Sea Storm: Children of the Waves (13 page)

She placed both hands on the sides of his
face. “I’m sorry. I misjudged. I’m sorry.” She kissed him. “Yes, of course,
I’ll take your gift of the black dress. And I’ll get the green dress and look
for a pair of shoes to will go with it. Only, can we go someplace not quite so
pricey?”

Xav raised his eyebrows at him as if to
say, ‘Uh oh’.

Crap.
Now what did he do? He had to tell her
he actually already bought her everything she tried on.

“Ah, since you’re the maid of honor, Cori
and I have decided to get you the dress as a maid of honor gift.” Xav
interjected. “Please accept our deepest gratitude for being there with us
tomorrow and supporting Cori.”

Des smiled and hugged Cori. “Thank you.”

“Wait!” Zek said, “You’re not giving him
any flack about buying you that dress?”

She smiled. “No, now I can get the
shoes.”

The coordinator came back and before she
could say anything Des turned to her and said, “Yvonne, I’m going to take the
shoes I tried on with the short black dress.” She reached to open her purse and
pull out her credit card.

Zek cringed.

“What about the other shoes you tried on
with the other outfits?” Yvonne asked.

“I loved them all but, unfortunately,
I’ll only buy the one pair of shoes. However, these two gentlemen will take
care of the green and black dresses for me.”

Yvonne glanced back and forth between
them her expression one of confusion as she took the card from Des’ hand. “But
what about the others?”

“Nothing’s changed,” Zek immediately
piped in. Not wanting to have an argument, then and there.

Cori frowned at him but his brother spoke
quickly before she could comment.

“Just box everything up in separate packages
and one of my people will pick them up in about twenty minutes,” Xav stated.

“Can you return the peach pant suit and
the black dress to the changing room for us? We’re going to change into them
before we leave,” Cori asked Yvonne.

“Certainly.”

While Cori and Des returned to the
changing area, he and Xav followed Yvonne to sign for their purchases. Zek
mouthed, ‘Thank you,’ to his brother.

Xav pulled out his cell. “I’m going to
have Aaron and Cyrus swing by and pick up the stuff while we’re at dinner,
since they’ve already had theirs. They can meet us at the club after.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Zek agreed as he
signed the receipt and placed it in his pocket before Des could see it. He
dodged a bullet but temporarily. He still needed to tell her he’d actually
bought her everything, including the shoes.

Chapter
Thirteen

The warm tropical night, the sweet scent
of the native flowers mixed with the sea, all made this a surreal place for a
wedding. Cori picked a beautiful dress to get married in. For choosing a
wedding outfit on the fly, she found the perfect one, off white, strapless,
with an empire waist and straight line. However, it was the intricate beadwork
resembling seashells running about four inches straight down the center both
front and back which really completed the dress. Cori decided not to wear a
train, and she’d found beaded shoes to match the design on the dress. She also
got a matching headband, and would wear her hair brushed back straight to her
shoulders.

The clothes only needed to be slightly
taken in at the waist, but Yvonne said they were prepared for any tailoring and
the dress would be ready for pick up by noon tomorrow. They both had
appointments first thing in the morning with a hair stylist and cosmetician but
they’d come out to the island to take care of them.

Zek didn’t kid about being loaded. Cori
confirmed Xav’s status as king of the Children who dwelt under the sea. Not
that she thought Zek lied. However, Zek neglected to mention his own status, a
prince of their race, and their leader while on land. Only Xav could over rule
him. But Zek held success on land in his own right. He owned the shipping line
they’d been on.

What the hell had she gotten herself
into? Then when Zek took her into his arms, she forgot about everything else.

They didn’t stay at the club too long;
they were all tired and had a big day tomorrow. The wedding would be a small
one, Cori said there would be eleven people total. Des couldn’t comprehend why
she didn’t freak out more.

After they got back to the island, Zek
hopped out of the helicopter first and then had her on the ground next. She
didn’t understand his rush. She only had time to turn and wave good night to
everyone else before Zek pulled her along behind him. “In a rush much?” she
asked.

“Hell yes, I’ve been hard for you all
night.”

“What about my things?” she laughed.

“Jerry will take care of it.” He’d been
waiting for them on the helipad.

Des hid her surprise when Zek took her to
her guest room and not his bedroom.

He shut the door behind them and she lost
all semblance of rational thought. He backed her up to the bed, but turned her
so he could sit down on it. Pushing her dress up, he tore off her underwear and
had her sit on his lap. Resting her ass right on the bulge in his crotch. He held
her by the waist and fisting his hands in her hair, he lay back taking her with
him. She laid spread out over him. He pushed up until he rested across the bed.
Still holding onto her and dragging her with him, not releasing her mouth from
his. He wrapped his tongue around hers the same way his body encircled her.

She pulled away from him to look upon his
beautiful face. She ran her fingers down his slightly long sideburns, and the
I-haven’t-shaved-all-day’s worth of soft bristle on his face, until finally she
brushed her fingers through his hair. “What am I going to do with you?”

He pushed the hair falling over her
shoulder behind her ear. “Love me. That’s all I need.”

“I think I can do that.” It didn’t shock
her to realize her words were true. She could love him. She feared she already
did.

He smiled at her, and his eyes lit up,
showing her reflection in their depths. “I already love you, Hali. I always
have and I always will.”

“No. How can you? This is crazy!”

“No. Crazy is us having to wait a dozen years
to find each other again. I won’t let you go again, Des. Please, don’t ask me
to.”

“I have a life, Zek. Maybe we should take
it slow. I only have a few vacation days left. We’ll spend them together and
then maybe you can come visit me in New Mexico for a week or so, whenever you
can get vacation time.”

“Is that what you really want? A long
distance relationship, where we sneak in time together?”

She lowered her face to his chest and
kissed the spot over his heart where she could feel and hear it beating. “No.
Not what I want, but it’s my real life. And let’s not forget, me and my family
have a death sentence still hanging over our heads. We’ve been moved three
times over the years to ensure our safety.” She and her brother were both
adults now, so it made it easier for them to hide. As far as they knew, they
were all safe, but still not safe enough to ever resume their real identities.

“I told you, you don’t have to worry
about that. And none of you need run any more. Those thugs cannot hurt you ever
again. But that has nothing to do with us. Do you think you can love me?”

Did she? The plea in his words ran bone
deep. Her emotions for him were such she’d never felt for anyone else. The
thought of walking away from him caused a physical ache inside. So yes, she was
falling in love with him, maybe already there. She just didn’t know if she
could trust herself. Trust, the emotions running hot and heavy between them.
While she believed what he’d told her and shown her. Hard not to. It still
seemed like being in the middle of a fairytale and at some point—reality
would intrude. She raised herself and shifted, so she lay partially off him but
kept her hand on his chest. “I—I don’t know. I know there’s something
there.”

“That’s a start. For now, be with me,
Des. Believe me when I say, if I could move my operations to New Mexico
tomorrow, I would. But there are too many people who depend on me in this
location.”

She frowned, a thought occurring to her.
“How long can you stay on land? Do you have to keep returning to the sea?”

“I can stay on land for as long as I
want. But the longer I remain on land and the farther I get from the water over
time the powers I draw from the sea are lessened. I become no different from
most mortal men. I will begin to age, but maybe slower than the usual. And I’d
lose the ability to swim down to the depths.”

“Wow. So, is that why you stay close to
the water, so you don’t become more human?”

“Yes. And because I happen to love the
water. While I can live inland, I don’t want to. It would kill something in my
spirit.”

The thought of anything about him
suffering didn’t sit well with her. “I understand. And I love you as you are.”
Wait ‘love’, she didn’t mean to say it. Not yet.

“I love you, too.” He grinned. Figures,
he’d pick up on her slip. “Now as I was saying, do you want a long distance
relationship?”

“Wait! I didn’t mean it that way,” she
tried to protest.

“Babe, I’ll take it anyway I can.”

He was pushing her and they both knew it.

Could she really just walk away from him
in two days? Then sit around waiting for him to get away and come see her? Yes,
she had a life, but a low-key one as an executive assistant for a lobbying
firm. She made descent money to splurge once in a while. While she enjoyed her
job, she could be an executive assistant anywhere. “What—what if I say
I’d be willing to try?” she offered.

That’s as far as she got before his mouth
fused to hers again. They moved their arms all over each other’s bodies in an
attempt to get rid of their clothes. Only separating long enough to take off
every piece of clothing.

Then, he lay back on the bed and placed
her on top of him. She grasped his dick and lifting her hips, guided him inside
her. She pushed down, threw her head back and enjoyed the sensation of being
filled by her mate. The thought had her opening her eyes and staring into the
blue green swirling depths of his.

“I love you,” he said. “Stay with me.”

How could she say no? She didn’t want to.

They moved together in perfect sync. The
pressure building between them. Then suddenly, he raised her off him and rolled
her onto the bed, shifting over her. Using his weight to press her into the
mattress, he entered her, filling her and it began all over again.

Taking her to the depths of emotion.

His strokes harder, faster, she thought
she heard thunder rolling overhead and lightning striking nearby. It occurred
to her each time they made love she heard those things. Then, as he pumped one
last time into her an electric charge surged through her body, and this time
lightning erupted inside her. Her body continued to shake even when he pulled
out of her and gathered her into his embrace.

At some point during the night, he lifted
her into his arms and carried her to his room.

“What’s wrong?” she mumbled, nestling
against him.

“I need a bigger bed.” And he used every
inch of his California King sized bed during the night. He explored all the
outer layers of her body and some of the inner, too.

The morning sunlight streaking across her
eyelids had them fluttering. Des forced her eyes open. She probably needed to
get up and go to her room to take a shower. Moving made her aware of each and
every body part. They hummed with a delicious ache but ached nonetheless. She
turned her head to look for a clock, but couldn’t see one in his room. From the
angle of the sun, she guessed the time probably late morning. She really had to
get out of bed.

Rolling out from beneath Zek, she tried
not to wake him, because if she did, who knew how long till she’d be able to
leave the room. Des smiled thinking about it.
Tempted.
She shook her head to get rid of the thought, insatiable
for Zek.

After stepping into the bathroom, she
headed straight for the shower. Thinking she might as well shower here and she
could grab her robe. After her shower, she dried off and headed for his closet
to find her robe. She’d only taken a few steps and stopped. Unable to believe
her eyes, she moved farther into the closet and checked the familiar clothes
hanging off the racks that hadn’t been there before. “EZEKIEL!”

Chapter
Fourteen

“Uh oh.” Zek grimaced at the edge of
frustration in Des’ voice but he didn’t care. He shrugged and got out of bed to
face his bride. First, heading into the toilet area and closing the door. He
washed his hands then, he went into the closet.

Des spun around as soon as he walked into
the room. She raised her hand and pointed to the clothes on the racks. “What is
all of this?”