Fathom (Mermaids of Montana #3) - Elsa Jade Page 0,34
belonged to him; they’d only ever used him, but now it was his responsibility. “Just because I wanted to kiss you, that wasn’t enough. You had to want to kiss me too.”
When she curled her lower lip between her teeth again, his hunting instincts kicked in. Though he’d already had her scent and her silhouette fixed in his Titanyri senses so that he could track her across any waters in the universe, now that his mouth had been on hers, he knew what she tasted like. And she tasted even better than she looked and smelled.
“You…wanted to kiss me?” Her gaze jumped past him, then around him, then over him, as if he wasn’t standing right in front of her. “I thought you were just trying to focus my power.”
He took a half step closer to her, since she seemed to be having so much trouble focusing on him at the moment. “It’s your strength now so you can do whatever you want.” At his repetition of her words, her glance popped up to meet his. “I wanted to kiss you.”
With her chin tilted upward, the frantic thrum of her pulse in her throat tempted him, and even without the conducting element of water between them, he tasted her again when he licked his lips.
Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “But…you’re leaving Earth soon.”
“Not quite yet,” he reminded her.
When she didn’t respond, he held out one arm to her. “Back to the Diatom?”
With an awkward jerk of her head, she sidled over the last step separating them and tucked herself under his shoulder, fisting his harness while he affixed the tow rope. With no space left between them, she stared up at him. Even through her protective e-suit, even through his own thickened skin, the heat of her soothed him like the geyser outside his prison cell on Tritona.
And whispered of a more profound heat simmering below.
He reached up to her mouth…and tucked the gill between her teeth. The frill of oxygen-exchanging filaments should’ve hidden her lips, but he didn’t need his eyes to know the outline of her mouth. He’d never forget the feel. Snugging his arm tight around her, he dove.
This time, he didn’t pause at any of the alcoves. She’d proven she was strong enough to not need the break.
And since the chill of the Earther waters wasn’t enough to soothe the need rising from his own depths, he couldn’t be sure he had the strength to not kiss her again.
Bypassing the Diatom, he took them directly to the shore where they’d left their belongings, and when they were close enough, he immediately released her.
She slogged through the shallows beside him, her lips tinged from the cold.
The predator he was knew he could bring that hottest blood back to the surface in one rush…
Instead he stood unmoving as she quickly layered her Earther clothing over the snug fit of her e-suit. Each stratum of fabric felt like a blockade against his senses, erasing the moments he’d held her against his body, and an annoyed rumble reverberated from his chest.
Lana glanced back at him, brow furrowed, before holding out the clothing items she’d given him before. He averted his face. “No. It itches.”
She tucked her chin. “It’s not itchy. All my things are soft and silky. Plus, you have armored skin.”
“Sensitive armored skin.” Although she was right that all of her was soft and silky, at least all the parts of her he’d touched. Especially her mouth…
Shifting from foot to foot, he rumbled under his breath. He was definitely itchy now.
With a little snort, she stuffed everything into the satchel. “Fine. Since we’re just going back to the estate, you can be mostly naked. But if we get pulled over by highway patrol, how am I supposed to explain an alien merman?”
“I don’t need anyone else to believe in me.”
“Just don’t… You know what, never mind. It’s fine. This is fine.” She clutched the strap of the satchel like she was imagining his neck between her fingers. “We have what we need, so let’s just go.”
He didn’t have what he needed.
Not yet.
It was getting dark by the time they approached the small enclave of Sunset Falls. He didn’t need the artificial lights of the vehicle, but Lana informed him it was mandatory. No wonder Earthers had so many troubles; they had no protective covering for their eyes and yet most of the time they couldn’t see where they were going anyway.