"Yeah. Came on all of a sudden. And I've got one more coming in."

"I hear him now," Lev said, and stepped off the platform with a lift of his hand.

It was all the damage control he could do for now, and maybe it would be enough. Ivanov would find Rikki. He would talk to all the divers. It was a fairly common practice for agents to charm their way in, using women as shelters when they needed a safe house. Petr Ivanov would definitely question Rikki and ask questions about her.

Rikki was scrubbing her boat and equipment with bleach in preparation for the next dive. She glanced up at him. "Thanks for not pulling out your gun and shooting him. I worried a little that you might have gone one too many days and just needed the practice."

"Ha ha." He started to board but she gave him that fierce scowl that told him he wasn't welcome. "And I wouldn't have used a gun. I'd want it to appear natural, like a heart attack."

She paused again and gave him her look. "I'd better not die of a heart attack. I'll come back and haunt you."

"Well, your boat is looking pretty good. And you don't share well with others."

She laughed softly. The second boat came around the bend in the river out of the fog, looking a little ghostly. The two occupants stared at Lev as they passed the Sea Gypsy.

Lev crouched on the dock, staying low, bending toward her. Voices carried on the water, so he used the more intimate telepathy. Tell me their names and something about them.

Dan Ferguson and Mike Carpenter. That's Mike's boat. Dan has his own, but the engine is down. Mike's married. Dan is looking.

She stepped out off the boat and he took most of the gear from her. They walked together, Rikki slightly ahead. The two divers cut off her escape before she could make for the parking lot, as Lev had been certain they would. Divers knew one another. It was a small world and it stood to reason that they would be protective of their only female diver-especially since she was considered "different."

Rikki stopped directly in front of the shorter of the two men, her little frown on her face. Lev reached past her, offering his hand. It was obvious to him that she respected Mike.

"Mike, long time." He gave a little push, directing the vague shadow into the other man's mind. Immediately he turned to the taller of the two men, needing to give the shadow time to work. He'd already felt the resistance in the diver. "Dan. Good to see you're still at it." The same shadow slid into his head. "Levi Hammond," as if he was reminding them.

Mike scowled and rubbed at his temples, regarding Lev with some confusion. Dan picked up the shadow and enhanced it first. He smiled and shook Lev's hand again. "Been a long time."

"Too long. Nearly lost my woman. She was getting ready to dump me-again." Lev's fingers settled possessively around the nape of Rikki's neck. "I'm not the best letter writer."

Rikki made no response. He could feel her body vibrating and there was the gentlest of rocking. He knew she wasn't aware of it, but her distress level was increasing in direct proportion to the number of people crowding close to her.

"You okay, Rikki?" Mike asked, looking at her, not at Lev.

She nodded. "Just tired. The current was strong."

"There's an outsider hanging around asking questions. He's asking about the divers. I don't know what he's after, but be careful, Rikki," Mike warned.

"I'll look after her," Lev said.

Her frown deepened and she took a step away from him. "I don't need looking after. That's what got us into trouble before, remember?"

She'd missed her calling. She needed an Oscar, blending her annoyance with their fictitious previous relationship. He was very aware her step had taken her closer to the two men and it bothered him on some weird primal level. He shouldn't be a jealous man. He shouldn't really have those kinds of emotions. Nevertheless, he considered this might be a perfect time for target practice.

Lev forced a grin. "Yeah. I remember. Little Miss Independent. She spit on my money."

He took her hand and drew her around the two divers back toward the parking lot and the safety of the truck. These men needed time for the shadow memory to work. They would think they knew him but were having trouble placing him. And he didn't dare stay long around Mike, the man was too perceptive by far and he was fighting the planted memory.

She shrugged. "If you'd rolled the hoses properly in the first place, we wouldn't have needed the money to replace them."

Definitely an Oscar. They sounded like they'd been together forever, and the men had to know how fussy she was about her equipment. They were divers. They were probably just as fussy. He laughed. "You're not suckering me back into that old argument. Come on, let's get home."

She went with him, lifting her hand to the divers as she climbed into the driver's seat. "You know they think you're kissing ass just to get back into my good graces."

He smirked as he carefully stowed her gear. "They also know the balance of power will swing right back once I worm my way inside your little heart again."

"You should write fiction. The Sea Gypsy is my boat. If you want to be captain, you'll have to go buy your own boat. You have enough money."

"I'm content to work under you." He gave her another male smirk as he seated himself on the passenger side, his dark glasses firmly in place.

She rolled her eyes and started the truck. "You're good at role playing, Lev-Levi."

He turned his head. She had a tone. Thoughtful. Speculative. His gut knotted up again.

"Yes. I play roles to survive, Rikki. I slip from one identity to the next."

Without speaking, she drove up the narrow, steep road lined with eucalyptus trees that led to the highway, but her frown was back and this time, it didn't bode well for him. He waited, letting her work it all out in her mind. He knew the direction her mind was going.

She drove all the way back to the farm without saying a word. He respected her silence. At the house, she took care of her equipment first, making certain everything was ready for the next dive, just as she'd done on the boat. He went into the house and left her to it, powering up the laptop so he could be sure that everything for Levi Hammond was in place. His social security, driver's, diving and tender's licenses were all being replaced after the theft dutifully reported to the cops. He even had a copy of the "police" report.

Levi Hammond had a secure history, as did his parents and his grandparents on both sides. Lev was always thorough. He even had set up a history of credit card use, with an excellent credit rating as well. The credit cards were coming along with his birth certificate. He double-checked that no one had tried to access any of his records, including his school records. Obviously, Petr Ivanov hadn't heard of him or become suspicious of anyone in Rikki's life.

On the other hand, he'd put a flag on Rikki's records and someone had been looking into her life. He doubted if it was the local sheriff. The man had had plenty of time to look at her if he was suspicious of her in any way and wouldn't go back for a second look. No, Ivanov had heard of the female sea urchin diver and she would be his first choice to look into.

Someone would remember she hadn't been at the wedding on the day the yacht sank. Ivanov by now would have visited the local sheriff and the hospitals and clinics. Finding nothing, he would have started trying to blend in and get acquainted with the locals to hear all the gossip.

Rikki came in, breaking his concentration, and went past him without a word. He heard the shower start up a few minutes later. He sighed and sat back. The woman was beginning to make him a little crazy. Where had all his training and discipline gone? He erased his history and logged off.

Leaning on the doorframe, he studied her through the glass as she showered. She was wholly focused on the water and obviously wasn't aware of him. Laskovaya moya, do you believe I'm playing you? Using you?

She didn't look up. Nor did she stiffen. She left the water running over her shoulders and back as if she ached. It occurred to me that it was possible until I felt my palm aching. She rubbed the center of her palm and he felt the touch as if it were physical, stroking and caressing his cock. I'm in your head and you're in mine. It might work for a short period of time, but you can't hide from me any more than I can hide from you.

She turned her head and looked back at him through the glass. Her eyes met his, locked and held. He felt that look stab deep, penetrate straight through his chest to his heart. There was love in her eyes. She didn't bother to hide it. She never voiced the sentiment aloud to him. Maybe she didn't realize he said it to her because he always used his native tongue, but he could see it there in her solemn eyes.

/ see you, Lev. I will always see you, no matter what skin you have to wear or how many times you have to shed it and grow a new one. I'll see you when you're in the shadows. The real you is always safe here with me. I'm not going anywhere.

His eyes and throat burned. He couldn't move, couldn't turn away from her, and he knew the raw emotion was there on his face for her to see. He broke open and spilled out in front of her. The man he'd wanted to be, the man who had fallen so hard for a woman he couldn't ever find his feet-or his heart-again, could only look at her and know for certain he was where he was supposed to be.

16.

EYES locked on Rikki's, Lev pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside. It took a minute to remove his shoes and socks and strip off his pants. She waited, her eyes darkening with passion. He could drown in her eyes, he decided, locking his gaze with hers, stepping close to pull open the glass door.

She inhaled sharply, tilting her head as he came closer. Lev wrapped his fingers around the nape of her neck and drew her to him. The moment he touched her, he felt complete. The water poured over both of them like an exotic waterfall. The entire shower had been constructed to appear as if they were out in the wild, the sea surrounding them, and the water, either rain or a cascading fall, added to the effect. She belonged in that setting, and when her body moved against his, she was relaxed and welcoming.

He loved the scent of her, the womanly fragrance drifting around him like a heady perfume. The trust in her eyes, the need and passion, aroused him as nothing else could. Her hands moved over his chest, her fingers tracing defined muscles. There was possession in her touch for the first time. A claiming of her own.

The breath slammed out of his body when her fingers closed over his engorged cock, trailing sizzling sensation up and down its length and around the thick girth. She knelt there on the cool gray and blue tile, and cupped the weight of his balls in her palms.

"What are you doing?" He could barely get the words out as he felt her breath, already hot, already sweet, bathing the throbbing mushroom head. With shaky hands he changed the cascade of water falling on them to a gentle rain.

"Practicing," she replied in a husky, sensual tone. "I like to be good at whatever I do and I like pleasing you." She licked at the pearly drops and then hummed, savoring them as if he had given her the finest of wines. "You taste good."

"I have to say I'm glad you think so. What would we have done otherwise?"

She gave him a sassy smile. "I would have smeared peanut butter over you and licked it off," she offered. "I still might."

Happiness burst through him. And then she took him in her mouth, allowing his cock to slide down the silken heat of her tongue and his mind just slid away from him. Always before, Rikki had become wholly focused on what she was doing, leaving his body in heaven, but he'd known she was somewhat detached from him, completely mesmerized by what she was doing, by her exploration of his body. Now, her eyes met his and she watched him, wholly focused on him, not just on the mechanics, and just like before, when she'd touched him, he knew there was blood and not ice water running in his veins.

Her mouth, growing hotter by the moment, felt subtly different-her tongue, teasing the underside of the head of his cock in the most sensitive spot and then flicking over the head again, had him groaning. He had no time to assimilate the sizzling streaks of pure heat rushing through his veins. Her teeth scraped gently and his cock jerked. Her lips slid up and down, then over his sac, teased the base and then once more engulfed him.

There was fire in her mouth, pouring over him, and the alternating tight suction and dancing tongue kept him off balance. Pleasure seemed almost overwhelming, and through it all, he was lost in the dark pools of passion in her eyes.

He felt that first tentative stirring in his mind as she connected so gently, so lightly. He knew what she was doing, but he opened to her anyway, allowing her to stroke caresses inside his head, to heighten his pleasure by allowing him to experience hers and, most of all, to follow the images in his head. He gasped as she took him deeper, swallowing, the tight muscles constricting around him.

The water fell around them, clear and fresh, adding to the beauty of the moment. The tiles shimmered as if the sea had come alive. The soft lights played over Rikki's skin, turning soft flesh into a creamy delight of pure satin. The water caressed her body, ran in rivulets over her shoulders and down the valley between her small, perfect breasts.

All the while those dark eyes held him captive. There was love, there was pure enjoyment and a desire for him every bit as intense as what he felt for her. Her mouth never broke contact, although she would slide him to the very edge of her lips and then slow, so slowly, enclose him with tight, fiery heat.

He knew every trick there was to heighten the pleasure of his sexual partner, yet he'd never experienced the true generosity of love. His hands bunched in her hair and he lifted his face to the gentle rain of the shower head, his eyes burning. Warmth flooded his mind, surrounded him, pushing out every horrific image from his past, until there was only Rikki with her sweet mouth and her giving, accepting nature.

His body coiled tighter and tighter, and he tugged at her hair, needing desperately to be inside of her, a part of her. She moved into his arms without hesitation, wrapping her arms around his neck as he lifted her, guiding her legs around his waist. She locked her ankles behind him and he settled her body over his. She sheathed him with that same exquisite slowness she'd used with her mouth. He felt her body open to his, a little reluctantly. The tight petals unfurled as his thick shaft penetrated her deeper and deeper until she was seated on him, constricting and gripping so that he shuddered with the pleasure of her.

He let her find her own rhythm and she began to move, undulating like the waves she loved so much, up and down, yet making tight, small circles and moving her hips as if she were riding with the surf. He loved the growing confidence in her, the way she stretched to arm's length, fingers linked behind his neck, throwing her head back while her hips continued that slow rhythm that was certain to drive him mad. The expression on her face was priceless, pure bliss, sexy-she was a wanton woman lost completely in her chosen lover.

The water ran down her body to where they were joined, pooling and then running in small rivers down their thighs. The droplets sizzled as if electrified. He didn't know if it was the water running hot, or his sensitive skin, or something she did as a water element. It didn't matter how, just that a thousand velvet tongues licked at his skin, and when she moved in that slow, sensuous ride, he felt hot liquid bathing the very head of his cock.

Her feminine sheath, tight and hot, gripped and moved as if alive, surrounding him with living silk, wrapping, milking, strangling and causing heated friction as he slid nearly out and then she was once again seating herself to the hilt. Tension grew, coiling inside him like a hot spring. His toes, his legs, his thick thighs, shuddered with arousal. The boiling magma pooled and heated, the pressure building in his jerking, pulsing cock and his tight, relentless sac.

With a low moan, he gripped her hips and took over. He slammed into her, deep and hard, bottoming out, bumping her sensitive cervix so that she cried out and dug her fingers into his shoulders, preparing for a wild ride. He gave it to her, switching from those slow, rising waves, to a crashing stormy sea, surging into her again and again.

Her music started, those soft little whimpers and moaning pleas he found himself waiting for. Her voice blended with the sound of flesh coming together and the beat of the rain shower. He lost himself in her, allowed her to wash him clean, to drive away people, places and the things he'd done and seen. He was just Lev Prakenskii, consumed by the woman he loved more than anything or anyone on earth. Thunder roared in his head. His heart pounded, and his blood scorched his veins as the magma boiled hotter and began to build in his balls. He felt her first tremor, then the ripple, the quake, sweeping him with her tremendous orgasm, so that he lost all control and emptied himself in her, deep and hard and so satisfactorily.

For a moment his lungs burned and his heart nearly exploded. His legs shook. He eased her against the wall to keep both of them from landing on the floor. Pressing his forehead against hers, he fought for breath.

"Ya tebya lyublyu, Rikki," he murmured softly. "I love you. I know you think it's too soon. And I don't want to frighten you, but it's true and I have to tell you. So I'll tell you in my native language and you can't be afraid."

Her dark eyes swallowed him, and then she leaned forward and took possession of his mouth, a sweet, tender kiss, pouring herself into him. "I love you right back," she whispered, pulling back to look down into his face. "Maybe it is too soon. All my sisters would think so. But I've never felt like this. Not ever. Don't think I have to hear pretty words, Lev, I'm not asking for forever ..."

"I want forever." He tasted the word. "I'd never considered that I'd have a chance at forever. I like the sound of it. I'll take that. Forever with you."

She kissed him again. While the ripples of pleasure ran over their shared body, her fingers slid into his hair and she rode him gently until they were both completely spent. She lowered her legs, reluctant to part with him.

"I love when you're inside me." Her hand stroked his bare chest. She bent forward to capture a drop of water clinging to his hard pebble of a nipple.

He cradled her head to him. "I love being inside of you."

Picking up the shampoo, he washed her silky hair, his fingers gently massaging her scalp. Rinsing, he took his time soaping her body with her shower gel, lingering in every place that made her jump or shiver with need.

"I could spend all day here with you," he told her, sponging the soap from her skin.

She took over. Her hands were familiar now, moving over his body with such tenderness, he ached inside.

"It won't be so fun when the hot water turns cold on us, which it's about to do."

Her hands stroked lovingly over his groin, slippery with soap, washing him thoroughly before she rinsed him off. He grinned at her, gathered her into his arms and kissed her again. She looked so tempting, with those dark eyes and slicked back hair, her lips slightly swollen from his earlier kisses.

"You're right. The water's turning cold." He turned it off and handed her a towel before drying off himself.

A bird called. Another answered.

"Let's just sit on the back porch and watch the sky tonight. A small storm is supposed to make its way over the ocean inland. I love to watch them come in. It's not a big system, but the sky is always so great with churning clouds. They get heavier and darker, and you can just feel the rain in the air."

"Someone's here, laskovaya moya," Lev whispered. He put her gently from him and stepped hastily into his jeans. He couldn't help taking the time to look at her, wet and disheveled and looking very much as if she'd been thoroughly made love to. He padded barefoot into the bedroom and checked his weapons.

Rikki followed him to the bedroom door and stood regarding him with amusement, absently toweling herself off. "Only my sisters come visit me," she pointed out. "I think you're safe."

"I prefer to be certain," he replied, flashing a small, reassuring smile. She might be amused by his safety precautions, but they were ingrained in him and he would never be completely free of his training.

Survival was part of the reason he had grabbed at her with both hands, committing fully almost before he even realized what he was doing. Survival was at the very core of who he was, and Rikki represented existence for what had been left of the original Lev Prakenskii. That man had slowly been consumed by the phantom that slipped through the world unnoticed, assuming new identities, shedding his skin and his identity at the drop of a hat. She had no real concept of his world and the danger that came from accepting him into her life, but he also knew, even if she had fully recognized the risks, she would accept them.

"You're distracting me," he pointed out, stepping close to her, one hand cupping her bare breast, as he leaned down to capture her mouth with his.

He loved the feel of her skin, baby soft, silky smooth. The way she shivered at his touch. The way she tasted. Everything. All of her. He kissed his way to her ear, nibbling, pressing butterfly kisses over her chin and neck and back to her delicate earlobe. "I could eat you up, Rikki."

Her nipple hardened into his palm and he transferred his attention to her breast, rolling and tugging and then bending to draw the silky flesh into his mouth. She cradled his head to her, holding him, the tremors rocking her, the small little whimpers enveloping him in her music. He pressed his forehead against hers and inhaled, taking her feminine fragrance into his lungs.

"You're so beautiful, Rikki."

"Actually, I'm pretty thin," she said matter-of-factly. "I don't have a lot of curves."

He couldn't help but smile. She wasn't fishing for compliments, she meant it literally. He'd not only meant her outside, but her inside as well.

"You have enough for me. And we'll work on the thin part. I'm a good cook. You just have to learn to eat something other than peanut butter." He pulled away from her before he was lost again. "You're also a terrible distraction."

He caressed her bare bottom as he slipped past and made his way to the kitchen. The drive teed and went into a circle. Rikki, as well as her family, always used the parking at the back. There was more room and the drive circled right back to the main road. He didn't turn on lights, but waited in the gathering darkness as a car he recognized as Blythe's made its way to park beside Rikki's truck. She sat for a moment, staring at the house, obviously disturbed by something, before she opened her door and got out. As soon as he saw that she was alone and bringing dinner, he went out to help her.

"Blythe, good to see you," he greeted, taking the containers from her. "I really can cook now. I do appreciate all of you keeping me from starving to death, but we're going shopping tomorrow and I'll cook. We'll do a little trial and error, and see if we can find other things Rikki can comfortably eat."

Blythe followed him up the stairs to the porch, but stopped at the door. "You have to go slow with her, Levi."

He nodded. "I'm learning that. It's a good journey though. Come on in."