Page 24

I glanced over, but she didn’t look confused, so I let it go and slipped into the water with some relief. The soft tug of the current saidit’s time to restand my cells accepted the message.

She sat on the edge and scooted forward, her stiff limbs, the broken and the whole, dipping into the water. “My hair is going to be injured by this liquid,” she said, but she didn’t sound sad, so I didn’t try to make sense of the words. My digits coiled around her arms, my suckers clinging to the softness of her flesh and my throat aching.

Her mouth parted as she drew in a breath. My head swam.Stop.I clenched my jaws as I hadn’t needed to in over a decade, and guided her into the deep.

chapterfive

eve

There wasno alien boner on display, but I was pretty sure I hadn’t misread all those long looks and clinging tentacles. He didn’t talk as we swam through the dark water that probably should’ve been terrifying. It wasn’t, though. Not with him propelling us. A few fish swam past, glowing soft pinks and oranges, and I wished I could hang out and have a look. Maybe one day I’d get a diving tank or something and he could take me on a tour of his backyard…hopefully before the random aliens came to take me away.

We broke the surface of the water. Two moons hung above us, not quite ripe. Their glow was a deep orange that called to me in the same way the pink glow underwater had, making my belly tighten and my skin prickle.

I didn’t believe in fate, but I’d always felt peaceful when swimming, and crocheting was a go-to soothing activity. Maybe it was a coincidence…or maybe it was science.

He tipped onto his back, holding me with just one arm as he moved us along. On the surface, his pace seemed a lot slower. Was he not rushing because I could breathe? Or did he feel it, too?

Was science calling me to this man I could barely even speak to?

Come to think of it, I’d had less meaningful conversations with plenty of losers I’d fucked.

He stood and I followed suit, seeing his hut up the beach aways, perched in the welcoming peach light like something out of a beach getaway acid trip.

I was impulsive. It had caused plenty of issues in my life. But I didn’t think it would cause issues this time when I planted my foot in the sand beneath us and tugged him back to me.

He turned, his eyes zeroing in on my mouth, and heat flooded my veins.For science,I told myself, holding onto him with both hands so I was flush against him. I breathed deep in a way that had already become second-nature and, buoyed by the water, pressed my lips to his.

A groan of pleasure came from somewhere in the vicinity of his chest and I understood it even without the translator. The last lingering splinters of doubt removed, I felt the hungry ache start, low in my belly.

In my arms, he felt warm and oddly unyielding, his lips firm and his hold on me even more so. When I opened my mouth and swept my tongue against his lips that groan came again, making his whole body vibrate. He held me so close to him no water could get between us. Through my sodden jeans I felt one branch of his tentacle suckers latch onto my thighs, the other on my upper back, and my head spun as I thought of all the places he could use those suckers.

His mouth opened for me. His tongue, short and smooth, met mine without hesitation. I tugged it into my mouth and he groaned again. Between my fingers, his hair felt like clumps of good satin ribbon and I sucked in air deeply, desperate to figure out the next step and also entirely willing to rub myself against him until my brain would work. Would those tentacles fit under my jeans? He clutched me closer and the wet cloth was suffocating, infuriating.

He pulled back to look around and started towing us toward land, his expression settling into one of determination. Joy rippled through me. I could count the amount of actually good guys I’d seduced on one finger. Nice guys, sure—but notgoodguys.

Mentally high-fiving myself, I grinned as he scooped me up and carried me from the water. I could feel the drum of his heart behind where I assumed he’d have ribs, though his torso felt different to mine.

I was going to explore every single difference.

Eventually.

The suckers on his tentacles clung to me and I ran my hand up his chest. His mouth popped open and he looked down at me, eyes searching, as if shocked.

He’d reacted pretty strongly to the wordfuck.But what kind of beach alien was a puritan?

Worry began to creep in as we went and his expression didn’t change from that grim determination. He wasn’t striding like a man who was about to get his dick wet.

By the time he put me down gently in the giant cat-bed, I was gearing up to be totally ready for the ground to open and swallow me whole.

“Sorry,” I said, hollowly, as he stepped back hastily.

He shook his head, the movement aggressive.

Well, he obviouslywas.“No hard feelings,” I said, trying to play it cool while in actuality I was wondering how fast I could get out of there. “I should’ve asked, really. So yeah, that’s on me.”

His eyes closed. “Patient of mine,” he said, the words thick.

The shame still curled, dark and sticky, but I forcibly reined in my thoughts. He’d wanted me, there was no way he hadn’t.