They’d discovered dragons weren’t naturally at home in the water. She could swim, but wasn’t comfortable with it. Now Alex could prove his ability to help her by fixing this problem.
Speckles of sunlight dotted the sea floor under the island’s coastal ledge. The boulders overhead and the sandy bottom below left only a few feet of swimming space between them, but the outgoing tide created air pockets in the gaps among the rocks. Every minute, he expelled the water from the snorkel and took several deep breaths through one of the holes between the boulders.
He glanced back and gathered his bearings from Elaina’s wavy form leaning over the Revenge’s side. Erosion had dug out a larger section under the rocky shelf than he’d thought, but his mask made it difficult to judge perspective. The shifting tide pushed and pulled him, and he verified his position with the boat every few minutes.
An odd splash caught his attention, and he made his way in that direction. Each wave swirled in an opening under the shelf and then made its way out with a whoosh.
Please let this be it. As he neared, the cavity in the wall revealed itself bigger than it appeared, the slanting rock face distorting its size. The gap was definitely big enough for a person. That had to be the place.
He pulled off his gear and swam back to the boat to fetch Elaina. Despite her lack of swimming talent, she didn’t need to breathe as much as humans—which explained why being encased in concrete by the mafia wouldn’t kill her right away—and she could safely join him in checking out the cave.
She poked over the side of the boat, anxiety tightening her features. “See anything?”
“I think I found it. I didn’t go inside, but I found an opening big enough to be a cave entrance. ”
A splash punctuated the end of his sentence, her jump into the water landing her beside him. He replaced his snorkel, and together they plunged under the shelf.
She hadn’t bothered with snorkeling equipment and crawled along the ocean bottom rather than attempting to swim. At the opening, she lifted herself over the bottom edge and climbed inside.
He cracked a glow stick and jabbed his snorkel through a break in the rocky ledge. After an extra deep breath, he followed her into the dark.
The feeble green light of his glow stick reflected off the sides of the passage, and the fog coating the inside of his mask didn’t help him see their destination either. He felt his way along more than anything. At first, the rough walls sloped down, but then they curved upward, giving him hope of an air pocket ahead.
Not a minute too soon, the tunnel opened into a small cave overhead. He launched off the rocks and breached the water surface, gulping air.
In contrast, Elaina wasn’t breathing heavy at all. “Oh, Alex, you were right.”
Desperate for oxygen, he hadn’t removed his fogged-over mask yet, but at her words, he slid off the mask.
A skeleton sprawled on a ledge in front of him.
His arms pinwheeled across the water. “Jesus!”
Her mouth curved into a mischievous grin. “How much you want to bet he was stabbed in the back?”
“Ha ha.” At least his voice was steady, and the stick’s pale glow hid the extent of his heebie-jeebies. The romanticized version of pirates was better than reality.
The cave was about ten feet across, but looked bigger because the side walls cut deeper above the waterline to create a rocky bench around the perimeter. Elaina clenched his forearm and focused behind him.
“I’ve never felt anything like this.”
Trembles traveled into his arm from her fingers, and he tucked her into a protective embrace. “What is it?”
“I can see it, and I can sense it.”
Her features screwed into a grimace, and he turned his back on the skeleton and checked out the other end of the cave. A large wooden chest sat on the shelf opposite the deceased pirate.
Alex lifted the glow stick for a better view. The green glow reflected off something through gaps in the dark, rotted wood.
She groaned. “But I can’t get closer to it.”
“What do you mean?”
“The protections around that chest are stronger than a bank vault.” She noted the skeleton behind them. “Someone died to secure this place’s secret. That created a barrier I can’t get past.”
“Like an invisible wall?”
“I could manipulate the metal walls of a safe, but this I can’t touch. Literally. Whatever is inside there doesn’t think it’s been abandoned. The more I think about trying to claim it”—a quiver racked her body, making her point—“the more it pushes back, refusing to surrender to me.”
“I’ll make it happen.” He passed her the glow stick. “Hold this for me.”
He swam one-handed and towed her with his other arm. By the time they were directly in front of the chest, her trembles had intensified into full-body shudders.
“You okay?”
She shook her head, unable to speak.
“You want me to keep going?”
She met his gaze with soft, pleading eyes. He had a bad feeling about this, but he had to help her. No matter what.
He kept a tight grip on her forearm with one hand and heaved himself onto the ledge with the other. A seizure almost took her from his grasp. The glow stick fell from her fingers and rolled to a stop a few feet under the water along the curving cave walls. Before he lost her too, he hoisted her onto his lap.
Spasms threatened to send her back into the water, and he wrapped her in a firm embrace. “I have you.”
He sat her facing forward on his lap and edged them closer. The light from the submerged stick was fainter now, but his vision had adjusted to the near darkness.
Up close, the chest’s wood rot looked even worse. He bound one arm securely around Elaina and tapped the lid. The trunk collapsed like a house of cards. The rusty lock, hinges, and metal supports clattered to the rocky shelf.
As he’d suspected, the chest had held its form but none of its structure.
He brushed away the wood shreds and revealed a large pile of silver coins. Every legend of the Caribbean pirates came back to him at the sight of the Spanish dollars.
“Pieces of eight.” He picked up one and angled it to catch the light from below.
The date was 17-something, but the glow was too dim to make out the rest. The opposite side displayed the name “Phillip V.” If these were from the reign of King Phillip V, that would put the timeframe for this treasure hideout in the first part of the 1700s, which coincided with the golden age of piracy in the area.
He tossed the coin onto the pile and squeezed Elaina against his chest. “What now? Can you summon it from here?”
Her body shook a negative answer.
“Can you reach out to it?”
He couldn’t see her face, but her shaking increased.
“Should I place your hand on it?”
Her head bumped his chin, which he assumed meant she was nodding.
He took her wrist and stretched her arm toward the coins. When he set her palm on the silver, her arm jerked away, like from a hot burner.
“Oh-kay. Do I need to hold it there for you?”
“Yeh—” Her teeth clacked together.
“Shh, it’s okay. We’ll figure this out.”
He grasped her wrist again and placed her hand on the pile. Her muscles fought against him, and her body tried to escape his hold.
Was she in pain? The thought hollowed his chest, and he let her struggle wrench their arms back.
“You want me to do this, right? Even though it’s hard or painful or whatever?”
Her head rocked against his chin again. Shit. He was going to have to force her, and the whole time, she was going to suffer.
But now was the time for him to prove they could trust each other. He had to trust that this was what she needed, and if watching her in distress put him through hell... Well, he loved her enough to go through hell.
He forced her hand back onto the mound. She was strong, damn strong. He leaned forward, shoving their torsos toward the silver and forcing her hand deeper into the coins. Air huffed between her teeth, her lungs spasming and hyperventilating.
An odd sound started deep in her throat, like a burbling motorboat. He couldn’t see her expression to know what effect this was having on her, but it couldn’t be good.
“If you want me to stop, smack me in the head or something.”
Her muscles stiffened, as though determined to see this through. She’d claim these coins even if it meant using a mixture of brute force and determination. The sound grew louder, working its way up her throat.
A shriek ripped from her body. The cry echoed against the cave walls, shredding his eardrums. But he knew her agony was countless times worse. The scream continued, tearing from her throat, seemingly splitting her in half.
The sound destroyed him. The last thing he’d ever wanted to do was cause her pain, and now he was causing it, prolonging it, and forcing it.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry...”
Her yell changed volume only when she drew more air to keep it going, and her body shook violently in his arms.
He wanted to tell her that he couldn’t do this anymore. He couldn’t hurt her. He couldn’t watch her be hurt.
But if he backed out, she’d starve.
On the other hand, was this killing her? All the times he’d worried about his accidental rough treatment, she’d told him he couldn’t hurt her. She’d lied.
Now he was hurting her. On purpose.
How could he do this to her?
Light flashed, blinding his dark-adjusted eyes, and an electric shock laid him flat on his back along the rocky bench. His ears rang in the silent darkness. She lay limp in his arms.
“Elaina?” He jostled her and blinked, straining to make out her shape. “Elaina?”
No answer.
Oh God, no, no, no. A crushing weight held him in its grasp, like fingers of stone squeezing away his life. He sat up and drew her closer, unable to see if she was breathing.
“Come on, beautiful, stay with me.” He lightly slapped her cheek. “Please, Elaina.”
“Yeah?” Her slow, satisfied drawl told him what he needed to know.
The weight released him, and he sagged against the stone. Unconcerned that she’d notice his trembling, he hugged her tight and rocked back and forth.
“Thank God you’re okay. Thank God you’re okay.”
“Oh yeah, I’m good. Really, really good.” She twisted in his hold and nuzzled his neck. “How are you?”
“Freaked the hell out, but glad you’re all right.”
She pressed on his shoulders until he lay on the rough ledge, and then she straddled him. The light filling the cave was now blue instead of the glow stick’s green. And it was coming from her. But when she rolled her hips and spread her fingers across his chest, he decided against interrupting her intentions to point out that her eyes weren’t just glowing, but literally emitting light.
She leaned forward, and her breath hissed in his ear. “I’m better than all right.” Her hips circled, pressing into his rapidly hardening cock. “And it’s all thanks to you. My hero.”
“It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Liar.” She nibbled his ear lobe.
He sucked in a gulp of air. “Okay, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I hated the thought of hurting you.”
Her teeth nicked his neck. “Pain is often close to pleasure.”
He closed his eyes, ignoring their surroundings and the reminder of what happened here. Not to mention the skeleton a few feet away.
“I like pleasure a lot more than pain.”
Her nails trailed down his abs, and she circled his cock in his swim trunks. “Hmm, it feels as though you’re up for pleasure right now.”
In answer, he pulled off her bikini top and let her breasts fill his palms. Her throaty moan reverberated in the cave, setting his blood on fire. His hands slid to her ass and pried the stretchy fabric down her hips.
She knelt for a moment to remove her bikini bottom and returned the favor with his bathing suit. Cool air drifted over him, and water evaporated from his now-exposed skin. Before he could brace himself against the cold, her wet warmth surrounded him, taking him inside her.
Forget foreplay. Forget their arguments. Forget their lies.
The successful acquisition must have been enough of a turn-on for her to overcome practicalities. She pinned his wrists to the rock. Between her rush of energy, glowing eyes, and sexually charged mood, she clearly wanted to take control.
For once, he relaxed and let her lead. After nearly mistreating her on the boat, letting her lead was probably safer anyway. He didn’t trust his shaky emotions.
“You’re the most amazing and incredible man.” She slid up and down on him, spreading her moisture. “I owe you everything.”
“No, you d—”
Her teeth latched onto his lip in warning. “Shh. I’m talking now.” Her hips lifted and pressed again.
He knew better than to argue, or even acknowledge her statement. Instead, he drank in the vision above him.
The sexiest woman on the planet was riding him, and although he’d lied to her, failed her, and caused her pain, she still wanted to be with him. Her rhythm increased, and she sat up, tossing her hair over her shoulder. She bit her lip in a sign of pleasure matching his.
He loved this woman. Far beyond just her looks, he loved her mind, her strength, and her determination.
The fierce expression on her face as she came drove him over the edge. He broke from her hold and dug his fingers into her hips, yanking her down for one last stroke, and then he let himself go.
A grunting yell escaped with his release. “God, I love you!”
Instead of reacting badly to his proclamation, she bent down to kiss him. “I know.” She settled her head on his chest and gave a satisfied sigh. “And if I could love anyone, it would be you.”
He hugged her and heard the words he knew she really meant. She loved him. More than she even thought herself capable of, she loved him.
And that secret knowledge was enough.
Elaina climbed the anchor’s rope, her body too heavy to swim to the surface. Alex had joined in her giddiness by decorating her body with coins, where they bonded to her skin for easy carrying. Despite the weight, she easily hauled herself up, strengthened by the addition to her hoard.
By far, that had been the most difficult claiming she’d ever attempted, and her success had repaid the effort a hundred times over. Now that the stress from worrying about her next meal had vanished, she could relax and figure out how to stay safe with Alex.
The boat rocked as he helped her over the edge. A teasing glint lit his face. “With all those coins plastering you from head to toe, you’re like a walking silver statue. It’s, uh, an interesting look for you.”
“Be nice, or I won’t let you help me take them off when we get back to the cottage.”
He chuckled and brought up the anchor and set out to their beach. A sleek racing sailboat, the Revenge could be sailed singlehandedly.
She settled onto the bench out of his way and watched him work from under her lowered lashes. Their days in the sun had bronzed his skin into a delicious shade, and he almost never wore a shirt anymore. Daily swimming and sailing had sculpted his muscles into mouthwatering perfection.
She licked her lips, but even the distraction of his gorgeousness couldn’t stop her thoughts from replaying the events in the cave. His acquiescence to her aggressiveness confirmed her suspicion of how hard that situation had been for him.
Normally, he’d have retaken control at some point, but he’d been rattled. Badly.
Love was more complicated and nuanced than she’d guessed. His understanding of her need—and his reaction to her pain—proved once more how much he loved her. Not that she really had any doubts, despite the lies.
Back at the cottage, the coins slowly overfilled her lockbox, and he worshiped each inch of her body revealed under the circles. Unlike his, her skin didn’t tan, and the white sparkles of her microscopic scales matched the silver.
An unfamiliar feeling crept over her at his reverence. Beyond mere happiness, the idea that this bliss could survive anything and last forever bubbled into her thoughts. If that trial hadn’t damaged their relationship, maybe her inability to love didn’t matter.
Maybe this was real.