Page 29 of Whispers Beneath the Deep
This was unfamiliar territory with a merman who had become familiar; a comfort. Things between us had never gotten further than that kiss in the alleyway, than the light tracings of a touch, than heated words that promised passion like I’d ever known. But something inside me wantedmore.My body burned with the demand for it. And only fear kept me from taking that first stroke. And I knew he’d only go as far as I wanted him to go. He’d only go as far as what I allowed.
“What are you so afraid of?” he whispered, darkly, like he could read my every thought. Curiosity and a challenge all packed into the tenebrous lilt of his voice.
You.
The word hung unbidden between us. Then there was the way my heart pounded, and how he could surely hear. Each thump a dare, to make that first move.
Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
“Elias,” my voice was hoarse as it shattered the quiet. I dared to place the palms of my hands on his arms. His skin was hot, and warmed the chill in my bones.
“Maisie…”
As if we hadn’t seemed intimate enough, he had to go and say my name. Like it was the only name he knew, and the only one he wanted to know.
I closed my eyes against the sensation. As if it hurt. And it did. Just not the way I’d expected.
What are you so afraid of?
The pain in my fins reminded me. I’d been foolish once. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now. But with Elias, I wanted to be foolish all over again, only this time I wondered how different the outcome would be. Would I be hurt again? Would blinding pain splinter through every nerve, every bone and leave me a mangled, crippled mess? Or would I find something different on the other side? Would I find light and stars and wishes? Pleasure, happiness, a future? Something worthwhile?
My eyes opened, and I finally found the voice to answer. “Nothing.” And then, I kissed him.
I’d always imagined what it would be like to plunge my hands into two-legger fire. With Elias, I got my answer. It was all consuming, from head to fin, my body heated, blazing. Like I was glowing hot from the molten core of lava, and I was pulling the Black Blade down with me.
Our mouths opened for each other’s secrets, and we took, pushing and pulling until somehow, his body had slanted over mine, and I felt the comfort of his heavy weight.
His lips brought me to depths I never knew existed until now. His tongue traced over the seam of my lips, and I found myself gasping, only to take him in deeper.
My hands fumbled in their nerves. The only way to steady them was by bunching my fingers into the material at his shoulders.
Elias pulled away just long enough to murmur against my cheek. His dark curling voice was a whisper beneath the depths of the secrets that joined us. And then he was kissing me again.
Our bodies didn’t know the meaning of the word space. How could they when we fit so perfectly together? His hands gripped my shoulders with the same urgency I gripped him, and then his fingers moved, slipping to the sides to press down on the sharp ridges of my collarbone. Then further still, to the straps of the dress. He paused, broke away and looked in my eyes, wordlessly asking: ‘Is this okay?’
I nodded, and his fingers near tore the material. He pushed it aside, and hooked his fingers into the bodice of the dress and pulled. I gasped as it was torn from me, the material sliding down the length of my body. And Elias pulledme in with a hunger in the shadowing of his gaze that was both frightening and thrilling.
I was finally bare before him. The whole of me on display. From the dusting of purple blue scales across my abdomen and shoulders, to the torn fin, flapping nervously at my side, and finally to the rest of me. Naked. Breasts suddenly heavy with desire and the urge to feel his touch. I felt I just might burst if he stared at me much longer.
His hands went to my shoulders, and with half lidded eyes, I watched as he traced the shadows contouring my body, down to my collarbone, lower, to my breasts.
A place that I let him explore without reservation.
He cupped them in his hands, and I never knew how one little gesture could send desire pulsing through every nerve in my body. I didn’t need to look down to know that I was opening up to him, preparing for our joining.
I felt it. Felt the need pulsing there. Begging to be touched. I held my breath as Elias bent down and to my surprise, pressed his tongue where his hand had been. Right on my nipple.
I groaned, arching into his touch, fingers clinging to him as if I’d be lost otherwise. Maybe I would be. He switched his ministrations, from one side to another, and my head whirled faster and faster the more insistent he got.
Finally—finally—he slid back up my body and took my mouth in a kiss that left me gasping for water.
It was overwhelming, to have so little between us and feel like we were leagues apart. I clawed at his tunic, slipping the material from his shoulder.
Elias pulled away long enough to chuckle, and press the tip of his nose to my own. “Give me but a moment, little fish.”
“Hurry.” I barely recognized my own voice, but I didn’t care. All I wanted was to feel him over me again. But he was pulling away, unfastening the belt around his waist. It slowly floated away from him, along with his scabbard and blade. I swallowed as his hands hiked up his black tunic, past his tail and higher still, discarding it completely. I’d seen his chest before, but I’d never seen him like this, bared before me so intimately.
His muscles looked all the more prominent in the shadows of the cave, cords on his arms bunching and straining. He was holding back from pouncing. As if from fear of hurting himself—for he still wore a strip of gauze around his wound—or the fear of hurting me. No. His gaze spoke differently.
