Page 73 of The Mating Claim
Then the dolphin dove beneath the sea water and he felt something push him hard, towards Lacey. So hard he was caught off guard, and landed in herarms.
Drust wrapped his arms around her to steady them both, while the dolphin swamaway.
Lacey’s expression turned toconcern.
“Hey are you ok? That wasodd.”
“Fine.” He liked this, his arms around her, holding her soft body close, no one else around. No duties, no one shrieking at him they needed help. Just the two of them, as if they were alone in theworld.
It had been so long since he’d held a woman in his arms. Too long, and yet he’d had little desire to pursue the opposite sex for a brief fling in his bed. Somehow it seemed tawdry and cheap, and he wanted somethingmore.
Needed something more, as if it were not enough to placate his body’sneeds.
He couldn’t help himself. Drust placed a single, brief kiss on her wet mouth. Lacey’s eyes widened and she licked her lips, but she did not drawaway.
Hedid.
“We should return to the house. It’s getting late and you need dinner.” Drust looked upward at the sky. “I thought I’d grill you steak, or fresh salmon, whatever you prefer, and then we can go to the beach again to watch thesunset.”
Her expression turned radiant. “I’d love that. Steak is great. Thankyou.”
They swam back toshore.
Neither of them noticed the dolphin silently swimming to a pelican hovering in the air. The pelican shifted into a figure in black, floating on the air above the saltywaters.
Tristan smiled as he watched Drust and Lacey. Sometimes even old friends needed a little help. He conjured a fish, tossed the fat treat to the dolphin, now rearing its head above the water.“Well done. Go, join your podnow.”
The dolphin gulped down the fish, nodded, and swam off, leaving the Silver Wizard alone, floating on the air above the Gulf. And then he too vanished, snapping his fingers and disappearing into thinair.
Lacey didn’t knowwhat to make of the ColdfireWizard.
Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine having this formidable, nearly omnipotent being as ahousemate.
Cooking herdinner!
That moment in the water as well. No, several moments in the water. He’d seemed younger and much more fun. And when she’d admired his new hair length, he left it thatway.
Flattering for certain. Oddly touching as well, for she suspected she’d found a vulnerable chink in his battle armor he showed to theworld.
Drust liked her. Lacey felt like a schoolgirl with her first crush. No denying his reaction, though, when they’d flirted in the water. And his kiss, so brief and yetsensual…
Every female nerve ending fired with sweet anticipation andhope.
And then he’d drawn away. Talk about disappointment. And yet she knew it was for the best. As much as she quivered with anticipation when he drew near, deep inside she knew her feelings bordered on dangerous. One thing to become vulnerable to a twatwaffle like her ex, who only wanted sex she refused to givehim.
Another to bare herself, body and soul, to a wizard with the power to end her life. She didn’t have the emotional strength for that leap offaith.
Make a wish, he’d toldher.
And so she silently wished they’d always be together, forever. The wish of the deepest recesses of her heart, not the whimsical one about him wearing akilt.
She could not voice aloud the wish, for it was too precious, too intimate and filled with yearning, the same yearning she’d experienced in those dreams where they had been together in a pastlife.
Far easier to pretend she did not care as much aboutDrust.
Less chance of gettinghurt.
As she sat on a lounge chair at the downstairs veranda watching Drust grill two thick steaks, she had to admit she enjoyed beingpampered.
