The Dryad in Her Pool

A Total-E-Bound Publication

www.total-e-bound.com

The Dryad in Her Pool

ISBN # 978-1-78184-205-8

©Copyright Allie Standifer 2012

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright December 2012

Edited by Stacey Birkel

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2012 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a
heat rating
of
Total-e-burning
and a
sexometer
of
3.

This story contains 53 pages, additionally there is also a
free excerpt
at the end of the book containing 4 pages.

THE DRYAD IN HER POOL

Allie Standifer

Drunk on Canadian tree sap, Reece Oak accidentally ends up in Quinn’s pool. The next morning proves that—drunk or not—this male dryad has just the right stuff to claim his mate…if he can get her to stop arguing with him long enough to listen.

Determined to show his family and friends his life is fine without an immortal mate, Reece Oak drowns his sorrows in the finest Canadian tree sap a dryad can find. The next morning, he wakes up in a strange bed…face to face with his mate.

Quinn’s seen a lot of weird things in her life, but a drunken dryad singing commercial jingles while spouting words of love and devotion takes the cake. Before she can call the men in the white coats, Reece sets out to prove his feelings are as real as his magic.

Dedication

To my new editor, Stacey—thanks for taking me on and welcome to the nuthouse!

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

GQ
: Advance Magazine Publishers Inc.

Jolly Green Giant: Green Giant Company Corporation

Gumby: Prema Toy Co., Inc.

Nordstrom’s: NIHC, Inc.

Tootsie Pop: Sweets Company of America, Inc.

Velcro: Velcro Industries B.V. LLC

Botox: Allergan, Inc.

Hallmark: Hallmark Licensing, Inc.

Jose Cuervo: Tequila Cuervo La Rojeña S.A de C.V.

Chapter One

Everything in her life changed with the sound of a loud splash coming from the backyard. Afraid that Dante had jumped the iron fence around her pool for a midnight swim, she slipped her feet into a pair of flip-flops and headed out of the door.

Flipping the low underwater lights on, Quinn Painton blinked at the sight before her wide-eyed gaze. Instead of her hundred and forty pound, black and brown, spoilt rotten mixed breed dog enjoying a cool swim, a man—gloriously naked—was floating at the six feet mark.

Fear should have sent her running back into the safety of the house, but something held her immobile—eyes wide, mouth gaping open. Men like that didn’t exist outside airbrushed fitness magazines or her battery-sponsored orgasms. She let out a breathy sigh, unable to do anything more productive than check her chin for signs of drool. Everything in her body and mind was totally focused on the unnaturally good-looking guy now lazily floating in her pool.

In a perfectly smooth move, he straightened and she gaped. On his feet he was almost a foot taller than her five eight. The body bared to her greedy gaze had her fantasising about tasting him from head to toe. Then there was his face, with cheekbones that would put even the vainest of supermodels to shame. His longer than fashionable dark hair brushed the middle of his back.

Knowing that standing there staring like a fool was the dead last thing she should be doing didn’t stop her from visually devouring his body. Men as good-looking as this one rarely knew plain, chubby women like her even existed. Cap off her plain vanilla looks with the glasses she sometimes wore, and Quinn was pretty much overlooked much of the time outside of her business. She was used to it and had never really developed high expectations when it came to hot members of the opposite sex.

The sound of a soft splash dragged her attention away from the mystery below his waist. Raising her eyes to his gaze, which was locked on hers, she had to blink a few times to make sure her eyes hadn’t gone funky. The hot stranger in her pool was looking at Quinn like he wanted nothing more than to jump out of the water and devour her in one eager bite. She shivered as he ran his hungry stare over her T-shirt clad body. Her nipples responded to the look by hardening beneath her shirt, and her pussy became drenched with wanton need.

“Female, come to me.”

The deep vibrations of his voice caused her to jump. Using that deep, sexy tone, he could have made her sing the Canadian national anthem while standing on one foot, juggling baby hippos. Except the term
female
set off her internal ‘jerk radar’. Something about the anonymous, general, submissive term grated on her nerves. To have had the demeaning form of address come from such a sexy mouth bothered her that much more.

Instead of jumping to follow his curt orders, Quinn crossed her arms under her breasts and impatiently tapped her foot. When Mr
GQ
’s eyes failed to move higher than her chest, she looked down and to her embarrassment saw her position pushed her generous boobs up higher. Basically, she’d given Naked Guy a big ole shot of her twins without meaning to.

Dropping her arms, Quinn bit back a smile when naked guy scowled at the loss of his free porn view.

“Hey, eyes up here, buddy.” Proud of the even level of her voice Quinn snapped her fingers a few times to get his attention.

“That is incredibly rude and annoying, female.” He continued to stand in the same alpha position—legs spread, fists on trim hips while the water rippled around him thanks to the small breeze.

“File a complaint with someone who cares,” she retorted, still not understanding why she wasn’t running away screaming in fear. “What the hell are you doing in my pool? And why are you doing it naked? Did you pee in it? Do you know how much it’s going to cost me to clean and refill a salt water pool?”

The wind changed in a blink. Instead of caressing her face in a gentle movement, the breeze pushed against the back of her head, sending her long curls twisting in front of her face.

When she had pushed the knotted mass away, he was standing in front of her, water dripping off every delicious naked inch of him. “You are mine,” he told her in a very formal tone as his body swayed unevenly. “My woman, my mate.”

“Uh…huh?” Yeah—way to show off her intelligence. Quinn would stump him with her witty conversation.

He didn’t say anything, but continued to stare at her, his blue eyes blazing with heat, need and some other emotion she couldn’t, wouldn’t put a name on. Her body reacted as if struck by lightning. Her pussy ached and throbbed, and an embarrassingly large wet spot drenched her underwear.

Her libido, which she’d thought broken or defective, jolted further into hyper-drive with every breath she took. It needed to stop—she needed to stop, or she’d end up doing something she wouldn’t regret. Like attacking a naked man in her backyard in the middle of the night.

He still hadn’t bothered to say anything more, and the heat of humiliation warmed her cheeks. It took several attempts before she had cleared her throat enough to speak around the lump of lust lodged there. “Look, it’s late. Let’s call it a night. Why don’t you go back to…wherever you came from? Dante and I’ll go back inside.” She moved to walk back to the house, but was stopped.

His hand shot out and he wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “Who is Dante?” The husky tone of his voice sent a thrill through Quinn’s body straight to between her thighs, while his demanding question irritated the independent side of her.

“My dog. He’s got to be out here somewhere. Though why he never barked when you showed up in his territory I’ll never know.” The babbling had to stop, but something about this man—the living embodiment of every woman’s dream—short-circuited the rational side of her brain.

Slowly, she turned around to face him when he tugged on her wrist again. A bolt of sexual heat simmered through her when his thumb softly stroked the inside of her wrist.

“You belong to me,” he stated in a firm, solid voice. “No other man will ever touch what is mine.”

Quinn yanked free of his grasp and slowly backed away from him. “You must be high if you think I’m going to put up with that kind of attitude. I don’t know you and you sure as shit don’t know a thing about me.” She’d only taken a few steps back when he captured her wrist again.

“Mate, hawthorn of my heart, please do not leave me…” He shook his handsome head in a confused gesture that almost softened her heart. “Too much tree sap… My brain is muddled. Screwing this up, but can’t let you get away from me. Need you too much.”

“Huh? You’re not right in the head thanks to some sap? What—is that the new high?” She’d heard all sorts of weird methods to achieve the ultimate high, but tapping and draining a tree was new to her.

“Canadian—the finest sap found in North America,” he answered while using a finger to caress a gentle path across her cheek.

“Niiice,” she drawled. He was still way too close to allow for full use of her brain functions. “Now, why don’t you go sample the pine tree over there?” She pointed to the stand of trees just beyond her. “And about a mile away there are some really old oaks. I’m sure they’ll get you higher than a kite.”

She pulled on her wrist, but he kept his fingers wrapped around it.

“No.”

“Ugh… Let me go.” Quinn yanked a few more times on her arm, but he didn’t budge. Instead, in the blink of an eye, she found herself standing inside her house.

“My mate, my woman,” he growled in that low, throaty tone that had her pussy clenching in useless need.

With a low groan, he leant forward, closed the distance separating them then wrapped his hand around the back of her beck and pulled her lips to his. He moved his lips over hers gently before his tongue came out and pushed its way inside her mouth. He swept it inside, tasting her. He kissed her with a hunger Quinn had never experienced before, while he slid deeper inside her mouth and she got another addictive taste of him.

The taste of man, nature, and hot, wild sex filled her senses as she deliberately rubbed her body against his hard frame. Not even thinking about stopping herself from kissing him back, Quinn let her body go up in flames with each stroke of their duelling tongues. He licked and sucked at her lips as she found herself drawn deeper and deeper into the sensual fog. Her brain focused only on this man and the pleasure he was giving her.