Free Hidden Depths by Emma Holly

think my husband secretly likes men.” The instant the words were out, she wanted to take them back. She shouldn’t be blurting out their private business.
    Her captor’s smile deepened. “Luckily, my friend Ty won’t object.”
    “What do you want with us?” her sanity finally permitted her to demand.
    “Who the hell are you?”
    Her captor’s face sobered. “I am His Majesty, King Anso the First of Oceana, and you are my mate in blood. I’m sorry not to take more time to explain, but your husband’s shouts may have attracted attention. I think we’d best get this show on the road.”
    He had amazing diction for a kidnapper.
    What show ? she thought belatedly. And what road ?
    The second question was answered when King Anso - if that really was his name - began striding into the water’s edge.
    “No!” she cried, this at last awakening fear in her. Olivia liked gazing at the ocean. The roughness of the surf always frightened her.
    Her captor’s steps faltered but didn’t stop. “No?”
    “I’m afraid of the waves.”
    He did stop then, the choppy water splashing up his naked thighs, spraying her just a bit. She realized he was hard. As her weight had shifted, the silky tip of his cock bumped her bare bottom. Lord he was huge, like, porn star huge - an observation that filled her with a very inappropriate curiosity. She squirmed over an assortment of mortifying responses. Maybe worst of all, she couldn’t look away from his beautiful blue eyes. She knew her own gaze was pleading. Some part of her wanted him to forgive her phobia.
    “I love to swim,” she clarified stupidly. “I just have nightmares about drowning in the ocean.”
    His eyes flared with the strange glow she’d noticed earlier. “You’re with me now. You never have to be afraid of the sea again.”

    * * *
Anso was amazed his mate had barely struggled - and also reassured. On some level, she must know what he was to her, and her instincts calmed her body.
    Holding her in his arms was extraordinary. It was as if, unbeknownst to him, his life had been in pieces until that moment, and she’d drawn the fragments into a whole. He loved that her eyes kept coming back to his, even loved the confused pucker between her dark red brows.
    “Tell me your name,” he said.
    “Olivia,” she murmured dazedly.
    “Olivia,” he repeated, thinking it beautiful. “We’re almost at the depth where I can’t hold you above the breakers. I need to kiss you now.” Her mouth fell open, so he took it.
    A groan ripped from him at his first taste of her. This was a woman’s mouth.
    This was his woman’s mouth. He pushed his tongue into it gently. Oh she was soft - petite and succulent. His mouth watered.

    She didn’t know it, but her fate was sealed the second she swallowed.
    “Mmph,” she said, perhaps a teensy bit protesting.
    Anso changed angles and went deeper.
    As he did, she started kissing him back. Her response was tentative but miraculous to him. Maybe his hormones hit her. Maybe she simply couldn’t resist the lure of her bloodmate. All he knew for certain was that his prick clanged between his legs, ringing for him to attend a life or death appointment. He swung her around to face him, her cushy naked body pressing his full on.
    She liked that too. They moaned down each other’s throats. Olivia kissed him harder.
    A wave crashed over their heads without her noticing. Anso dove them under the next together, smoothly submerging them. Olivia didn’t stiffen, perhaps because she was busy winding her arms and legs around him.
    Fuck , he thought, wanting to do precisely that more than he’d have thought possible. His hand dragged down her back to clamp over her little ass. This squashed his near-bursting length into her soft belly. The pressure almost made him come, the stab of pleasure through his groin intense.
    Fortunately for his pride, the next wave’s under-torque spun them around like kids rolling down a hill. Olivia struggled and