Chapter 3
Isat on my heels, tucked into Dave’s side as close as I could get without touching him and inadvertently pressing against a bruise I couldn’t see. I stroked his flank, keeping my touch light and being careful to skirt his gills and the hideous wounds.
When he’d been in his human form, there had been…
I swallowed hard…there had been some gushing.
Things were flowing. Once he’d shifted, the flow had slowed to a sluggish ooze.
Now, I was pretty sure it had stopped. It was hard to tell.
There was still plenty of blood around the horribly gaping wounds.
I wanted to wipe the blood away to check but all I had was a single tissue in my hoodie pocket.
Getting that rag anywhere near his cuts would be unsanitary even if I hadn’t already blown my nose on it, which I had.
Twice. It was a damp and soggy mess anyway, like the rest of me.
The brisk wind and intermittent sun between showers had only gone so far to drying me off after my earlier dunking.
I wanted to throw myself on him, wrap my arms around him, hold him. God, it had been so long since I’d felt his solid body against mine.
Pulling out the well-used tissue, I blew my nose a third and final time.
It took a moment for me to register that Dave was awake and watching me. His eyes were nothing more than a narrow gleam of indigo between the slitted lids.
“Dave?”
He took in a deep, slow breath and released it in a barely audible little hum.
I shivered as it rippled over my skin and sank down to my bones, warming me from the inside out.
He hummed again. A soft, pleading note curled around the edges of the low and sultry vibration.
I didn’t hesitate. I rose up onto my knees and stretched an arm across his body to plant it firmly in the sand by his shoulder, bracing my weight as I curled over him.
I touched his jaw with a tentative brush of fingertips first and then, when he didn’t flinch or show any sign of discomfort, I settled my palm to his cold cheek. He turned into it.
I made a horrible choking sound.
The bastard had the nerve to smile. At least, his lips twitched.
He murmured something, low and heady. He tried to lift an arm but caught his breath before he’d raised it more than a couple of inches off the sand. He lowered it back down.
“What?” I said. “What is it? What do you need?”
His black lashes fluttered all the way closed, the faint smile faded, and his full lips pursed.
I waited. Was that a pain reflex, or—
He grunted and exaggerated the pout.
No, he wanted me to kiss him. I could tell by the way he opened and closed his pursed lips in a deeply unsexy way, making kissy noises.
I leaned in, but before our lips touched, I burst into tears.
Dave’s eyes popped open and he attempted to sit up. He didn’t even make it to forty-five degrees before he winced and flopped back with a rough groan.
“Sorry,” I said, scrubbing at my face. “Sorry. Come here.” I cupped his chin, leaned in and pressed my lips to his in a butterfly-light kiss.
He stared at me when I pulled away, then made a querulous noise.
“Oh?” I said, managing a wobbly smile. “Want some more?”
He continued to stare. I stroked the backs of my fingers up and down his cheek, traced them along his jaw, then up to briefly touch his lips before I leaned down and kissed him again.
He gave a deep, throbbing purr as I spread my fingers along his jaw and rested my thumb at the point of his chin. I held him in place as I lifted away.
His indigo eyes, still heavy-lidded with pain, were more open now. I couldn’t have looked away if my life depended on it.
He said my name.
“Yeah, Dave,” I said, smiling down at him. “Hi. I love you.”
His eyes closed and the tension in his body eased. He made a soft sound at the back of his throat.
I traced my fingertips down to his neck, feeling for his pulse again. It was still fast, but—perhaps—a little slower. A little steadier.
I told myself it was, anyway.
His breathing was definitely more even.
Glancing at my watch, I was astonished to see how much time had passed. I looked up and over to the headland. I couldn’t quite see my house from here, as it was hidden by the rise of land, but I could see part of the access road leading up to it.
No sign of Jerry.
I glanced down at my watch again. He’d been gone a while, and it would be a while yet before he got back. The incoming tide, however, would reach us in the next few minutes. As I’d said to Jerry, I wasn’t bothered about getting wetter. I was already chilled and pruny.
Besides. I fidgeted. I had other, more pressing concerns to worry about.
I needed the loo.
Great timing.
This wasn’t remotely how I’d envisaged our great reunion going.
I’d assumed that it would go the same as it always did: I’d run into the sea as Dave swam through it to reach me.
There would be a cinematic, rapturous collision of bodies, followed by a quick tussle as someone (usually Dave) grabbed someone’s dick, while someone else (usually me) shoved their tongue down someone’s throat.
On one standout occasion, it had been a combination of the two (my dick going down Dave’s throat).
Getting that frisky in a place that was only theoretically private wasn’t my first choice, but what was I supposed to do, say no?
When my beautiful lover, for whom I’d been pining for half a year, tossed me up onto the wet sand at the water’s edge, crawled over me, pinned my hips with his big hands and sucked my brains out through my dick?
Not a chance.
Trespass on my land, and you get what you get.
I checked my watch again. God. Why? Why did my bladder decide that now was the right time to remind me I’d had four coffees this morning before heading out to squeeze some avocados?
The only pressing bodily needs during a grand romantic reunion were supposed to be the sexy kind.
I discreetly shifted about until my bladder twinged with warning. I glanced up at the road.
No Jerry.
Okay.
“Dave?” I said. “I have to take a quick little trip over into the dunes for a minute. I will be right back.”
His long dark lashes fluttered as his eyes opened and he squinted up at me.
I couldn’t help it. I bent down and kissed him.
The delicious weight of his big hand settled over the back of my neck, holding me there as his lips moved gently over mine. He licked out delicately, teasingly.
“Mmm,” I said helplessly, then, “Uh-oh. Oh no.” I flattened my hands on the sand and attempted to shove up and away. “Gonna…ack. Dave. Dave. Let me go or I’m going to embarrass myself.”
He frowned at me incredulously.
I shimmied my hips. “I have to go.”
“Mm-hmmmm,” he hummed, releasing my neck only to palm my cock.
“Oh my god.” I couldn’t help bucking into his touch—of course I couldn’t!—but I just as quickly tried to buck away.
He chuckled and firmed his grip before I could, giving me a good massage.
I hunched, letting out a sharp gasp. “Argh. Dave. No.”
He stilled and made a high-pitched, questioning sound.
I grabbed his thick wrist. He was so big in his merman form that my fingers didn’t even begin to meet around it. Panting sharply, I grappled for control over my bladder.
I refused to have it go down like this.
Our romantic reunion was not going to include me peeing on him.
“Just…give me a minute. Okay?” I pushed back to kneeling.
He didn’t let go of my groin, keeping his big, warm palm right there.
“Dave,” I choked.
He crooned something back at me.
I clenched his wrist tighter. “Listen. Dave. Listen, I—eep.”
He rubbed gently.
I shook my head, and he stopped at once.
While he couldn’t attach the meaning to the word-noises I made at him any more than I could understand his sounds, he had learned to interpret my gestures.
Especially if I exaggerated them. A hard and frantic shake of my head was a clear indication that we were not on the same page with what was happening.
“Dave, I really have to go. I have to…” I stared at his uncomprehending face. Fine. Fuck it.
Here comes the mime.
I mimed unzipping my shorts. I mimed taking hold of myself. I opened my closed fist and mimed the blessed relief of pressure with a twinkle of my fingers, and—
“Mhm.” Dave gave me a sultry look, unzipped me, took me out and—
I let out a strangled shriek that had him dropping me like I was hot.
I crab-walked backwards, flipped over to my hands and knees and scurried clear. Throttling my dick to the point of nausea, I got to my feet, yelled, “Be right back!” and bolted for the dunes.
After a shocked silence, Dave called indignantly after me.
I flapped a hand at him over my shoulder as I ran. “One minute!”
Yes, I was being precious about it. Yes, most guys would probably have unloaded into the sea or simply turned their back but I had boundaries. Urinating in front of people other than when it was absolutely necessary was one of them.
I ducked behind the first hump of marram-tufted sand I came to. “Ahhhhh.”
Dave’s indignant calls turned demanding, and quickly shaded towards beseeching. At my heartfelt groan of relief, he paused. Then he called again with a questioning lilt.
“I’m here!” I called back. “I’m…you know, it doesn’t matter. One more minute, please!”
I concentrated on the job.
Good grief.
Four coffees wasn’t that much. Where was this even coming from?
I heard a loud thud and the sand beneath my feet vibrated. The second thud was louder, and it was followed by a harsh gasp of pain.
That’d have to do.
I zipped up and ran back to Dave. He’d dragged himself another foot or two up the beach and was flat on his back glaring at the sky, his tail twitching. I guessed that the thud had been him slapping the sand in demand.
The second he saw me, he held out his arms with a low, commanding growl.
“I’m here, I’m here,” I said, falling to my knees.
He grabbed me and dragged me on top of him, locking his arms around my waist and my upper back.
“Dave, be careful! You’ll hurt yourself and I don’t—ahhh!”
He nudged my head aside and buried his fangs in my neck, biting down hard.