Page 63 of Folds
“I probably should confess I dealt with Nock. He wasn’t anasset to your crew.” For the first time since she ran into me, nervousness flares in her eyes.
“Did you kill him?”
“Yes,” she breathes.
My cock throbs as I capture her mouth with mine. The rational part of my brain yells at me to stop. I smother the voice with the pleasure coursing through my body. It’s like she’s a drug—a thrill I can’t get enough of. We shouldn’t be doing this again. One night was all this was supposed to be. The gods did drop her on my ship, though. And I no longer defy them.
I grip the back of her thighs and haul her against me. Her tongue sweeps along mine and I groan. When I spin us around and slam her against the door, a fleeting thought of someone catching us flashes through my brain. It dissolves under the weight of my desire. She slides down the wood and wiggles back and forth. I pull away, then smirk when her over-sized pants hit the floor. I rip her shirt over her head as she attacks my pants.
Her legs wind around my waist when I lift her again as I consume her. She slips her hand between us and her fingers circle my shaft. Tipping my head back, I groan. Her own mingles with mine as she sinks onto my cock. A shudder rolls through me, and I dig my fingers into her hips.
“Move,” she gasps. “Please.”
“Fuck, I love it when you beg.” I grip her tighter and plunge into her hard.
She whimpers with each thrust, her head thumping against the door. Within a minute, she’s spasming around my shaft. She slaps her hand over her mouth, muffling the sounds of her climax. Watching her come around my cock sends me over the edge, and I grit my teeth to keep from alerting the entire ship of my activities.
When her trembling subsides, her gaze finds mine. “So much for one night.”
I brush her hair away from her face. “Stay.”
She bites her lip, then nods. Tension I didn’t know I washolding bleeds away and I gather her in my arms. For the first time in a very long time, I wish this wouldn’t end. I wish I didn’t have to let her go.
chapter nine
KERES
Slipping out of Loch’s arms two days in a row seems disrespectful.
I’m sure he’s expecting to find me in his bed when he wakes. Where else am I going to go? He might tear his ship apart searching for me. I dive off the side and stay underneath as long as possible. It takes longer than usual for my breathing to adjust. I swim as far as I can with these useless human legs.
Just when I think I’ll have to float my way to the hidden alcove, scales ripple down my skin and my legs fuse together. I shouldn’t need more sleep, yet still I doze until the sun sits low in the sky. I expect to have to sneak back onto his ship or wait for something to happen. Instead, I track a dinghy floating toward the beach to my left.
I slip into the water before it gets too close. I grin, then wash it away. Loch’s muscles bulge as he rows toward the shore. His head whips back and forth, probably searching for me. I could let him go, wait for the sun to set, then saunter out of the waves completely naked. Or I could have a little fun.
Diving deep, I make my way toward him. When I reach the boat, I knock on the bottom and the oars stop. I swim to the side, then pop my head up when he’s looking the other way.
“Long way from your ship, Captain.”
The dinghy rocks dangerously as he flops around, losing one of the oars in the process. I rest my arms on the edge, trying to keep him from capsizing. His mouth drops open, and he glances around again like the answer to his unspoken questions will magically appear.
“You’re… What are you… How?”
“Not entirely sure what you’re asking, but I saw you alone so I swam over. Unless you were hunting for seashells instead of me.” I tilt my head, waiting for a response.
He runs his hands through his blue-black hair, then leans over to stare into the water. “That’s a...well, that explains the strange tattoos.”
“Not tattoos. Not like yours, anyway. More like echoes of what Ishouldbe.” I hold up a hand. “Don’t ask. I won’t tell you.”
Despite my blase attitude, nerves bubble in my gut. I shouldn’t have done this. He doesn’t need to know what I am or that I’ve been cursed to walk on two legs at night. I don’t know why I’m even here. Some mystical force draws me to him. Eventually he’ll either turn on me or he’ll die. Pain stabs at my heart, and I close my eyes, letting the soft waves wash it away.
“Seems I’m not the only one keeping secrets,” he murmurs, but I doubt he meant for me to hear.
“Why were you looking for me?”
He shrugs, then huffs. “You keep sneaking out while I’m sleeping.”
“Wedidsay onenight. Not one night and some of the morning, perhaps a little of the day.” I smirk and wiggle my eyebrows. He doesn’t return my smile.
