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She adored him for it.

When they reached the main cave, Nathair put her down to get the fire restarted. Linh headed over to his nest when he dived into the freshwater lake to rinse himself of the ocean.

She placed the smaller shells next to it, rearranging them so they went from smallest to largest. She took the one really big shell she’d found and placed it next to the two others she’d put on the wide rim of his nest.

Since it was only the middle of the day, streaks of light brightened his home. The one hitting the centre of his nest made all his riches sparkle, and they reflected rainbows against the rocky ceiling above.

Linh was under the impression that Nathair hadn’t thought to move his nest here before, nor did he know the shiny objects would reflect the light in the way they did. She could tell he was very excited by this discovery after moving it, as he often looked up at the ceiling or stared at his treasures as if enthralled by their glitter.

He kind of reminds me of fable tales of dragons.She laughed a little.I wish he breathed fire.

She gasped when a large set of hands spanned around her waist. He turned her, and made her sit on the edge of the circular wall of his nest. She didn’t miss how he tried to slip between her knees.

Dripping wet, he pointed to the lake. Then, with his hands flat and downward facing, he placed one on top of the other and wiggled them up and down towards her.

Linh purposefully pouted her lips and drew her gaze to the side.

“I don’t want to,” she grumbled.

Nathair gingerly cupped her jaw and brought her eyes back to his skull. He nodded and then put his hands together to wave them up and down.

“It’s cold.”

He answered her with a growl and pointed at the lake again – only to clutch his throat and make gurgling sounds before pointing at her.

Nathair was being rather pushy about teaching her how to swim. Considering he was an aquatic creature, and he’d already had to save her from... drowning.It’s not like I tried to go swimming on purpose.

Humans rarely lived near any body of water. Learning how to swim was a rarity, and generally not necessary. However, Linh now lived in a home that was seventy-five percent water, and it was startlingly deep.

“I know I almost drowned, but the water is cold,” she grumbled, arguing with him. “I also don’t have anything else to wear.”

With a huff, he turned from her, slithered over to her bag, and pulled out her pink dress. He waved it at her, likely calling her a liar in his head.

Shame prickled the back of her neck as she looked down to fidget with the seam of her lavender garment. “I-I don’t want to wear it.”

His orbs shifted to a darker shade of orange, and she’d already figured out what this meant: guilt. She felt awful that he felt bad, considering it was obvious she didn’t want to wear it because of what happened between them.

It wasn’t him, but her need to not feel so exposed.

He directed his skull away and brushed one of his hands over the top of it. Linh bit her lips and considered apologising and explaining her reasons. Before she could, he let out a sigh, nodded, and placed it back into her bag.

“Fine,” he gestured with his hand.

Linh was beginning to understand his hand signing. He had his own language, one she wasn’t familiar with. When she’d offered to teach him Austrális signing, he’d gotten annoyed with her. He’d eventually written against a rock:Learn mine. Nathair speak.

So, that was what she’d been trying to do, and what took up a fair amount of their time in the last four days. They’d also been bonding over it, especially as she was taking her lessons very seriously... while seated on the verylapof his lengthy tail.Of course, she found that distracting for the most titillating reasons.

Nathair came closer and picked her up before she could register it.

“Don’t you dare!” she screamed as he carted her towards the lake.

He tossed her, and her scream was swallowed up by water. Linh kicked, her legs going outwards as she clawed to get to the surface. She heard the crash of Nathair’s body joining her before ripples swayed her to the side and pushed her further under.

Hands grabbed her hips and yanked her to the surface. Linh sputtered icy water when she sucked in a breath, goosebumps prickling across her flesh and tightening her scalp.

Since he was right in front of her, she bashed on his shoulders.

“How dare you! I said no!”