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“Are you ready?” Soulara popped up, but the water was against her waist since she could no longer stand up straight.

Autumn couldn’t speak, so instead, she nodded.

It took time, and Soulara was slow and patient.

The first time Autumn’s head went below the surface took her by surprise. The way Soulara spoke about the darkness seemed such a strange concept. Sunlight rippled through the water and danced along the top of colorful rock shapes. Autumn couldn’t deny it, the world beneath the water was unimaginable.

“It’s beautiful.” Autumn gasped as she pushed her head out of the water, breaking the surface tension.

“Are you ready to come farther out with me?” Soulara asked.

“How?”

“Hold onto me.”

“Oh.” Autumn thought she heard her brain literally fizz at the idea of wrapping her limbs around this naked goddess. It was exactly what her body had wanted, although in a completely different capacity.

Soulara swam closer and put her arm around Autumn’s waist and pulled Autumn into her side. Their bodies touched from shoulder to hip.

“It’ll be okay. Just relax, and I’ll take care of you.”

Again Autumn nodded, though fear tangled with arousal.

The weightlessness of her body felt new and familiar at the same time. Much like the training she had gone through before stepping on the ships to start her tour.

Autumn pushed her head back up out of the water as she struggled for breath. Soulara helped guide her, keeping her afloat just beneath the surface. Water rushed past her body, caressing her skin and invading all the gaps and pockets of her uniform.

By the fourth time Autumn submerged herself, she found the rhythm of breathing and holding her breath.

She looked around, and what she saw drained all the held breath out of her lungs. She thrashed in Soulara’s arms, head shaking back and forth. The recognition of the scales along Soulara’s body, the sinuous movement of Soulara’s tail. She had seen it before. But that time, she had been behind a wall of glass, stealing water from Soulara’s people.

Hands cupped her face and firmly lifted her head. When her eyes met Soulara’s, Autumn’s limbs stopped their desperate attempt to free themselves. Without a doubt, it had been a mermaid, or maybe several, who had attacked her and Marshall.

Soulara mouthed a word that Autumn couldn’t hear but looked something like breathe.

How could she breathe?

Soulara drew closer, pursed her lips, and blew on Autumn’s lips. The pressure made Autumn instinctively open her mouth. Her screaming lungs grasped at the water. Autumn braced herself for the choking, but it never came.

She stared at Soulara as she blew against Autumn’s lips again. Hungrily, Autumn devoured the aerated water. She didn’t know how it was possible, but her lungs relaxed, breathing in a way that didn’t feel quite right but was a vast improvement on dying.

“Better?” This time Autumn could swear she heard Soulara’s voice.

She nodded, flicking her eyes down to Soulara’s lips.

Her lungs might have relaxed, but the rest of Autumn’s body was coiling and heating for a far different reason.

Soulara got even closer, the hint of a touch pressed on Autumn’s lips along with the air.

Autumn gulped at the life-saving breath and then lunged toward Soulara’s lips.

Soulara must have pushed them up because the next thing Autumn felt was the air kissing the back of her neck and Soulara kissing her lips in return.

7

“Mmmm.” Soulara moaned as she pushed against the water, a quick flick of her fluke fins. Her head breached the surface of the water as she matched Autumn’s kiss with her own.

Their lips slid together, soft and sensual against each other. Soulara’s breasts pressed against the unfamiliar rough fabric of Autumn’s clothes. Even through the cloth, she felt the curves of Autumn’s own breasts beneath.