Chapter Seven #2
“Sure. I don’t like waiting while damp. Call me provincial.”
He chuckled and unwrapped his top, folding it and setting it on a shelf that seemed to be there for that purpose. The wide trousers were untied and dropped, and she tilted her head as she looked him over.
She cocked her head and looked at his groin. It appeared to scale with the rest of him.
He looked down and grinned as he looked up. “Questions?”
“Yes.”
“Go ahead.” He walked to the wall and washed in the shower.
“Well, I asked my friend about sex this morning, but she said it varies. How does it vary?”
He paused and blinked. “Vary how?”
“See, that is the thing, I don’t know. The last time I was close to that situation, I wasn’t really conscious. I was told about it after the fact by a very nice nurse with a police officer.”
He blinked. “So, you were...”
“It was just one contribution to the very painful few weeks.”
He was staring at her.
She looked at his groin again and sighed. “I broke it.”
He glanced down and chuckled weakly. “Not quite.”
He finished scrubbing quickly, sluiced a bucket of water over his head, and pulled on a loose robe that went transparent as it stuck to his midnight skin.
She looked at him. “My turn?”
“Please.”
She put her purse with her phone on the little shelf and unbuttoned her blouse. The blouse came off, then her bra came off, her trousers, and finally her panties were folded and put on the shelf.
He took her by the hand and pinned her hair up before washing her back for her. The whip marks left by the shadow realm were there. When he finished her back and turned her, he looked at the rest of her, calculating.
He said softly, “This is going to take a few sessions.”
She nodded. “Expected. Over what kind of time period?”
His hands moved over the lumps and ridges of her shins.
“I should be able to work on you every other day, but how you react today will determine how many sessions are needed. You know why.”
“Because you have to compress and splint and heal all at the same time.”
He smiled sadly. “Correct. What happened to your back?”
“Oh, my pain drew the attention of the shadows, and they pulled me over there. It was right after the crush injuries, and that took my focus.”
“They beat you.”
“I didn’t feel that either.” She smiled. “It all just added up to more and more years for those who abducted me. I couldn’t really explain where I had been for a moment in time that was actually months.”
He guided her to rinse her off. “Well, you are remarkably healthy considering the damage.”
“Clean living and only the exact necessary amount of junk food.”
A hoarse voice said, “May I assist in any way?”
His assistant was there and staring.
She slowly moved so he could see all the damage. “Do you understand how light I went on you now?”
“Yes, Lady.”
“What’s your name?”
He bowed carefully and smiled. “Yamura Mao.”
“Hello, Mao. No, I think Kazuya has done most of the work today.”
Mao looked at her and exhaled. “Too bad.”
She held up her hand and filled it with lightning. “I am shocking when wet.”
Mao blinked. “Oh.”
Kazuya sluiced her dry, and she was somehow tucked into a dark blue robe that was snugged around her waist. Vine looked at the full coverage and smiled. “So, how does this work?”
“I go into the water, shift, and then come out to take you in my arms. A kiss will transfer oxygen, and it will take as long as it takes.”
“And mucus will be involved.”
He chuckled. “Quite a bit of it.”
“Okay. So, why the robe?”
“For your sensibilities.”
“I don’t have many of them now. You have seen everything.”
He chuckled. “Fine. Mao, keep the robes handy in about an hour.”
“Yes, Lord Kazuya.”
She untied the sash and slid the dark robe off her shoulders. Mao took it carefully and folded it over his arm. His boss did the same and took her hand.
They walked to the edge of the pool, and Kazuya said, “Wait here. I will be right back.”
She stood as he dove into the water, and the surface thrashed and foamed.
A very large figure rose out of the depths. His torso and head were about seven feet, and another twelve to fifteen feet of tentacles began at his hips.
She began to hum songs from the cartoon, and he grinned and reached for her with his hands and tentacles. Vine stepped forward, and his arms and tentacles wrapped around her. The kiss began, and he sank under the surface.
Vine fought panic, but he held her head secure as a steady stream of oxygen got into her lungs. When he pulled back, the breathing was still easy. There was a strange taste in her mouth, and she grinned. Mucus. She would have to see if she could get a sample for her workshop.
His tentacles moved over her legs and hips. She was pulled into him, and his kisses weren’t random. She tasted more and more of him as he parted her thighs and his tentacles wrapped around her legs.
When she felt something teasing her sex, it was far more jolting than the other tentacles, but it was a gentle touch, and she didn’t feel pain or panic. It was simply new.
There was scar tissue around her entrance, and the tentacle just moved around slowly. When he found something, she jerked. Oh, that’s new.
Kazuya smiled and kissed her again, and the smaller tentacle continued to move in and out and around.
Vine felt the warmth Jenn had mentioned, and she gripped his arms for balance.
As the tension increased, she moved her legs restlessly and couldn’t understand why this kind of extreme uncertainty would be something folks sought out.
She was hot and cold and slick, and it continued for a very long time until something inside her snapped, and she shrieked in surprise.
A low rhythmic pulse was in her sex, and she stared up at Kazuya. There was a surprisingly tender expression on his face. He touched her cheek and kissed her again.
She moved her lips against him, and they didn’t exchange oxygen, just a kiss.
She looked at his solid black eyes and smoothed her hands over where she had dug her nails, and he smiled. His tentacles moved over her legs smoothly, and she couldn’t see her own body in the darkness.
She blinked and looked around as the water was full of shadows around her. She looked at it and reached out to touch some of the dark stuff curling nearby. Ink?
He touched her jaw and turned her head back to him for another kiss.
They floated and moved through the deep for some time. His tentacles held her, and they wrapped around her back as well as her legs. He was covering about ninety percent of her. Ninety-five percent when they were kissing.
She was fairly sure that the kissing wasn’t part of his standard practice.
When he determined that she was done for the day, he swam to the surface and set her on the edge of the water. Mao was at her side in an instant, holding her arms and then helping her into her robe. He was acting very professionally now, and there was respect in his expression.
Kazuya came out a moment later and stood in front of her, kissing her slowly before taking the robe Mao held out.
He got dressed and lifted Vine in his arms.
“What is that for?”
He murmured, “I need aftercare.”
Vine frowned, and Mao gasped, but he walked up the stairs, sat on a mat with his legs crossed, and settled her on his lap. Kazuya buried his face in her neck and sighed before breathing deeply.
“Uh, why do you need aftercare?”
“I expended a lot of energy in healing you and even more from not keeping you with me under the water.”
“That is an option?”
“When dealing with shifters, it is always an option.”
She analyzed the situation. Being cuddled by a man was different than being held by a woman. There were harder planes and angles and a definite erection under her thigh. Ladies definitely didn’t feel like this. They also didn’t completely surround her. That was different.
He shuddered as he held her. “Kazuya, are you all right?”
“Vine, I am working through something new.”
“Based on Mao’s selection criteria, I think that my level of damage is the only new thing.”
He lifted his head. “All I do for those women is offer massage. For you, I offered all I am.”
She smiled and stroked his jaw. “You and I both know you get quite a bit bigger.”
His eyes flicked to black-on-black. “Thank you for appreciating that.”
“Is that how you met Mao’s people? You were either attacking or defending a fishing fleet?”
He chuckled. “A little of both.”
“Where did he go?”
“He’s making tea and bringing it to us. His family has served me for centuries.”
“Wow. His leer does not scream butler.”
“Servant is a little different than butler. He rarely butlers.” He stroked her hair, cheek, neck, and the hollow of her collarbone. “By modern parlance, he is my assistant.”
Mao came up and knelt, setting round cups on a low table before he got a teapot that looked bizarrely tiny in his hand, and he poured the tea for them. “I am usually a good assistant when I am not facing a woman who muddles my senses.”
“Oh, the look like a beta and smell like an omega thing?” She squirmed around and reached for the teacup. Kazuya reached out and got the cup first, handing it to her.
Mao blinked. “Yes. That. When I am confused, my judgment isn’t the best.”
Kazuya sipped his tea while she sipped hers. His direct eye contact was a little off-putting. He seemed to be trying to communicate something to her, but they sipped in synchronized movements until the cups were empty.
Mao smiled and refilled their cups. “I also have some small cakes.”
Kazuya looked at Mao with a wry expression. “How helpful of you.”
More tea was poured, and Kazuya held one of the cakes to her. When she tried to take it, he simply held it to her lips. She asked, “Is this an octopus thing?”
He grinned. “It is.”
She opened her mouth and took a bite. She couldn’t describe the taste. She tried to break it down, but nothing was similar.
He finished it, and her suspicions rose. “Do you do this with all your patients?”