Deeper Than the Ocean PP 1 Read online

  The spots in front of her eyes appeared in a variety of colors, her brain desperate and conjuring more reminders that hey, some air would be good. Slamming her eyelids shut, she wanted to cry, but she kicked feebly again instead. If anything, her body drifted down instead of up.

  She was not going out like this. Not like this!

  Di kicked again, but she couldn't tell if she moved because she couldn't feel her legs.

  Thoughts of the Sea Anemone, the silver coin and her life's goals filtered through her mind. For some reason, she thought of that man who'd been swimming underwater with her a few minutes ago.

  And then she thought of nothing at all.

  Chapter Two

  On her hands and knees, Di swayed with the steadiness of a drunkard. Her stomach lurched and brought up more saltwater. She'd already tried crawling to the ledge and leaning over it, but her weakened body refused to obey. Instead, Di suffered through her coughing and sputtering on the deck of the boat. She shivered uncontrollably, but lacked the strength to do anything about it.

  Pulling up her head, she peered once again into the silver eyes of the man hanging on to the aft near the engine. "Who are you?" she croaked. Her mouth tasted like the ass end of a dog. Besides that, she fought the horrible urge to curl up and go to sleep on the spot.

  Not that it mattered who he was or how he got there. No one had to tell her she owed him her life. She'd felt those last moments right before death pulled her into its warm embrace. To her surprise, she awoke instead, in his.

  He should have been freezing. The sun had long since sunk beneath the horizon and she knew how cold the water had been minutes before the sunset. He didn't appear affected though. He just watched her through cool eyes, bobbing in the green-black ocean water.

  Long, dark hair framed his face. Thick, black lashes dripped water onto his cheeks, but it didn't faze him. His features were well-defined; his face a map of angles and lines.

  She would have guessed him of maybe Scandinavian descent based on his pale skin, but his dark features marred that image.

  To her complete surprise, he hauled himself over the back end of the boat before she'd had a chance to finish analyzing his face. And sweet, sweet Mary, she now had a very up close and personal view of the rest of him. All of him, starting with the broad shoulders and chiseled torso, right down to the lovely column of flesh hanging between muscled thighs.

  Breathe, woman. You've seen a penis before. But oh, my God…

  Her shivering became secondary to the immediate need to stand and back away … or get closer, depending on a number of things.

  "What are you doing?"

  He side-stepped her and the mess she'd made and walked past her. Not exactly walked. He stumbled along, looking as shaky as she felt. Gripping the safety rail running along the boat kept him upright.

  Great. Her rescuer was three sheets to the wind.

  "Hey," she called, managing to inch her way into a new position that gave her access to see whatever it was he was doing. "Where do you think you're going?"

  She had a tantalizing view of his backside as he ducked inside the cabin. Her shivering had subsided a little, but her stupid legs still refused to help her move closer.

  By the time he stepped out a minute later, she ached from the effort to move. She hoped like hell he only planned on robbing her because if he tried anything else, she doubted she'd have the strength to attempt to stop him.

  Her mouth fell open when she spied the bundle in his arms. He still staggered, but he made his way to her and dropped the blanket over her shoulders. "More careful next time," he murmured.

  With shaking hands, she burrowed deeper into the blanket. "Thank you," she said with an ache of gratitude knotting her throat. Who knew a square of material could feel so good? Maybe she would curl up beneath it, right here. Just a little nap.

  She forced her eyes to open wider when he dipped his chin and stood. She looked up just in time to watch him cast his legs over the edge of the boat and push off. But not before she saw his whisper of a smile.

  * * * *

  Danyl had never seen one up close before. A human. A real, honest to gods human had been in his arms. He'd never met Ancelin, his demi-god father, although his mother said he resembled him. When she was alive, she talked of Ancelin with a far-away look in her eyes, despite the many years they'd been apart. It'd been a brief affair, but she'd loved him with the force of a hurricane. Danyl had never understood the passion she still felt for his father, but after holding that woman, he started to have some idea.

  She'd been soft and her skin so smooth. He thought human anatomy, those odd legs of theirs, would disgust him, but that had been far from the case. Unlike maids, she covered her breasts with triangles of stretchy material. It did little to disguise hardened nipples beneath. Since similar material covered the juncture between her legs, could that have been her genital slit? The scent of that place, again different from maids, yet at the same time still seductive, made him want to slide his nose there. Maybe insert his tongue for a taste.

  He groaned. The very idea aroused him.

  He swam circles beneath the boat now, unable to justify why he lingered when he had other matters to tend to. But she'd been so pretty. Far from what he'd ever imagined.

  When he returned to the merfolk city, the library would be his first stop. He wanted to know more. Let the others continue to mock him for spending so much time there. He'd spoken to that human, knew a little about her vessel and might have a chance to test his knowledge again. It had taken his brain a minute to catch up, but thank the gods for his deity lineage. Who knew the gifts of language, of shifting and a myriad of others the mer-people found useless would serve him now?

  The reasons for staying here were twofold, at least. The key rested somewhere in this vicinity if the hags were to be believed. He could do more than one thing at a time, right?

  He'd search for the key while keeping an eye on her until she left. Although, what was this protective feeling he'd adopted? Frail humans survived long enough without any sort of help from his kind. Despite his curiosity, she'd fare well enough without him.

  But where'd that thought been when he watched her sink earlier? Poseidon claimed her little body for his own, but Danyl interfered, the consequences to be damned. No doubt, there would be a consequence to interfering.

  Wait, he thought, tightening his jaw. He needed to concentrate. The death of his mother, Simeona, must be treated with the respect it deserved and lust for a human offered none. It'd taken weeks to find a way to get to Ancelin, even with Gagan's help.

  The time to meter out justice grew nearer. Concentrate.

  Danyl glanced at the bewitched coral slate, whispered the magical word, and waited for the glow that marked the trail he needed to follow. It grew brighter as expected, but instead of forming a thin line for him to follow, the glow pulsed like a heartbeat. His own heart lurched.

  It was here. Somewhere so close the slate could not pinpoint, the key rested.

  He kicked his tail, keeping his attention on the slate. No matter which direction he moved though, the slate brought him right back to his original position. The boat floated above, and darkness greeted him below. And somewhere in between, vengeance waited.

  He dove deep, ignoring the change in water pressure that made him breathe harder.

  None of the other merfolk had to work for the simple autonomic reflex, but he knew every inhalation and exhalation he'd ever taken.

  The water was cold down here. The fish no longer vibrant as higher up. But no matter how hard he searched, he could find nothing resembling a key anywhere. He swam back and forth, peering into dark places, reaching into pockets, looking for any place the key could have fallen.

  Perhaps the hags had been mistaken or had tricked him just to get him out of their sights, but that went against everything he knew about the witches. So long as he would pay their price, they offered their services.

  Gods damn it.

&nb
sp; He tilted his head toward the surface and located the belly of the vessel, which had yet to move. Odd. He'd thought she would have sought the sanctuary of land by now.

  Working in lazy spirals, he made his way toward the boat, knowing that it would move away at any moment. When it still floated in the same place by the time he reached it, his concern grew. A surge of concentrated energy transformed his tail into legs again and after a brief pause at the aft, he hauled himself over the ledge of the boat. Ignoring the immediate prickling sensation that enveloped his lower body, he took a deep breath when his first step shot a bolt of pain through him. It was somebody's idea of a joke that he could use the stupid things to walk on, but only after suffering for it for a few minutes first.

  The open area was small and the last place he'd left her. His heart hammered with every step he took, but none found her waiting. Then he remembered the little cabin and headed toward it. The door swung open and as before, a large resting area waited in the middle. This time, she lay curled up on it.

  Shivering and blue.

  This was wrong. He knew enough about humans to know she shouldn't look like this.

  Her entire body wracked with uncontrollable shudders, her breathing clumsy and rapid.

  Lids fluttered over dark eyes as she fought against something that had taken control of her body. Something to which she was losing.

  Danyl rushed to her side, and ran his hand over her shoulder, not knowing how to fix this. Glazed eyes opened wide. "S-so-so c-cold," she ground out through chattering teeth.

  "S-s-so c-cold."

  Gods, he didn't think. She wasn't used to the water he lived in. Her skin was cold to the touch. Nothing like when he'd found her not so long ago. Poseidon would have his way and claim her after all.

  Sometimes it helped to have a friend with whom to transition into the next world. He didn't know her, this human, but he would gladly serve as her guide. He'd robbed her of an easy death beneath the sea and forced her through this torment in the dry air.

  He climbed in beside her, wrapping his arms around her shivering body. His wet flesh clung to hers, but he held on to her, knowing it had to be better than nothing. Better than dying alone.

  He'd done this to her and he was so sorry. His eyes moistened and he didn't know why.

  He was just so very, very sorry.

  * * * *

  Di drifted to wakefulness, the soft bed beneath her and a… Oh, hell.

  A warm body was snuggled behind her.

  Not just a body. A man's body. There was no disguising the firm length of him—

  both kinds—pressed against her back and between her ass cheeks. One arm was draped across her belly, the other lay curled beneath her head. While her mind screamed at her to run and get away, her body purred its contentment. Trying to find some middle ground between the two, she turned her head and found herself staring into familiar silver eyes.

  "You are well?" he asked.

  A nicely-hung, sculpted hero lay beside her on the bed and he wanted to know if she was well? Cutie had no idea just how well. "Yeah," she replied on a breath. "Thanks for saving my behind. Twice, in fact."

  He broke eye contact to glance between their bodies. "It's a very nice behind. And well worth saving."

  Breathe.

  She could be outraged. She could be grateful. Instead, her body betrayed her with hardening nipples and an ache between her thighs. Thank God she still wore the drab black bikini. It provided at least an illusion of decency.

  Focus.

  "Who are you?"

  "My name's Danyl."

  "Daniel?"

  He smiled. "Close." He pronounced it again. When she mimicked the sound, he nodded his approval.

  "My friends call me Di."

  He quirked a brow at that. "Die? And what do those who aren't your friends call you?"

  "Aphrodite." Even as she said it, her nose wrinkled in distaste.

  "Ah, Di. Born of the sea," he murmured.

  She lifted a single shoulder and let it drop. "Or goddess of the sea, depending on who you ask."

  His gaze followed the motion. A strand of her hair wrapped over her shoulder and she grimaced at the frizz, but then smiled to herself. Naked dude saved her life. Twice.

  Naked dude now lay behind her in bed. And she was worried about her hair?

  Danyl curled the errant strand around his finger and pushed it aside. He kept his eyes on hers when he lowered his head and swept his mouth across her skin. The goose bumps that erupted this time had nothing to do with the temperature.

  "That's also true," he said before dropping another tender kiss. "And where I'm from, there's only one thing to do with a goddess."

  Heart thudding so loudly people the next continent over probably heard it, Di asked,

  "And what's that?"

  Danyl didn't hesitate. "Worship her."

  Chapter Three

  Oh, God. What did she say to that? Already he was kissing a trail of fire over her shoulder and down her arm. And his hand worked at the knot keeping her bikini top tied in place.

  She'd never been one to sleep with just anyone who happened by, but from the first time she'd looked into those beautiful eyes, something sparked between their bodies, connecting them on a fundamental level and elevating them to an ethereal one. But this made no sense. It couldn't be real. Friends of hers dreamed of soul mates and instant attractions, but in the real world relationships came and went, passing her by and leaving with a greater bang than that upon which they arrived.

  "Danyl, wait," she gasped, her body burning with need. It'd been so long. Did it really matter if she gave in to a whim just this one time? After another long hesitation she wanted to growl her frustration because of course it did. "I don't know you. I don't know who you are or anything … and I'm grateful, believe me I am—"

  He stopped moving, but kept her body pressed tight to his. "I want to be near you, Di. With your permission?"

  He shifted as if to kiss her body again, and despite the very warm flush it sent through her, she shook her head. "Wait."

  She couldn't think with him pressed against her, every hard inch of him a testament to his thoughts. Shimmying away, Di turned so she could face him directly.

  Only that was worse. At least before, she had the stark wall of the cabin to stare at.

  Now, she had the daunting task of gazing at his glory. He wasn't the least bit embarrassed to be nude in front of her. If she didn't know better, she'd think it was just a normal part of his life.

  "Why would you be out here in the middle of nowhere, Danyl? I know why I'm here, but you?"

  "I'm searching for something."

  "As am I."

  "The uh, map I have says it's somewhere around here."

  She narrowed her eyes. "So does mine."

  "What are you searching for?"

  "No way, buddy," she said, shaking her head. "You first."

  His mouth edged up in a reluctant smile. Then he did the most unexpected thing.

  He rolled in the opposite direction and off the bed. Her gaze dropped again to his heavy cock and for the first time she noticed the lack of hair on his body. Not on his chest. Not on his arms or legs. Definitely nowhere to be found near his shaft.

  "You are well now, goddess, so I don't feel remiss in leaving you." He backed toward the doorway and despite the protest and millions of questions poised on her lips, Di said nothing. "But I'll be back when I've found my object. And we'll continue this."

  "Danyl…"

  He grinned. "Whatever this is."

  Her heart fluttered in such an uncharacteristic show of excitement, by the time it slowed, he'd left.

  But wait. This wasn't right.

  Her boat sat in the middle of the ocean, practically in the middle of God's nowhere and this man kept appearing and disappearing like an illusion. Di unfolded her legs and climbed off the bed. At a trot, she headed toward the aft, wanting to catch him before he could vanish into thin air, or water as the case may
be, again.

  Before she could reach the door, however, the distinct sound of displaced water came from the side of the boat. She could distinguish the waves crashing against the side.

  Certainly knew the sound of a large body hitting open water. But this sound, this was the quiet welcome of a swimmer into his element. Whoever Danyl was, he knew how to handle himself in the water well.

  She tried to peer at where he might have left from, but darkness greeted her from the horizon. Although she would have loved to search for him without the use of fluorescent lighting, she flicked the switch to the running lights. The moment they illuminated, she could see everything she needed to on the boat, but was blind to anything more than a foot or two out of its circumference.

  The chill of a brisk wind electrified her exposed skin, and Di shivered. Stupid bikini had been a bad idea from the very beginning. With a sigh, she located her worn duffel bag. After a little rummaging, she pulled out a musty wetsuit and pulled it on. Better than nothing against the elements. A single bout of hypothermia was enough for one lifetime, thank you very much. The lightweight sarong she'd brought on this trip should have never even been packed. But hell, she hadn't planned on being out here all this time. In fact, she needed to get back. She had what she came for.

  A splash in the distance caught her attention and before she could catch herself, Di looked up, expectant. Her heart raced with anticipation. A few minutes of staring into the darkness, searching for him, went by before she realized what she'd been doing.

  Calm down. Why was she so hung up on this man? She had bigger fish to fry and none of them were named Danyl. It was time to head home, and see what secrets the coin provided.

  She ran through a quick mental checklist of tasks that needed to get done and set about making preparations to leave. Getting the anchor to rise this time took little effort at all. Neoprene gloves ensured her fingers didn't freeze while she worked and the wetsuit guarded against the almost frigid temperature. She didn't recall the weatherman saying the night air would drop like this, but she had no intention of getting in the water again tonight.