Capri's Fate (19 page)

The clear, blue water rippled past her as Thall moved to stand in front. He placed his hands on her shoulders and waited until her gaze lifted to meet his. Even as his eyes changed color from green to brown to burnt orange,
Capri could see the bewilderment lingering there. He rubbed his hands along the crest of her shoulders. "I have wanted to be near you for a long time."

She blinked. "What do you mean, a long time?"

"You've been in my domain since the day you were conceived."

Capri
pulled out of his grasp, stepped back, slipped on a slimy rock and splashed into the water. Rising up sputtering, she wiped the water from her face. "You've been watching me? All my life? That's stalker creepy." She crossed her arms over her chest, covering her breasts.

Thall ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm a Fate. I'm the son of Lachesis, the Fate who allots the length of life."

"I know who you are." Fury and scorn crossed her face.

"Then you know what I am. It's what I was born to do." His gaze lowered to the water. "You've been a dream. I've longed to be near you. Hear your voice speak my name. To feel your flesh touch my skin." His voice cracked. "To kiss your lips."

He glanced up, but did not meet her gaze. "It burns me when you touch me. Don't condemn me because I'm not human. I would give up my immortality to be with you."

Capri
gasped and raised her hand to her mouth. Her heart skipped a beat.

"My intentions were never evil." He matched his gaze with hers. His eyes flickered from purple to red. "They were made out of—"

"No." She slapped her hand against the water, splashing him. He coughed and stumbled back. "You're not real."

Capri
beat her fists on the surface of the lagoon. "This is real." She pinched her arm. "I'm real." Cupping her breasts, she jiggled them. "These are real. You—" She thrust her arm out and pointed her index finger point-blank at his face. "You are not real." She pushed past him and dove under the waterfall.
And I can't love you
.

When she surfaced, Thall yelled, "Just like you to walk away."

She spun around, tripped over a rock and caught herself. The water splashed up against her. She swiped at it dripping from her nose. "What the hell do you mean?"

He swam under the water and surfaced near her. His eyes were inky black. "You do it every time a relationship gets difficult. You did it with your husband, Eric, and that doctor and—"

Spinning away from him, she dove forward, flailing her arms against the water, trying not only to swim, but to drown out his words. When she neared the bank, she stood and stumbled to the grass. Water dribbled down her cheeks and mixed with the tears that flowed from her eyes. She rose and moved to the forest edge then slapped at the branches as she tried to find the trail to lead her back to the zodiac.

Tripping over a log,
Capri bounced off a palm tree and stumbled onto the sand. She cast her gaze right and left, searching the beach for the boat. When she spotted the zodiac to her right, she scurried across the hot sand and plowed through the surf until she reached it. Sobbing and with trembling fingers, she tugged at the knot that secured the line to the boat.

"Ow."
She popped a finger into her mouth and pulled it back out. She glared at a ragged edge and missing nail polish. "Damn him. He ruined my manicure. And my life. Damn him. Damn him!"

Digging her finger back into the line, the knot loosened. She unraveled it, tossed it at the shore, climbed onto the boat and started the engine.

Thall grabbed the edge of the zodiac, tossed in the picnic basket and Capri's bathing suit bottom. "Where do you think you're going?"

"The boat. Home." She slapped at his hands. "Anywhere you aren't."

Thall threw a leg over the edge of the zodiac and heaved himself out of the water. Capri gunned the engine and pulled away from the shore. He tumbled and fell back into the surf. Glancing over her shoulder, she watched as a wave from her wake washed over him. "Good riddance."

She cranked the engine to full throttle and raced toward the yacht. Slowing, she bumped against the side. Walking on unsteady legs, as the boat bobbed on the water, she leaned and placed a hand on the side of the yacht to steady herself. After grabbing hold of the ladder,
Capri hoisted herself onto it, then scrambled up onto the deck.

Capri
bolted to the captain's chair, pressed the ignition button and steered the boat out to sea. She clicked on the GPS and tapped on the asterisk indicating Jakarta. The screen displayed her current position and estimated time and distance to the city.

"Thirty minutes? We weren't lost? That bastard. He knew exactly where we were." She slapped at the wheel. "He lied. Everything was a lie."

She raced below deck threw on some clothes the hurried back to the cockpit. Wrapping her fingers around the throttle, she pushed it to full and not once did she glance back.

Docking the yacht in the first available slip at the
Jakarta marina, Capri killed the engine, collected her things, hailed a taxi and demanded to be taken to the airport. Once settled at a gate in the international lounge and while waiting for the next flight to the U.S., Capri dug her cell phone out of her purse and pounded out a text to Kat.

Coming home. Need ride. Flight lands 6 pm Thurs. Will need a drink. C

As
Capri exited Customs, she spotted Kat jumping up and down, waving her arms with a broad grin on her face. A thrill of joy and a pang of sadness filled Capri. Joy at seeing her longtime friend, sadness at having to relive the past few days as she described the mess her life was floundering in.

"It's so good to see you." Kat wrapped her arms around
Capri and squeezed. "I missed you so much." She released her, stepped back and placed her hands on her hips. "What did you bring me?"

Capri
laughed, opened her purse, and pulled out a small red bag. She handed it to Kat.

She opened it and peered inside. Reaching in, she pulled out a polished stone mother elephant and two little stone baby elephant statuettes. "Ooh. They're adorable. Thank you." Kat placed a small kiss on Capri's cheek, slipped the souvenirs in her jacket pocket and linked an arm through
Capri's. "You grab that suitcase. I've got this one. Now let's get you home and to a drink. I want to hear all about this adventure."

Capri
followed Kat to her bright yellow Focus and tossed her suitcase onto the backseat. As she clicked her seatbelt, she sighed. "I'm not talking about what happened until I've got about three glasses of something good and expensive in me. Wine. Whiskey. Whatever."

"Got it. No talking." Kat turned the ignition key, shifted into reverse and backed out of the parking spot. "I promise to get you home to wine, whiskey and whatever, ASAP."

True to her word, Kat was quiet all the way to the condo. After dropping her luggage in her bedroom, Capri joined her friend on the living room couch. Kat pulled the cork on the Wolf Blass, then filled both glasses. She placed the bottle on the table and lifted her glass. "Glad you're home. I missed you."

Capri
clinked her glass on Kat's and sighed. "Yes, I'm glad to be home, too." She swallowed a mouthful of wine. "So, tell me, anything happen while I was away. Have you found Mr. Right?"

Kat shook her head. "No such luck. Not much happened. The sad news is my grandfather died."

"I'm so sorry." Capri placed her glass on the coffee table and hugged Kat.

"He was ninety-four. He lived a long life
and a long time without Grandma. She died when I was sixteen." When Capri released her, Kat settled back on the sofa. "We were all standing around the bed. The doctor said there wasn't anything else they could do. Someone said it was up to the Fates. Then Grandpa smiled and…died. I guess he's gone to be with Grandma."

Kat kicked off her shoes, stretched out and rested her feet on the table next to the bottle of wine. "But, on a more cheerful note, I found a great pair of knock-off Prada pumps. They have a six-inch heel and so make me look like a sexy babe. I'll probably fall off and break my ankle the first time I wear them. They were at this little shop I found around the corner from…"

She rambled on about her shopping experiences until they'd finished their second glass of Australian wine then smiled at Capri. "Okay. Nerves should be calmer now. So, I want to hear everything. Every little juicy, sordid and wonderfully embarrassing detail."

Capri
sipped her wine and tried to figure out how to explain what happened without having to think about it. "Do you remember the night we went to O'Malley's?"

Kat grimaced. "I remember the hangover the next day."

Chuckling, Capri filled her wine glass and settled back onto the sofa. "Do you remember me telling you about Thall?"

"The not-real guy?" Kat peered over the lip of her glass.

Capri nodded. "Oh, where to begin?" She sipped a mouthful of Australian grapey bliss. "So, I fly to Jakarta to continue to this little Indonesian island called Flores. I was supposed to meet with…well it doesn’t matter with who. The meeting never happened." She shook her head. "To get to the island I had to fly. And the big airlines don't do puddle jumps."

"And we both know how much you love to fly in little airplanes."

Capri shuddered. "The office booked a flight with T. Hall Charterw—" She slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. "I'm such an idiot. A complete and utter idiot."

Kat sipped her wine and waited.

"T. Hall Charterways was the name of the airline. T. Hall. Get it. Thall. It’s his name."

Kat wrinkled her brow. "So if it was him? You know, not-real guy. How come you didn't recognize him?"

"He didn't look like…like he did the last time I saw him." She turned her head, pretending to look at a painting, and held back a sob.

Capri
felt the sofa move as Kat scooted across, settled next to her and rested her hand on her arm. "What happened?"

The words gushed out of
Capri. She explained meeting the plane mechanic, who turned into Taren, her pilot, who taught her to fly and then morphed into yacht captain. And lastly, transformed into himself, Thall.

Kat filled both wine glasses and set the bottle back on the coffee table. "So, again I ask, what happened?"

"In two words. I screamed." Capri swallowed a mouthful of wine and tried to block the memory of the night on a deck under a starry Indonesian sky with Thall's mouth sucking on her clit. "The orgasm was mind shattering."

"You two slept together?" Kat grinned. "You knew each other for what two, three days and you slept with him? You slut. I love it."

"Yes and no."

Kat choked on a mouthful of wine. She swallowed and sniffed. "Excuse me? That's like being a little bit pregnant."

Capri raised her glass to her lips but did not drink. "Let's just say, that one of us got off and the other probably had a really bad case of…" She swallowed a mouthful of wine.

"You mean," Kat snickered. "He got you off and you didn't reciprocate? Tsk. Tsk. I thought your momma brought you up better than that?"

"Well, the first time." Capri rubbed her forehead. "I threw up right after."

"Oh, ugh, major turn off. Forgiven for that one. But the term
first time
implies there was at least a second attempt. I'm thinking I might be loving this." Kat waggled her eyebrows up and down.

"No joy. The second time is when he changed from Taren to Thall."

Kat tilted her head. "Who's Taren? I'm kinda lost here. It might be the wine." She peeked into her glass.

Capr
i heaved a big sigh and swallowed an equally large mouthful of wine. "No, it's not the wine. I don't see how this could get any more confusing." She raised the glass to her lips and tilted it. A drop dribbled over the edge. She exhaled a snort of exasperation. "I asked him what the T in T. Hall Charterways stood for. He gave me some goofy answer like titaffic then he said Taren. So, obviously I thought that was his name. I mean someone asks you what your name is, and you respond with one, that should be your name. Right?"

Kat blinked and nodded.

"He swam under the waterfall first—"

"Wait. There's a waterfall?"

"Yes, I wanted to make love in the lagoon by the waterfall."

Kat's eyelids opened wide. "Now there's a lagoon?"

"We anchored the yacht near this little deserted island and followed a path to this lagoon, which had a waterfall at one end. I said I've always wanted to make love by a waterfall. So we went swimming."

"A yacht, a lagoon and a waterfall. Oh, how
effing romantic."

"Anyway, he swam under first and then I joined him, and when I surfaced he was Thall. Not Taren. Kinda freaked me out."

Kat shifted back to her end of the couch and leaned on the arm, facing Capri. "So, let me see if I have this straight?" She held up her index finger. "He's the same guy, but with a new face?"

"I know, but he's not real."
Capri pinched the bridge of her nose.