Page 76 of The Never List
“That’s fairly impressive,” she teases.
I let the water pillars drop. “And yet you want to swim with me?” I can’t help but ask for clarification. Not one potential ever dared come into the water with me, no matter how many times I asked. They were too afraid of what lurks in the ocean, or too afraid of my control over it.
“I do,” she says. “If I can’t keep up, then I’ll just tread water and wait for you.” She turns to Kal. “Or I’ll just surface and call for you. You’ll come get me, right?”
“Always,” Kal says, his tone drenched in a trust and longing I can’t fully understand yet.
I really shouldn’t let her come out this far—it can be dangerous to anyone who isn’t me—but it’s hard to resist her when she’s looking up at me like that, all big blue eyes full of challenge and fire. Fuck, she’s going to get me into so much trouble.
But she’s right. If it’s too much for her, Kal can fly her out in seconds flat. Between the two of us, she’s more than safe.
“All right, kitten,” I say, nodding toward the stairs. “Go change into a suit. My boat is just down the beach.”
“Yay!” She claps, her words practically a squeal as she rushes toward the steps, bounding upward to where Mirren waits at the carriage with her effects.
“Oh, Rylee?” I call to her, and she halts, spinning around to look down at me. “Want to make this more interesting?” I climb the steps, stopping beneath her when we’re eye to eye.
“Always,” she immediately responds, and I swear the word goes straight to my cock. Who is this woman?
“I’ll make you a wager,” I say. “You beat me to the net, and I’ll give you anything you want.”
Her eyebrow arches in the sexiest little way. “Anything?”
“Anything.”
“What if what I want is illegal or could get you into trouble?”
Curiosity spikes through me. “Don’t care,” I say and mean it. “As long as it doesn’t hurt my people, I’ll do it.”
“And if you win?”
I smirk. “If I win, you’ll let me and Kal take you right here on this beach.” I cock a brow at Kal behind me before turning back to her. “And the last thing I want is you being quiet.”
A flush dusts her cheeks, but she grins. “So, basically I win either way.”
I blink at her, shock rolling through me at her casual, eager response. Normally, that would make a potentialpause and sputter out an answer, but not Rylee.
“Deal,” she says, then spins on her toes and dashes up the stairs.
Goddess damn me, she’s got a brilliant ass. I can’t help but watch it the entire way up as I wait for her. She’s turning me to nothing but the baser instincts I can’t ignore—take, claim, possess, protect. It’s never happened this fast or hard before, but I can’t complain. Not when everything inside me is screaming for her, reaching for her in a way that gives me hope.
Maybe she really could be the one to finally accept us all.
Maybe she could be the one to change things forever.
“I get it,” I say as I head back toward Kal.
“Get what?” he asks.
“What you were saying at the last Legend meeting. She’s different.”
Kal sighs, something like contentment written all over his face. “You have no idea,” he says, eyes lighting up as he spots her returning. “I’ll hang here on the beach while you two go out,” he continues. “Don’t let anything happen to her.”
I tilt my head at the protective edge to his tone. “You know I won’t.”
He nods. “You’d be saying the same thing if I took to the skies with her.”
Shit. The thought of her in his arms, high above the water, does make a protective instinct surge inside me.
