Just Breathe (49 page)

He propped his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “I’m so fucking proud of you, Zed. You’re amazing.”

“I have an amazing support network.” She took his hand and guided him back to the living room, marveling along the way at the blue light refracted on his skin. Imagine what sex with him would be like
now
. Her salivary glands went into full production mode. She swallowed the building anticipation.
Soon
.

Zoe stroked his arm where humpbacks swam and mermaids frolicked in blaring colors.
She
made his tattoos light up like that.
She
did!

“I can’t believe I’m an Elemental. My mind is just—blown. What am I supposed to do now? Will I have to tithe? How does everything…work?”

He slipped his thumbs through her belt loops and tugged her hips to his. “Let me help you figure it all out. Let me nurture your Water. Let me feed you. I have plenty to share.”

Her thoughts raced with the possibilities. Just touching him made her high. Sharing Water every day? God, that would be pure bliss.

As if to prove his point, he laid another kiss on her lips. His breath tickled her skin, and she folded herself into his arms. With him, she was whole.

The front door opened, and Adriene hobbled inside on her crutches. “Okay, love bugs, enough with the smoochy-smoochies.” Her jaw dropped as she looked around. “What the
hell
happened up in here?”

Oh, shit.

Gavin waved his hand. “Uh, nothing. Just had a…water pipe blow. Everything’s fine.”

“You gotta be fucking kidding me—”

“Seriously, Adriene, it’s all good. Trust me on this one.” Zoe winked. She’d have a lot of explaining to do later.

Adriene paused, gave her a funny look, and did a double take. “Did you get new contacts? Damn, girl, your eyes are blue.”

Zoe shrugged off the comment, pulled Adriene over, and hugged her. A different kind of Water flowed between them. The comforting, friend kind. Zoe was surrounded by her Element. Yeah, she could really get used to this.

“I thought you went back to America,” Gavin said.

“Hell, no. I just ran Dani and Elizabeth to the airport. My best friend and I have new jobs with Oceania Whale Trust here in Australia. I’m not going anywhere.” Adriene grinned and studied her fingernails.

“What do you mean, ‘new jobs’?” Gavin faced Zoe.

“It took a little convincing, but Adriene talked me into giving Catherine Marchand a call,” she said. “Turns out, they’ve been so busy at OWT, Catherine needs a co-researcher and another assistant for their humpback whale project in Hervey Bay. It’s not a Vice President position, but I can keep my whales
and
my Gavin.” Zoe smiled. “Plus, I got to tell Randy to take his job and shove it. You have no idea how good that felt.”

Gavin lifted a brow and grinned.

“Don’t let her fool you, Gavin. She’d never leave you. The sex is too good.” Adriene winked and high-fived him.

Zoe swatted her ass. “Adriene wasn’t going to leave either. She’s got a thing for Mike.”

Adriene’s eyes nearly popped. “I do
not
!”

“Mike is made of Grade A, undiluted trouble,” Gavin said. He opened his arms and hugged Adriene, too.

“Exactly why she wants him.” Zoe laughed.

A wistful sigh snuck out of Adriene’s mouth. “That boy is a fool. A beautiful, blond fool…”

Gavin shook his head. “Oh, hell. You’re fucked.”

Zoe squeezed him and Adriene, then let go and gestured to the waterlogged boxes. “Jack called and said he had to leave town on emergency business, but he’s planning to come back to Oz when things settle—hopefully a couple weeks from now. I gotta admit, my dad is nothing like I expected, but I can’t imagine life without him.”

“Yeah, he’s something else.” Happiness poured off Gavin in great waves and rippled into her.
Bliss.

The rumble of a car engine averted Zoe’s attention to the window. Mike.

Adriene lifted her chin. “Looks like my ride’s here. I’ll catch you two tomorrow.” She gestured to the soggy carpet. “Get this place cleaned up.”

Zoe snickered. “Will do.”

“For Chrissakes, be sure you use condoms, Adriene. God knows where Mike’s been.” Gavin opened the door for her.

When she got to the threshold, Adriene faced Zoe. “You made the right decision. I love you, my girl.”

Zoe smiled. “We
both
did. And I love you more.”

Mike jumped out of the car and waved. “Got your party hat, love?” he said to Adriene.

“Hell, yes!” She blew Zoe a kiss and hopped down the drive to the car.

Gavin shut the door and sauntered over, all lady-killer, swaggering bad boy on the prowl for a hook-up. The hunger in his eyes was unmistakable. Zoe’s Water bubbled.

“I don’t believe it.”

She skated her hands up his chest and curled them around his shoulders. “Don’t believe what?”

“We’re finally alone.” He pushed some wet hair from her face and palmed her hips. She repositioned his hands on her butt.

“What about it?” Zoe lifted the hem of her tee up and over her head, then tossed the shirt to the floor with a
slop
. She unbuckled his belt.

“We’re gonna have a hell of a lot of fun experimenting with all this Water.” His finger traced the borders of her bra.

“I think we should start with shower sex. Lots of shower sex.”

He laughed. “I fully support that plan.”

A slow grin spread across his mouth as he unhooked the bra. He slipped it off and tossed it over his shoulder. He plotted a line of kisses from her neck down to her breast. “When does the new job start?”

His gorgeous blues narrowed, and he breathed against her skin.

She inhaled hard, accidentally-on-purpose poking a nipple in front of his mouth in the process. Her lids fluttered shut when he took the bait and licked. She moaned. “Two days.”

“Good. I’ll need at least that long.” He yanked her shorts down and stroked her core.

Jesus, she’d never even considered what the Water would do for her there.

He grinned and latched onto the nipple again.

“Sounds like I might need a few days to recover…” She lowered his zipper with calculated, agonizing slowness and pushed everything south of his waist to the carpet. Shaft in hand, she stroked. “But you will, too.”

“God, I hope so.” He stepped out of the tangle of clothing, tore off his shirt and tackle-grabbed her around the waist. He hefted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his butt. “Know what the best part is?”

With a subtle twist of the hips, she teased his erection. “What?” came her ragged reply.

“Since you won’t dream anymore, tomorrow morning, I get to wake up beside you and start all over again.”

“Does that mean you’re going to keep being a Sentinel? Because there’s always room in my life for a hero.”

He stared earnestly into her eyes. “Only if you’re cool with it, love.”

“Man, I
so
am. Looks like you’re stuck with me now,” Zoe whispered against his lips as he trudged down the hall to the bedroom, grinning like a man who’d won the billion-dollar lottery.

“No place I’d rather be stuck than inside—er,
with
you, Dr. Morgan.”

His Water peaked and joined with hers in a full-blown tidal wave of love-laced anticipation.

This Elemental ride kept getting better and better. “Ditto, rock star.”

Epilogue

Hervey Bay, Australia

Two years later…

After the unannounced Just Breathe show at Shaggy’s, Zoe and Gavin went home to their brand new yacht docked at Urangan Harbour. She loved the upgrade from the small houseboat they’d been living on. Thanks to the money coming in from the band’s wildly successful new album, they could afford a few luxuries.

They’d come a long way from the little raft they built in the Dreaming to an ocean-borne home where Zoe could be close to her natural Element.

Still Mr. Perfect. Maybe even more so now.

As they traversed the gangplank, Zoe said over her shoulder, “That might have been your best gig ever, though you were a little out of tune on ‘Into Your Blue.’” She covered a smile and spun around to gauge his reaction.

Gavin paused, his brow ruffled. “I was
not
out of tune. Leave the music shit to the professionals.”

She poked his hard chest. “You
were
out of tune, and I
am
a professional. I’m one dissertation away from a Ph.D. in bioacoustics. I know stuff.”

He tilted his head, surprise spilling over his beautiful sweat-streaked face. Her stomach clenched. After all this time, he could
still
melt her into a freaking puddle with that look. Literally. She smiled as she recalled last night’s amazing orgasm.

“Really?” he said. “How did I not know that about you?”

She shrugged and dragged him backward by the shirt through the entryway, her lips close enough to snag his but not touching. “You never asked.”

He grabbed her around the waist. She cupped a hand over the semi-hard bulge in his jeans. The kiss achieved lift-off. Along with his erection.

“Okay, maybe I was a
little
off.” A hitch tripped up his ragged voice.

She let go of his shirt and gently pushed him away. God, the man was perfect through and through. “Just a little. What are your plans after band rehearsal tomorrow?” She headed for the kitchen.

He braced against the door and tore off his boots and socks, the erection producing thick lines of relief under his pants. “Not sure. Why?”

“Well, while you and Mike were signing boobs backstage, Adriene and I made weekend plans in the corner. She got a babysitter so we can all go to the movies.”

“Sounds good.” Gavin wandered into the living area, fell onto the loveseat, and propped his bare feet on the coffee table. “Did I tell you I had a dream about us last night?”

“You’re a Sentinel. You can’t dream.” Zoe shuffled stuff around in the freezer until she found what she was after. She faced him and held up a tub of vanilla ice cream. “You want?”

He nodded. “Okay, maybe it was a daydream.”

“Uh-huh.” She opened the fridge. Where the hell had she put the—there. “Hot fudge?” She pulled out the glass jar and set it next to the ice cream on the counter.

“Sure.” He crossed an ankle over his bouncing knee.

Zoe loaded a couple scoops of vanilla goodness into two bowls, then licked her fingers. She opened the jar of chocolate, popped it in the microwave, and nuked it. “You were saying?”

“This dream is gonna come true.” He beamed the sexy half-grin that curled her toes, even after almost two years of living and growing together. His eyes glinted with a hint of mischief.

“What makes you think so?” The microwave dinged. She poured warm chocolate over the tops of the two icy white blobs and gathered both bowls in one hand.

“Because I already saw to it.” He straightened as she entered the living space and set the sundaes on the table.

She handed him a spoon and plopped down next to him, her hair brushing his shoulder. He leaned over and nuzzled her ear. Her Water warmed to a simmer, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. It drove her crazy when he did that.

“Is that enough fudge, or do you want some more?” She lowered her voice.

His cedar scent caught in her nose when he turned his body into hers. Blue teased her Watersight. She could go for a drink. Under heavy lids, she focused on his lip ring. Saliva flooded her mouth. Damn it, she couldn’t resist. Her lips locked on his, soft but thirsty. Relinquishing some of his yummy Water, he closed his eyes, and she gratefully imbibed.

Heaven.

The kiss ended, but the waves crashing in her belly raged on.

He swiped her cheek and settled a hand on her upper arm. Thick, black lashes fanned down. “I love you, Zed, and I want to marry you. Jack said he’d drop everything to come. Killara promised to be there, too. All we have to do is pick a date.”

The tide fizzled on impact. Damn it. She rolled her eyes and exhaled. “Way to kill the moment.”

She had a drawer full of ‘engagement’ rings she refused to wear. He knew how she felt about marriage, yet every few months, he tried some clever ploy to ask for her hand. Flowers, jewelry—he even had her name tattooed on the inside of his bottom lip, the ‘O’ centered around the metal ring. She’d laughed for an hour the day he came home and rolled down his swollen lip. That thing had taken forever to heal. They had to get really creative with kissing for a while, which in hindsight, was kind of fun.

It was all very sweet, and the tattoo almost got her, but she couldn’t bear the thought of them ending up as her parents had. No, it was best to leave marriage out of the equation. Safer.

Zoe leaned forward and grabbed her bowl. She pulled up a leg, gave it a one-armed hug, and waved her spoon in a circle between them. “We’ve been through this a million times. You know I love you more than Vegemite, but I’m not marriage material. I’m happy with the way things are. Let’s not complicate our lives with a stupid, outdated tradition.”

He lifted his hips and pulled out a folded piece of paper from his butt pocket. He waved it just as she had done with the spoon. The grin returned.

“I dreamed we went to Greece. We got married in one of those white buildings with the blue trim. Jack, Killara, Mike, and Adriene were there. We swam with the whales. Lived happily ever after…”

“Greece?” She’d always wanted to go to Greece. He promised on their first date he’d take her one day. Her heartbeat picked up speed.

She reached for the paper. He snatched it away.

“Uh-uh-uh.” He shook his head and actually
tsk
ed. “I need your answer first.”

Oh, that damn grin.

Shoulders sagging, she blew out her breath slowly. “You make it hard for me to say no.”

Somehow his grin got cockier. “Is that a yes?”

“That’s a maybe. Sixty-two percent chance.” She returned the bowl to the table and straddled him, arms on his shoulders, gaze glued to his lips. She tangled her fingers through the spiky hair on the back of his head.