and lifted it in invitation. “Kiss me,” she said.
Her nipple was a swollen bud, sweet as honey between his lips. He teased the hard nub with his tongue, then drew it between his lips and suckled until she squirmed and gasped with pleasure. “Do you like that?” he asked her as he moved to caress and kiss her other breast.
“Yes ... yes.” Her nails dug furrows across his back and she arched against him, rubbing her warm flesh against him until he thought he would go mad with wanting her.
His groin ached, his swollen phallus so rock-hard and sensitive that he could feel the blood pounding through it. Need crashed over him, dragging him into the undertow and threatening to rip away every scrap of his control. He wanted her ... had to possess her ... make her his in every way.
Ree gasped as he laved her nipple with his tongue, and then suckled again until sweet ribbons of bright pleasure coiled through her body. The water lapped against their naked bodies, soft and warm, and pulsing with sensuality, driving her need for fulfillment and stripping away the last vestiges of caution.
She had to be closer to him, had to fill the aching emptiness that throbbed in her core. Vaguely, she was aware that she was crying out, but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered but this moment and the feel of his hands and mouth and the promise of his hard member bringing them both the climax they sought.
Whatever water bubbled in the pool and tumbled from the rocks seemed intoxicating, adding to her physical gratification, lubricating, and tingling, making every inch of her skin more sensitive than she’d ever felt before.
Alex caught her around the waist, lifting her high over his head, and when he lowered her and they tumbled over and over in the water, Ree gave as good as she received, nipping him with her teeth and molding her body to his. With every heartbeat and every caress, her arousal grew, until raw hunger possessed her and she knew she had to take every inch of him or die of frustration.
“Now! Now!” she screamed. But he captured her in his arms and carried her up and out of the pool, laying her down upon the bearskin rug, pushing her knees apart and burying his face in her wet, aching cleft. She felt the thrust of his hot tongue and exploded into a thousand shards of colored light. Waves of pleasure surged through her, and tears blinded her eyes.
“I want ... I want ...” she sobbed as she pulled him against her. Shuddering tremors shook her body and the sweet joy spread like sunshine from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet.
“I know what you want,” Alex said huskily. “You want what I want.” And with tantalizing slowness, he began to nuzzle her throat, kissing and nipping, sucking gently, and murmuring sweet words against her skin. At a torturous pace, he moved his fingers and lips and tongue over her body, caressing and stroking, slowly bringing her back to a state of arousal.
She closed her eyes as he rose over her and she felt the first nudging of his tumescent flesh against hers. She opened for him, eagerly clasping him to her, feeling the thick fur beneath her and the weight of the man above. He was even larger than she’d imagined and she struggled to take all of him, before crying out with joy as he thrust deep inside her.
He found her breast with his mouth and suckled as he drove hard and fast, withdrawing and plunging again to fill her with his presence. She rose to meet him and they fit together as one whole, rising together on the crest and plunging into the cataract of rapture.
Later when they had dozed and woke to kiss and laugh and eat, they made love to each other again. This time, they managed to reach the foot of the great bed before he claimed her on the floor. But she rolled beneath him and mounted to ride him long and hard, so that when she climaxed once more, she was utterly satiated and ready to curl up beside him on the crisp white sheets.
They woke sometime later, and this time their lovemaking was tender and sweet, but every bit as satisfying to Ree. She was content to lie for a long time with her head on his chest while he stroked her hair and they listened to the sound of the water falling over the rocks into the pool. She couldn’t tell if it was night or day. The light outside the window hadn’t altered; white clouds still rode against a blue sky, framing green hills and verdant meadows.
“Tell me again who you are,” she whispered. She’d found that after sex was the best time to get the truth from men. Alex had been fantastic, over-the-top, the best lover she’d ever had intercourse with, but that didn’t mean she trusted him. Trusting could get you killed in a hurry.
“Alexandros of Atlantis.”
She concentrated, trying to pick up any hints that he was lying. She had good instincts, and she’d been trained to read men and women. Usually liars gave off clues such as averting their eyes or touching their nose, but sociopaths were a breed apart. If Alex was outside the normal range of behavior, none of the old rules worked. And he was certainly different enough and charming enough to arouse suspicion.
“And you claim to have gone to Varenkov’s boat to kill him?” She gave him her most adoring gaze. With men, it paid to use honey instead of vinegar. And if he was feeling as good as she was about the past six to eight hours, she thought Alex should be pretty mellow.
“I’ve already told you that I did. And I would have succeeded, if you had stayed below deck where you belonged. I had it timed perfectly. Varenkov would have come up for his nightly stroll and ...”
He left the rest unspoken, and she punched him playfully in the ribs. “Isn’t that just like a man,” she teased. “Lord, the woman you gave me made me eat the apple.”
Alex draped a big hand possessively over her hipbone and slowly traced a circle on her bare buttock. “You don’t have a clue as to the trouble you’ve caused me. Atlanteans are forbidden to become involved with human women.”
“That’s right,” she said. “I forgot. You aren’t human, are you?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’m not.”
“So, what just happened between us, all that great sex, wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Was it great?” Alex pushed himself up on one elbow.
She shrugged. “You probably don’t get a lot of complaints.”
Alex chuckled. “None so far.”
“None you’d admit to, you mean?”
“And neither do you, I’d venture.”
She felt her cheeks flush. It was a redhead’s curse. She could control a lot of things, but not her reaction to a compliment.
“Where I went wrong was when I interfered with the guard’s attack on you, and then compounding that by removing you from the boat. Legally speaking.”
His amused gaze made her pulse quicken. “And the sex? I suppose that’s a hanging offense?”
He grimaced. “That’s a gray area. You aren’t really human anymore.”
“I’m not?” She glanced down at her breasts. “You don’t think so?”
“I’m telling you the truth.” He took a lock of her hair between his fingers and brushed it against his lips. “You’re free to believe whatever you please.”
“You’re an Atlantean.”
“I am, and as hard as it may be for you to accept, my kind are as real as yours.”
“You’re right,” she admitted. “It’s a difficult concept.”
He stared at her for a moment, and then his sensual lips curled into a smile. “You seem to be an intelligent woman, Ree. I could ask why you’d put yourself in harm’s way by working for an international criminal. You couldn’t have been so innocent that you didn’t know what sort of man Varenkov was.”
“Maybe I needed the job.”
His smile faded. “Not good enough.”
“Since you have the ability to read my mind, you shouldn’t have to ask.”
The smile returned, but this time the humor only glinted in his eyes. “It’s not that simple. Some things I pick up from you because you’re shouting in your head. Here, in this sphere, we’re talking as you might be on land, but in the ocean, it’s easier to send and receive thoughts mentally.”
“So everyone’s private thoughts are open to general—”
“No, it doesn’t work that way.” He shook his head. “With practice, you’ll get better at hiding what you don’t want common knowledge. Probing private thoughts is considered extremely bad manners. But I shouldn’t have to tell you any of this. You’re very perceptive.”
“For a human?”
“I didn’t say that.” He leaned close and brushed a kiss over her lips. “I’m starving,” he said, sitting up, and sliding his long legs over the edge of the bed. “Sleep a little longer, if you like.”
She watched as he pulled a short white tunic with gold trim over his head. “Wait, that isn’t what you were wearing before,” she said.
Alex indicated a bench where a woman’s tunic, jewelry, and sandals lay. “Our hosts provided suitable fresh clothing and breakfast.”
Ree hadn’t been aware that anyone had entered the room. The fact that they hadn’t been alone while she slept was unnerving. Was she losing her edge?
“Who exactly are they? I believe I asked you before.”
Alex belted on his sword. “And you didn’t like the answer?”
“I have the feeling you’re humoring me.”
He nodded. “Maybe.”
She rose from the bed and faced him, clad only in her tangled hair. “I told you, I want the truth.”
“Actually, I’m not certain who our hosts are,” he answered. “I’ve heard rumors that this is all the work of spirits. . . ghosts, if you will.”
“You don’t believe that.”
He chuckled. “No. I don’t. But I doubt that they’re Lemorians. My guess is that our hosts are another kind of being altogether.”
Her eyes widened, and she settled both fists on her hips. “Don’t stop now. I can’t wait to hear this.”
“You have to stop thinking that only one species inhabits this planet.”
Ree exhaled softly and reached for her own clothing. How could she explain to him that she already knew that, that she’d seen and experienced so many strange things in her life that she could almost accept that he might be an Atlantean? But invisible beings that ran an underwater B & B? That was a little much to swallow.
“You may as well hear it all at once,” he said. “When I carried you off that yacht, you were dying, maybe already dead. I couldn’t give you back the life you lost. All I could offer was something more. Maybe less from your point of view.”
She belted her tunic with a silver chain. It was soft against her skin, woven of white fabric so fine that it seemed like silk and stitched so cleverly that she couldn’t find a single seam. It fit perfectly, molding to her skin, and falling gracefully from the hip to mid-thigh. “Go on,” she urged. “You have my full attention.”
“The only way to save you was to alter your genes, to make you an Atlantean so that you could survive beneath the sea.” He folded his arms across his chest. “But I was only partially successful. I had to take you to the Lemorian healers. I’m not certain, but I suspect you’re now a combination of human, Atlantean, and Lemorian.”
“A hybrid.” She considered the possibility. “You aren’t joking, are you?”
Alex shook his head. “What remains of your human body is anyone’s guess, but you certainly adapted to breathing underwater, and I can see certain physical changes that are definitely Atlantean characteristics.”
She dropped onto the bench. “Are these changes permanent?”
He nodded again. “I’m afraid so.”
“You’re telling me I’ve become some sort of mermaid, that I’ll never be able to return to life as a human?”