A dolphin approached and she slid behind Joshua, farther into the protection he offered. How he had been able to appear right when she needed him was a miracle. That was another thing she’d throw away if she rejected the position her Gram offered. She and Joshua were bound together in some magical fashion. She peered around his shoulder to see Anthony resume his merfolk form and join them, taking her into his arms and kissing her softly.
He began to pull her to the surface but Joshua protested, his hands pointing to a hidden path behind them in the rocks. Taking air as she needed from them, the three passed from the sunlight into a tunnel lit with glowing blue phosphorus.
Chapter Ten
When their heads broke the surface of the water Joshua waited for a response from Alexia. It didn’t take long.
“My God, this is the cave. This is the place I’ve dreamed about for so many years.” Her voice rasped from a throat that must have been salt scorched.
Anthony reached for the large bath sheets hanging on the wall at the far side of the cavern, and Joshua stripped off her swimsuit before wrapping Alexia tightly in the warm fabric. He held her close until the shivers rocking her body stilled. Tucking his chin into her neck, he inhaled her scent, letting her nearness calm him until he could give back what she needed.
Seeing her attacked had shaken him to the core, and the anger under his fear burned in his belly like hot coals. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. So sorry I wasn’t there for you the whole time.” Alexia whimpered when he touched her arm, her breath coming in little shaky spurts. “Damn it, he hurt you.”
“No, I’m fine,” she denied, even as she shifted away from his touch. He pulled the towel aside and cursed at the blue rising on her arm and waist.
“I’ll kill him,” Joshua swore under his breath, his hand skimming her body as he checked the extent of the bruising. The blow must have glanced sideways off her torso, luckily for them all or it would have been a lot more serious. Dolphins could kill with a direct hit to the right spot on a human body.
“Get in line,” Anthony spat out. “I’m going to take the bastard apart with my bare hands the next time I see him.”
Alexia shook her head and stepped away from them. “Stop it, both of you. Michael won’t try anything like that again. He’s not going to stop me from taking my place as the matriarch, which I plan to assume without his help.”
Joshua caught Anthony’s eyes and the shock he felt reflected back at him. Had she just said what he thought she said? “Alexia, are you sure? Are you really accepting the position?”
She twisted her neck from side to side, massaging it with her good hand. “Why do you sound so surprised? I thought that’s what you wanted all along.”
Anthony pulled her onto his lap as he sat on the low trunk serving as a table. He tugged at the towel until it loosened and used it to dry her hair. “It’s what we knew you were meant for, but we’ve thrown a lot of new information at you in a short time. If you needed longer to come to terms with it, everyone would understand.” Placing the towel aside, his hands smoothed her skin intimately, his thumbs pressing hard on the muscles. Joshua watched his cousin drop a kiss on Alexia’s spine, his tongue flicking her skin.
“Does it look like I need more time? Shit, Anthony, I’m sitting in your lap in a room I’ve seen in dream, both of us naked, while another naked man watches us, and I’m not in the least embarrassed. I got attacked by a lawyer in dolphin form, and I spent more than an hour underwater sucking air from one or the other of you.” She glanced over her shoulder and snorted. “Either I come to terms with it quick or you need to call the little men with the white coats to come and take me away. Ouch, that hurt.”
Another shiver raced along her skin and Joshua dropped to his knees in front of them, pressing his body to hers to warm her. “You need to get dressed, you’re shaking with cold and shock.” Her arms surrounded him, trapping him when he would have pulled back.
“It’s not cold that’s making me shiver, it’s need.” Alexia’s hands cupped his face and she drew his mouth to hers, licking his lips. Her sweet flavor stole into him again, setting his heart pounding and his body tightening with desire. She tangled her legs around his hips, opening her body farther, and the aroma from her pussy rose into the air. Behind them Anthony choked back a groan but continued to massage her back.
Softly, gently, Joshua kissed her, trying to let her know what he felt in his heart with his tongue and lips and teeth. His whole world narrowed to the slide of their tongues together, her hands running into his hair, anchoring their mouths in place. Kisses and nips, strokes and caresses, her sweet body melting under his. Alexia moaned and he inhaled the sound, the small hairs on the back of his neck standing erect.
She was all he needed. All he’d ever need, and he’d been a fool not to be honest with her from the start. No matter that his intentions were good, no matter he’d been blinded by his own panting desire.
He pulled back enough to rest their foreheads together. “I love you, Alexia. How or why it happened, all I know is that it’s real. I never want to be sent away from you again, wondering if you’ll forgive me. God, I felt like such a fool, but I’d gladly have suffered more to have been able to stay with you and keep you from harm.” He dropped kisses on her eyelids, stroking away the tears hovering there. His heart ached the longer she remained silent, even though her eyes sparkled at him.
She kissed him. On the forehead. On the nose. On his lips. She dropped her mouth to his throat and her warm mouth suckled at his skin. The blue of St. Elmo’s fire flashed over them, igniting his passion higher, and it was all he could do to restrain from lining up his cock and driving into her until there was nothing separating them ever again.
She let her lips caress up his neck until she whispered against his ear, her voice soft and intimate, just for him. He was aware of Anthony mere inches away behind them but it felt like they were all alone. “Joshua, I was angry this morning, but more with Gram than with you. We may never understand why we’re connected but the truth is we belong together. That’s why it hurt to know you weren’t honest with me.”
“I’m sorry—”
“Hush, I’m not looking for you to apologize anymore. I’m trying to tell you I understand why you did it. Anthony and I talked this morning after you left, and the depth of the whole emotional connection between water shifters is, well, it’s not like anything I’ve ever heard of in the human world.”
She touched his mouth tenderly, her thumb rubbing at his lower lip. He let his tongue touch her skin, licking at the salty and sweet essence that was Alexia. “You and Anthony…talked?” He glanced over her shoulder to meet his cousin’s gaze. Understanding, longing, passion for the special woman in their arms passed between them.
“Among other things.” Her body shook again and Joshua cursed, grabbing at the towel on the floor. Alexia laughed as he tried to force Anthony’s hands away to wrap her up. “Joshua, I’m not cold.”
“Bullshit. I’m taking you upstairs and you’re getting into bed. There’s a tunnel connecting the cavern with the shed outside your house.” Her giggles continued and Joshua worried it had all been too much, that she was growing hysterical.
“Now you’re talking sense. Bed is exactly where I want to be. With you. And Anthony. But I don’t want to leave the cave yet.” Her lips were on his neck again, hot moisture igniting his blood to boiling.
Anthony waited impatiently as they spoke. There was nothing he could have added to their conversation, other than wishing he too could share with Alexia how much she meant to him. It wasn’t his place, and he wasn’t going to assume anything.