Page 6 of Hammerhead (Kinkaid Shifters #4)
H e nodded. “I see it, though it seems like it comes and goes. I think it’s some sort of optical illusion. Either that, or I’m going crazy.”
“If you’re crazy, then I am too,” she muttered in seeming disbelief. “Maybe it’s one of those mysterious things, like they say happens in the Bermuda Triangle.”
“We’re nowhere near Bermuda.” He chuckled. “You don’t really believe in that sort of thing. Do you?” He could hear the skepticism in his own tone, and it wasn’t quite convincing, seeing as they were both looking at an island that shouldn’t really be there.
“I’m Irish. I believe in lots of fairy stories,” she replied, shooting him a grin that sparked his interest in her rather than the mirage they were sharing. “Do you think we should try to swim to the island and check it out?”
Miguel noted the deviltry in her sparkling eyes. It seemed he was going to have to be the cautious one in this relationship. If they had a relationship. He still wasn’t sure where that part of the evening was headed, but he was happy enough to swim with her and entertain her flights of fancy. But he didn’t think swimming to a magical island that seemed to appear and disappear at will was the best idea they’d had all day.
“I’m not sure that’s wise,” was all he said in reply.
She looked at him, taking his measure. There was a nice moon out tonight with allowed them to see even more than they could with their excellent night vision. Both of them were at home in the water and on land, which made them well matched, he thought. But he was getting ahead of himself.
“I’ll grant you, it looks pretty far away, but aren’t you just a little bit curious about what’s going on there? I mean, it could be like Brigadoon , and this is our one chance to visit before it goes back into hiding for a hundred years.”
“Brig-a-what?” he asked, almost laughing.
“ Brigadoon . It’s an old movie where there’s a Scottish town that only appears for one day every hundred years, and Gene Kelly stumbles across it and falls in love with the pretty young lass in the village. He has to make a choice to leave and continue his modern life or follow his heart to be with the girl, forsaking his life and friends to be with her.” She sighed happily. “It’s a very romantic tale, and there’s lots of great dancing.”
“It’s a musical?” He was surprised by this indication of her whimsical nature, but it fit with the playfulness of her seal side.
“I like old movies and especially the musical extravaganzas of the Golden Age of Hollywood,” she admitted.
“We’ll have to watch Brigadoon together sometime.” She smiled at his suggestion.
“I’d like that. I’ll see if I can download the movie from somewhere so we can watch it on our second date.” She looked at him a bit shyly. “If you want a second date, that is.”
“Are you kidding me right now? Of course I want a second date.” He maneuvered a bit closer to her in the water. “You are a beautiful and alluring woman, Deidre, and my shark likes the way you swim.”
He put one arm around her waist, pulling her bare body closer to his very gently. He gave her every opportunity to move away, but she moved closer instead. Both sides of his nature liked that. A lot.
“I like the way you swim too,” she said softly. “I’m kind of fascinated by the way you move underwater. As if nothing and no one could ever stand in your way.”
She saw him as strong. He liked that a little more than he’d admit, even to himself.
“You could, meu corac?o . You could stop me in my tracks just by crooking your littlest finger.”
He’d called her his heart . He hadn’t really meant to. The endearment had just sort of slipped out, but he didn’t feel like retracting it in any way. It felt good and right. She mattered to him in ways he didn’t quite understand but wanted to investigate further. Much, much further.
“I don’t want to stop you, Miguel.”
Her words came out on a sigh as his lips drew closer to hers. Then their lips met, and they shared a kiss unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. His arm tightened around her waist, and her slick wet body pressed against his. She felt luscious against him, her breasts full and ripe against his chest.
He wasn’t sure how long they floated and kissed and kissed and floated, the water buoying them along as time and space stood still. While he loved the water, he wished for something firm beneath them so he could take her down and make love to her the way his body wanted. His mind knew it was too soon, but his dick didn’t really get the message. Even the cold water couldn’t suppress his body’s enthusiasm for that idea, though he did his best to tamp it down.
They’d still have to swim back to the boat at some point, and he didn’t want to do it with a hard on. For one thing, it was a bit freaky in his shark form. The twin appendages of the shark didn’t translate to his human body, thank goodness. Though he had dated this one sex-crazed snake shifter woman in Nepal who’d been disappointed that he didn’t have two dicks in his human form. She’d been quite the freak in bed, but in the end, he’d been somewhat relieved to leave her behind after his work in that country had been finished.
But why in the world was he thinking about that right now? He had the most beautiful, interesting and classy woman in the world in his arms. Unlike the snake shifter, this woman was definite mate material.
That thought brought him to his senses, and he backed off, breaking the kiss. Her pupils were dilated with pleasure, and he felt a momentary pride for putting that dreamy look on her lovely face. Then he realized he probably looked just about as stunned as she did, and he almost shook his head in disgust at himself for being such an idiot.
It was only a kiss. True, it had been a doozy of a kiss, but still, just a kiss. She might look all dreamy and gorgeous right now, but maybe the kiss had just been another in a long line of them in her life that brought momentary pleasure but nothing long-term. He wondered idly why that thought disturbed him so much.
As the silence stretched between them, and her gaze grew less befuddled and more aware, a sudden flush put roses in her cheeks that were visible even in the dim light of the moon. Then she moved farther away from him and looked at the island, still shimmering in the distance as if she was considering her next move.
The water was warm, the night air still, and yet Miguel felt a shiver crawl down his spine. Because the island was there. And it shouldn’t be.
One moment, there had been nothing but open ocean. The next, a dark mass of land had risen from the misty waves. Jagged cliffs, dense jungle, a shoreline bathed in moonlight. Like it had always been there. Like it had just… decided to be seen.
Miguel treaded water, his sharp eyes locked on the impossible sight before him. Beside him, Deidre floated effortlessly, her seal instincts likely as unsettled as his shark’s. Finally, she broke the silence.
“We both still see that, right?” Her voice was hushed, like she was afraid speaking too loud might make the whole thing vanish.
Miguel exhaled, slow and measured. “Yeah.” He looked again, just to be sure. “And that means we’ve got a problem.”
Deidre’s brows furrowed. “Why a problem?”
He turned to her, incredulous. “Because islands don’t just appear and disappear, Deidre. And you and I seem to be the only ones who have been able to see it.”
“What makes you say that? Have you seen it before?”
Miguel nodded. “I’ve seen it a few times but nobody else seems to have noticed it at all. Or maybe they’re just not talking. I don’t know.” He knew his frustration was coming out in his words. “If other people on the boat were seeing it, I think word would have gotten around.” He gestured toward the mysterious island. “Either we’ve been swimming too long and we’re seeing things, or that island is playing tricks on us.”
She tilted her head, eyes gleaming in the moonlight. “Maybe it’s neither.”
“You have another explanation?” Miguel narrowed his gaze.
Deidre didn’t answer right away. Instead, she studied the landmass as if trying to feel it. Finally, she murmured, “I’ve heard stories about places like this from others of my kind back home.”
“Selkie fairy tales or more old movie musical plots?” He smirked a bit.
She shot him a sharp look. “Some fairy tales are real, shark.”
“Enlighten me, then.” His lips twitched despite himself.
Deidre turned her gaze back to the island, her voice softer now. “There are places in the world where the veil between realms is thin. Places that don’t exist on maps, that can’t be found unless they want to be found.”
Miguel frowned. “You think this is one of them?”
“I know it is.”
Miguel wanted to argue, but the unease coiling in his gut told him she wasn’t wrong. His instincts were sharp, honed over years in the water, and every fiber of his being told him that this wasn’t natural.
He studied the shoreline, his mind racing through possibilities. “If it’s real, then why hasn’t anyone else seen it?”
She shrugged a bit. “I can’t rightly say, but I think we should investigate.” A cunning light entered her pretty eyes. “Race you there,” she said quickly, challenge in her tone as she dove beneath the water.
Cursing under his breath, Miguel followed quickly behind, but she’d already shifted into her seal form and was off like a shot. He transformed in a flash and followed her, careful not to let her out of his sight in the murky depths, though she stayed closer to the surface than he would have. Each time she breached to take a breath, he kept her in his sights and was just a short distance behind her.
He wasn’t racing. He was watching over her path. Protecting. Making sure she got wherever she was going as safely as possible. They swam quite a way toward the distant island when she came up for air and then stopped to tread water. He rose to the surface, shifting form as he broke the surface so he could breathe the air and see what had caught her attention. She shifted a short distance from him, retaking her human form as well. He was watching her when she turned to him.
“Why did you stop?” he asked, his voice low, his gaze questioning.
She turned to him and tilted her head. “Don’t you feel that?”
“Feel what?” he asked.
Deidre’s lips parted, but before she could answer, the island disappeared. Between one blink and another, it was gone. Nothing but ocean remained where the cliffs had stood.
“It’s gone.” Her voice was a whisper in the night.
“What?” He shook his head a little, then realized what she meant. The island in the distance was gone again. He did a double take just to confirm, but there was no island in sight. “Son of a…”
They were both silent for a moment, contemplating the empty horizon. Then she shook her head.
“Well, that was a waste.” She sounded so forlorn, he felt the impulse to comfort her.
“No, it wasn’t. We got to swim together, which I enjoyed very much. And we got to spend a little more time together, away from your nosey cousins.”
He grinned, hoping she would do the same. After a moment, she did.
“I’m really sorry about them,” she apologized again for her extended family’s behavior toward him. “I’m sure they mean well.”
“I’m certain they do,” Miguel allowed. “And you have nothing to apologize for. In my country, men are taught to be protective of women from the cradle. At least, my brother and I were. I’m not sure what’s going on there now. It’s been many years since I’ve been back. There is nothing for me there now. The only family I have left is Jose, and we’ve been working and traveling together the past few decades.”
“That’s good,” she said softly, moving a little bit closer, though there was still several feet of water between them. “It’s good to have family around, even if they do butt in a bit too much sometimes.”
Her smile enchanted him, but they were very far from the boat, and he wanted to see her safely back—or at least closer to the boat—before he made a move, hoping for more. Though he wasn’t sure he’d get past her nosey cousins. Still, he was willing to try to walk the gauntlet if she gave him the signal that she was receptive. Being with her was fast becoming his one and only goal, regardless of any consequences that might result.
That thought should have given him pause, but oddly, it didn’t. Even his inner shark was on board with spending as much time as possible with the sexy selkie. It was the first time in his recollection that his shark had formed an opinion on any of the females he’d been around. Mostly, the shark was indifferent to his human side’s libido. The fact that it was urging him on in pursuit of Deidre was…interesting. And possibly a little concerning, though he chose to ignore that for now.
He wanted her, and he was going to have her if she agreed. Let the chips fall where they may after that.
“I guess we should start back,” he said, looking from her to the boat in the distance.
“Where do you think the island went?” she surprised him by asking.
He looked back at her beautiful face with that gorgeous red hair slicked back, showing him her classic bone structure. He wanted to lean forward and kiss the tip of her pert little nose, but he refrained.
“I have no clue,” he replied, unable to take his eyes off her. “Some sort of magic. Or maybe it was just a simple optical illusion. I really don’t know.”
“But you’ve seen the island before, right?”
He nodded. “A few times. But usually, it’s when I’m working, and I can’t just take off and investigate. Not when I’m on the clock.”
“It’s a shame we couldn’t have gotten closer tonight,” she said, looking back toward where the island had been. Then she shrugged. “Still, there’s no use moaning about it. Let’s swim back to the boat.”
“Okay, but no racing this time,” he told her, smiling. “Let’s enjoy the water and the moon dappling its light through it.”
She looked at him from the corner of her eye, her head tilted coquettishly. “I had no idea you had a poetic soul, Miguel.”
“There is a great deal still for you to discover about me,” he teased right back. “And for me to discover about you.”
“I look forward to it.”
She grinned at him and set out swimming at a leisurely pace in her human form before eventually shifting back to her seal shape and dipping below the surface. He joined her there, shifting as his body was engulfed fully by the water.
They swam back together, the seal playfully circling around him from time to time before surfacing for air and then coming back down to join him. He loved watching her swim at his side. She was so graceful in both of her forms. He was quickly becoming entranced by her.
When they got closer to the boat, he was well aware of the other selkies on patrol, and even a few of his brethren swimming lazily in the area. They didn’t intercept him and Deidre, but he was certain they made note of their passing. Let them wonder what he and Deidre had gotten up to—or were about to get up to, if she gave him the invitation he so desired.
When they reached one of the ladders on the side of the boat, they both shifted shape and surfaced, pausing just beneath the ladder. She was so beautiful, she nearly took his breath away, and he found himself unable to speak, though his heart was hoping she would invite him to prolong the evening. He’d never enjoyed a simple date more than this one.
“Do you want to come back to my stateroom for a nightcap? I have a bottle of good Irish whiskey from home. One of my uncles bought a distillery about a hundred years ago, and he’s been perfecting his craft ever since.”
“That sounds interesting,” he replied, unable to say much more than that as his insides heated with desire.
“Just follow me,” she said and launched herself up the ladder, at the same time allowing him to get a good look at her naked form. If that wasn’t a luscious invitation, he didn’t know what was.
Great. Now he was going to have to board the boat sporting wood. Anyone who saw him would know that he had the hots for Deidre. Of course, they had probably figured that out already. Their date had been monitored by most of the selkies already. Only in the water had they been able to find a little bit of privacy.