Chapter Eight
Chapter 8
W itchcraft could be a handy thing when it came to enchanting a helicopter pilot and convincing him to fly over Lake Hillier. What Valor had discovered was that the lake was on Middle Island and not accessible to visitors because it was surrounded by forest. Only preapproved visits were allowed, and such permission could take weeks to obtain.
And, indeed, the lake, when seen from overhead, was a gorgeous shade of bubble gum pink, surrounded by a white stone beach. Moonlight glistening on the waves added enough glitz that Valor commented about it being blinged out.
Why the lake was pink was still a scientific mystery, according to the chatty pilot, though the concentration of salt and bacteria did contribute to the color. The pilot said visitors were cautioned to cover any skin that would touch the water with shea butter, which Valor had purchased before they’d taken off.
It was already three in the morning, so they needed to work swiftly. With a few more magical words, Valor convinced the pilot that this was, indeed, a preapproved dropoff. And that his passengers were actually scientists on a photojournalism venture approved by the Australian tourism board. He nodded and gave them a salute as they prepared to disembark.
Valor asked the pilot to return in an hour and then they rappelled down from the helicopter, military-style. He’d managed to drop them right on the white beach outside the fragrant forest of paperbark and eucalyptus trees that hugged beach and lake. The air was heavy with the scent of air freshener, or that was what it smelled like to Valor.
Kelyn shucked off his harness and then helped Valor off with hers. He carried their only backpack, which Valor had packed with the necessary supplies. Standing on the white beach, she took things in for a moment. An uninhabited island all to themselves in the middle of a moonlit evening? Why had she come here?
Oh, right. This was a business trip and nothing else.
Tugging off her shirt, she tossed that on top of the backpack, then toed off her boots and pulled off her pants to reveal the bikini she wore beneath. She’d had to buy one at the airport, and much to her chagrin there hadn’t been any one-pieces in her size. She hadn’t swum in a pool, lake or otherwise since she was a kid, and she did not do the sunbathing thing. That was best left for real women like one of the brewery co-owners, Geneva, who probably caught her rays on the deck of a multi-million-dollar yacht, lying under the appreciative eye of her latest billionaire boyfriend. Ha!
Collecting the glass vials from the backpack, she started toward the water.
“Wow” came softly from behind her.
Kelyn pulled off his shirt and it dangled from his fingers as he looked her up and down with an assessing appreciation that would have made any woman blush proudly.
Valor shrugged and turned back to the lake. “It’s just a body.”
“So it is. But a nice one, at that.”
Seriously? She couldn’t figure what he was thinking—or looking at, for that matter. Her body was long, lean and straight. Everywhere. Small boobs and no apparent waistline because her torso plunged right into her hips and down her thighs. Valor had never considered herself a real girl when compared to the hair-fluffing, mascara-fluttering, lipstick-pouting mannequins that most men seemed to find attractive. Another point tossed to her witchy friend Geneva. Give Valor a wrench and a greasy engine, and she was one happy camper.
Kelyn caught up to her where she’d waded out about ten feet. The swim trunks fit low on his hips. The abs on the guy were nothing less than insane. More than a six-pack, for sure. But she didn’t count because Valor was trying to keep from glancing at them too often and giving herself away.
Just another body, she thought of his ripped physique. She might not be a real girl, but her brain was all woman. Lusting madly for some man flesh was natural. But it was probably wiser if she did it on the sly.
“We going to put the shea butter on?” Kelyn asked as he joined her side. The water hit them both high on the thighs.
“It’s a quick pop in the lake. We can rub it in afterward and get the same effect. It’ll just prevent our skin from getting dry from all the salt. You want to stay here while I go for a swim?”
“Hell, no. If the water makes us buoyant, like you said, and then you factor in that I’m a natural lightweight, I shouldn’t be able to drown even if I tried.”
“Is that a faery thing?”
“It is. Our bones are light and sort of honeycomb in design. For flight.”
“Cool.” She clasped the moonstone hanging from the cord about her neck. Nah, it wouldn’t get lost if she didn’t do vigorous laps. She eyed Kelyn, who assessed the water with that furrowed brow of his. “What are those?” She pointed to the charms that hung from the leather strips about his neck. “That one looks like a tiny unicorn horn.”
“Close. It’s a mouse alicorn.”
“Seriously?”
He nodded. “And this one—” he held up the black circle that looked like a thin tourmaline ring “—has some kind of funky vibrations, but I’ve never been able to actually use it magically. I got them both from Faery. Never been there myself, but I know a girl who brings me back prizes from there every so often.”
“Is that so? She a girlfriend?”
“Nope. But I do love her.”
So he was going to be evasive about his love life? Fair enough. For as much as he claimed to like her, Valor didn’t expect he’d actually want to kiss her. Again. Oh, man, remembering that kiss in the forest made her nipples harden. And she was not dressed to hide the results of those lusty thoughts. So best to avoid the discussion.
“Come on!” She dived and splashed up cool droplets. The water did taste salty as she swam a few feet and then surfaced. Sputtering out the nasty-tasting water, she flipped back her hair and stood, now waist deep. It looked less bubble gummy from this angle, but still kind of, sort of pink when it caught glimmers of moonlight. “Isn’t this amazing?”
“It is a wonder.” Kelyn hadn’t dived, and still stood where she’d left him. The water swayed his body back and forth. “Go ahead for a swim. I can wait.”
“I will. Maybe. The water tastes nasty. Let’s get what we need first.”
“You got something to put the water in?”
“Right here.” Tugging the vials from the side of her hip where she’d tucked them in her bikini bottoms, she waved them before him. When he tried to snatch one from her, she flinched away.
“Four of them?” he challenged.
“Yep. This one is for what we need.” She scooped in water and corked the vial. She tucked it back at her hip. “This one is for backup. This one is for just in case. And this one is for whatever is going to get fucked up. Because plans always get fucked. I swear it by Dana Scully.”
“Valor.” He closed both hands over the vials she hadn’t dipped yet but didn’t try to take them away from her. “We mustn’t be greedy.”
“Seriously? These vials will hold a few drops out of this massive lake. Hey, I only took two werewolf claws, so give me some credit for restraint. What happens if one of these breaks during our travel?”
She fluttered her lashes at him and he took the bait with a big smile and a reluctant head-bobbing yet agreeing nod.
“Fine.” He crossed his arms and watched as she filled the next two vials and handed them to him. He waggled the first vial and held it up so the moon gleamed through it. “Still looks pink. This is freaky.”
“You should be able to float in this lake,” she offered, “for all the salt.”
“Oh, yeah?” Kelyn leaned back and spread out his arms, floating away from her. “Oh, man, this is cool!”
“And look, you haven’t drowned!”
“Yet!”
Filling the last vial, she tucked it at her hip alongside the other. Then, flopping backward with a splash, she joined Kelyn. It was easy to float in this water. And much better than taking another dive and tasting the horrible stuff. Her body felt as if it were floating higher than usual. Her head hadn’t even gone under when she fell backward. Cool.
A tug at her fingertips turned her in the water and she spun in a half circle, her head floating close to Kelyn’s head. He held her at arm’s length. “My brothers will never believe I actually had fun in a lake.”
“You’re having fun?”
“Hell, yes. I’ve flown across the world. Jumped out of a freakin’ helicopter. And now I’m floating in a pink lake. As far as life experiences go, this one tops the list.”
“Seems like a faery should have had a lot of cool experiences.”
“I’m like everyone else, Valor.”
“Except for the wings part. But I suppose flying is like walking to you, eh?” She bumped her head against his shoulder, which set her body on a curving trajectory alongside his.
“It was,” he said, and she felt his longing for what he’d once had.
Damn, she shouldn’t have brought that up.
“We’ll get them back for you,” she encouraged. “I promise you that.”
“I don’t need your promise. Just the fact that you’re willing to help is enough for me. So I wonder about the color of this lake. It must be algae that makes it pink.”
“Probably. And just think. That algae is all over us. Getting in places we’d rather it not be.”
“Sounds not so fun.”
She laughed then, which always managed to come out as a chortle and a snort.
Kelyn stood abruptly and whipped his head back to disperse the water from his hair. Droplets trickled down his face. As she stood upright Valor slapped a hand over the two vials, spellbound by the moonlight that glinted in his eyes. The cool white illumination gliding along his sharp bone structure and violet eyes made them unnaturally beautiful. A true faery.
But he was staring at her with such a silly smile. And she had to wonder if she had something on her face. “What? Is it the algae? Is it pink?”
“I adore your laugh,” he said.
“Ha! You’re crazy. I laugh like a pig on acid.”
“Maybe hallucinogenic pigs are my thing?”
“Yep, you are definitely too nice. Hand me those vials. Think we should get out and dry off before the helicopter returns?” she asked, while thinking she’d just said the stupidest thing on the planet.
Leave now, when they’d only gotten in the water and it was like they stood on some kind of fantasy stage? She was alone with the guy. Who had expressed interest in her. Why not take advantage of it?
“Sure. But let’s spend a few more minutes in the water to remember this place. And how we feel. You know...the moonlight is dancing in your eyes.”
Valor felt a blush rise and looked down and away from his mesmerizing gaze.
“The water shimmers like jewels in your hair,” he continued. “And there’s this.”
With a sweep of his hand between them, he dispersed his natural dust into the air. It glittered and hung suspended about them like millions of tiny stars fallen to earth.
Wow. Talk about instant romance. And yes, she was a woman who could appreciate a little romance when it presented itself. Which rarely happened, so...when life offered a challenge...
“You know I’m an air witch. But I can use the subtle surface winds to make this happen.”
A sweep of her hand above the surface lifted up water that ascended around them in dotted columns as if caging them in. The droplets caught Kelyn’s dust, and combined with the moonlight, they stood on a rock star’s stage, highlighted for all to see.
“And how about this?”
Spreading out one arm and snapping her fingers shot up a spurt of water about twenty feet away. Followed by another spurt, and another, until they had become a fountain spilling diamonds beside them.
“Stunning. You win the magic portion of this evening. But now it’s my turn. And I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than this.”
Thinking he was going to show her some of his faery magic, Valor lost all power of reasoning when he did not.
Instead, Kelyn bent and kissed her. His hand slid across her back and he coaxed her up against his chest. Her feet left the sand because the water truly was magical in making her weightless. Or maybe it was the kiss. It made her soar.
Yeah, it was the kiss.
She spread her hand up, walking her fingers over Kelyn’s hard pecs as he opened her mouth and dashed his tongue with hers. Valor moaned into him, and the vibrations of her pleasure tickled in her chest. She gripped the wet ends of his hair, anchoring herself, while her knees bent and she was completely supported by his arm.
If the moon never set and the sun never rose, she would take this moment, standing in a pink lake on an unpopulated island, surrounded by faery dust and a glimmering pink water fountain, and remember it forever. Her heartbeat raced with the excitement gleaned from his touch, his taste, his intense focus on the kiss.
The last time she kissed this man, she’d thought she was going to die. Now she thought for sure she could live forever in his arms. Safe and desired. A real girl? Probably not. But she wasn’t going to spoil the fantasy by thinking about it one moment longer.
Mmm, what a delicious kiss. Every part of her tingled with the giddiness. She leaned into him, hugging her hard nipples against his chest. The man moaned appreciatively. And that utterance increased her want tenfold. She dug in her nails at his shoulder, which didn’t make him flinch. So much man. And all hers. For now.
And now was all that mattered.
When he pulled away, Valor whispered, “That was awesome.”
“I’ll say. We should kiss again—ah. Here it comes.”
“What?” Something was coming? Could it be her, pretty please?
“The helicopter is back early.”
“Dana Scully.”
“Exactly. We’d better return to shore and pack up quickly.”
Grasping her hand, he led her out of the water. As she exited, her magic ceased and the fountain dissipated. Valor pulled out the sweatshirt she’d worn here and used it to wipe off her legs and arms. They shoved pants and boots on and Kelyn flashed the LED beacon that would mark their position to the pilot.
As they stood waiting for the ride, he clasped her hand and she squeezed it. “Why did you do that?” she asked in quiet wonder.
“Kiss you? I thought you said it was awesome.”
“It was. But I...I don’t know. I didn’t think we’d have a chance.”
“Really? You’ve always had a chance with me, Valor.”
“Until your brother.”
“Which we’ve solved. Do you purposely argue about issues you’ve already won just to be annoying?”
She released their grasp and punched him on the biceps. None too gently.
“Annoying it is,” he said, and rushed over to grab the rappel rope and gear that had dropped down from the helicopter.