Dream Lover Page 3

  DREAMING BY THE SEA

  Delilah Devlin

  Sea foam lathered the jagged rocks along the shore, each lap sounding like a soapy caress; a sensual sound that fired my imagination to think about things I hadn’t since…well, in a very long time.

  Frustrated with the elusive memory, I turned my face into the wind and enjoyed the way it whipped at my hair and the nightgown I’d thrown on over my underwear before making the trek down to the beach. The way the light played at the edge of the horizon had been too much temptation for me to stay inside the cabin hugging the side of the cliff.

  The air was cool with an underlying note of humid heat, cloying enough to make the silk stick to my skin, but I didn’t care. No one was there to see my nightgown mold my body. I hadn’t wanted to dress since I rose from bed that morning—one of the perks of being a writer. I’d worked without a break all day, but now I needed to clear the cobwebs before I headed back into my story.

  I strode beside the water, jumping back to avoid the tidal fingers that seeped between the rocks lining the shore to rush across the sand. I headed to the small pool the ebbing tide left every day to see the treasures the sea deposited for me to admire.

  Or so I liked to think. Not that I ever took them home with me. I hadn’t the courage to wet my fingers in the brine. It was an old phobia of mine—I wasn’t sure where it started.

  Tall, sharp-edged boulders framed the opening where the water rushed into the pool. I lay on my stomach on a flat rock above the pool, peering into the water. I edged closer and closer, tempted to trail my fingers in the silky salt water. An orange starfish, bits of broken shell, a long thin strand of seaweed were all that filled the pool. Still, I stared, wishing I were braver.

  “Do you always whimper when you stare at starfish?”

  I jerked back, my gaze flying to a man, his hands braced between the two sentinel rocks and his body completely nude. “You startled me,” I blurted, scrambling to my knees. Then I narrowed my eyes. “What are doing here? This beach is private. And why the hell are you naked?”

  “Don’t you have you any pity for a man washed up on your shore?”

  I didn’t believe him. His skin hadn’t been torn or bruised by the force of water crashing against the rocks. But how had he come here? And why hadn’t he worn a swimsuit?

  I didn’t want to know, no matter how handsome he was. And gods, he was handsome. His hair was nearly black and the wet strands grazed the tops of wide shoulders. His eyes were a startling blue, like a calm sea, but staring into them was anything but calming.

  The longer the moment stretched, the harder I tried not to notice the dark hair matted to his chest or the hollows that outlined the muscles stretched over his abdomen.

  I tried to keep my gaze glued to his crooked smile, but I knew it was a battle I’d lose. I glanced down, thinking I’d hide it with a blink, but found myself ensnared by the sight of his erection. Thick and alert, without a curve, it pointed slightly to the side. In that second while my gaze lingered, I felt a deep pang of loneliness echo through me.

  He cupped his cock. Was he hiding it? Or making sure I’d continue to stare?

  My nipples tightened and poked against the silk. I hunched my shoulders to disguise my body’s reaction. “I’m asking you to leave,” I said, forcing a hard tone. “Now.”

  “Are you afraid of me?”

  I should have been. He’d appeared out of nowhere, invading my personal haven.

  However, I’d been alone for nearly a month. This conversation, as strange as it was, was the most thrilling thing that had happened since my arrival. “I’m not afraid.” Just feeling horny and stupid. My cheeks began a slow burn.

  His shoulders relaxed and he dropped his arms, striding forward into the tidal pool. He bent and picked up a shell, then wiped it off on his belly and handed it to me.

  I didn’t want to take his gift. The way he looked at me, his stare so intense, set off tingles of alarm that lifted the hairs on the back of my neck.

  Still, I raised my hand, accepting the shell, then cradled it in my palm as I met the stranger’s steady gaze.

  His mouth curved into a half smile tentative enough not to alarm me. “If I join you on your rock, will you run?”

  Damn. I wanted him here, even though he’d be near enough that I couldn’t escape. “Should I run?” I asked, tilting my chin.

  His smile widened. “Only if you’re worried about your gown getting wet.” He studied my expression, then he gripped the ledge and hauled himself up beside me.

  I made more room for him to sprawl backward on his elbows. Eyeing him, sitting this close to his nude body, disturbed me more than I wanted to admit. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing—him, with his masculine frame stretched beside me, so close I could sweep a hand over his hard belly or bend to take his cock inside my mouth….

  My heart pounded like a sledgehammer at the direction of my thoughts.

  “The sun’s setting,” he murmured, turning to catch me staring again. I really couldn’t resist. His cock lay against the thigh nearest me. And disappointingly, it had softened.

  I wondered how that could be when my own body was reacting so wildly to his proximity.

  “Really, did you park along the cliff?” I blurted, wanting to talk about anything to fill the silence that made me more nervous and embarrassed by the second. He had to know how he affected me.

  He arched a dark brow, and the fading sunlight glinted in his mysterious, sea-blue eyes. His white teeth flashed. “I swam here.”

  Our gazes were locked, making the moment feel more intimate, as though a promise was being made. He was a complication I didn’t need, no matter how handsome. I shook my head to clear it. “Do you have a house farther down the beach?”

  “My home is farther along than that.”

  Growing annoyed with his evasiveness, I frowned and rose on my knees. “I have to get back.”

  “Is someone waiting for you? Will you be missed?”

  The way he asked, as though my answer would determine his reaction, made those warning tingles clamor. I tried to stand, but he gripped my wrist and held me.

  His thumb stroked my thudding pulse. “I can’t let you leave.”

  “I’ll scream.”

  “Do it. No one will hear.”

  Since he was right, I bit my tongue and glared.

  “Say you’ll stay, and I’ll let go of you.”

  I nodded slowly. “I’ll stay.”

  He eased his grip, and I glanced down to rub my wrist, waiting for him to lower his guard. The moment he offered me a smile, I shoved his chest, pushing him off the rock into the pool. Then I scrambled up the rocky pathway.

  In moments, I was halfway up the narrow, uneven rock steps that ran from the beach to the cabin porch, forty feet above. However, I heard no sounds behind me and I slowed, worrying that maybe he’d hit his head against a rock and lay bleeding or drowned in the water. I halted, gripping the handrail in my indecision, and then glanced back. I gave a startled yelp because he was only two steps behind me. And smiling.

  Naked and smiling, I revised. I couldn’t get past the naked part, not when his cock was filling again. I backed up a step.

  He followed, crowding closer.

  Because I couldn’t stop gauging the growing size of his erection I held tightly to the rail. I was breathing a little too fast and feeling light-headed. “Why are you following me?” I asked, exasperated with him and my own reactions.

  “Since you’re so eager to return home, I thought we would continue our conversation there.”

  “You can’t come. My husband wouldn’t like it.”

  He pried my left hand from the rail and held it up. “No ring?”

  I dragged my fingers from his, not wanting to admit the thrill his touch had given me. “I don’t believe in symbols.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  I tried to pull my hand from his, but felt foolish because he held it easily and didn’t
attempt more. I gave up and let him sooth my pulse with a rub of his thumb.

  “Do you think I’m lying?”

  “I think you’re unaware. Why live beside the sea?”

  “It’s not permanent. I needed a change of scenery.” I gave him a scowl before continuing. “And to be alone so I could work.”

  “But why come to the sea when you’re afraid to get wet. You are afraid of the water, aren’t you?”

  “Only salt water,” I responded automatically. And then I realized what he’d guessed. My eyes and the back of my throat burned. “How can you know that? And why the hell would you care?”

  He tugged me closer until I had to tilt my head to meet his gaze. His expression was still taut, but his gaze was warm. He studied me, seeking something in my expression. For just a second, I wished I could give him an answer. “I came here for you,” he whispered. “To return you to where you belong. But you don’t remember, do you?”

  I shook my head. “Remember what?”

  “Let me come home with you. I’ll explain.”

  So close now I could smell his sea-fresh scent and feel the warmth of his breaths, I caved in to the wild impulse thrumming through my veins. “Come then,” I whispered. “But we really do need to hurry. If the sun sets we won’t be able to find our way up the cliff.”

  After I’d found him a pair of drawstring pants to wear, I wandered out onto the balcony, cradling a hot cup of tea and gazing out at the darkening ocean.

  “Is there another cup?” came the low rumble of his voice behind me.

  “On the counter in the kitchen,” I said feeling breathless. I didn’t hear footsteps padding away, but then again I hadn’t heard him approach. It was just a little creepy how quietly he moved. I leaned against the rail and sighed as the wind tugged at my hair again.

  Fingers loosened the rubber band I’d used to tame my hair. “That’s better, isn’t it?”

  I nodded, sighing as his fingertips scratched my scalp. “Shouldn’t you be making your way back to your car? Or to your own house?”

  “Do you really want me to leave?”

  I kept my gaze stubbornly on the blinding rim of the horizon.

  His hands landed on my shoulders and kneaded away the tension. Warm, sweet breath slid along my cheek. “Isn’t this better?”

  “This is crazy. I don’t know you. You haven’t even given me a name.”

  He turned me to face him then gripped my hips to pull me so close our bellies rubbed. I didn’t miss the bulge of his erection.

  “I’m Thane,” he rumbled. “Give me your name.”

  I wrinkled my nose and tried to ease the tension a bit with a smile. “Despy.”

  “That’s unusual.”

  “It’s short for Despoine. Try getting anyone to spell it, much less pronounce it.”

  “After the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon.”

  I blinked, surprised he’d made the connection. “You know your Greek mythology.”

  “Of course. Just as do you.”

  I grew still, my smile fading. Why had I let my guard down? He was just a stalker—more handsome than most, but he knew who I was, had probably read everything I’d written. It’s how he’d figured out my fear of the sea. My young heroine was terrified of the sea due to the nymphs who waited in the deep water to drag her down. “Let me go.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You’ve read me. My Poseidon series. You know who I am.”

  His eyes narrowed. And was that confusion knitting his brow? “You wear your emotions on your face. I don’t have to read your mind to know something about what you think.”

  I wriggled, trying to free myself, but his arms closed tighter around me.

  “Stop playing and let me go.”

  “It’s not what you really want. Your eyes fill with that salty water you’re so afraid of. You don’t want to be alone. Why did you come here, to these cliffs? Why not stay inside a human city?”

  I shook my head at the way he said “human city.” Something about it struck me as familiar. Like notes of a song that tease because you know there’s more, but you can’t hum the rest.

  He leaned his forehead against mine. “A kiss, Despy. Let me give you a kiss. I promise all will be answered.”

  A kiss. How simple. How frightening. Everything would change. I knew it. “Why don’t you just take it? You haven’t listened any other time I’ve told you no.”

  His jaw tightened. “Do you never wonder why you can’t remember anything further back than ten years? Why you’re not even curious?”

  I narrowed my eyes, trying to think. But when I sought a memory, his scent, the cooling air, every sensation distracted me.

  “You can’t remember because the door is shut. Let me kiss you. The truth will be revealed.”

  “You think you have a magic kiss? That I’ll know everything if you kiss me?”

  “I need your consent. It’s the way it works.”

  I didn’t care that he was crazy, didn’t care that he was naked, warm, hard everywhere and so handsome he’d hurt my heart. I rose on my tiptoes, my body rubbing him, until my mouth was just beneath his. I gripped his shoulders to steady myself. “Kiss me, Thane.”

  As far as kisses went, this one was pretty tame. A soft caress that slowly deepened as he circled gently on my lips until I groaned in frustration and opened, needing air, needing deeper intimacy.

  His tongue stroked gently inside my mouth and I sucked on it, pulling on him, wanting more. His chuckle was warm and vibrated against me. And then something burst—almost like a membrane—and then my thoughts rushed past it, enriched by the connections my mind made to happenings that stretched back so far I felt myself tremble and cry because I couldn’t believe that I’d been content to live with only the memories I’d created in this new life.

  I pulled away, my chest heaving, unable to meet his gaze. I’d abandoned him when I’d fled my father’s realm. Why didn’t he hate me?

  His arms loosened but remained around me.

  When all of my life settled around me, the fuzzy curtain of my past torn aside, I sank against Thane…no, Thanasius, I now recalled. “Did he send you?” I whispered.

  “I was supposed to seduce you.”

  “You’re doing a great job,” I muttered.

  “You dug your heels in. Deep inside you must have remembered something about me.”

  “Maybe, although I really did hope you were just a weekend thrill-seeker. That beach is treacherous. I would have been impressed.”

  “Will you let me seduce you? To fulfill my quest?”

  I leaned away to look into his face. “You can try. I’d really like for you to try.”

  His arms dropped away, but before I could be disappointed, he bracketed my face with his palms and glided a thumb over my lower lip. When he kissed me again, my eyelids drifted down as I was lost in the soft blessing of his firm lips. He rubbed them over mine, dragging on them until I breathed a sigh and he stroked his tongue inside.

  He tasted like the sea: fresh, salty, warm, alive. His breath quickened, reassuring me that he was growing every bit as excited as I was.

  When he broke the kiss, he nuzzled into the corner of my neck. “I want to make love to you.”

  I nodded against his cheek, and he straightened, his hand closing around mine as he led me down the short hallway to the only bedroom in the small cabin.

  The windows were open and the wind lifted the thin white curtains. We fell onto the coverlet, pushing at each other’s clothes until we both lay nude.

  His knee shoved a little hard between my thighs, but he was the one to wince. “These legs are clumsy. Forgive me.”

  I opened mine to let him move closer and rub against my sex. “Think of them as a second set of arms.” I wrapped my legs around his hips, and his crooked smile warmed me.

  His thick cock nudged urgently between my folds, prodding until he found the center. His hips moved side to side as he pushed deeper, opening me, then he braced him
self on his arms and knees and thrust toward my womb.

  His sudden inward rush left me stunned. My channel felt raked, stretched. “Yes,” I hissed, nipping at his earlobe to give him back a bit of the pain.

  “Too fast?”

  “Fast enough,” I gasped, digging my fingers into his flesh. “Been a while, I guess. But move, please move.”

  We found our rhythm, opposing glides that brought us close then apart. My hands smoothed up his back, fingers sliding into the groove of his spine. His body shuddered, his breaths deepened.

  “You don’t have to hold back,” I whispered.

  “I won’t leave you behind.” He paused, dragging in air, and slid to his side, taking me with him. He arranged my thigh over his hip and continued to thrust. He slipped his hand between our bellies and two fingers glided into the top of my folds, circling, pressing until he found my clit. After that, his caresses were unrelenting, sliding and swirling until my head thrashed and my body convulsed.

  When I came back to myself, my face was pressed against his chest while his hand smoothed up and down my back. His cock was still hard and lodged deep inside me.

  “I want to please you,” I said, my voice rasping.

  “You think you don’t?” he murmured against my hair.

  “You didn’t come.”

  “I wanted to watch you. It’s a sight I dreamed of for a long time.”

  I leaned back and raised my gaze. His eyes weren’t a cold, remote blue. They smoldered like the center of a hot flame.

  “Did it live up to your imagination?”

  “My imaginings didn’t come close.”

  My skin heated, but I was pleased. “Let me have that same joy.”

  His eyelids drifted halfway down as his features sharpened with arousal. “Roll onto your belly.”

  I gave him a crooked smile and eased away from his embrace. “And how am I supposed to watch you?”

  He didn’t answer, pushing me to lie on my belly. I came to my knees when his hands urged me up. His grip shifted to my buttocks and he molded them in his palms, squeezing hard and opening them. One hand slipped lower, and his fingers thrust into my channel.