Liquid Dreams Read online

  LIQUID DREAMS

  An Ellora’s Cave Publication, December 2004

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

  1337 Commerce Drive, #13

  Stow, OH 44224

  ISBN MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-4199-0074-9

  Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):

  Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) & HTML

  LIQUID DREAMS © 2004 CATHRYN FOX

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. They are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Edited by Heather Osborn.

  Cover art by Syneca.

  Warning:

  The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. Liquid Dreams has been rated S-ensuous by a minimum of three independent reviewers.

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

  S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

  E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. In addition, some E-rated titles might contain fantasy material that some readers find objectionable, such as bondage, submission, same sex encounters, forced seductions, and so forth. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry; it is common, for instance, for an author to use words such as “fucking”, “cock”, “pussy”, and such within their work of literature.

  X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Unlike E-rated titles, stories designated with the letter X tend to contain controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

  Liquid Dreams

  Cathryn Fox

  Chapter One

  Like a wild untamed panther, he emerged from the ocean and stalked toward her. Every movement sensual, feral, dangerous. She trembled at the dark ferociousness of his potent gaze. Water droplets beaded on the sleek, hard planes of his muscular chest. Her eyes tracked one liquid bead, following it as it dripped down his glistening copper skin until it pooled on the tip of his engorged cock.

  She moistened her lips and tried to keep her breathing steady, tried to ignore the elevated thud of her pulse. Her fingers ached to touch him. Her mouth watered for a taste. She needed him with an intensity so raw and powerful it left her shaking.

  Words were not necessary. His eyes caressed her with sultry heat and she knew what he wanted. She stripped her clothes off, agonizingly slow, the way he’d taught her.

  A muscle in his jaw flexed. “Yes, my love. It pleases me when you follow the rules.” A primal growl rumbled beneath his soft voice.

  The deep timbre of his tone stroked her in other places. A languorous warmth spread over her skin and she became acutely aware of the moisture gathering between her legs. His gaze roamed over her, stopping to inspect the rise and fall of her milky cleavage. Her breathing grew shallow and she had to fight to keep her knees from buckling. Every nerve ending was alive, on fire. Drunk with desire, she ached to touch herself, to quell the hot, roiling restlessness burning between her thighs.

  After he thoroughly studied her taut, pink nipples, his eyes locked on hers again, indicating his readiness. She backed up until the cool ocean waves lapped at her ankles. Instead of doing what was expected of her, she spread her legs in silent invitation and slipped a finger into her warm, slick crevice.

  His face went rigid while the heat in his smoldering eyes scorched her. “Lie down,” he growled. A fine tingle of anticipation worked its way through her body. That small act of disobedience wouldn’t go unpunished.

  The darkening of his coal-black eyes told her it was time to obey. His virility frightened her and excited her all at once. She lowered her naked body onto the sandy floor and dutifully squeezed her legs together. Blood pounded through her veins as she craved the delicious feel of skin against skin.

  “Why do you test me so?” His voice thinned to a mere whisper as he covered her nakedness with his own, branding her with his heat. Her body molded against his. A perfect fit, as though she were made for him.

  “Kiss me,” she murmured hoarsely against his throat.

  His head descended, his lips, warm and silky, hovered only inches from hers. Desire seared her insides and she whimpered, pleading for him to take her. Tilting her head, she parted her lips, urging him on. But, his kisses didn’t come. This was her punishment.

  He surfed his lips over the long column of her neck before burying his face into the deep hollow of her throat. The pleasure was excruciatingly exquisite. A jolt of passion ripped through her when she felt the wet tip of his arousal pressing against her legs.

  He breathed a kiss over her cheeks and her eyelids before finally moving in for a taste of her mouth. Moaning, she arched into him and undulated her hips, hoping to ease the restless ache in her loins.

  Her entire being responded to his closeness, his male heat and his evocative scent. He spread her knees with his long legs. “Yes,” she cried out, as the tip of his cock grazed her pussy.

  Raining kisses over her skin, he stopped to pull one hard nipple between his lips. Her pink areola swelled painfully in his ravishing mouth. He tracked lower, gracing every speck of naked flesh with his tongue and lips until he reached the damp core centered at the apex of her thighs.

  With his shoulders prying her legs open, she thrust her pelvis forward. A wave of lust spread like wildfire through her body, making her lose all coherent thought. “Please…fu-fuck me,” she pleaded, aching to feel his hard, erect shaft inside her.

  A rakish smile touched his mouth. His eyes held her captive. “All in good time, my love.”

  Using his thumbs, he parted her dewy folds. Pleasure rumbled in his throat. His eyes softened. “Katrina, my sweet, do you know what it does to me to see you so wet and ready?” His voice was a tender, intimate whisper.

  A thrill rippled through her and tugged on her heart. It always surprised her how much she loved pleasing him. She pitched her voice low. “This is what you do to me.” She ran her palm over his smooth cheek.

  When their eyes locked, something comforting and familiar passed between them. Emotions as strong as the man himself filled the hollow that always resided in her heart and she nearly wept from the sheer power of them.

  She felt as though she’d known him for a lifetime. But that wasn’t possible. He’d only been coming to her for the last three weeks.

  The thought vanished when she felt the velvety stroke of his tongue brush her inner thighs. His warm breath whispered across her pussy. He began a lazy journey higher and higher until he reached his goal. When his hot satiny tongue caressed her clit, her head thrashed from side-to-side and her mouth went dry. He pushed one long finger deep inside her, priming her body for his huge cock. Sometimes she feared his thickness would split her in half.

  His tongue joined his finger and pushed further inside her tight, hot sheath. Her muscles immediately contracted as a wave began building deep inside her channel. Experienced fingers artfully manipulated her delicate clit, applying just the right amount of pressure to bring her to the brink. But he wouldn’t let her tumble over, not until his mouth had its fill.

  She fisted his hair and pushed his face into her slick junction. “Faster!” she cried out shamelessly. She was close, so close. One hard stroke of his tongue, and one more flick of his finger would surely send her over the edge.

  He obliged. She exhaled a whimper of relief, knowing her wait was over. His tongue sifted through her silky strands until he laved her cl
it while his fingers picked up the tempo. Soft mewling sounds rolled from her mouth and echoed through the silent air as he delved into her. Her skin grew tight.

  “Yes, that’s it,” she cried out as an orgasm racked her body. Her muscles contracted with enough force that she almost blacked out. Her liquid heat drenched his mouth.

  He pulled back, sitting on his heels, and touched his tongue to his bottom lip. His wet mouth glistened in the glow of the rising sun. “You taste like sin.” His nostrils flared. “Tell me there is no one else.”

  “There is no one else.” Her voice was a hesitant whisper. “Only you.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. She hadn’t physically been with anyone else, not even her fiancé, James. “I wait for you to come to me at night.”

  James was her lamb, and this man, whoever he was, was her lion.

  She pulled him to her, pressed her lips to his and drank from his mouth. She tasted her sweetness and inhaled her heady scent. “Mmmmm…” she moaned.

  He positioned his cock between her drenched legs and breathed her name into her mouth. Somehow, he knew her by name even though she’d never spoken it. “Katrina, you are mine,” he said intimately, possessively, pushing into her.

  She nodded her agreement.

  “Say it,” he demanded.

  “I’m yours.” She wanted to cry out his name but he’d yet to tell her who he was.

  His burning mouth closed over hers. He pumped into her harder and faster, his fingers biting into her hips, pinning her to the sandy ground below. Wrapping her legs around him, she gripped his back. Her fingers clawed a path down the center of his spine. Once again the earth began moving beneath her. Her muscles tensed and tightened in anticipation. Hot pleasure shot through her with the rippling approach of an orgasm.

  As soon as he felt her climax, his thighs went taut and his motion stilled. He buried his muffled cries into her neck as he spilled his seed into her.

  They lay there for an endless moment, their greed for one another temporarily fed. The soothing sound of the waves lapping against the shore lulled her eyes shut.

  The sun began to rise on the horizon warming their slick bodies. Her heart sank. For she knew what daybreak meant. He’d be leaving her. The few stolen moments they spent together in the predawn hours simply weren’t enough to satiate her cravings for him.

  He stood up, gathered her hand in his, and pulled her to her feet. The vision of him grew faint as he backed toward the ocean. Silhouetted against the rising sun, the water rushing over his knees, his hands still reached out to her. “Come back to me, Katrina.” His voice was fading, his body melting. “Come home.”

  And then he disappeared, swallowed by the ocean. The same way he had every other morning for the past three weeks.

  “No! Don’t go,” she cried, reaching for the apparition that had vanished into the cool Atlantic Ocean. “Stay with me. Stay…”

  * * * * *

  Body drenched in sweat, she awoke with a start. Writhing on her satiny sheets in the shelter of her bedroom, her hands flailed in the dark, searching for something that was no longer there. “Stay…” she whispered, her voice a mere thread of sound as it lingered in the still morning air. “Who are you?”

  Who are you…?

  The shrilling phone startled her out of her reverie. She twisted and winced as the sun caught her gaze. Squeezing her lids shut, she tried to regain some semblance of composure before answering. Trembling fingers reached out to grasp the receiver.

  “Hello.” She cursed her voice for sounding as shaky as she felt.

  “Katrina, this is Dr. Murphy’s office. You’re late for your appointment.” The crisp, efficient voice on the other end snapped her thoughts to attention.

  Katrina stole a glance at her clock and groaned. Not only were her dreams affecting her personal life and her work at the art gallery, now they were affecting her doctor’s appointment as well.

  She drew a tight breath and exhaled quickly. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” she assured the receptionist and placed the phone back onto the cradle.

  This was one appointment she couldn’t skip. She’d been seeing the doctor for a little over six months now. Although the erotic dreams had only begun three weeks ago, she’d been having disturbing, tempting dreams of the ocean for much longer. When those dreams grew stronger, more intense and had begun to affect her life, Katrina had known it was time to seek professional help.

  Dr. Kay Murphy was the only one she had dared to confide in about her erotic dreams. Anyone else would surely think she’d lost her mind. And truth be told, she wasn’t too far from thinking that herself.

  She flopped back onto her bed and stretched out her tired, sore limbs. An ache that would remain with her for the day, reminding her of the vivid dreams that swept her away into a land of fantasy—with a man she felt she’d known for a lifetime. A man who knew things about her that she was only discovering herself.

  Who was this man that invaded her nightly dreams?

  The cool sheets felt scratchy beneath her warm, naked body. Sitting up, she examined her bed. Sand. She scooped up the fine granules and rubbed them between her fingers. As the tiny particles slipped from her fingertips and pooled on the bed, she shook her head in bewilderment.

  None of this made sense.

  Although the doctor assured her that these dreams would pass, that they were simply a nervous reaction to her upcoming nuptials next week, Katrina suspected otherwise.

  She suspected her mind hadn’t conjured up some fantasy man. Some small part of her felt that someone, or something, had found a way into her subconscious.

  How else could the sand be explained?

  Katrina respected Dr. Murphy’s professional opinion. However, since she’d never been with a man physically, she refused to believe that she’d conjured up some fantasy man to help her cope with having only one sex partner for the rest of her life.

  Unfortunately, the doctor was at a loss to explain the sand in her bed or the bruises lacing her hips. Katrina couldn’t blame it on sleepwalking. Surrounded by pavement and cement she’d have to venture pretty far from her Manhattan condo to find a beach.

  Katrina flung her legs over the edge of her bed and pinched the bridge of her nose hoping to ward off an impending headache. The dreams that filled her nights left her tired during the day, and had begun to wear her down.

  Confused and emotionally drained, she made her way into the bathroom, hoping a shower would help clear her head.

  Unfortunately, the last few weeks had proven that no matter what she did, he continued to consume her thoughts.

  She pulled open the curtain and turned on the shower nozzle. Who was the man that invaded her mind, her body and her heart? What did he want with her?

  Turning, she sagged against the bathroom sink and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She tilted her head back as her body tingled with memories of his gentle caress. A surge of warmth flooded her veins as she recalled the way he filled her soul with unfamiliar emotions. It surprised her how the emptiness that always resided in her heart disappeared when he embraced her in his arms.

  “Come home, Katrina…” His parting words echoed through her mind.

  How was it possible that a man from her dreams made her feel so complete, so whole—a foreign, yet welcome feeling?

  She played that thought over and over in her mind as she adjusted the needle-like spray on her showerhead.

  What was his name?

  Then it came to her. As though his name had been planted in her mind all along and all she had to do was search for it.

  Ranek.

  His name was Ranek.

  Her sea god.

  * * * * *

  With a wave of his hand, Ranek placed Katrina back into the safety and comfort of her bed before returning to his undersea lair. He needed sleep. These nightly trips to the surface were exhausting.

  She would be his again. Katrina was his soulmate. And when a Bandara mated it was for an eternity. Soon she
’d return to his world, where she belonged. Ranek knew he had to bring her over slowly. A patient man he was not, but such matters required delicacy. It would take gentle prodding to bring her mind around. For it wasn’t easy to discover you’re not who you think you are.

  Like himself, Katrina was a Bandara. Magical descendants of both Atlantians and humans that lived in an oxygenated pocket deep under the ocean.

  He pulled open the door to his lair and lowered himself onto his bed. He drew a tired breath as his body molded against the soft sheets.

  He took one last glimpse into the mortal world and watched her sleep. “Rest now, my love, for your journey will be a difficult one. You will need your strength for what you are about to endure.”

  Every night he filled her mind with small bits of information about her past and who she was. Tonight she’d drank her own sweetness from his mouth. Tomorrow she’d drink from his cock, and his seed would fill her with old memories. And when she was ready, he would take her behind the walls of their kingdom beneath the sea.

  Fire pitched through his blood as he recalled the way she had been torn from his grasp and killed by mortals. All of this at the hands of his younger brother, Kohan. A man who’d been banished from their kingdom for his treachery. He fisted one hand and pounded it into his palm. His nostrils flared with uncontrollable rage.

  Kohan. After the elders had spared his life, he’d been taken to the underworld. Ranek knew if they ever crossed paths again, he would not be so charitable with him.

  He’d spent decades searching for Katrina, knowing that when the hands of a human killed one of his kind, then that slain Bandara would be reborn a human with ties to both worlds.

  Anger coiled through him. It had taken him far too long to find her. With her wedding to a mortal man only a week away, he had to work fast—being careful not to rupture the part of her that was human, the part that was resistant to believing. For if he did, she would slowly fade and die—this time permanently—and as her lifelong soulmate, he would die along with her.