Page 124 of Oceansong
“Yeah, we like them big.” Angie grinned, moving backward to avoid an incoming wave, breaking at the shoreline. A futile motion, because the seafoam still splattered onto her jeans.
The boat disappeared into the blue horizon, likely heading for the nearby docks some miles away.
The early fall sun beat down on her face, and she didn’t even care that she’d forgotten to apply sunscreen. The welcome smell of a clean sea breeze filled her nostrils, and she took it in, savoring the smell and brisk warmth.
The past year had flown by, like a black marlin sailing the seas. She had written to Pacific Grove University after the mer and humans had reached a truce, and asked for a deferral simply due to extenuating circumstances. They’d granted her permission to start one year later without asking further questions, and she couldn’t have been more grateful.
It had taken Kaden another month to fully recover from being shot, and when he’d regained his strength, he explored the undersea with her, and Angie kept current in her studies, helped Bàba rebuild the docks, and comforted Mia while she grieved Nick.
Kaden reached for her and put his hand over hers. “Come for a swim with me? Three weeks is much too long to not have you at my side.”
“Sure. Let me go change. I’ll be back.” She fed Lulu, stored the gems in her jewelry box, dressed in a crimson tankini and shorts, and returned twenty minutes later. Excitement skittered under her skin.
Kaden’s gaze hungered as he eyed her, and when she was close enough, she jumped into the blue.
Angie shrieked, the high fifties temperature water shocking her system.
“If you would have waited one minute,” Kaden chuckled and pulled her in, pressing his lips to hers. First a kiss, and then breath.
Her body warmed in an instant, and she followed him beneath the waves. They passed through a kelp forest, leaves tickling her bare arms and legs. Beneath her feet, halibut and flounders darted about in the sand.
Halibut,hippoglosus stenolepis.
The olive flounder? Angie raked her mind.Paralichthys olivaceus.
Okay, so maybe the first quiz of her PhD program wouldn’t be too bad.
“How’s the family?” Angie asked once they cleared the forest and entered the darkened deep.
“Mother is doing a fine job of ruling on her own. The mer are more sympathetic to her than ever. Cyrus is still recovering. But Libbi and Hadrien are doing wonderfully. Getting bigger by the day, I feel.”
Adrielle had borne her twins shortly before Mia had her baby, with a promise to bring them closer to shore once they were older and their lungs were more developed.
“I look forward to meeting them one day.” Angie tightened her hand around his. “Where are we going? You seem like you have someplace in mind.”
“I do.” Kaden turned right, ducking beneath a bluntnose sixgill shark sailing overhead, wiggling back and forth.
He led her to a spacious, empty grotto and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Now that you’re all mine, I’m going to enjoy tasting and feeling every inch of you on my lips and fingers.”
“Oh, please do, Mer-Prince.” Angie backed into the wall behind her and trailed a finger toward her cleavage, maintaining eye contact with him. She shivered with desire, despite the feverish rush bursting from her core.
Kaden watched her a moment longer through hooded eyelids and closed the distance between them. A gasp escaped her lips as he leaned in to kiss her, dotting his lips down her neck, her collarbone, and her shoulder. Each kiss sent a pleasurable electric jolt down her arms and legs.
One arm wrapped around her waist, and his other hand moved to help her remove the bottom piece of her swimsuit.
He pulled her flush to him, and pulled back, his eyes dancing. “Ah, Angie Song, how I love you.”
“Mm. I love you too, Prince Kaden.”
“Oh, stop it with theprincetitle.” Kaden bumped his nose to hers. “Now, where were we?”
“I think you’re right where you’re supposed to be,” Angie replied. She buzzed with happiness and passion as he kissed her again, and trailed his lips further down her body.
“That I am.” Kaden’s voice sounded more distant when he was at her bellybutton. A wicked grin was on his handsome face when he glanced up at her. “Now lie back so I can hear just how much you love me.”
His tongue traced a line along the inside of her thigh, and he pushed onehand against her hip to prevent her from floating away. Her breath hitched, and she let her head fall back, her racing pulse reaching a breaking point, and did as he asked.
It felt like an eternity and a fraction of a minute passed while they were wrapped up in each other.
