Page 69 of Seduced By the Mermen
“No need to be sorry. It’s fascinating,” Delmar says. He’s got stars in his eyes.
“Oh, I don’t know about fascinating.” She laughs.
“Would you like to go see the farming domes? I know you said you don’t want to be a farmer in the Veiled City.” Zion takes her hand in his. Being jealous of your pod mate isn’t supposed to happen, but right now I very much am.
“If you don’t want to do that, there’s so many amazing things to see. The museum of Adelphi is behind the new Maelstrom dome,” Alexei says.
“The new Maelstrom will be open soon,” Forrest adds.
“Or the financial district,” Zion adds.
Clark smiles at her. “I would love to give you a tour of the new dome of mine that’s going up.”
“When you helped treat Zion,” says Grayson, “I was wondering whether you would like to see some of the other advances we have at the hospital.”
“Wow, that’s a lot. And yes to all.” Her eyes flick to Sterling, but he doesn’t suggest any outings. Which isn’t surprising. What would Sterling want to do? Take her to the gym? The fact that he said anything earlier is more shocking. Blair turns to me. “I’d really like to see the hospital. Is that weird?”
“It’s not weird at all,” I say. I need to curb my thoughts. Showing Blair all the quiet, out-of-the-way spaces where we could steal a kiss isn’t what she’s asking for.
Chapter 28
Blair
There are a few conversations going on around the room. I don’t know why I was worried that I’d have to do all the talking and pick all the topics. They know each other, which can be good and bad. Zion’s intentionally made Sterling growl at least once already. While the chatter has turned to sports and politics, they’ve included me.
Arranging a date—no, an outing—with the Driftwood pod isn’t cheating. That’s what Marlee said. And she’s right. I haven’t promised the Mason pod anything. Have I had some of the best orgasms of my life with them? Yes.
Orgasms. I need to stop thinking about them. My cheeks are reddening. I can feel it inching up my neck. See it on the tip of my nose. But thinking about all of them... Could I even do that, it, them? It’s a lot. They’re a lot, and it’s more than there being seven of them. They’re all huge; even the shortest of them is half a foot taller than me. I’ve always thought of myself as tall or at least tall-ish. Could I be smothered to death?
“Are you okay?” Clark asks.
“Yes, sorry, I was just zoning out.”
“It’s a lot of chaos.” Clark leans over. On the other side of the living room, Grayson and Zion are discussing their favorite sports team. “Do you want to see the observation room?”
“Observation room? Like an observatory?”
“No, no stars, though I bet you’ve seen some brilliant ones in your life.”
I smile. That’s been the one thing I’ve missed about home. “Some nights on the farm, they were so bright it was like the sun was still shining.”
“That’s quite a lovely memory. Would you like to make a new one?”
“Yes.” I’m still wondering what the observation room will be. The view out of the window behind me is pretty fantastic. The lights of other domes out in the night, and fish swimming by. It’s much different from the view of the reef that’s outside Annabelle’s window.
He holds out his hand to me, and I stand, taking it. The conversation around the room comes to a standstill.
“Dinner’s soon,” Sterling barks.
“I’m taking Blair to the observation room.” Clark pats Sterling on his back as we pass.
“I’ll come with you,” Sterling says.
“Can’t everyone come?” I don’t know what I’m saying. Because Clark is right, the sheer volume and chaos of things going on around me is overwhelming. I’m more like Marlee than I like to admit. Having a minute or two of peace would be lovely.
“No. There’s not enough room,” Sterling growls. “I’ll come with you.”
“All right, Brave One, let’s go.” Clark pats Sterling on the back as we pass. “We’ll be right back. Well, maybe.” Clark leads me down a corridor that I didn’t go down the first time I was here. “These are our offices. Though they were designed for podlets. Over the years, we’ve filled them with work and hobbies.Grayson has a sculpture studio here.” Clark taps it but doesn’t open it as we walk past. There are a lot of doors, enough I lose track of how many.
