Anna J. Evans - Off The Deep End.pdf - Anna J. Evans - SilverWitch

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Off the Deep End

ISBN # 1-4199-0668-2

Edited by Heather Osborn.

Cover art by Syneca.

Electronic book Publication: June 2006

This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written

permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is

purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

Warning:

The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This story has been rated E

–rotic by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic),

and X (X-treme).

S- ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

E- rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word

count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable,

such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most

graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”,

“pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

X- treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles,

stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

O FF THE D EEP E ND

Anna J. Evans

Chapter One

Caitlyn had been dreaming about this vacation for four months. Since the last

Christmas present under her lonely little tree had been unwrapped, she’d spent every

moment anticipating the sun on her skin, the cool feel of a margarita in her hand, the

sweet caress of a salty breeze. She’d been sure the soothing combination would finally

banish the stress and sadness that had been her constant companions since her software

company had transferred her to Anchorage, Alaska, last fall.

Geez… Alaska .

It was an extraordinarily beautiful state, but a horrible place to live if you happened

to be an unabashedly fanatical sun worshiper. The subzero temperatures were bad

enough, but the long hours of darkness were unbearable. Her coworkers kept telling her

to hold out until May, and then she’d have seventeen hours of sunlight with highs in the

balmy fifties, but she couldn’t wait another month for a break from the winter weather.

“Fifty sch-sch-schmifty,” Caitlyn stuttered, unable to believe anyone could consider

a temperature under seventy-five balmy.

“Can I get you another towel?” the older woman working the cabana asked,

probably noticing Caitlyn’s teeth chattering over the reggae music.

“No, I’m f-f-f-fine, thank you.” Caitlyn sighed, pulling her striped beach blanket

more tightly around her shoulders and rising from her lounge chair.

It was nearly dusk, and there was no sense lounging when there was no sun to bask

in. San Diego had been pounded with spring storms since the day she arrived at the

Sand Piper Resort and Spa. The highs the past three days had been in the low fifties, the

entire staff of the spa had called in sick and the restaurant by the beach had shut down

due to general lack of interest. Even the margarita machine was on the fritz. Caitlyn hadn

’t been out of her hotel room for more than an hour at a time. There was nowhere to go

except the lobby, and as much as she enjoyed listening to people answer telephones…

“At least I can get some exercise before the rain starts in again,” she muttered to

herself, pulling on her sandals and setting off toward the beach.

Even with the dark gray clouds hovering on the horizon, the white sand was calling

her name. She’d spent the first ten years of her life in Miami and never lost her love for

beaches, summer clothing year ‘round and one hundred-degree days with

poach-your-brain-like-an-egg humidity. There was nothing quite like wearing nothing

but a sundress while you walked down the beach, feeling sweat trickle between your

breasts as the bridge of your nose started to burn.

“You are not waxing poetic about sweat and sunburns,” Caitlyn said, knowing she

would have been able to muster up a laugh at her own expense if she hadn’t stupidly

packed nothing but sundresses.

Get off the beach!

The voice sounded in her head with enough volume to make her jump. She had

been talking to herself a lot since the move, but she had yet to hear herself talking back.

Especially in a booming male voice that echoed between her ears.

“Maybe it’s my inner masculine,” Caitlyn said, struggling to recall her college class

on Jungian theory, while shaking off the dizziness that had followed the mental shout.

Run back to the grass! Get off the beach, woman!

Before Caitlyn could yell at her inner masculine voice for being chauvinistic enough

to use the word “woman” as an insult, a slap of cold water hit her mid-thigh and

knocked her to the ground.

“Oh c-c-crap,” Caitlyn gasped, the water so cold it immediately began to numb her

legs and hands.

She floundered in the newly wet sand as the huge wave surged away from the shore,

taking one of her sandals with it.

“No way,” she gasped, still out of breath from the shock of the cold water, but

determined to rescue her new, sparkly, on-sale-for-half-off gold sandal from the cruel

clutches of the Pacific Ocean. She so rarely treated herself to anything frivolous, she

couldn’t bear to lose her fancy footwear before it even saw the light of a sunny day.

Run, damn you! Are you mad?

Something about the sheer incredulity of the voice in her head made Caitlyn take her

attention away from her rapidly retreating sandal, and up to the wave in front of her.

“Oh. My. God,” she whispered, her gray eyes growing impossibly large as she

realized, with a strange mix of peacefulness and despair, that she was about to meet her

maker.

Her last foolish thought before the enormous tidal wave crashed over her head was

a regretful one. And for that, she was a little sad. Still, she couldn’t believe God had

taken her out without at least one final day in the sunshine. She had prayed for that day,

prayed for it with every ounce of her being.

But if there was one thing she should have learned from her rotten childhood, it was

that a great number of prayers went unanswered and that God probably didn’t like

red-haired people.

Or maybe it was just her.

* * * * *

Lukas swam toward the woman with all the power in his body. But even with over

two hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle on his six-foot-four frame, he doubted he’

d make it in time. The water would be deathly cold to a mortal woman, especially one

so terribly thin.

At least they should feed their women if they won’t let them rule.

The ways of modern humans were a complete mystery to his people. The

Illuminated had been led by female rulers since time immemorial, the crown always

passing from mother to daughter. There was equality between the sexes, without a

doubt, and most of their warriors were male, but there were just some things that the

female of the species were more skilled at accomplishing.

A good ruler had to have the ability to multitask and juggle a variety of roles

simultaneously. Most of the men Lukas knew, himself included, had a more limited

focus. Males tended to fixate on the job at hand until it was accomplished, and Goddess

forbid you asked them to do anything else until they were finished, whether it be

tending to the needs of their lover, feeding their children or chewing a mouthful of

seaweed.

A wave of bitterness as large as the one he currently fought against rose within

Lukas as he thought of the father he had never known and the lifemate he himself had

never spared the time to find. He was as bad as the man he had resented for abandoning

his mother. Of course, in this situation, his single-mindedness might save this woman’s

life.

With a last ferocious kick, Lukas found himself within inches of the woman with the

long, wavy red hair. Her already pale face was now a ghostly white and the curly locks

that had looked so alive and vibrant when dry floated darkly around her head, twining

about her neck as if to finish the job the ocean had started. Quickly, he let one arm

encircle her narrow waist as the other swept the hair away from her throat. He pulled her

close, fighting the urge to moan as her soft curves melded against him and the wave

spun them in a swift circle, mimicking the spiral of desire that was beginning to grow

low in Lukas’ body.

The woman was near death. This was not the time to be thinking of how it would

feel to part those pale thighs and slide his aching shaft deep inside her, of how perfect

her softness would feel clinging to him, how erotic her fingers would feel clenching his

buttocks as she helped him find the rhythm that would make her come. Goddess, it had

been far too long since he’d felt the slick heat of a woman if he couldn’t even keep his

mind on the task at hand.

Still, there was no denying that she would be warmer without the clothes that clung

to her small frame, if she were pressed tightly against his own bare skin, able to absorb

his heat directly. As he deftly untied the straps that held her dress together, Lukas told

himself it was purely concern for her life that motivated his actions, not the fact that he

was suddenly half mad to see her bared to his gaze.

Sweet Goddess…

She was even more lovely without her covering—thin, but perfectly proportioned,

with pale, peach-colored nipples that pebbled in the cold water, begging Lukas to taste

them. His mouth practically watered at the thought and his traitorous cock pulsed with

need despite the chill of the ocean, but there was no time to waste. Still, he had to

struggle harder than he would have liked to ignore the fact that the waves had washed

away the scrap of fabric human women used to cover their sex, and that she was

completely nude as he pulled her bare skin tightly to his own.

Open for me.

Lukas spoke the words softly into her mind as he brought his face close to hers,

brushing noses gently, teasing her lips with his using the softest pressure. There was

still air inside her lungs, he could sense it in the buoyancy of her body. If she was

conscious enough to take the Breath Kiss from him, he could make sure she didn’t

drown while they made their way to warmer waters.

For a moment, there was no response, not even the slightest shifting of her limbs to

reveal that she was still fighting to stay among the living. Lukas felt desperation quicken

his own breath. He couldn’t lose this woman. She was a stranger, a mortal, but

something within him demanded that she live. Perhaps it was because he had failed to

warn her to safety, or that the wave and the battle that had caused it were entirely his

doing. Or maybe it was simply that she fit so perfectly in his arms. Whatever the

reasons, the overwhelming need to pull her back from death made him hold her tighter,

made him plead with his mind for her to try, just a little.

Kiss me. Open your mouth and let me taste you.

Just when Lukas was beginning to fear that his command would be ignored, the

mortal made a sound low in her throat and arched in his arms, pressing her lips to his

own.

And what sweet lips they were. Lukas felt a primal sound of need burst from his

body as he clung to the woman, his tongue parting her lips and tasting the sweet flavor

of strawberries mingling with the salty ocean. Weak as she was, he was surprised when

her tongue met his with equal urgency, swirling through his mouth before she suckled

at his bottom lip, drawing her teeth over the sensitive skin with a fierceness that had

Lukas’ already stiffened shaft fully engorged and pulsing hungrily against her slim

hips.

He felt her hands tangling in his hair and moaned again, giving in to the temptation

to slide one hand down to her firm ass and clench his fingers into her flesh. She ground

against him with a need that rivaled his own and Lukas wondered if they would make it

to warmer water or mate right there in the middle of the freezing ocean. He was

struggling to control himself, to make sure his temptress was safe from hypothermia

before they took their mutual lust any further, when that unnameable essence within

him suddenly burst from his chest, traveling down her throat, into her lungs, giving her

the Breath Kiss.

He felt the change in the tension of her limbs immediately. She stopped her writhing

against his cock, and her entire body grew limp and relaxed before her eyes opened,

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