Page 58 of The Demons in the Deep: Extended Edition
“And you’re all right with this?”
“If you’ll show me yours afterward. Fair is fair.”
“Fair is fair,” she echoed faintly. “I just want to see how different the parts and apertures are from a human’s.”
“Exactly what I wish to see, as well.”
Her fingers probed the edges of the flap. “Tell me if you need me to stop,” she breathed.
The scales parted easily for her, and Rake felt a breath of cool air across the concealed part of him, now exposed. His claws sank into the table’s wooden surface.
“Amazing,” Mai said. “Everything is so compact. But the elimination aperture is the same, and the penis is similar to a human’s, except you don’t have, um—”
“Balls?” Rake said. “Yes, those are internal.”
Mai glanced at him, her teeth pinching her lower lip, a question in her eyes.
“You can touch me,” Rake said. “For science.”
“For science,” she whispered.
Her fingers curled around him.
He had grossly overestimated his control over his body. The touch of those delicate fingers sent a bolt of quivering pleasure straight through his core, and he nearly bucked into her hand. Blood rushed to that part of him, thickening and stiffening it.
He thought Mai would drop him at once and recoil. But she only inhaled quickly, her eyes fixed on the length in her hand.
In this form, his penis was blue, with ridges that spiraled around the shaft up to the tip. It was also longer and more flexible than his human one.
“This,” Mai said faintly, touching the bulge halfway along the shaft. “Is there a purpose for it?”
“When I’m mating with a mermaid underwater, that knot locks me inside the female until my sperm has filled her womb,” Rake said quietly.
Mai traced the shape of his cock head with her finger. “This flares wider than that of a human male, but it’s softer, too—for painless penetration, I would guess.”
A groan skated through Rake’s gritted teeth, and his length bobbed in Mai’s hand.
“It just got longer,” she whispered.
“The more aroused I am, the longer it grows.”
Gingerly Mai laid his cock down and replaced the scaly genital flap. Since he was erect, the scales wouldn’t settle back into place immediately; they remained parted, revealing the tip of him. He had to breathe through the arousal until it disappeared, while Mai cleaned her hands.
“My turn.” Her voice was strained, but Rake thought he detected a note of nervous excitement.
His pulse quickened and his body tightened again. “Wait—I’d like to get rid of this tail first.”
She didn’t turn away while he changed forms, and when his human lower half appeared, she didn’t avert her eyes. Rake pulled on his pants, self-conscious because his human penis was erect as well, and the arousal was obvious through the fabric.
“It’s a natural reaction,” Mai said hoarsely. “Nothing to be embarrassed about.”
They stood facing each other. Glittering motes of dust floated in the afternoon sunshine, which beamed through the skylights of the warehouse. Rake inhaled the scent of salt and sweat and chalk, blended with the fragrance of herbs and lavender soap that always seemed to cling to Mai.
He felt her hesitation, a panicked fluttering thing like a fish on a hook. “No need to fulfill the bargain,” he said. “I don’t want to cause you any distress.”
“It’s not that exactly,” she said. “I’m—I’m feeling something I don’t usually feel.”
He tilted his head. “And what is that?”
