Page 15 of The Naiad's Lover

He pretended otherwise.

“Hurry and drink your disgusting coffee,” he said as soon as I lifted the mug to my lips. He touched a finger to the bottom of the mug and helpfully tilted it. “Then we shall go to my lake.”

I almost choked on the coffee, pulling back before he could tip the lot straight down my throat.

He shifted from one foot to the other then stuck a hand out from under the shelter of the roof and held it there to catch the rain in his palm. His fingers opened and closed slowly.

“I don’t think I’m in the mood for a swimming lesson today,” I said. The sky was grey and thick with rainclouds. It might clear up later, but if I had to guess, we were in for it for a few hours yet. “It’s not a very appealing prospect.”

He stared at me, confused.

“It’s horrible weather,” I said.

Sayan tucked in his chin and widened his eyes. He couldn’t have looked more offended. “It isgloriousweather.”

“For ducks.” And, I supposed, naiads.

He frowned. “Was that one of your human jokes?”

“Yes.”

“It was not funny.”

I set my coffee mug on the bench and leaned forwards, taking hold of the backs of his thighs to pull him closer.

After a moment of resistance, he allowed me to draw him between my parted knees. His hands went to my face and he lifted it, gazing down at me with hunger and disappointment. We watched each other quietly.

“You really do not like this weather?” he said. It was more of a statement than a question.

“I don’t.” There was no point in pretending otherwise. “You really do?”

He closed his eyes briefly and inhaled, releasing the deep breath with a sigh. “I do.”

“I prefer it when the sun is shining and the air is warm.”

He gave me a sceptical look. “You are living in the wrong place for warm air,” he said, with all the authority of a naiad who’d spent his first ever winter awake and on land.

Winter hit the north of the kingdom hard, locking it for months in ice and deep falls of snow. Despite that, Sayan had continued to strut around naked, insisting that he wasn’t cold.

He continued to go out to his lake every day without fail to do whatever it was he did, but while he wasn’t outwardly bothered by the temperature, the season had affected him in other ways.

He’d turned into a soft and snuggly kitten.

He’d happily spend hour after hour by the fire, more often than not choosing to lie on the floor.

He’d join me on the sofa for lovemaking, but otherwise, he’d decided that such human nonsense wasn’t for him. I had no complaints. For one thing, it was a tight fit with both of us on it. For another, I liked to see him there at my feet, whether he was poised and graceful or spreading his long, elegant limbs with abandon all over my expensive rug.

Winter had quieted him.

Spring and summer, it was safe to say, drove his appetites and desires up.

Along with his energy. Even now, he was swaying gently in my grip.

I squeezed the backs of his thighs, feeling the lean muscles tighten and relax under my palms. “Go,” I told him. “Your lake is waiting. When you are finished with your lake, I will be waiting.”

He bit his lip in hesitation. “Right here?” he checked, pointing at the wooden floor beneath his bare feet

“Here at the cabin, not here on the porch. I’ll be inside.”

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