Chapter Twenty-Three
Twenty-Three
Cyrus
While Reece changed, I transferred everything from the cooler to the fridge.
Eggs, bacon, chicken breasts. I loved that he had the forethought to grocery-shop and meal-plan for the weekend.
Not that there was anything wrong with eating out while on vacation, but I wanted to cook a meal with him.
I wanted to experience all the things we didn’t get to do in Briar Glenn.
“I would have done that, Cy,” Reece said.
I peeked around the fridge door, taking in the sight of him—shirtless—with his swim trunks hanging low on his hips.
That glorious happy trail that I loved so much ran straight down his flat stomach, disappearing below the waistband of his trunks.
It was like a fuzzy little rainbow leading to the pot of gold at the end: his cock.
My gaze raked back up his body to his handsome face. He was smirking, obviously aware of the way I’d been shamelessly admiring him.
“Like what you see?” he asked, bringing his arms up and flexing his defined biceps.
How was it that the goddess had blessed me with a man whose body rivaled the Farnese Hercules? It was as if he’d been etched out of stone by one of the greats. At some point I’d have to add a sculpture of Reece to my growing collection of artwork dedicated to him.
The familiar tingle of arousal ran down my mating tentacles, so I shut the fridge and shuffled over to him. “Indeed, I do.”
“Nope,” he said, stepping back. “I tried that, and you shut me down.”
Fuck. I had shut him down in favor of swimming, hadn’t I?
“Right. Right.” I moved back, putting some space between us before I could pin him to the bed and fuck him until he couldn’t see straight. “Swimming. The whole point of this trip.”
“Exactly,” Reece said, and started for the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked.
“You said you wanted to swim.”
“Do you not see the sun? You’re going to burn to a crisp.”
“Oh fuck,” he said, glancing down at his pale skin. “Good point.”
“Exactly.” He stood there staring at me. “Do you have sunscreen?” I asked.
“Nope.”
“I knew it.” I laughed and made my way over to my duffle bag, pulling out a bottle of SPF seventy sunscreen I’d bought just for this trip. As a kraken, I didn’t need sunscreen, but Reece certainly did.
“How did you know?” Reece asked.
“Because I’ve seen you sunburnt several times this summer. Someone with your complexion is at a greater risk for melanoma. You need to start taking sun protection seriously.”
“I’ll get some of those UPF shirts just for you.”
“Please do,” I said, already making a mental note to order him a few. As much as I hated the idea of covering up his perfect body, the last thing I wanted was my mate’s life cut short because of something preventable. “Hold out your arms for me.”
Reece sighed but complied, raising his arms in a T shape.
I coated my hands with sunscreen and rubbed it over his shoulders, back, chest, and abs, until he was covered in a shiny layer of lotion.
“Let me get your face, too.”
He closed his eyes, and I carefully massaged the sunscreen into his cheeks and scrunched forehead, and over the freckled bridge of his nose.
“You’re going to put me to sleep massaging me like this,” he mumbled.
“I just wanted to make sure it was thoroughly applied. Done.”
I stepped back and he opened those vivid green eyes, their intensity nearly taking my breath away.
“What?” he asked, tipping his head to the side.
He was just so damn handsome.
“Nothing. All set.”
Reece slung a towel over his shoulders, and we slipped out the door.
There were a series of handmade signs leading us over a boarded path that passed right through the sand dunes, down to a strip of private beach. Seagulls circled overhead, and foamy waves crashed against the shore, littering the beach with clumps of seaweed.
The morning sun hung high in the cloudless sky, already warming the sand.
“Good call on the sunscreen,” Reece said, holding his hand over his eyes to squint at the ocean. “I would have—”
I couldn’t make out the rest because the moment my tentacles hit the sand, I scuttled toward the water as fast as I could.
“Hey,” Reece shouted from behind me, racing to catch up. “Wait for me.”
I forced myself to slow down. He’d put so much thought into this, and I wanted us to share the moment. “Sorry,” I said. “I’m just so bloody excited.”
“Good.” He grabbed my hand, and my hearts thundered in my chest. It was so unexpected, this casual display of affection from a man who didn’t like being touched.
I gave his hand a little squeeze, and the two of us headed toward the water together.
A wave washed over the shore, and at the first brush of salt water against my tentacles, my body hummed with excitement.
The sea.
For the first time in years, I was going to swim in the sea.
And it was all thanks to my mate.
Reece and I ventured farther offshore, until the water was up to our waists, then our chests.
Salt water surged through my body, making every cell feel alive and amplifying my good mood.
A saltwater pool or bathtub soak was one thing, but this?
It was heaven. It was like I was weightless. Like I’d become one with the ocean.
“Come here,” I said, reaching for him with my tentacles.
I wrapped them around his waist and pulled him through the water until his body was pressed against mine.
“Are you happy?” he asked, staring into my eyes.
“Happier than you could ever know.”
I released my tentacles and slipped underneath the water.
“Hey,” Reece said. “Where did you go?”
The water was so murky, there was no way he could see me, but I could see him. Those long pale muscular legs slowly kicking in the water.
I swam around him a few times, flaring out my parachute, allowing my tentacles to graze his legs.
“Cyrus,” he laughed. “I don’t like you swimming under me when I can’t see you. It freaks me out.”
Why? I asked telepathically. It’s just me. I won’t let anything get you.
Reece shouted when I swam between his legs and lifted him out of the water so he sat on my waist while I floated on the surface. I was living for this. It was all the things I wanted to do with him at the lake in Briar Glenn and couldn’t.
“I feel like I’m on a living surfboard,” he said, staring down at me.
Water dripped off his full lashes down onto his slightly flushed cheeks.
With all the time he’d been spending in the sun, freckles dotted the bridge of his nose and clustered in large patches across his broad shoulders.
The next time I painted him, I’d have to flick my brush at the canvas to memorialize them in little flecks of paint for when the winter came and they inevitably faded.
I’d never tire of looking at him. Making art of him. Appreciating his beauty.
“How does the salt water feel?” he asked.
I closed my eyes, focusing on the way the waves lapped at the fins along my neck. “Heavenly. Thank you again for doing this.”
I knew he wasn’t the romantic type—that was my job—and this weekend had been such a pleasant surprise.
It let me know just how special I was to Reece, that my hopes of my mate reciprocating my feelings were coming to fruition.
I’d almost slipped earlier, telling him exactly how I felt about him, but I was too scared to say it.
The fact that we were here and things between us were moving in the right direction, that was enough for me. Everything else would fall into place in time.
“Cy?” Reece said, and my eyes shot open.
“Hmm?”
He leaned forward until his forearms were on my chest and his handsome face lingered over mine. “I asked if you want to go get breakfast. I’m starving.”
“Oh, yes. Let’s do that.” As sad as I was to leave the water, we had all weekend to swim. All weekend to hug and hold hands and kiss and fuck without the worry of watchful eyes.
“Are you going to let me off?”
“Nope,” I said, already jetting us back to the shore.
“Cyrus,” Reece yelped, digging his fingers into my skin, trying to hold on for dear life as we shot through the waves with ease. His panic quickly shifted into amused laughter, making me laugh with him.
When the water was too shallow for swimming, I slid out from under him, and we walked onto the beach.
Reece grabbed his towel, shook off the sand, and wrapped it around his waist. “It’s crazy to me that we’re only four hours down the coast and it’s this much hotter. The water was surprisingly warm, too.”
I laughed. “Anything is warm compared to the lake.”
“True.”
“Is there anything you want to do after breakfast,” I asked as we made our way back to the bungalow.
“I figured we could just chill today. Hang out on the beach. Maybe after dinner we can watch the sunset. How does that sound?”
“That sounds lovely.”