Page 62 of Oceansong
Kaden’s laugh made his shoulders shudder. “It’s hard to leave the arms of comfort.”
Angie wiggled her eyebrows, then pointed at the ceiling. “Those lights. They’re from fish?”
“Yes, jellies and anglerfish and sea worms.”
With the mer magic, she didn’t struggle to understand Kaden’s words in Renyuhua for marine animals, and she was grateful.
Kaden kept talking. “When we need light, we give them enough food to provide us with however much light we need.” He swam to the ceiling, opened a small hatch and stuck his arm through, and pulled out a thick, empty bowl made of rock. “It’s a symbiotic relationship.”
Instantly, the lights flickered off, one by one, like stars disappearing into the night. For the first time, in their inky surroundings, the absence of candescence on his body struck her.
“The mer don’t glow,” said Angie. “I just realized.”
“No.” Kaden’s voice sounded far. “To light up does not serve us. We see well enough in the dark, and it makes it harder for predators, humans, to find us.”
The room lit up again, and Kaden returned from the hatch on the ceiling. “They needed a refill.”
He returned to her in the hammock and kissed her again. Her pulse thrummed in her ears, heartbeat sounding like it had been magnified and she was hearing it through earbuds with the volume turned to its max. He trailed kisses down her neck and sternum, cradling her to him.
She swung her legs over his hips and straddled him, keeping her knees close to his tail, and he let out a surprised gasp before their lips joined again. His hands ran over her legs, hips, and back, setting her aflame. She craved more when his hands moved to her shoulders.
“Angie.” He stroked her hair, his eyes locked with hers. “You make me lose my mind.”
“I could say the same about you, Mer-Prince.” She sat upright, holding onto the side of the hammock and keeping her knees tight against Kaden’s tail to keep her sitting balance. “To think that two months ago, we got off on the wrong foot. Or tail.”
“If it led me to you, here, I would have taken that chance again, but without the part where you left me as shark bait.”
“I did pull you back out.”
“That you did.” He gathered her into a warm hug. Then he whispered into her ear. “You’ve seen me in my full glory. May I see you, if you are of mind to show me? Now that we are here alone, no distractions, no intruders.”
Angie sucked in her breath, ruminating.
To her family, she had always been too skinny or put on too much weight, and though she was a healthy weight now, she hedged at the notion.
But this was Kaden, and he had never given her cause for worry.
She pulled her tight ponytail loose and let her hair fall around her shoulders.
Holding his intense gaze, she moved one hand over to one strap of her swimsuit, and then the other, slowly peeling it off. His jaw slackened, fiery desire burning in his eyes. He didn’t touch her until she tossed her swimsuit to the side.
When she fully disrobed, he scanned her body, stopping to linger at her breasts and legs. He reached out a tentative hand and stroked her left leg, and then her right. Then parted them and touched her with gentle, curious hands, his eyes darting back and forth, up and down in tiny, quick motions.
Angie jerked her knees toward her chest, and he stopped abruptly, eyes wide like he was caught in the middle of committing a crime. She gave a nervous chuckle. “I feel like I’m under a microscope.”
“Apologies, Angie. It is wondrous to me what humans use to walk. Each part of you is tantalizing.” He lowered his head, dotting kisses on her lips, her neck, her breasts, her stomach. Greedily, his hands roved over her skin as if he wanted every inch of her for himself. “Tell me what pleases you. Or show me.” Her nerves became a bundle of live wires sparking each time he touched her. When he dragged his lips down to her legs and moved between them, the cautious flick of his tongue made her arch her back and gasp.
He stopped. “Did I hurt you?”
She ran her fingers through his hair in assurance. “What? No, no, that felt good. Really good.”
“Mm. Okay.” He returned his attention to what he was doing before and focused his mouth there, each stroke of his tongue and lips making her jerk with blissful spasms. She whimpered his name, grabbing his hand and holding it tight.
“Please don’t stop.”
Her breaths came out faster, shallower. When she crept too close to the edge, he slid two fingers inside her, stroking and pushing until he hit a spot that made her shiver and her legs shake. Angie’s fingers clung to the hammock’s ropes, her core and arms and legs tensed as she pushed into him, a desperate plea for release. She wanted it, and yet she didn’t, wanted him to make her wait and tease her until she felt like she would implode.
He worked in perfect harmony, never pausing until the pressure built and built and boiled over, sending waves of ecstasy crashing through her and a thousand tiny stars bursting into her vision, the climax almost drowning her. She gasped for breaths and rode out the smaller waves that followed, until only a gentle, comfortable warmth radiated within her. A blanket of oblivion splayed over her as she fully relaxed, her senses returning to where theywere undersea.
