A place?
A person?
Alexia sat in the crashing surf, the wildness of the weather calling to her core, chaining her to the shore like a siren’s cry. She lay back, the grit of the sand under her shoulders delighting her with the coarse texture. A wave broke over her, soaking her to the skin.
The medallion around her neck flared and light exploded from within its depths. Motes danced, light swirled, sparkles flew around her and caressed every inch of her skin. Heat wrapped around her, stroked her torso, lapped at her neck like the touch of a lover.
The sky disappeared.
Chapter Two
Alexia opened her eyes to find she lay on fluffy cushions set on a thick mat of sea grasses, the rough roof of a cave overhead. A few feet away down a sandy shore there was ocean water, the surface smooth and unbroken, the storm’s madness calmed by the shelter of the cave. Darting moonlight sparkled through the entrance, dancing lights changing the hanging stalactites from fearful objects to ones of beauty and peace. She tasted salt on her lips, the scent of something ripe and wonderful filled her nostrils, and she turned to follow it.
The back of the cave was a solid rock platform. A low wooden trunk was set like a table with a bowl of fruit and a flickering candle. Suddenly ravenous, Alexia picked a ripe strawberry from the offering and bit down, its flavor exploding in her mouth. She sat amidst the cushions and ate. Slowly, deliberately, each sensation peaking higher and higher on her taste buds. She watched the water lap at the shore.
It must be a dream. She’d seen this place so many times since she’d started to come to the coast. Ever since she’d fallen in love with the ocean, she’d had dreams involving this cave. Dreams of dolphins and blue lights and endless need that had her waking dazed, restless and aroused.
The cave filled with the brilliant blue glow she’d seen around the medallion earlier. It swirled past the entrance and poured like liquid silver through the air, flowing throughout the cavern. It touched her in passing and paused, frozen in midair like a bit of the Milky Way torn from the sky and tossed into the small cave.
The light brushed her feet, swirled around her ankles and twisted its way up her legs. Touching, caressing. A tingling sensation moved with the light as it floated over her skin, and Alexia froze as her body was momentarily enveloped before the light shot to the far back corner and bounced down to form into the solid body of a man.
His skin was smooth. Blond hair fell to his broad shoulders, muscles well defined in his arms and torso. Brilliant green eyes smiled at her and her heart leapt.
“Joshua?”
He paced forward, long limbs eating up the distance between them, and Alexia sucked in a gasp of air. He was naked, his skin shimmering with a warm light like the haze of a hot summer’s day. She debated retreating to the water, but there was no time before he knelt at her side, his hand reaching for hers.
“Alexia. I’ve waited for this day. It’s been far too long in coming.” He lifted her fingers to his mouth and kissed her knuckles lightly, his eyes staring into hers. Her body responded to his presence, her nipples tightening, her passage flooding with moisture. She was no blushing fourteen-year-old, he was no youth.
It was a dream and she was so ready for it.
He lowered their joined hands to brush his knuckles over the metal of her necklace, his smile warming her even more.
“It looks marvelous on you, my lady.” His voice was low and husky.
Alexia frowned. My lady?
He wrapped his other hand around her neck and drew them together, and all her concerns washed away as their lips touched.
Heat. All-consuming heat filled her. His lips branded her skin as he stroked his tongue into her mouth, salty and sweet and addictive. Alexia trailed her hands over his shoulders, his back, tracing his muscles while their mouths connected. He pressed them closer, rotated her in his arms until she cuddled in his lap. His cock pressed into her buttocks, moisture painted on her skin. Its rigid length lit a fire within her she wanted stoked. She wanted to be touched and petted until all the need filtering from her core had been met.
She pulled back slightly, her lips still brushing his skin. “I’ve seen this cave before. You’ve been in my dreams but we’ve never—”
“We’re together, as we should be. You don’t have to figure out every detail. You know it’s right, let go and enjoy.”
“But—”
Joshua lowered her to the mat, his long body stretched beside her. “You are the Keeper. You hold the medallion and the heart of the people. But you are still Alexia. You still choose for yourself what you want, what you desire.”
He ran a finger down her torso, slipping the nightgown open as his gaze feasted on her body. Alexia shivered. His words echoed her grandmother’s, that it was Alexia’s choice and decision. Whatever that meant.
“What do you choose, my lady? Do you want me to leave and you can enjoy a retreat here in the cavern by yourself?” He rolled over her, his body firm, his erection pressing into her belly. Joshua lowered his head and kissed her collarbone, his tongue lapping along the delicate line and back up her neck. He whispered into her mouth. “Or do you want me to stay and keep you company? We could visit. Build a sandcastle. Play a game.”
His mouth descended again and Alexia wrapped her arms around him, pulling his torso into contact with hers. She swept her tongue into his mouth, needing to taste his unique flavor, needing him to touch her intimately. They kissed, teased, wrapped around each other until he rolled away, breathing hard.
His eyes glinted like emeralds and Alexia raised a hand to his cheek. Should she say what she really wanted? “This is a dream I’ve longed for, Joshua. I want you to stay and make love to me.”
The answering flash in his eyes delighted her, as did the smile that was quickly hidden as he dropped his mouth to her skin, his tongue tracing designs as he cradled her body closer to his, fingers smoothing her shoulders.
Joshua held her tenderly in his arms, unable to take his mouth off her skin for more than a moment. He’d watched her furtively when possible over the years, never again coming in contact with her after that first unexpected touch on the beach.
His brothers had gotten in so much trouble for provoking him into asking someone for a kiss. They’d never dreamed Joshua would pick the one girl on the entire beach who would cause a tidal wave of trouble. When the Keeper found out her granddaughter had been touched by one of the people without permission, the ensuing storm had taken weeks to calm. Finally convinced it was nothing but an innocent prank, Victoria had kept much closer tabs on her charge. Alexia returned home before Joshua had found a way to meet with her again. Something had drawn him to her in the first place, and he had been intrigued by their short interlude.
Every summer afterwards when Alexia had come to visit, Joshua had found himself shuffled off to distant relatives. He knew his parents were keeping the two of them apart but at the time he hadn’t fully understood why. His brothers weren’t banished, only him. The torment grew as he aged and upon his end-of-summer return, he’d had to listen to the stories praising Alexia’s quick wit, caring heart and maturing body. She had memories of activities with all his family yet none with him but that one sweet, brief interaction. The past few years she hadn’t visited Jaffrey’s Cove, as she worked to earn a living.