Goddess isles boxed set, p.28
Goddess Isles Boxed Set, page 28
However...I was grateful. And I’d used it to my full advantage.
On the sixth day of my ownership, I’d sent out a blanket email announcing the immediate ban on all animal testing. I didn’t care what it was for—face cream, acne prevention, cancer eradicator—all animals were forthwith freed from their miserable existence.
When I’d bumped into Cal on the elevator, a monkey was wrapped around my neck wearing a diaper, his skin peeling from the latest tests and his eyes bloodshot from a new form of conjunctivitis medicine. In my left hand, I held four leashes, all tethering timid and terrified beagles to my heel. And in my right, I had a cage holding a dozen dying mice.
He’d stumbled into the mirrored elevator, lost in the humongous skyscraper of Sinclair and Sinclair, and came face to face with his boss’s boss’s boss who also happened to be evacuating a zoo.
Without a word, he’d taken the beagles.
We’d descended to the glass-caverned, travertine-coated lobby, and he’d helped me stuff the diseased and ill-gotten creatures into a massive truck destined for the airport.
That had been the beginning of an incident I was both deeply proud and immensely ashamed of. It’d also earned me a ruthless reputation.
Before I’d moved permanently to my Goddess Isles, I’d heard what they whispered in the fancy corridors. Human killer. Animal lover. They claimed I had the heart of a wolf instead of a man—choosing four-legged beasts instead of his own brethren.
They meant it as a slur.
I took it as a compliment.
Because it was true.
Humans deserved the worst from me. Animals were guaranteed my protection.
From anyone.
Pika fluttered to my shoulder, nibbling my ear.
I shivered and nudged him away with my chin. “Fly away, little flea. I’m busy.”
He twittered and tweeted, mimicking the sparrows and other birdlife that regularly serenaded the garden outside my office. My headache crested with each of his little chirps, not finding comfort in his song, when usually, my heart would settle and my stress would evaporate.
Fuck it.
Standing slowly, I pinned Cal with a stare. “You code Nathan Fisher’s fantasy. I’m going for a swim.” I smiled cynically. “And who knows...maybe I will take a sick day, after all.”
I left before he could rub my downfall in my face.
Pika fluttered after me, his wings snapping in the humidity.
Chapter Four
I SPRAWLED ON THE sand like a discarded toy that’d had all its stuffing removed.
The sun was at its zenith, directly above me, doing its best to chargrill my skin, even with the generous lashings of sunscreen I’d applied.
I willed myself to sit up. To eat. To focus on this stunning, glittering day.
But...the sand cradled me too well. The effort of clenching stomach muscles and corralling arms to push up was too much.
So, I lay there. The sun painting bright red patterns on my closed eyelids, stealthily streaking my dark hair with strands of bleached copper. I’d always been a sun lover, acutely attuned to its alternating shades and strengths in different countries.
Ozone played a large part, along with distance from the equator, and air pollution to its heat and colour, but here, on Sully’s island, the gilded orb had the warmth of a thousand cosy blankets, pressing into me, reaching through my pores and blood to my bones beneath, easing out the tiny pinpricks of pain and melting them into nothing.
I was washed in gold, inside and out—the perfect healer to my exhaustion.
At least I was outside and no longer in bed. To be honest, I was surprised I’d achieved that small goal. It’d seemed like an impossible task when I’d first woken and been assaulted with aches and bruises, tenderness and overuse in literally every extremity. Even my little toes hurt when I gingerly slipped out of bed and hobbled toward the bathroom.
There, I’d swayed as blackness crawled over my hazy vision. Once again, my blood sugar levels were dangerously low. My stomach clutched on emptiness. My hands quaked with hunger.
My core wrenched a moan from my lips when I clenched my pelvic floor, my feminine attributes highly aware they’d been touched, licked, fucked, and sampled far, far too many times.
I’d wanted to soak away my discomfort in a bath, but with my knees almost buckling, I opted to sit on the plush bath mat by the huge wave-carved vanity instead of risking a fall.
Putting my head between my legs, I waited for the wooziness to pass, breathing as deeply as I could, doing my best to tame a tattered heartbeat. By the time I looked up again, I’d formulated a flimsy plan of crawling back to bed, ringing for some food to replenish me, and spending the rest of the day in misery.
Hauling myself to my feet, I blinked back new stars, focusing on the large stone bathtub. As if by magic, warm water bobbed with frangipani flowers, aromatic with sweet blooms and comforting vanilla.
How?
Did someone come in and draw a bath while I’d slept?
My shoulders rolled with utmost gratefulness. Tears even came to my eyes as I clutched the lip of the bath and carefully slipped a leg inside. The warm water embraced me instantly, deleting some of the strain.
I melted, and that was the extent of my strength.
I allowed myself to plop like a pebble into the comforting water world, holding my breath as I ducked under. My ribcage grumbled with aches as I held my breath, slowly easing by the time I came up for air.
Some guardian angel had foreseen my need for bodily rehabilitation. If only I had something to eat, I could wallow away the rest of the morning, allowing the bath to work better than any pill or painkiller.
Wiping away water droplets from my eyes, I blinked again.
What on earth?
There, on a small bamboo table with a small vase holding three freshly picked frangipani flowers, two bottles of sweet-smelling lotion, and a box of anti-inflammatories, rested a dewy, blue-glossy smoothie.
Oh, my God.
Had I been so blind not to notice these gifts when I first entered the bathroom or was some of the magic from Euphoria spilling into reality?
I bit my lip, looking around the bathroom to see if an invisible staff member poised with yet more offerings plucked straight from my wordless wishes.
But I was alone.
Alone with the tweets of birds, gentle slap of waves on the shore, and the tropical heaviness of humidity.
Wincing as I employed muscles to reach for the smoothie, I grabbed the dense drink and slipped back into the warmth again. Only my head and my hands remained dry, tipping the weighty glass to my lips and slurping huge mouthfuls of deliciousness.
I moaned as if the flavour explosion was another orgasm. My system instantly clamoured to convert food into life-giving glucose and minerals. Blueberries and banana, cinnamon, coconut, and a blend of too many other things to pinpoint.
Thick and wholesome, I devoured the entire thing, gasping with brain freeze by the end.
Contentedness spilled through me, and I reclined in the bath again.
I stayed there until the warmth turned to air temperature and the smoothie navigated from my stomach to my muscles. Only once I could stand without black spots dancing in my vision did I grab a towel, dry off, slip into a silver rhinestone-studded bikini, and apply liberal sunblock.
Even that amount of exercise made me very aware of how weak my body was. How all it craved was more nutrition and somewhere to rest. I padded through the airy villa and followed the sweet, spicy aromas coming from the deck.
Once again, my mouth fell open in shock. The table, resting under a giant umbrella, groaned with a plethora of dishes. Earthen pots holding rich curries, banana leaf plates presenting fluffy pastries, white china with fresh fruit, and dishes with lentils, vegetables, and barbecued halloumi, all waited to be chosen.
Saliva coated my tongue. I selected a huge piece of ripe watermelon, a handful of lychees, and a still-warm chocolate croissant before descending the two steps from the teak decking to the sugary sun-warmed sand.
I ate my beach picnic in record time, then lay back and...the rest was history.
I couldn’t move.
I didn’t want to move.
I’d made the mistake of lying down in paradise, and for the first time in my life, I didn’t let guilt push me into motion.
My body wanted to rest.
I will rest.
I had no one to please, no chores to complete, no parents to obey.
Just bird song and wave chorus lulling me into a state of utmost lazy leisure.
Unfortunately, while my body might be able to switch off all signals to move, to lie like a corpse and be grateful for its respite, my mind began to race.
Last night returned in crystal, clamouring detail.
The cave.
The man.
The mind-numbing, body-breaking, elixir-maddening sex.
My nipples pebbled just from my memories, from his voice, from the way he manhandled me but also cared for me. It hadn’t been like I feared. He hadn’t been abusive or cruel. He’d taken what he wanted, but he’d also ensured I enjoyed it too.
And I had enjoyed it.
As much as I wanted to lie, to curse and scream and make myself sound less like a harlot, I had to be honest and admit...last night had been the best night of my life...sexually speaking.
A blush crept over my cheeks. A blush full of chagrin for Scott. If I ever got free—when I get free—how would I look him in the eye and admit what I’d done? Would it matter that I hadn’t had a choice? That the man who’d bought me stole my senses, plugged me into some sort of illusion, and then left me to his guests’ mercy?
Would Scott forgive me?
There’s nothing to forgive!
My hands curled, grabbing fistfuls of hot sand. I didn’t willingly open my legs for that brutish caveman. Yes, while under elixir’s influence, I had, but...that was a weapon used against me. My own libido and lust had become enemies.
If I ever saw Scott again, he would understand. If he didn’t...well...he doesn’t deserve me.
Nodding with firmness, I tried to calm my heart rate that’d once again skipped into tattered. A small puff of air wafted my face just before a gentle rustle of feathers and a cute chirp sounded in my ear. “Lazy, lazy.”
My eyes snapped open. I turned my head to come nose to beak with Sully’s tiny parrot. He tilted his neck so his head was horizontal, comical and far too bendy. “Lazy!” He ruffled his feathers, shaking off invisible dirt.
I smiled, studying the gleaming green feathers, snowy white chest, and apricot cheeks. “You’re very pretty.”
He puffed up like a tennis ball, pride cheeky and bright in his gaze. “Pretty Pika!”
I nodded, rolling onto my stomach, trailing my long hair over my shoulders but leaving most of the length, strewn like seaweed in the sand. Resting my chin in my hands, I laughed quietly as the little parrot stomped his scaly legs around in a dictatorship-style dance. His wings fanned out like a cape, his beak held high, his body bristling with authority. He squeaked with each step, sounding like the world’s tiniest bullhorn.
“Sully, Sully, Sully!” he screamed, abandoning his weird march and nibbling my hair in the sand. He ran bath-clean locks through his beak, pruning and preening me as if offended that I hadn’t done what he ordered and stopped being lazy.
I tried to ignore the way my stomach flipped at the mention of Sully’s name or the knowledge that this little bird seemed to have something unique of his.
He was loved by a man who didn’t seem capable of such a thing.
Stroking the top of Pika’s head, I murmured, “What can you tell me about him, huh? Is he all bad, or is there something good inside him too?”
Pika immediately forgot about my hair, arching his neck for me to scratch between his feathers under his chin. His eyes closed in bliss, and snuggled closer, showing total affection and intelligence far beyond what most people believed a bird could do.
This wasn’t just a mindless creature, focused on food and fornication before his lifespan was over. This was a tiny soul, sentient and smart, as valuable as any other being.
My heart squeezed as a tune of chirps and squeaks fell from his beak, his version of a purr, adoring my cuddles.
“I can see why Sully fell in love with you. You are rather irresistible.”
“His ability to invoke feeling is a daily punishment, I agree.”
I gasped, whipping around to face the dark, disgruntled voice behind me. Pika squawked indignantly as I sprayed him with sand, sitting upright, wincing a little at my remaining aches. “Sully!” I shielded my eyes from the sun. “Wh-what are you doing here?”
Pika flew to his master’s head, resting like some feathered jewel in Sully’s wet hair. He once again puffed with self-satisfaction, his tiny ego overflowing with knowledge that he belonged to someone who cared.
Sully didn’t acknowledge the bird. His fists stayed stiff by his thighs while his powerful body dripped with saltwater. Wet tracks on the sand revealed he’d swam here, appearing from the depths like some prince of the brine.
Pika must’ve flown while Sully swam, chasing his owner to torment me.
My chest turned hollow, creating a high-steepled church for my heart to pound. My gaze disobeyed me and trailed from his harsh eyebrows shadowing crystal blue eyes to the flares of his collarbones, ridges of abdominals, and over the ripples of shoulder and bicep. His lower half was hidden by dripping black board-shorts, his legs planted hip-distance apart and feet buried in the sand.
The sun absolutely worshipped him, turning his skin a gorgeous bronze, dappling him with gilded-shadow that only highlighted the impressive condition he kept his body in. With the small breeze teasing wet hair on his forehead and the sea still clinging to him, he wasn’t just a king of water but the master of all elements.
Earth, water, air, and fire.
The fire was inside me, an ember that’d struck a match the moment we’d met and continued to smoulder when we were apart, only to whoosh back into cardinal flame when we were close.
Last night faded. The caveman and the endless orgasms I’d enjoyed, all gone.
Everything vanished under the intense, terrifying recollection of Sully’s mouth on mine. On the way he’d dragged me from the bath by my hair, kissed me as if he’d die, then prepared my body with oil and tricks for another man.
Anger poured into the fire in my chest, crackling with sparks. “You rented me out.”
He ran a hand over his face, dispelling stinging salt and striding closer, casting me in shadow. “What did you think of my creation?”
“I can’t offer an opinion on something I don’t understand.”
He sucked in his bottom lip as if tasting my reply. Finally, he cocked his head with acknowledgement. “What don’t you understand?”
“Why?” I crossed my arms. “Are you going to tell me what Euphoria is? Are you going to explain how one second I was here, then I was there, and then I woke up in my villa as if I hadn’t travelled thousands of miles, regressed hundreds of millennia, and had sex—multiple times—with a prehistoric male?”
He sucked in a breath, making his belly strain. “I can...if that’s what you wish.”
“Is that why you’re here?”
He shook his head, making Pika take wing. “I’m here because, once again, my willpower is shit.”
Goosebumps darted over my skin at his confession. My lips tingled as if he’d just kissed me. As if I wanted him to kiss me...which was a total lie.
Stay away from me.
Just...grant me that, and I might be able to survive you.
“Do you visit all your goddesses after they’ve been in Euphoria?” I climbed to my feet, uneasy with the dynamics of him towering over me. Sand crowned me, decorating my skin with silver-golden glitter.
His gaze darkened, his eyes narrowing and skating over my bikini-clad form. He sucked in a thin breath as he caressed my cleavage, my belly, my briefs, and down my legs. My body prickled as if he’d physically touched me. Hyperaware without the condemning curse of his elixir.
I hated that I couldn’t blame a drug on my reaction to him. I despised that the more time we spent together, the more my body ignored my wishes and had its own intentions. My breasts grew heavier, my nipples harder, my core wetter.
It didn’t matter that I had no intention of acting on my attraction to him. It didn’t matter that I would never, ever willingly sleep with this bastard. The body was a fickle, betraying thing, and it’d chosen Sully Sinclair to be my own personal hell.
Where had my decision to wear that sack of a jumper gone? I should permanently live in that hideous thing...if only to protect myself from someone I wasn’t equipped to withstand.
He took his time replying, his stomach rippling with yet more tension. “No, I don’t.” He peered into my face, seeing my strain, my stress, the aftermath of countless sex. “However, not many have fainted at my feet. I figured I’d be protecting an investment if I came to check on you personally.”
I fought the urge to back up. “So the bath and the smoothie and all that delicious food...that’s you ‘protecting your investment?’”
He raked a hand through his hair, dispelling clinging ocean and encouraging the dark, bronze-tipped strands to dry. “No, each goddess receives those things after she’s...worked. I’m aware that your system needs fortification.”
“So magnanimous of you.”
He smirked. “I try.” His attention slipped from mine, drifting to the table still groaning with food. A scowl tangled his face. “You didn’t eat.” Temper flashed as he looked back at me. “Why the fuck haven’t you eaten? Remember what happened last time?”
I squeaked as he grabbed my elbow and marched me toward the deck. Pika chased us, chirping as Sully pushed me into a chair, wiped his hand free of the mixture of sunscreen and sand from my skin, and reached for a scrumptious-looking raspberry pastry. Plopping it onto the empty plate in front of me, he commanded, “Eat. Unless you want to visit Dr. Campbell and his syringes again?”
