FIFTEEN
Mia
The first thing I notice when I wake up is the warmth. That’s unusual. I’m a restless sleeper. Usually, I wake up cold, having flung the doona off in the night.
The second thing I notice is the firm body pressed against mine and the arm and leg draped over me. That and the smell. I’m nuzzled against Luke’s warm bare chest. When I inhale, the scent of salt water, citrus and cedarwood fill my senses. The same gorgeous smell from the jumper I’ve been wearing around the house ever since I got to Kraken Cove, multiplied by ten.
I can’t even feel bad about snuggling up to him and taking up half of his side of the bed, too. With his arm and leg capturing me, I’ve got no hope of escape. So I just lay there and bask in it for a while.
I’m just appreciating the way Luke’s chest is completely smooth and the way his nipples are small and brown, when he sucks in a breath. Beneath the sheet, his cock jumps against my hip. I feel it through the denim jeans he still has on.
He groans. His grip around me tightens, drawing me closer.
I squirm at the feel of his hard erection. You’d think I wasn’t just cumming for him hours ago, loving the way he called me sweet names and encouraged me.
“Mmm, Mia, why did you let me stay here? It’s not going to be easy letting go of you now I’ve woken up like this no matter how dry I feel.”
“Sorry.” I try to move away, but he pushes me onto my back and somehow I end up with him between my legs.
“Did I say I was going to let you go, huh?” A small movement of his hips has his cock grinding against me and I gasp. He feels amazing. The weight of him. The smell, the thick bulge between my thighs.
God, I’m making a mess of the fresh panties I put on after our play last night.
Luke leans in and nips at my neck. “Maybe I won’t let you out of bed all day. I’ll just keep you here, and make you cum on my tongue until you can’t stand it anymore.”
A tide of pleasure surges, lapping at my core and making my toes curl. “You can’t do that!”
He just rolls his hips and pins me deeper to the mattress.
My pussy feels sensitive and my clit aches with the need for more touching. More friction. More of what he’s giving me already. More of him . But there’s no way I’m letting him do that for me without getting to touch him in return. “Hey, I thought we had a deal.”
I stifle a groan as Luke pushes up my singlet to cup my breast.
“Mmm. We do. I make you cum as much as you need, whenever you need it.”
Oh, it’s so tempting to let him do it, too, but I remember the slump of his shoulders last night when he thought he wasn’t good enough for me. I need to let him know I see just how special he is, too. The way he makes me feel every time he pays attention to what I like or tells me how gorgeous I am.
“What if I need you to cum too? Just like last night?”
I feel his cock throb between us and I know I’ve said what he needed to hear. He won’t listen if he thinks it’s just about him, but if I make it about me, he won’t be able to resist. And it’s not a lie. I loved watching him struggle to hold back and exploding with pleasure over me.
“Just like last night.” Luke props himself higher on his hands above me and I almost whine at the loss of sensation on my pussy.
“Panties off. Show me how you touch that pretty pussy.” He encourages me with a jerk of his head.
I make quick work of my panties, loving the way his gaze drops to the parts of me that exposes. My thighs and pussy, my lower belly. Somehow they seem more beautiful under his gaze.
Sliding two fingers through my wetness, I rub the slick back up around my clit and sigh at the contact.
Luke’s breath speeds up. His right hand goes to his cock and he takes it in his fist and touches himself slowly. “Look at me. Look what you do to me.” He’s hovering over me, thrusting gently into his fist, watching me with eyes that burn with desire.
“Look what you do to me .” I don’t hesitate. I part my labia with my fingers until he can see the glistening moisture gathered there and see all of me.
He curses and his hips thrust faster. His cockhead is red and the foreskin has slid all the way back, revealing the glistening tip. It looks needy. Like it needs soothing. I dream about wrapping my hand around him and bringing him to my mouth.
I gasp as my pleasure heightens and I grow quickly closer to the orgasm I know is coming. It feels so good to be looking up at all that desire, all that aching need, harnessed just for me.
“I want to touch you so badly.” I’m practically whining, I want it that much.
Luke hisses a breath through clenched teeth. When he speaks, his voice is little more than a growl. “I want that, too. You have no fucking idea how much I want your hands and mouth on me, Mia. How much I want to be inside that sweet, wet, little pussy.”
I can’t help it. I slip two fingers inside myself, wishing it was him. They slide into me easily, gliding through the slick pooling at my entrance.
Luke groans. “Are you thinking of my cock, Mia?”
I nod.
“Good. I’m thinking of what it’s going to feel like when I get inside you. Fill you deep. I’m going to fill you so full, like no one else. I swear to God, you’ll drain me dry if I cum inside you.”
“Mmm, show me.” I’m pushing my fingers deep inside now, bumping the heel of my hand against my clit, desperate for more.
“I will, but you cum first. You always cum first, baby.”
I nod, determined to do it for him.
Pulling my fingers out, I move them back to my clit and rub frantically. I’m so close. Hovering on the edge. Somehow, he knows.
“That’s it, Mia. Cum for me. Give me all that sweetness.”
I burst open. Pleasure erupts until I am consumed by it. I gasp his name. My legs spasm.
Then I open my eyes to see Luke pump his fist three times over his swollen cock.
“That’s right. God, you’re a good girl.”
He pauses, holding the base of his erection. His cock jerks and warm, viscous liquid pulses onto my belly. Once, twice, Luke closes his eyes and his jaw drops open as the last dribbles spill onto my skin.
He looks so handsome. So vulnerable, lost to his pleasure.
Luke opens his eyes and looks down at my belly, covered in his cum.
Dropping to rest his forehead against mine, he reaches between us to spread it over my skin. “Don’t shower, baby. I want you to wear this all day right on your skin. Right over your heart.” He brushes it up between my breasts.
Then he buries his face against my neck and laughs. “Sorry. Is that too much? I just can’t explain what it does to me, seeing it on you like that.”
I thread my fingers through his hair and hold him. “Not too much. Not at all.” My core flutters and a warmth spreads through my veins at the thought. It’s hard to put into words, but it excites me, too. “I don’t mind one bit.”
I frown as Luke’s skin flickers with color. It’s as if he’s trying to shift, but he can’t. He winces. “It’s been too long since I was in water. Do you mind if I shower?”
“Of course not!” I jump up to fetch him a towel and I can’t help grinning as I watch him step into the shower through the open door. He’s so gorgeous. Both in human form and in the less familiar kraken form. I linger to watch as he shifts, marveling at the way his legs split to form tentacles and fine webbing appears beneath his arms, between his fingers and at his ears. I’d love to really explore him when he’s like this. To run my fingers over his body and learn the feel of it. To make that mine. As if we’d spent the last ten years waking up together, instead of living with dreams of what might have been.
But you know I’m glad we waited. I’m glad we didn’t have sex again yet, either. Now I’ve got some idea how much it really means to Luke, I’m glad we didn’t rush into it. I want it to mean as much as he needs it to mean. He’s right. He deserves to be more than just my rebound guy.
Instead of showering myself, I slip on Luke’s jumper and my pyjama shorts and head downstairs while he’s still brushing his teeth with a spare toothbrush I found in the cabinet. I’m glad he hasn’t felt the need to go home yet. I’m sure he’s busy, but I hope he’ll hang out for a little longer.
I boil the kettle and make some toast. I smile when I’m waiting for the kettle to boil for my second cup of tea and his warm, rough hands slide around my waist and over my belly beneath my clothes. “I thought you might never come down. ”
He hums against my neck as he brushes a kiss there making me shiver. “Sorry. My skin got so dry. I don’t normally spend that long without getting wet.”
“Oh because you sleep underwater! Oh, so do you even have a bed? Do you have a house?”
He chuckles. “Yeah, I have a house. I’ll have to show you some time.”
“I’d like that. Do you have time for breakfast?” I pull the coffee plunger down from above the microwave.”
“You trying to get rid of me or something?”
“No.” I turn to face him, wanting to make sure he knows how I’m feeling. “Not at all. I just didn’t want you to feel you had to stay.”
He gathers me close again, and I love the feeling of being in his arms. “Baby, I’m not going anywhere until you kick me out. Not this time.”
That reminds me about the half finished conversation from last night, of everything we still need to discuss. I want to ask him about it, but the toast pops and Luke’s phone buzzes.
I grab a plate and butter the toast. When I slide it across the counter to Luke, I notice the line between his brows.
“Everything OK?”
He brushes a hand through his tousled hair and looks up at me. “Yeah. No, it’s just Dad. With everything last night, I forgot to ask Mum about this appointment in Sydney. It’s probably nothing...” He trails off and I can tell he thinks it’s not nothing.
“Want to talk about it?”
He sighs .
I turn and pour boiling water into the coffee plunger to make his coffee, then fill the mug for my tea. By the time I turn back, he’s still staring at the toast.
“I just worry about him. He’s got this medical appointment in Sydney and he didn’t say a word. Left it to Mum to casually drop the information to me the other day. Only, I get the feeling she’s avoiding talking to us about it. It’s almost like she’s worried, but she doesn’t want us to worry, you know?”
I nod. My mother would never do anything like that. If there was a problem in her life, everyone would know about it straight away. She loves a drama.
But though I only just met her, I can guess Luke’s mum is nothing like that.
“What do you think it is?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. I just hate not knowing. There can’t be anything good about the fact that he won’t talk about it.”
Wrapping my hands around my hot mug, I lean over the counter. “Why don’t you? Why don’t you take him for a drive or something and talk to him?”
“I dunno.” Luke takes a sip of coffee. “This is going to sound dumb, but I’m worried it’d be awkward. Mum is always the middle man on this kinda stuff. It’s funny, because Dad did most of the stuff with me and my brothers when we were little. He was always so affectionate. For us krakens, fathers are usually the primary carers. But you know since we’ve grown up, it seems to be harder to talk to him.”
I nod. “But if you’re really worried, maybe you should just ask him. ”
“Yeah. You’re probably right.” He takes a big bite of the raisin toast I just made him, so I think he’s going to drop the subject. I’m certainly not going to keep going. I’m not going to be a nag.
Then he takes another sip of coffee. “I think I’m going to do it. Only let me procrastinate a little while first. Let’s talk about this front door of yours.”
We end up hanging out most of the day. We go back to the hardware store, but find nothing, so we spend a little while trawling online until I find a beautiful door with a glass panel with a sea monster in stained glass, and I have to have it. I picture the wooden facade and the renovations to the kitchen I’ve been dreaming of. Pretty soon I’m sketching plans, and Luke is nodding and doing calculations, and it’s all planned out. Months of stalling, unable to make any decisions, and suddenly I can’t stop. We order a whole stack of materials, and the project gets bigger and bigger, completely different from what Oliver and I had originally planned.
I’m excited.
I haven’t felt excited about anything in so long.
I could work remotely for a while. There’s no reason I need to be in the office next week, or the week after. The longer I get to avoid dealing with the Oliver situation, the better. So I leave a message for Dad, unable to face calling him. I let him know I’m going to work from home for a while. I leave out all the personal stuff and just give him the basic details. One day, I’ll go back to Sydney and face reality, but not today and not next week.
The more decisions I make, the happier I feel, and the easier the next one is, and the next.
By the time Luke leaves to go see his dad, I’m feeling positively blissful.