Chapter Sixty-Seven #2
‘Once, many years ago, I was just a woman,’ she said quietly.
‘A merchant’s daughter. With dreams, and full of hope.
I wanted to see the world, to sail the seas.
My family was rich—incredibly so—from their trade, though we weren’t high in class.
And I fell in love with a man who I thought would give me the skies and seas on a silver platter, for I had no want for riches.
He looked at me as though I was treasure. ’
It surprised Adrian, how the mention of this man left envy coiling around his heart.
‘He was a sea captain, and when I told him my dreams, he told me he would make sure I sailed with him. I couldn’t believe my luck.
We married right there on his ship, as we were setting sail.
And as I waved to my parents, seeing them and my home grow smaller and smaller, the smile on the face of the man I loved changed.
It grew cold. He held up a bag as I turned to him, and there was no love within his eyes.
It was my dowry—hundreds of midans that my father had paid him.
So I suppose I really was treasure in the end. ’ She laughed emptily.
‘And then what happened?’ Adrian asked. His grief had subsided, if only briefly, as Oceanne’s calm, rhythmic cadence continued on.
‘His crew approached, all strange men, terrible men. They bound my legs and hauled me to the side of the ship. I wept and begged, asked my husband, “Why?”
‘He responded, “Because you served a purpose for me. And now you don’t.”
‘I saw a shadow looming above him as I was thrown to the waters. I thrashed and clawed, trying to swim, to break my bonds. But I couldn’t. So instead, I prayed and begged, to anything, to anyone, to save me.
‘My legs began to go numb, and I felt an unending pain until I looked down and my bound legs had become a tail. I opened my mouth to scream and instead found that I could breathe. My wish had been granted.’
‘And what happened to the sea captain?’
‘A story for another time.’
Adrian reached his arms around Oceanne, feeling the soft skin of her waist beneath his hands. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said roughly.
‘So am I,’ she replied. ‘And for a long time, I didn’t know how to live. Part of me thinks that even though the grief and pain have passed, I still haven’t moved on.’ She paused. ‘Until I met you.’
Adrian sat straighter. ‘I have done little but cause strife in your life, Oceanne, and burden you with my problems,’ he murmured as he pulled her closer to him. When he felt her stomach press against his crotch, he clenched his jaw, feeling himself become hard with desire.
‘You could never burden me,’ she replied. ‘I have been numb for so long. And you…you make me feel.’
Adrian could feel her mouth close to his, that sweet breath feathering over his lips. Twice now, she had kissed him. He wouldn’t squander the chance to initiate it this time.
With a groan, he pressed his lips to hers, and she let out a small gasp that he tasted with a sweep of his tongue.
No chaste brushes, no quick peck before disappearing—Adrian wanted to taste her.
He made sure to keep his eyes firmly shut, though his body begged him to open them and revel in the beauty he knew she would be.
She lifted herself out of the water, wrapping her legs around him, and as Adrian’s hands skimmed down, greedy to touch everywhere he could, he groaned again, then ripped his mouth off her.
‘Please don’t tell me you’re naked, Oceanne.’
‘What did you expect?’ she teased. ‘I came straight from the sea, and I’m hardly going to keep my tail on land.’
‘Does it hurt?’ he murmured as his hand trailed to her hipbone, where her tail would have grown, and squeezed gently, satisfied to hear her suck in a breath. ‘Changing like that?’
‘A little,’ she whispered back as her mouth began to move up and down his throat.
‘Can I kiss you better?’
There was a pause, and he worried he’d been too forward, too presumptuous. But then she breathed, ‘Yes.’
One hand gripped the back of her neck, tangling in her soft, wet hair.
The other trailed down her collarbone to the swell of her breast. He rubbed a thumb over her nipple, listening to the cadence of her breathing, as calming as the tide.
His hand continued on, past her breast to the dip of her waist, before he was met once more with the soft skin of her full hips.
He was learning her blind—every other sense heightened to the peaks and valleys of her, the beautiful curves that bent like a winding river.
Her smell, her touch enveloped him, intoxicating him.
He dipped his head, tongue darting out to lick her skin.
Her taste. Like saltwater toffee—sweet but sharp.
She rocked into him, and he grasped her hands before pulling her up so that she was standing before him.
‘I just know the sight of you would bring me to my knees,’ he murmured.
She made an amused sound. ‘It seems you’re already on them.’
He laughed at the realization. ‘Exactly where I should be, then,’ he said, his voice scraping against his throat with desire.
He felt along her soft skin once more, his hands becoming more and more familiar with her body. Her sweet flesh was a whisper away from his mouth.
Adrian didn’t need his sight to know where she ached, or to know exactly where the centre of her pleasure lay, begging to be touched.
He inclined his head, hands skimming down her back until he reached her behind. He kneaded each buttock as she moaned softly, before he pushed them apart, knowing that it would let the cool sea air play over her sex.
‘Gods,’ she whispered, hands gripping his shoulders.
One hand still wrapped around her back, he trailed the other down her arse until he reached her slick heat.
She was soaked, and Adrian had to reel in the utterly desperate urge to be buried inside her that consumed him.
He felt her rise on to her tiptoes, her stance widening. She was a lot shorter than him; that much he could tell, as he stroked over her sex once more.
She shuddered against him as he leaned into her, his nose tracing her stomach in the same circles that his fingers began to play on her wet heat.
‘More,’ she whispered, and Adrian rumbled his approval as, with a barely held-back groan, he delved his tongue into her.
Fucking. Hell.
He had never tasted such sweetness in his life.
He drew his mouth away as he splayed her with two fingers, leaving her bud exposed before blowing on it.
She rocked forwards with a low moan.
Those two fingers flipped, curling inside her as he pressed his tongue to her once more in tandem, stroking her softly. He heard her whimper, and he did the same again, this time applying a little more pressure.
Then Adrian did what he knew caused any woman to roll her eyes back and completely and utterly surrender to him.
He latched his lips on to her and sucked.
‘Holy fucking skies,’ she cursed above him, opening herself wider, the weight of her bearing down upon him.
‘That’s it,’ he murmured against her. ‘Open all the way for me, Oceanne.’
She was panting as Adrian continued to work her with one hand and his tongue, he on his knees, she standing above him. She began to rock against him, her hips rolling as they met every thrust of his fingers and lap of his tongue, and he let out his own moan.
And just as he could feel her squeeze around his fingers, so close to climax, he snatched his fingers and tongue away, hearing a gasp rip from her.
‘Let me see you,’ he rasped.
‘You know, I’ve never met a sailor who cared so little for superstition,’ she panted.
Adrian shrugged. ‘It’s all risk versus reward.’
‘Well, one of us has to have sense,’ she replied. ‘It would be such a shame for you to turn to salt when you’re so good at pleasuring a woman.’ She traced her fingers over his eyes. ‘Keep them closed.’
Her voice…Adrian had never been so aroused by a voice. He wanted to bottle it up and sip it at his leisure, savour every roll of her tongue and purse of her lips.
‘Yes, captain.’ He grinned. ‘Any other orders for me?’
‘Finish what you started.’
Adrian chuckled as he pressed his tongue once more against her, twirling and licking and sucking until she melted into him, pleading and begging.
‘I swear, Oceanne,’ he growled on to her skin, ‘one day I’m going to watch as you come for me. But for now, this will suffice.’
She writhed and gasped as she climaxed, and he devoured it—devoured her, sucking and licking every last drop of her pleasure from her.
‘Adrian?!’ came a call.
‘Shit,’ Oceanne muttered, springing away from him.
‘Oceanne?’ he said.
‘Adrian!’ came the call again. Elara. He swore, opening his eyes, only to see the back of Oceanne jumping into the water, silver hair shimmering in the dusk, beautiful, long, bronzed legs disappearing below the waves.
He whirled back to see Elara marching across the rock towards him. He adjusted himself, looking back once, yearningly, to the sea.
When Elara reached him, it wasn’t worry in her eyes, but something else simmering.
She cocked her head, her eyes narrowing.
‘Adrian,’ she asked, her voice eerily calm, ‘just what exactly were you doing, entwined with Cancia?’