Page 29 of Catch of a Lifetime
I didnotenjoy it today.
I heaved and pulled and it did no good whatsoever. After a thorough, furious bout of writhing, I had to concede defeat. I stopped, panting and red-faced.
Dave leaned down and kissed my forehead.
My...?
Myforehead?
Forehead kisses???
He released my wrists.
I stared at him. He stared back.
Something deep inside me flared with absolute, utter panic.
“Now you listen up,” I said, ignoring the way my voice came out cracked and shrill. I poked him in the chest, careful to avoid the mottled bruises. “Don’t you go getting any stupid ideas in your head about…about…just, listen. Listen, Dave.” I scrambled up to hands and knees and cautiously straddled him, keeping most of my weight off him. He blinked up at me as I lowered my upper body down, bringing us nose to nose. “I love you. You’re not going anywhere. I don’t know what’s going on in your stupid head, but if you leave me, I swear to god, I will hunt you down. Do you hear me? And I won’t do it alone. I’ll bring Jerry. You think aboutthat.”
He cocked his head, brows flexing, gaze going from my mouth to my eyes and back.
He shifted from human to merman with a tiny, pained groan.
I yelped and fell forwards, catching myself on his chest. He hissed in a sharp breath. “Sorry, sorry,” I said. “Oh my god.” My legs were cranked wide, inner thighs protesting at the stretch.
He grabbed hold of my hips and made a stern noise when I tried to move.
I went still.
And then the dick calmly lifted me up and off him, set me on the bed, and closed his eyes.
He snored.
Jerry stared at me.“Uh, I don’t think so, Joe.”
“No? Well, I do.” I drained my coffee, dropped another pod into the Nespresso machine, and pressed the button.
“How many of those have you had today?” Jerry asked.
Enough to burn a new hole in my stomach lining. “There’s only so many times a man can be rebuffed before he has to take the hint.”
“And you think the hint is that Dave is over it. Over you.”
The coffee machine wheezed itself to a tired finale and I swiped up the cup, cradling it between chilled fingers. It was early summer, and today, the weather was pretending that it was February. “Yes.”
“Because he doesn’t want to have sex.”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, I still reckon that’s got more to do with the fact he’s banged up, and on top of that, he hasn’t been in the water once since we got him up here.”
“He wouldn’t let me out of his sight or his reach when he was actively bleeding, Jerry. Now his wounds are all but healed, it’s only the bruises left to go, and we could actuallybetogether if we’re careful about it, and he…he doesn’t want to.”
He pushed me away.
“You’re probably right.”
I sucked in a breath. “I knew it!”
