Free Dreaming by the Sea (an erotic paranormal short story) by Delilah Devlin Page A

and picked up a shell, then wiped it off on his belly and held it out.
    I didn’t want to take it his gift. The way he looked at me, his stare so intense, set off tingles of alarm that lifted the hairs on the back of my neck.
    Still, I raised my hand, accepting it, and then cradled it in my palm as I met the stranger’s steady gaze.
    His mouth curved into a half-smile tentative enough not to alarm me. “If I join you on your rock, will you run?”
    Damn. I wanted him here, even though he’d be near enough I couldn’t escape. “Should I run?” I asked, tilting my chin.
    His smile widened. “Only if you worry about your gown getting wet.” His gaze studied my expression, and then he gripped the ledge and hauled himself up beside me.
    I made more room for him to sprawl backward on his elbows. Eyeing him, sitting this close to his nude body, disturbed me more than I wanted to admit. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction—him, with his masculine frame stretched beside me, so close I could sweep a hand over his hard belly or bend to take his cock inside my mouth…
    At the direction of my thoughts, my heart pounded like a sledgehammer.
    “The sun’s setting,” he murmured, turning to catch me staring again.
    I really couldn’t resist. His cock lay against the thigh nearest me. And disappointingly, it had softened. I wondered how that could be when my own body was reacting so wildly to his proximity.
    “Really, did you park along the cliff?” I blurted, wanting to talk about anything to fill the silence that made me more nervous and embarrassed by the second. He had to know how he affected me. My breaths were coming faster. My cheeks heated.
    He arched a dark brow, and the fading sunlight glinted in his mysterious, sea-blue eyes. His white teeth flashed. “I swam here.”
    Our gazes were locked, making the moment feel more intimate, as though a promise was made. My body leaned toward him, but I resisted. He was a complication I didn’t need. No matter how handsome. I shook my head to clear it. “Do you have a house farther down the beach?”
    “My home is farther along than that.”
    Growing annoyed with his evasiveness, I frowned and rose on my knees. “I have to get back.”
    “Is someone waiting for you? Will you be missed?”
    The way he asked, as though my answer would determine his reaction, made those warning tingles clamor. I tried to stand, but he gripped my wrist and held me.
    His thumb stroked my thudding pulse. “I can’t let you leave.”
    “I’ll scream.”
    “Do it. No one will hear.”
    Since he was right, I bit my tongue and glared.
    “Say you’ll stay, and I’ll let go of you.”
    I nodded slowly. “I’ll stay.”
    He eased his grip, and I glanced down to rub my wrist, waiting for him to lower his guard. The moment he offered me a smile, I shoved his chest, pushing him off the rock into the pool. Then I scrambled up the rocky pathway.
    In moments, I was halfway up the narrow, uneven rock steps that ran from the beach to the cabin porch, forty feet above. However, I heard no sounds behind me and I slowed, worrying that maybe he’d hit his head against a rock and lay bleeding or drowned in the tiny pool. Huffing a bit, I halted, gripping the handrail in my indecision, and then glanced back. I gave a startled yelp because he was only two steps behind me. And smiling.
    Naked and smiling, I revised. I couldn’t get past the naked part, not when his cock was filling again. I backed up a step.
    He followed, crowding closer.
    Because I couldn’t stop gauging the growing size of his erection, I held tightly to the rail. I was breathing a little too fast and feeling light-headed. “Why are you following me?” I asked, exasperated both with him and my own reactions.
    “Since you’re so eager to return home, I thought we would continue our conversation there.”
    “You can’t come. My husband wouldn’t like it.”
    He pried my left hand from the rail and held it up. “No