A Fall From Grace. Mail Order Bride Western Read online

  “Did you see the other thing in the water? The thing that grabbed me?” Aaron shook his head quickly.

  “What other thing?” He tried to look puzzled but it came across more as guilt. “I didn’t see anything? You were probably just in shock, that’s all. God I feel awful, I know there have been shark attacks in these waters recently, I should have known better than to go in that deep” he said.

  “Don’t blame yourself, they’re not exactly common in this area. I still don’t understand why it gave up so easily though. I swear that something grabbed me and forced me back in to the shallow.” she insisted as he sat her down on the sand to get a better look at the wound on her leg.

  “Here, let me get a look at that,” he lifted her foot pushing her back to the ground as he examined the wound on her leg. “It’s not too bad, but I’m pretty sure you’re going to need some stitches.” He let go of her leg and Sophie sat up. After a minute or two she tried to stand and stumbled. Aaron grabbed her arm and stopped her hitting the floor. He gently wrapped her kimono around her still trembling body.

  “Come on let’s get back and get you to a doctor,” he said as he supported her weight with his strong arms wrapped around her.

  As they made their way over the dunes Aaron made idle chatter, trying to take her mind off what had just happened. Sophie couldn’t focus on what he was saying though, she was more certain that there was something that Aaron was keeping something from her. She just couldn’t put her finger on what exactly that something was.

  He must have seen the other shape in the water and wondered where she was and where exactly had he been when she couldn’t find him? Nothing made sense.

  Chapter Five

  Aaron helped Sophie to her aunties house and then left her with Angie and Terry who went berserk when they saw her injured leg, “This is why I tell you to keep in touch Sophie, where was your cell? Why didn’t you call?” Angie snapped.

  Sophie burst into tears it was all too much for her to cope with. After everything that had already happened now Angie was laying into her.

  “Angie take it easy,” she heard Terry saying.

  “We were so worried Sophie there’d been no word for hours. I know you like Aaron and that’s great, it really is but please have a thought for others,” Angie began to calm down as she helped Sophie to a seat in the kitchen to take a closer look at her leg.

  “What happened?” Terry asked as he helped Angie fetch some warm water and a washcloth.

  “A friggin great big pissed off shark attacked me that’s what happened,” Sophie snapped.

  “You’re very lucky to be alive Sophie, how’s Aaron?” Angie asked dabbing the wound with warm water.

  Sophie winced with the pain, “That’s the weird thing, he’s absolutely fine the shark didn’t go anywhere near him! There’s more too, I could’ve sworn there was something else in the water with us and it pushed me to shore.”

  She saw her auntie and uncle exchange glances and then Terry spoke, “Something else like what?”

  “Something big under the water, it grabbed me and rushed me back to the shallows.” She winced again as Angie dabbed her leg and leaned in for a closer look. “I looked under the water and saw what I can only describe as a dragon…” Sophie said realizing how stupid it sounded aloud.

  Her auntie paused and looked up at her uncle but said nothing.

  “Did you hear me? I said it looked like a dragon I could see its wings and even its tail!” she raised her voice now just in case they hadn’t heard her the first time.

  “Yes we heard you Sophie. It must be the shock it’ll do strange things to people you know. The good news is that you don’t need any stitches, whatever kind of shark it was must have just grazed you. It looked much worse than it was but now it’s cleaned up it doesn’t look half as bad. I don’t know what happened out there but God you were both so lucky,” Angie said.

  “What if he’s a freaking dragon?” she muttered in disbelief under her breath but obviously not quietly enough.

  “What? Who’s a dragon?” Terry asked.

  “Nobody’s a dragon, Sophie you’re still in shock that’s all.” Angie said.

  But Sophie didn’t drop it, “I just don’t get why it didn’t go for Aaron?”

  “Perhaps it simply saw the two of you as more trouble than you were worth Sophie, taking two people down was probably more effort than it was willing to give,” Terry replied.

  “But Aaron was on his own when I was saved by the dra….” she stopped herself from saying the word as they both glared at her.

  “It obviously gave up for some reason Sophie. Who knows? It does happen, sharks will go to attack and then simply change their minds,” Angie answered as she applied a thick layer of Neosporin to Sophie’s leg.

  Sophie wasn’t convinced in the slightest about the shark just quitting on a free meal. She didn’t believe in dragons, who did? But she was certain that she had seen the silhouette under the water and it definitely looked like a dragon and a big one at that. She couldn’t believe that Aaron hadn’t seen it. What the fuck was going on? She needed answers and she needed to see Aaron again before they both left.

  “I’m going over to see Aaron,” she said as she stood up on very shaky legs.

  “No you’re not. I’ll go over and ask him to come around but you are going nowhere!” Angie snapped.

  “Fine,” Sophie sighed flopping back down on the kitchen chair. Her last day at the beach house, her last day with Aaron had certainly not supposed to have been like this. She had had so many plans for how things should go and a shark hadn’t been included in any of them.

  Ten minutes passed before Angie returned with Aaron following her. He walked across to Sophie and threw his arms around her body.

  “Hey are you okay?” he asked with concern filling his shaky voice.

  She smiled up at him as he released her from his strong embrace.

  “We’re off for a walk to give you two some space. We’ll see if we can spot this dragon of yours Sophie,” laughed Terry teasingly.

  “Laugh it up, you won’t be laughing if you really do see it!” she replied.

  “Dragon? What are you guys talking about?” Aaron asked.

  “Its nothing, I’m in shock so nothing I say is true,” Sophie snapped.

  “That’s not what we meant Sophie and you know it. We just don’t believe in dragons and neither should you, next you’ll be telling us there are vampires and werewolves living here in New Jersey too.” Terry said smiling at her as he and Angie headed out of the front door.

  Aaron knelt on the floor in front of her and raised her head up gently, “Hey I believe you Sophie. If you say you saw something under the water then I believe you.”

  She stared into his green eyes and whispered, “Thank you…I just don’t understand what happened…”

  “We were attacked by a freaking shark that’s what happened,” he replied holding her hands tightly as he kissed her cheek. She noticed how warm his hands were again and how there was a sharp contrast between the abrasiveness of his skin to the softness of hers.

  “If something didn’t save me Aaron how the hell did I end up back in the shallows?” she asked him as she stared into his handsome face.

  He squeezed her hands tighter, sighed and said, “Sophie does any of this matter now? We’re safe and surely that’s got to count for something.”

  “Of course it does but I want answers. I can’t help it, I just want to know that I’m not going crazy!” she felt like he was trying to avoid talking about it and that frustrated her as much as being teased. She wanted him to tell her what happened, his side of the story, but he seemed to be keeping that to himself.

  He captured her soft lips with his, silencing her protests with his hungry tongue making love to her mouth. Sophie moaned softly as she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and pulled him into her, he rested between her legs as he kissed her mouth harder.

  Her kimono had dropped open and sh
e rubbed her bikini clad wetness against his hard body as he held her close. She wrapped her long legs around him and she could hear him groaning.

  She shifted on the chair slightly with her tongue still inside his mouth and she rubbed herself against him harder. Glancing down she could see his hard erection protruding through his board shorts and remembered he was naked underneath them.

  Sophie was aroused within minutes and craved for his hot, bulging shaft to be pounding her soaking wetness once again. He reached behind her and up inside her kimono, undoing her bikini top so her naked breasts were fully exposed to him. Sophie moaned as he dropped his wet mouth from her lips down to her brazenly naked breasts.

  She arched her back and pushed an ample firm breast into his soft wet mouth begging him to suck her throbbing nipple. She grabbed his head running her fingers through his ponytail. She needed a release, she needed to be fucked and hard.

  “Fuck me now Aaron, do it hard,” she commanded hardly recognizing her voice as her own.

  He reached for her bikini panties and pulled them off her slender legs making sure not to graze her injured leg. She moaned as she sat on the chair with just her satin kimono covering her nakedness.

  “Can you stand?” he said.

  “Fuck my leg I need you inside me!” she groaned as she stood up facing him as he knelt on the floor.

  Sophie cried out loudly as his tongue circled her aroused clitoris, his fingers holding her pussy lips apart. She grabbed his head for balance and he pulled back with a wicked smile.

  “Turn around and hold the table, spread you legs wide,” he ordered.

  The sound of authority in his voice excited her. Turning around she felt him lifting her kimono up so she was fully exposed to him. Her wetness waited eagerly for his hardness to fill her. She moaned loudly as she felt him entering her from behind his warm hands holding her slim hips. He thrust his huge hard rod into her hot wet pussy relentlessly.

  She held the table for support as she looked down to see her curvy soft breasts bouncing together with each thrust of his hard cock. He groaned breathlessly as he climaxed and his seed flooded her in sticky warm jets. Sophie cried as her orgasm took over her slim body and she shuddered against the hard table with the intensity of her climax.

  Chapter Six

  Aaron held her with his strong arms wrapped around her slender body from behind; his touch was so warm almost hot.

  “I think I’m falling for you Sophie,” he whispered in her ear with his breath fast and shallow on her flushed cheek.

  She smiled and replied as she reached behind her and cradled his head in her hand, “Good because that’s exactly how I feel about you.”

  He kissed the palm of her hand, “Do you think its all happening too quickly between us?”

  She paused before answering, “No. If two people truly love one another they’ll know it, there isn’t a set amount of time for any couple to fall in love.”

  He kissed her neck softly and she moaned quietly, “Hmmmm you keep doing that and you’ll have to fuck me again.”

  “Oh what a chore that’ll be!” he laughed. “But your auntie and uncle might be back soon and that would be awkward.”

  “That’s true,” however much she wanted him again the last thing she wanted was for Angie and Terry to find them fucking on the kitchen table.

  Aaron pulled out from her tight wet pussy and as she turned to face him, he leant down and captured her soft wet lips with a tender lingering kiss. Carefully he helped her on with her bikini, his hands so warm against her silky-smooth skin.

  “Sophie, there’s something I need to show you. You should probably get dressed first though.” he said quietly.

  “Okay let me go upstairs and throw some clothes on,” she said as she kissed his rough cheek lightly.

  She limped upstairs, her leg was starting to hurt again, for just a moment her orgasm had taken her mind off the searing pain.

  Sophie dressed in a short flare dress making sure to forget to wear her panties. She took her hair from its ponytail and brushed it out quickly, letting the waves tumble down over her tanned shoulders. Pulling on a pair of sneaker socks and slipping in to her sneakers she was ready to go. She carefully made her way back downstairs and scribbled a note for her auntie and uncle.

  “Where are we heading?” she asked as she finished the note and left it on the kitchen table. Aaron took her hand and they left the house and headed toward the sandy path to the beach once more.

  “You’ll see,” he replied.

  When they reached the dunes Aaron picked her up and cradled her in his strong muscular arms, she leaned in to his firm warm body.

  As he ran down the dune with his feet not faltering once, she screamed with laughter. She felt safe in his arms, she trusted him. When they made it to the bottom of the dune, he gently placed her on the sand beside him and tucked her auburn hair behind her ears.

  “Okay I need to take you back to the water’s edge,” he said. She noticed he wasn’t out of breath at all, which surprised her after he had down a dune carrying her.

  She hesitated, “Do we have to go back there?”

  “Yes, you’ll be okay I promise. Trust me Sophie,” he replied holding her hand tightly.

  She did trust him and she also knew she loved him completely and unconditionally like she’d never loved anyone else in her life. She relented.

  They walked to the water’s edge and as she stood there she shuddered. Aaron placed an arm around her slender shoulders, “Whatever you see please trust me when I say that you’re going to be okay, okay?”

  She looked at him skeptically, “Okay, I’ll trust you.”

  “Just stand right here and don’t move, you’re about to see something that I’ve never shown anyone except my parents,” he said with a nervous expression on his face.

  Sophie reached out a hand and touched his arm but it was burning hot and she snatched her hand back, “Wow, your skin’s practically on fire.”

  “Yes, it’ll get even warmer so don’t touch me again, just stay here and watch,” he said as he ran into the ocean, board shorts, sneakers and all. His ponytail bounced and as he dived into the approaching wave, Sophie saw him disappear under the crashing water.

  “Aaron you’re nuts! What about the shark?” she yelled, but she knew that her words were lost against the breaking waves.

  She watched the water until a shape appeared. It seemed to glide through the water effortlessly as it had done before. She watched it intently.

  Aaron had vanished from her sight and now all she could see was the strange shape in the water and it was approaching the shoreline. Sophie instinctively stepped away from the water’s edge but as she did she remembered Aaron’s words.

  The shape grew closer and closer and as it did she walked back to the edge of the water, her pulse racing and her mouth dry. She glanced down into the shallows and stood paralyzed. Under the water was a brown and green dragon like creature, it’s scaled body crawling along the bottom of the ocean.

  She wanted to run, but her feet stayed planted in the wet sand as she stared down in to the water.

  The creature looked at her for a moment and she saw the flash of a green eye staring at her, “Aaron?” she asked incredulously.

  As she watched, the creature crawled closer toward her and then in the blink of an eye, she wasn’t looking at a dragon anymore but rather Aaron’s body under the water. She sat down on the soft sand with a small splash and her mouth wide open.

  Aaron started to raise himself up to his feet and Sophie shuffled back on the sand, unable to hide her fear and confusion. He was wearing his board shorts still but now where there had been scales there was skin.

  “That was you?” she stuttered still shuffling up the sand.

  “Yes.” He paused for a second, “Sophie don’t be scared please, I would never harm you, but I needed to show you that you’re not going crazy,” he said as he approached her with his hand outstretched.

  “That’
s close enough Aaron. I don’t understand what just happened…you need to explain,” she snapped.

  He dropped to his knees, “We’re dragon shifters.”

  “We? There are more of you?” she asked not quite believing what she was hearing.

  “My parents and I. There might be others, we don’t know,” he replied looking at her.

  “Nobody else knows?” she asked.

  “No. Sophie I’ve never felt like this about anyone before and I needed to tell you what I am. I saved you from the shark Sophie, I had to,” he answered.

  “So what happened to the shark?” she asked.

  “It swam away pretty quickly, wouldn’t you if you saw a dragon coming at you?” he attempted to make her smile. She paused before smiling at him.

  “I’d never retreat from you,” she replied as she moved closer toward him.

  He looked at her with fear showing in his shining eyes, “Does that mean you’re not scared by what I truly am?”

  She knelt on her knees just inches from his face and cradled it in her hands, “Perhaps a little bit, but I love you Aaron and that means loving all of you completely.”

  He smiled as she ran her fingers over his rough cheek, “You’re amazing Sophie, I never thought I’d ever be able to share what I am with anyone.”

  She kissed his lips softly, “Your secret’s safe with me, I won’t tell a soul.”

  “I know you won’t, I trust you and I love you,” he said as he kissed her lips lightly.

  Tomorrow they’d part company but she knew she’d see him again very soon.

  The End

  Highlanders Lass

  A Highlander Shifter Romance

  Copyright 2016

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