SEAL Of Time: A Paranormal SEAL Romance novella (Trident Legacy Book 1) Read online

  “Olympics?” Tay had seen the original Olympic Games in person, not that he could reveal it.

  If Oliver only knew.

  He remembered the lion and bear spectacles and the chariot races that turned his stomach with the disregard for life, neither human nor animal.

  “Swimming. You trained with an awesome coach, I’m guessing,” Ollie clarified.

  “You could say that.” Tay stifled a grin and glanced down at his burrito.

  “I’ve never seen anyone so at home in the water. Most guys in BUD/S are scared shitless by the underwater disorientation simulation. I’ll bet you didn’t sweat a drop.”

  Tay shrugged, not making eye contact. He’d tried to make the training appear more difficult than it really was for him, even slowing down some of his run times so he’d have to report for a do-over. But never on a swim exercise. That was a matter of pride.

  He recalled the day he met Oliver, the day he saved the SEAL’s life, and wondered if the teammate had some sixth sense this was a reunion. After his request had been approved to join Oliver’s Team, they’d become good friends. With Tay’s special capabilities, the Navy had tapped him for human sub technology and extreme under water demolition work. Tay couldn’t tell them he didn’t need any training, nor did he need the little one-man sub, fins, or wet suit. However, he always wore one to cover the sight of his gills, which opened when he swam fast.

  “I feel at home in the water, truth be told.” It was a true statement.

  “Well, that’s a good thing for our Team.” Oliver chewed on a piece of fried fish and watched Kyle, T.J., Cooper, and some of the other SEALs ripping off their clothes, preparing for a swim in the ocean. He pointed to his dinner when his LPO shouted at him.

  “Now, Ollie. Get your butt out there. You can finish later,” barked Kyle.

  “Roger that.” Ollie stood and started to shed his shoes and shirt before unbuttoning his jeans. He leaned over and whispered, “The picnic at the beach is over. You’re the new guy, and they’re gonna push you.”

  Tay shoveled his veggie burrito and knew it was showtime. He’d have to let them think Coop or one of the other fast swimmers could beat him. With nothing to protect his sides, no way could he show his anatomy.

  He’d been schooled to wear boxers during outings near the water because Kyle liked to pull these spontaneous Ocean PTs. Most of the SEALs didn’t wear underwear otherwise, something Tay also embraced fully.

  ON THE RETURN home, Ollie brought up the subject of his training with the mini subs. Tay listened while his teammate drove.

  “We’ve got some missions coming up so get Collins to check you out a sub and do some of your own training, if you need to.”

  “I will,” answered Tay. “So far, seems very straight forward and not too difficult.”

  “Don’t get your flippers caught in barbed wire,” Ollie said as he headed toward Tay’s bungalow, “Looks can be deceiving. Those rebreathers can be hell if you get wounded and start to lose consciousness. It can kill a man in seconds.”

  “I believe you.”

  “I was on a mission a few years back and got lucky. I washed up on shore, and some kids took me to the hospital, or I wouldn’t be here today.”

  Tay decided to explore something he’d wanted to know about since the two SEALs were reintroduced. “No shit? So what happened?”

  “Took on .50 cal fire when I was attempting to put a sat tracker on a known terrorist ship. Turns out, I was extremely lucky. Didn’t hit any bones, just glanced the skin, but I passed out from the blood loss.”

  “Close one.”

  “No kiddin’. And how the sharks didn’t find me, I’ll never know. Just my lucky day, I guess.”

  “Guess so.” Tay didn’t want to set off any alarms, so he remained mum.

  But Ollie wasn’t through sharing. “That was a strange day, too. I thought maybe I was being stalked by a radioactive dolphin or some new species from the deep just before it happened. Maybe that’s what attracted the fire.”

  Tay’s gut tightened, and he swallowed with difficulty. “Radioactive? How so?”

  “Whatever it was, it glowed, I mean, glowed and actually sent off body heat. At first, I thought it was a huge golden shark then a missile of some kind.”

  “That’s strange.” Tay allowed a sly smile to cross his face. “Sure you’re not partaking of those peyote buttons I’ve seen for sale down here?” He winked at Ollie, who scowled in return.

  “I don’t take that shit.”

  “I know.” Tay didn’t want to touch his teammate’s shoulder, but lowered his voice and tried to make it sound like a joke. “Just messing with you, Ollie. That’s all. But hey, if you saw a radioactive seal, porpoise, or dolphin, who am I to correct you?”

  Ollie pulled up in front of the house. Though it was two stories, the overall square footage was small. A previous owner had taken advantage of the ocean view on a narrow lot, so the upstairs was Tay’s master bedroom, a remodeled bathroom, and small living area off the bedroom with a balcony. He’d spent many nights watching the sun set, remembering all the places he’d lived during his long lifetime. Coronado Island was right up there as one of the best.

  Ollie was impressed with his home. “You a trust fund baby or something? This thing’s got to be worth a million bucks.”

  Tay knew it was more like three million, but elected not to correct his new friend. “I sort of inherited it. Long, boring story.”

  He didn’t take Ollie upstairs, since Tay knew the value of having an inner sanctum that nobody could invade. He offered a beer, which Ollie gladly took.

  “So why become a SEAL on—what—less pay than the mortgage on this place?”

  Tay took a long draw on his beer and found this amusing. He had no mortgage, but he decided to play along. “I was lucky in the stock market, and my cousin invests that for me. I don’t live on any of it, just what the Navy pays me.”

  Ollie nearly dropped his beer, startled.

  After a respectful shrug, the son of Poseidon added, “It’s enough. The Navy pays enough. Besides, like you, I don’t do it for the pay, right, Ollie?”

  The SEAL nodded slowly and walked carefully to the sliding glass doors, examining the glistening ocean with the dying late afternoon sun. “I’d say you got the best of both worlds, Tay. How’d you get so lucky?”

  “Divine providence.”

  AFTER OLIVER LEFT, Tay took a long hot shower and shaved. He’d become used to the routine, especially using some of the sharp implements human men used and the scented lotions and shave soap. One time, he’d not shaved for a hundred years. It was during his monkish phase when he stayed away from females after a close encounter with a South American princess he might have given up his immortality for. But she had died during a raid on the village while Tay was on the other side of the globe making arrangements to bring her to an island in the Indian Ocean. He never thought his heart would heal. He wasn’t sure it had.

  But his body needed females. The sexual urge was strong with him, just like with his infamous father. Tay soon discovered avoiding the call of his flesh would only cause him mental anguish. He’d make mistakes, lapses in judgment. It interfered with his job to be the protector of mankind.

  His body was giving him the signs he understood all too well. The veins in his forearms pulsed as the hair at the back of his neck became stiff and sensitive. His dick was swollen, and his stomach growled. Loud music jarred him, and the gentle breezes from the ocean, laced with the smell of his father’s kingdom, was an aphrodisiac, making his ears buzz and his taste buds ultra sensitive. Tonight, he would walk the beaches and the pinkish-salmon streets of Coronado during sunset, and find someone to mate with. It was as healthy as eating, his natural breeding instinct overcoming the coldness of his heart. This was a good thing, he thought. He doubted he’d ever fall in love again, and he felt safer with that knowledge.

  He surveyed the white sand of the beach, glad it was thinly populated. The weather wasn
’t balmy and warm like in the late spring or summer. It remained wild and cold—or as cold as Coronado got, anyway. And the cold created no problem for Tay. He actually preferred it that way.

  His curiosity piqued at the sight of a slender, dark auburn-haired woman walking at the surf’s edge by herself. Her statuesque profile stirred him. Tilting his head to the side, he caught a glimpse of a well-toned thigh as the ocean air dared to peek up her long skirt. A woman with a skirt on the beach was a dangerous thing for Tay. It left her more available to his delicate sense of smell, and if she was aroused at all by the sight of him, he’d know it instantly.

  The chase was on!

  He ran down the stairs, slipped on his canvas loafers with the non-existent heel backs, and buttoned up his light blue shirt as he tore through the living room sliding glass door and out onto the deck and then down the three little steps to the sand.

  The closer he got to her the more his footsteps slowed. Checking his peripheral vision, images at the sides didn’t register danger or interest so he continued his near straight-line trajectory to interception. Unless she turned, she’d have no idea he was headed straight for her. The look on her face would tell him whether or not he’d make a diversion or come straight at her.

  But she didn’t move. She faced the dying sun. The fragrance of her hair, the gentle flower perfume wafting from inside her white peasant shirt mesmerized him. As he stepped close enough to touch her, he found that she was singing some lilting tune, and he was overcome. The lullaby was unlike anything he’d ever heard before. The rushing winds blowing ashore nearly drowned out her voice, but like sirens of the ancient seas, when gods and mortals lived in open society next to one another, her lovely singing danced in the wind and wove its way straight into Tay’s heart. Her high notes curled a golden thread, drawing him to her magic. Yet he knew she was mortal.

  Even the sea of his father’s kingdom hushed to listen to her melody. The wind died down. A cloud scooted across the horizon and allowed the dying sun to be unveiled and reborn for a few precious minutes before it sank into the depths of the dark waves at the horizon.

  Tay’s chest grew, the glow from inside broadening his shoulders and giving his lungs space to take in every molecule of her spirit, stealing the notes of her breath and burying them deep inside him where the blackness stubbornly remained.

  Who was she? Where did she come from? Was she a mortal lover of his father, or was she singing to the sky and the beach in front of them? He never wanted her song to end.

  He waited, resisting the temptation to take her in his arms and claim this happy spirit for his own. His fingers tingled as if he touched her already. His body waited in anxious anticipation for her to see him and feel the power of his devotion to her beauty. He willed her to turn, but she drew her arms up over her head, splaying her fingers to the sky as the crescendo of her song grew and then abruptly stopped. The echo of her voice rolled over the silver surface of the water, bounced off the rocky outcropping farther down the beach, and at last faded into the early evening air. And just at that moment, Tay noticed the stars appeared above them, dotting a bright turquoise canopy sky.

  He couldn’t move, following her long, graceful neck as she studied her bare toes in the sand. Very slowly, she turned and was at last face to face with him.

  She started, crossing her arms about her chest and bending at the waist, shy and embarrassed he’d listened to her song.

  “Oh my God! You scared me!” She barely had enough breath to speak.

  “Don’t be afraid. It was lovely!”

  She waved him off and backed up until the surf wrapped around her ankles and above her knees, drenching her skirt.

  He came toward her to grab her forearm, fearing she’d fall in the heavy undercurrent. His heart was exploding. “Careful! Careful. Let me help you.”

  She avoided his grip, though she nearly toppled in the strong surf. Stubborn. The woman was beautiful and stubborn. She wouldn’t make eye contact, and his heart was breaking.

  “Are you okay?” he offered, stepping closer to assist her.

  “No, don’t touch me, please. I’m fine. I’m really okay.”

  In spite of himself, he sighed. Her tanned skin was smooth and glowed in the diffuse light coming from the beachfront homes behind him.

  Barely three feet separated them. Tay took a step back so she could get out of the surf, and she followed. He moved again, and then again, and she continued toward him. When at last she was out of the surfzone, she brushed her long mahogany hair from her forehead and their eyes met.

  He expected her eyes to be brown, but instead, they were a light blue-green. He hung on every second as she examined his face, his shoulders, and chest. She found something amusing there, and when he peered down, he discovered he’d left a gap and had buttoned his shirt unevenly. Her faint smile gave him encouragement she didn’t find him disagreeable.

  “I guess I was worried about you. I came running, thinking perhaps you were crying or in distress.” He stopped to see if she accepted his lie. Truly, he’d been rushing, not to save her but to claim her for himself.

  She rounded her shoulders and adjusted her wet skirt, unpeeling part from her thigh and calves. “I’m not used to an audience. I just sing because I like it.”

  “It was beautiful. You are really good.”

  “Well, thank you,” she said as she wrinkled her nose, “but you don’t have to lie. That’s why I only sing for myself.”

  “The ocean loved it. I could tell,” he answered her, winking.

  A brisk wind suddenly whipped around her, and she crossed her arms and rubbed herself warm.

  “Even in San Diego, you have to wear a jacket in the winter. Where’s yours?”

  “Oh, in the car. It was nice when I came out here.”

  The awkward silence made him nervous. He inhaled so his heart would settle a little, and it didn’t work. “I live here. Let me go get you a jacket, or would you like to come in for a cup of tea?”

  “No.” She was going to continue, but Tay wasn’t going to give up.

  “Come on. Least I could do. Consider it my tip. You earned a warm cup of tea. Honest.”

  She rocked her head from side to side as if trying to decide whether or not to take him up on it and, at last, made up her mind. “No. Thanks, though. Let me work on my performance, and perhaps I’ll take a raincheck on that.”

  He let her walk past him, her hips as rhythmic as a dancer’s. Her arms swung freely, and she shook her head several times to remove her unruly hair from her eyes.

  He didn’t want to let her go.

  I may never see her again!

  Tay jumped into action, jogging up beside her then turning and running backward, facing her, while he spoke. “Come on. Take a chance. I’m a safe bet, and it’s only tea.”

  Chapter Three

  MARNEY’S HEART RACED as the handsome sea Adonis offered her tea. She knew she’d be stepping through a doorway of no return. This was not the right time for this. She was preparing to leave and had been saying good-bye to the ocean, ready for her road trip up North tomorrow. If she followed him up the remaining beach, she’d be taking a golden stairway, a detour to some other place.

  She hesitated, staring into the bright blue of his eyes. Something inside them moved, as if oceans with tiny waves crashed on a mythical shore. His gentle inhale and exhale was controlled, rhythmic, transporting her to an ancient time filled with strange sea creatures and powers of light and dark. She should be afraid. This wasn’t anything she’d been seeking or ever thought she wanted. The more she waited to respond, the more her insides caved like the fog rolling over green hills of an emerald isle.

  In that tanned face, even his stubble caught light from the glowing red sunset. With full straight lips and square jaw, she saw something tragically beautiful in him. Perhaps lonely. Power filled his arms. His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed and then quickly wet his lips, his eyes focused on hers. She had the urge to reach out and t
ouch him but held herself back. His aura over her made him almost irresistible, as if he was from another world.

  A faint smile broke the seam of his lips, which told her he knew what effect he had on her. Her body had exploded in tiny crystals of warmth that traveled up and down her spine.

  She had to catch her breath, which gave her courage. Traveling back to this place at the edge of the beach in Coronado from somewhere else he had taken her, she remembered what he had offered.

  Tea.

  Sweeping the cobwebs from her heart, she began her adventure. “I like real coffee. With cream.”

  His eyebrows tented as he nodded with reverence, watching her bravely trip over her own threshhold. In that moment, she suddenly wanted everything she’d missed her whole life. Her desires opened, ripped bare by his glowing proximity. She wanted to see surprise on his face, to be like nothing he’d ever expected.

  “I can do that,” he whispered. He extended his left hand instead of taking hers. He let her lay her palm against his as his fingers wrapped around with a gentle squeeze. His moist hand was warm, firm, but demanding her full attention. Not in any way casual. Nothing he did was casual.

  He moved to her side, next to her. Together, they walked the few steps remaining of the sandy beach, hand in hand. The steps leading to his wooden deck were nothing compared to the ground they’d already covered. The slide of the glass doorway and the gentle way he touched the small of her back as she passed by him into the great room gave her shivers of pleasure as if it was intended that way. Once inside, she heard the sound of the ocean abruptly cease as the door closed behind her.

  She suddenly became untethered, but captured still in some mysterious web. He could have taken her in his arms, and she wouldn’t have objected. Her feet felt like they were levitating. The delicate hairs at the back of her neck stiffened. Her stomach churned, and she had the urge to squeeze her thighs together.

  But he walked around her, again, gently touching the small of her back, on his way to the kitchen. The sudden high pitched whir of the coffee grinder jolted her out of her stupor.