Page 23 of Adonis (Salt and Starlight #1)

Connor looked out his window to the ocean. He could hear people moving around downstairs and suspected Trevor wouldn’t be going to bed for a while. He was most likely reading the news, thinking about it and trying to figure out how best to help Connor.

All Connor wanted was to go down to the dock and lie in Adonis’s arms.

Thinking about how reluctant Adonis had been to leave him made guilt swarm in Connor’s gut. Making up his mind, he crossed the room and flicked off his light. Quietly, he opened his window and crawled onto the overhang of the porch. He waited, listening for any noises. When it remained quiet, he lowered onto his hands and knees and peeked upside-down into the house windows—nobody in sight.

Quickly, Connor hung off the ledge and dropped the last few feet onto the sand. He walked backward down the sandy path until he passed the bend and was no longer visible from the house. Wind whispered through the leaves and bushes on either side of Connor until the shrubbery gave way to the sandy beach.

Light faded from the sky as Connor reached the dock.

He peered at the water, looking for any sign of Adonis. Did he need to go out to deep waters for Adonis to find him? It hadn’t taken him long to realise Connor was surfing. It seemed implausible that he coincidentally happened across Connor whenever he was on the water… and it wasn’t like Adonis could track his movement while Connor was on land. Adonis clearly had a way of finding Connor when he was at sea.

If he had to paddle out, he would.

“Adonis?”

Connor called.

Breaking waves answered him. Connor toed off his shoes and rolled up his trousers. He sat on the end of the dock, dipping his feet into the water. If it was cold, he didn’t notice it. He splashed his feet. “Adonis?”

A hand grabbed his ankle. Connor jumped, despite knowing it was him.

Adonis rose out of the water, threw his arms around Connor’s waist, and buried his face into his lap. He keened desperately and loudly, like a complaining kitten.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry,”

Connor said, smiling widely. He sunk his fingers into the hair at Adonis’s nape, glimpsing the circle of indented teeth mark marring his pale skin. Satisfaction filled him as he looked at the mark. “I didn’t want to leave you either.”

Adonis grumbled. He tightened his arms around Connor’s waist, dragging him to the edge of the dock, and nuzzled his stomach. He let out loud complaints as he did.

“Are you angry with me?”

Adonis snorted, and then his head moved in a quick nod.

Connor bit his lip. Adonis had nodded to Connor’s question earlier, when they’d been in the water, but swept up in the moment Connor had taken little notice. He already knew that Adonis understood him, but this cemented his thoughts that Adonis really understood him.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could spend all my time with you, but…”

Connor sighed.

Adonis lifted his head to peek up at him, gazing through half-lidded eyes.

“I’m thinking about saving up for a boat. So I can live on the water with you. That way, you won’t have to hide when other people come around,”

Connor said.

Adonis glanced at the shed where the boards were stored and nodded to it.

“I’ll need something a little bit bigger, I think.”

Adonis shook his head this time.

Connor fought a grin. “You may be fine living in the water. Unfortunately, I need more than that. I wish I didn’t. I wish I could just stay in the water forever, where nobody could bother me.”

Adonis pulled back, making an irritated noise in his throat as he shook his head again. His lips parted, and Connor could hear air coming out, but there was nothing but a faint garbled noise. Adonis shut his mouth, his tail breaking through the waterline in an irritated smack, and he pressed his face into Connor’s lap with an unhappy grumble.

Connor considered Adonis’s behaviour for a moment. “Are you trying to speak?”

Adonis’s tail splashed out of the water again, and he nodded stiffly.

“But you can’t?”

Adonis nodded again.

“Is your voice box damaged?”

Connor wondered, concerned. “Or maybe… maybe you’re just not built to make those kinds of sounds at all?”

Adonis straightened, lifting his head to meet Connor’s eyes while he shook his head.

“Are you saying I’m wrong about your voice box? Or the second thing? The voice box?”

Adonis gazed at Connor.

“Both are wrong?”

Adonis nodded.

“Okay… is there anything I can do?”

Adonis pointed to the shed.

Connor snorted, rolling his eyes. “Cute, aren’t you?”

Adonis cast Connor an irritated look. He gestured to the shed again, making a noise of complaint in his throat.

“I said I have to get a boat, not a paddleboard.”

Adonis looked up at Connor in frustration. He tightened his grip on Connor, dragging him off the dock.

Connor could only laugh. Adonis caught him so that his head didn’t dip beneath the waves. He wrapped his legs around Adonis’s hips and rested his hands on Adonis’s shoulders. “You’re salty about being told no, aren’t you?”

Adonis gazed at Connor through his half-lidded eyes. The annoyance sank out of his expression as he leaned forward, rubbing his cheek against Connor’s. He made his soft cat purr, and he shifted Connor’s body so that he supported the weight with one hand. With the other one free, he reached between them, touching the front of Connor’s trousers.

Connor swallowed, and Adonis’s head tilted down. A moment later, soft lips touched his Adam’s apple. For a terrible moment, Connor feared that Adonis’s teeth would sink in next, but instead, he dragged his tongue over the lump and sucked the skin into his mouth.

Connor shut his eyes, enjoying the sparks that danced up his thighs as Adonis pulled at his trousers, trying to tug them off. Adonis had wanted Connor to put his cock inside of him earlier, and Connor wanted that, too… and he didn’t want it just for the sake of feeling good. He wanted it because he liked Adonis. He was fascinating and cute and lit up Connor’s body like it was on fire. And the feelings he had developed were strong, thrumming inside of Connor now.

Connor cupped Adonis’s face, making him look at Connor.

“You’re not just using me for sex, are you?”

Connor asked. Everything about Adonis’s behaviour pointed to the fact that wasn’t the case, but he had to ask anyway. He had to be sure. “I like you. You like me, too, right?”

At the second question, Adonis’s eyes lit up. He nodded eagerly and leaned in, pressing his mouth tight to Connor’s ear. There was a choking sound like something was caught in Adonis’s throat. And then, on his exhale, a very faint “yes.”

Connor’s heart skipped a beat. He turned his face, pressing his mouth against Adonis’s. Adonis went still like he was unsure what Connor was doing, but after a moment, he leaned in hesitantly to Connor. Connor pushed his tongue against the seam of Adonis’s lips, gently parting them.

Adonis’s entire body jolted. He gripped Connor’s waist and stiffened.

Connor paused, unsure. As he pulled back, Adonis followed him. With a swish of his tail, he moved them so that Connor’s back was set against the wooden pillar of the dock and pressed his mouth against Connor’s. Experimentally, it seemed, his tongue darted out. When it met Connor’s, a harsh sound came from Adonis’s throat.

Connor cupped Adonis’s face, trying again to touch his tongue to Adonis’s lips. Beneath his hands, he felt Adonis’s gills twitching erratically, and his heavy breaths fell against Connor’s cheeks. Abruptly, he snatched the back of Connor’s head, and his tongue thrust into Connor’s mouth.

Connor groaned, and Adonis made a noise of excitement, dragging his hot tongue against the inside of Connor’s mouth, making him squirm. The hot vapour of their mingling breaths burned his face as he clung onto Adonis, who explored every inch of Connor’s mouth until he was desperate to breathe.

Connor tapped on Adonis’s shoulders until he pulled back. Adonis’s gaze was fixed on Connor’s mouth as he did, and he licked his own lips eagerly. Adonis’s tongue dragged over his bottom lip; Connor shuddered.

Adonis nodded to Connor’s mouth, a question in his eyes.

“I just—I need to catch my breath.”

Connor panted.

Adonis grunted. A moment later, he leaned back in, parting Connor’s lips the same way Connor had his a moment ago, and thrust his tongue into his mouth. Connor groaned, dropping his hands to Adonis’s shoulders to hold on. Adonis’s hips pushed roughly against Connor, pinning him to the pillar, and he released the hand that had been supporting Connor from below. He touched Connor’s knee, encouraging him to hold him tighter. Connor just about had the presence of mind to lock his ankles around Adonis’s behind. He was more aware of the hand Adonis fisted in his hair, holding Connor still as he fucked his mouth with his tongue.

Connor moaned at the sensations zapping through his body; his cock was rock solid as Adonis pushed his trousers and boxers down. He wrapped his hand around Connor’s cock, running a loose fist over his length.

Connor jerked into Adonis’s hot touch, and his curse was reduced to a stifled groan into Adonis’s mouth.

Adonis released Connor’s cock and reached down to squeeze his balls. Connor jumped. He tried to turn his head, to curse, to breathe, but it all turned into a muffled groan. The hand locked in his hair was immovable, and Connor burned as Adonis toyed with his nut sack, stroking and giving little squeezes that had his dick twitching.

Connor grabbed himself, fisting the sensitive head of his cock desperately, pushing himself toward the end he needed. His cock started to spasm. His balls lifted tightly to his body, and Adonis gave them a final squeeze. Connor’s head filled with white noise. He moaned, hips jerking as he came.

When his body settled, Connor noticed the deep satisfaction humming from Adonis’s throat. Connor tapped his shoulder, and Adonis pulled back.

Connor panted, dragging in desperately needed deep breaths. “Fuck, Adonis,”

he said when he recovered enough that his lungs didn’t burn. “I like the making out too, but you have to let me breathe at some point.”

Adonis, the little devil, was still busy playing with Connor’s balls and didn’t seem too concerned with what he was saying.

Connor studied Adonis’s satisfied expression.

“Okay, you next,”

Connor said. He reached for Adonis, then hesitated, glancing at the dock behind him. “Is there any chance you could lie down up there?”

he asked. “Or do your gills need to be submerged?”

Adonis flicked his gaze to the dock. He let go of Connor, set his hands on the edge, and pulled himself from the water with a grunt. Connor watched the flex of the muscles in his arms, noting that he struggled with his weight. Connor shimmied his shorts back on.

“I suppose your abs get the most work while swimming.”

Adonis twisted himself around to sit on the dock edge and swished his tail in the water. He looked at Connor, pride swimming in his eyes.

“Very impressive,”

Connor said with a grin. He pulled himself up next to Adonis. “Can you lie back?”

Adonis swished his tail again. Slowly, he reclined, setting his weight onto his elbows. The wood creaked as Adonis moved, the immense weight from his tail straining the boards. Connor’s gaze went to where his elbows rested against the wood. While Connor knew logically that Adonis’s skin was undoubtedly tougher than his own, given the pressure it had to withstand in the water constantly, he didn’t know how long it would take to get sore from being set against the hardwood.

“Hang on,”

Connor shrugged off his hoodie and shuffled his way up to Adonis’s torso. Adonis gazed at him through his heavy-lidded eyes, waiting patiently. Connor tapped his elbow. “I’m going to put this under here. Can you lift up for a moment?”

Adonis did so and set his elbows down on the hoodie. His dark eyes flicked down to it, and he snorted.

“I don’t know how sensitive you are, do I?”

Adonis leaned to the side, rubbing his cheek against Connor. It melted Connor’s chest in a pleasant warmth—he really liked Adonis’s displays of affection. As Adonis leaned back, he glanced at the hoodie and snorted again. Like Connor was stupid.

Connor cast him an unimpressed look. “You know, I think I might head home after all.”

That haughty expression on Adonis’s features vanished. He reached out, grabbed Connor’s wrist and keened loudly. He buried his forehead into Connor’s hair and rubbed his nose against his neck, making desperate, loud sounds in his throat.

Connor let him squirm a few seconds before trailing his hand across Adonis’s shoulder, brushing his fingers against the bite on his nape. Adonis’s breath faltered, and his body tensed.

“I suppose I’ll forgive you this once,”

Connor said, trying not to grin. “Go on, lean back again,”

he said, gently prying Adonis off him.