Page 21 of The Lighthouse Keeper and the Mermaid
She hadn’t read any stories with kisses to him and his brow puckered accordingly. “What’s that? Why you red?”
But the blush seemed to only be getting hotter and she leapt to her feet to put distance between them. “You know what? Doesn’t matter,” she said quickly. “Look at that sun. I really have to go.”
Thank the Lord the sun really was the closest it had been to the horizon that she had ever seen without the light already lit. It let her have a reason to bolt like her life depended on it.
Hadn’t she just thought how she would be so fine as friends? What in God’s name was she thinking?
CHAPTER 19
What had shesaid? What had shedone? Goodness gracious, it had only been a few weeks and she had already managed to say something completely idiotic that might make her lose a friend.
Well, she might not lose him. She could pretend it never happened or never tell him what ‘kiss’ meant, or maybe she could just hope he would forget.
That face he made did not look like a man ready to forget. Oh Lord, what had shedone?
It wasn’t like her to blurt things out like that. Well, she supposed that was honestly hard to say given how few times she had ever had to prove it. Butnormallyin town, she found herself to be very quiet, not sure what to say even when peoplewerespeaking to her. And now,now,she said something crazy like that?
She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believeher. Did she actually want to kiss him? Wasn’t that something saved for married couples only?
Hell, she didn’t even fully know what a kiss was for. Papa had told her it was when two humans put their lips together and that it meant they loved each other. And the books that did mention it only ever did between married couples. She supposed she might be infatuated—she couldn’t really deny that—but she was sure she didn’tloveKallias yet. Maybe now that he was speaking more they could determine something like that.
No, that was crazy too. What was she thinking?
But if she didn’t feel that way, why did she ask to kiss him? Why had shewantedto?
But it was like her body and mouth had acted without her brain,as if they were mutinying against her and all her silly ‘reason’.
What if—she felt the blush come hotter but now it didn’t feel so unwelcome—what if she told him what a kiss was and what it was for, and what if…what if he wanted to too? What would she do then?
Her heart hammered in accordance. She could picture him before her as if he actually was. She could imagine his lips getting closer and closer still, sun-kissed and sparkling with rainbow-filled water drops. She could imagine his strong arms—he had picked her up with such ease before—and now she could imagine them tightening around her waist, pulling her in closer against that bare torso that looked like a god’s.
Oh Lord, she thought, trying to rein in the desire pounding in her chest. She really was a sinner, wasn’t she?
CHAPTER 20
She did everything she needed to do for the light and then headed back into the night. She didn’t often go out at night, mostly because she was always hovering on the edge of sleep-deprived already and the last thing she needed was to sprain an ankle or something, but tonight the moon was so bright, she didn’t even need to bring a candle. She wondered if Kallias’s eyes were better than hers in darkness and quickly decided they must be for he had to see not only at night but at night underwater.
He was already there waiting for her. The moon was almost full but not quite, and it was rising over the distant horizon, sparkling its pale beauty over the water of the cove below. It matched him so well, like he was a spirit of the moon, like he and it were one, like he belonged to it.
How utterly beautiful.
She hopped down to the water level and he turned to look at her. “I was almost worry you wouldn’t come,” he said. “After…” He couldn’t find the right word and honestly neither could she.
“Sorry,” she murmured. “I was out of line. The truth is”—she sighed heavily—“I, well, the truth is I’ve been alone a really long time and I’ve never had a true friend and…well, maybe I got carried away.”
“Carried away?”
“Well, uh, it means that I may have jumped ahead of myself.” She frowned. That was probably just another metaphor that wouldn’t make sense to him. “It means I got excited and maybe let my emotions—my heart—skip a few steps.” She gave a nervous laugh. “I’m still not making much sense, am I?”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “I still don’t understand.”
When she didn’t say anything he said, “I alone most my life too.”
His voice was so gentle, so tender and soft that she didn’t even bother to correct the grammar but instead gently touched his face again and he smiled at the touch.
“I like not alone,” he said.
She smiled warmly. “I like it too.”
