Bride of the Sea Monster - Eve Langlais Page 0,18
get a good feeling. “She died?”
“Trying to be with Ian’s father. She couldn’t handle the loss.”
“Ian lost both parents practically at once. Oh, no.” I huffed in true sympathy. I couldn’t imagine the difficulty. Losing my mother proved hard. Especially because we hadn’t seen it coming. As if our power sought to save us from the madness that would ensue if we saw a future we couldn’t change.
“I took Ian in after my sister was gone. Did my best by him even as I had no idea how to raise a child.”
“You never have kids.” Stated, not questioned. “And you won’t if you choose her either.” My power gave him a prediction.
“Meaning?”
The forks in his future appeared to me. “If you pursue Dorothy, there is a chance you’ll fail. Even if you win her heart, there will be no children born of that union, but if you make it through the tricky trials, you can find happiness.”
“Or?”
“You walk away and meet another woman. She won’t inflame you like Dorothy, but you’ll be happy. You’ll have two children. A quiet life.”
“I’ve had quiet,” he grumbled. “Enough of this. You didn’t come to talk to me about my future. You sought me out to help Ian.”
“I want to help him.”
“Then fall in love.”
“It’s not that easy.”
Shax shrugged. “Then I don’t know what to tell you. Perhaps Killian will hold on long enough for us to find an answer in Atlantis.”
“What’s in Atlantis?”
“A library with spells, thousands upon thousands of them, hidden for generations. Now back in the world again.”
“You think we can find one that will help?”
“Not in time.”
The ominous note stuck with me as I left Shax. I spent the rest of the day doing my best to research everything I could on curses and Atlantis. Which turned out not to be much. Eventually tired, I went for a stroll on the deck.
I managed to not shriek when a tentacle rose from the water. Holding still, I eyed it. “Ian, is that you?”
It bobbed. I continued walking, and it kept pace with me. “What do you want?”
He obviously didn’t reply.
“I’m feeling under a lot of pressure.”
The tentacle waggled.
“Easy for you to say not to give in. Everyone is making me feel guilty. My dad. Your uncle.”
Undulating shimmy.
“I’m trying to ignore them, but now I’m kind of wishing I’d been nicer when I got the letter. Maybe given you a call. Something.” I shrugged.
The tentacle wrapped around me. I might have freaked a little.
This thing was a far cry from the man who’d kissed me. An amazing kiss that I tried to forget. Because if I thought about it, then I might ask him for another. And then it would lead to more kissing. And since we’d already done the wedding part, we could technically hop into bed. Have epic sex. How did I know it would be epic?
“Yes!”
My seeing had a shit sense of humor. It showed me screaming in climax. Just enough to know. But good sex wasn’t love.
The tentacle kept hugging. “That’s enough.”
Rather than leave, the tip of it got fresh with me. “Excuse me, get your tentacle off of my boob.”
It gave a questioning rub.
“No, it is not all right.”
It removed itself and hung its suckered tip.
“No touching while you’re a monster.” I immediately regretted the words, especially since the tentacle sank under the waves. I leaned over the railing. “Ian. I’m sorry. That was mean and uncalled for.”
The waves kept rolling as the boat sluiced through them.
“Ian?”
Guilt had me leaning over the railing, ignoring the visions of the people who, in the future, would also lean on it and fall in a few cases. I saw all kinds of prospects, but I never saw what happened next, so it caught me by surprise.
“You called?”
Whirling, I gaped, because there stood Ian, dripping wet and naked.
Superbly naked. Broad of shoulder. Muscled all over. With a defined vee, and…
I averted my gaze. My cheeks heated. “What happened to your clothes?”
“I swim nude.”
“I see that.”
“Says the woman looking the other way and turning fifty shades of red.” He chuckled. “I wonder if we can make it a hundred shades if I tell you I sleep, brush my teeth, and sometimes, when I’m feeling dangerous, cook bacon with my dangly bits out.”
Laughter bubbled out of me. “That is risky.” It also only served to make him more real to me. I looked at him. The face, nothing below his neck. “We should talk.”
For some reason, that tightened his expression. “Why bother? It