Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

those twenty minutes had been used wisely. He knew quite a lot about his elusive little sea urchin diver. And he was already building a new identity for himself.
    A slow smile curved that soft, unbelievable mouth. He found himself captured. Spellbound. And he thought her frown adorable, but now he was 122

    holding his breath, waiting for that full effect. Her dark eyes, so black they reminded him of shining obsidian, sparkled like gems. Her small white teeth flashed at him all too briefly, and his body went into instant predator mode.
    He felt the jolt slam deeply and painfully into his groin. He was hard and full instantly. Out of control.
    Control was his life. Discipline was everything to him. He stood in the kitchen, unable to move or breathe properly with his pancakes burning and his heart pounding. He had come alive, his body, his soul, there in the water.
    No, there in her eyes. Those dark, dark eyes.
    “Um, Lev.”
    He stared into her eyes knowing his reaction to her wasn’t ever going to go away. He could dismiss it if it was physical attraction, but throughout his entire life, he had controlled physical attraction.
    She pushed past him, crowding close. Ordinarily he would never allow anyone into his personal space, but his space seemed to be her space. He felt the spatula taken from his hand, but he didn’t move, caught in the shock and wonder of that perfect moment. He was real. He was human. He felt. He looked down at the top of her head. She had given him something he never thought he would ever have.
    “Lev, sit down.”
    He felt her hand on his arm and she led him to a chair. He sank into it slowly. She wet a cloth and gently dabbed his forehead. He hardly felt her wiping the sweat from him. He inhaled her, that fragrance that was woman and yet uniquely hers.
    “You overdid it. You can’t be up this long. I’ll figure out how to do this and bring you breakfast. Can you make it back to the bed?”
    He loved the sound of her voice. She talked just a little differently, with little inflection. Her tone was low, almost husky. Sometimes when he concentrated on the notes and not the words, it sounded like music to him.
    She crouched in front of him, worry in her eyes. “Lev, should I call a doctor?”
    He framed her face in his hands and let himself fall into her eyes. He wanted to live there. She reached up and touched his face. He realized it was wet. What the hell? Feeling was shocking. Wonderful. Terrible. He leaned down and took possession of that perfect mouth. Warm. Soft. Incredibly generous.
    He felt her startle, go still, and he moved one hand to her thick, wild hair, burying his fingers deep in silk to hold her to him, to anchor himself right there. Her lips trembled beneath his, and he slid his tongue along that soft seam and demanded entrance. For several heartbeats he thought she 123

    might not comply, but he was patient, his mouth coaxing. She opened her mouth to him and he took possession without hesitating, sweeping inside to claim what was his.
    Sex was a practiced art to him. Each move calculated. His brain always worked while he performed, his body seducing his prey with ease, noting each response of his target. But in one moment, everything had changed. She swept him into a tidal wave of pure sensation, and he willingly let go and let her take him with her. Electricity charged through his bloodstream, snapping and crackling, sparks going off everywhere.
    The rush was hot, spreading through his body like a fire. She was a water element and he expected cool, but there was nothing cool about the heat encompassing every part of him. More than that, there was the feeling.
    He didn’t know another way to describe it. To him, it would always be “the feeling.” His heart nearly exploded in his chest. His belly tightened and his brain dissolved. He found a miracle in her soft mouth and he never wanted to leave that secret haven.
    He tasted passion. He tasted emotion. He tasted a world he’d never imagined, one he could never enter. It was right there in front of him, suddenly open to him. Unexpected. Exciting. Scary. He knew he could never walk away, not when he’d lose this dream before it had ever had a chance to blossom. He reached for it, raced to it, embraced his only chance with everything in him.
    Lev lost himself there, kissing her over and over, exchanging breath, drowning, knowing he was drowning and uncaring. She’d saved him before and she was saving him now. He would