Page 14 of Dry as a Fish (Chaos God Sugar and Spice Companion Shorts #3)

I watched him for a moment, admiring the way the muscles on his back connected down to his hips, to his firm, muscular buttocks.

His strength was visible at every angle, in every form.

He didn't turn or look back over his shoulder.

I wanted to assume it was because he was giving me privacy to get into the water, but thinking about it, that didn't make sense.

His people were constantly going between one form and another, so they likely were more casual about nudity than I was.

How would he know that turning his back would make me feel more comfortable the first time I went skinny dipping?

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Giving you privacy," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you made a big deal about the sarongs being inappropriate clothes for your family, and then you changed into clothing that completely covered your skin when we visited your family," he said.

"That and you became uncomfortable when I watched you pull your top down and then called yourself a term that is used in a demeaning manner by your family.

I assumed that you would prefer me to look away. "

"Oh," I said, stunned by him yet again. He had observed all that, taken it in, and changed his behavior. I'd seen the fire in his eyes as I pulled down my top, and I loved it even if it triggered discomfort in me that had been simmering inside my entire life.

He was still standing with his back to me.

"Will you join me?" I asked.

He turned around, the wicked smile on his face a devilish juxtaposition from the politeness of his words. "I would love to."

He put both hands on the edge of the pool and hopped into it, pointing his toes as they entered the water, which minimized the splash.

I watched as his legs shimmered, shifting from two limbs to one, his tail fanning out at the end.

The pool was huge, and looked a lot deeper in the middle, but he settled in next to me, not touching me but stretching out his arm behind me so that a mere shift in either of our positions would bring his fingers in contact with my back.

I shifted, bridging that distance.

His fingertips brushed against my back, in the space between my shoulder blades, sending small shivers of pleasure through my back from the gentle touch. I let out a sigh, and he continued to move his fingers, deliberately stroking me in gentle motions.

"Are you..." I hesitated again. The questions I wanted to ask were so bold, but he made me feel bold. He made me feel like I could ask anything, say anything, and it would be okay. "What you did in the water... are you trying to seduce me?"

"Yes," he said, with no hesitation. "You are my heartsong song, and I will do everything in my power to entice you to sing for me.

You can stop me at any moment with a no, or a stop, or pushing me away with your hands, but if you don't give me a clear no, I will do my best to arouse you until I get a yes.

You are naked, I'm naked. We're alone, and I am extremely riled up from our swim over here.

I promise you I will take this as far as you let me.

With that in mind, do you want me to seduce you more?

Now is a great time to say no, and I can go take a cold swim and calm down. "

I bit my lip, wanting so desperately to say yes and feeling equally ashamed of that desire.

The intensity of his words was stoking the flame within me.

He was here, desperate to have me, and I.

.. loved it. This all felt so wicked, so wild, so decadent.

It felt like everything I'd never done but secretly dreamed about.

"Or," he said, continuing past my silence, his fingertips drifting up to touch the back of my neck.

"If it feels too slutty to say yes, is there something that would absolve you of that responsibility? What gives you the permission to take what you want out of a moment?"

"Marriage," I stammered out. "That is the only time... this kind of thing... is allowed."

"You're the only person who has the ability to agree to that," he said, the fingers on the back of my neck trailing back down to my upper back. "Now let me ask you - will you marry me?"

He held out a small clamshell in front of my face with his other hand, his thumb catching the edge of it as he opened it to reveal a ring.

It had a white shine to it, like it was carved out of pearl, and there was a large glittering oval diamond in the center, the size of my thumbnail.

It was surrounded by several small pink and green gems. The pearl around them was carved into small leaves.

I gasped, my hands going to my mouth. "It's been a day! I've known you for a day!"

"And you still haven't said no, which means soon I'm going to lick you until you scream and then I'm going to show you what it really means to take a swim with a merman," he said.

"Now is another good time to say no, and I will go take a cold swim, calm myself down, and start plotting how to court you for months so you say yes.

Then again, you could just say yes now, and I'll court you every day for the rest of our lives.

So, let me ask again, will you marry me? "

"I..." I stared at the ring.

He shifted closer to me, wrapping his other arm around to pluck the ring from the shell. He set the shell down on the edge of the pool, then took my hand, lifting it up as I extended my fingers. He slid the beautiful ring onto my finger.

"Say yes," he murmured. His chest pressed against my shoulder as his lips found the edge of my ear, sending shivers of anticipation through my entire body as he brushed his lips against the edge of my lobe. "Yes is such a beautiful word."

His other hand drifted down into the water, finding my knee.

His fingers lightly settled down on the inside of my inner thigh closest to my knee, the heel of his hand against my iliotibial band.

He lightly brushed upwards, the touch of his fingers against that forbidden flesh causing my mind to short-circuit.

He made it an inch upwards before stopping.

His lips brushed my ear again. "One yes, and I will show you how to connect with the universe through the explosion of your pleasure. "

"You're being very pushy," I said, still staring at the ring on my finger even as the touch of his hand on my thigh caused my inner muscles down there to clench in tight anticipation. I didn't want him to stop. I didn't know if I could say the word he wanted to hear.

"Pushy, aggressive, dominant," he agreed. "You're just a good girl being preyed upon by your wicked fiancé, who intends to fill you with his seed and keep you forever."

His hand began to move, at a slow, torturous pace, trailing up my inner thigh.

I parted my legs without thinking, his touch leaving trails of lightning in its wake until he stopped, just short of touching me down there, where I needed him the most. I arched my lower back, trying to shift my hips towards his touch, but he just chuckled and moved with me, not allowing me to press myself into his hand.

I let out a soft whine.

I needed him to touch me, to do all the things he promised to do to me, and yet I couldn't make my mouth form the word I needed for it to happen.

"Hmmmm," he murmured, pulling his face away from my ear as he looked at me.

Then, in a swift motion, he shifted, so he was no longer behind me, but in front of me, his arms on either side of me, caging me in as his tail pushed in between my knees.

His eyes were intense, and I couldn't hold his gaze, so I looked down at his chest as he continued.

"You aren't saying yes or no, are you? Well, you are responding with a yes with your body, your gasp and sighs, and parting your legs for me all scream yes.

You aren't scared of me, are you? I'm not frightening you? "

"I'm not scared of you," I murmured. I believed him when he said that one no would send him away.

The time we had spent together was short, but filled with so many details about who he was as a person.

He was so calm and non-reactive with my family, exiting a situation that promised violence without harming anyone or losing his temper.

In this moment, he had told me what he was feeling and experiencing, and repeatedly asked me to send him away if I didn't want him to behave the way he was doing.

He was true to himself, to what he wanted, and he communicated with me so directly. Why couldn't I just say what I wanted?

Why couldn't I just say that I needed him inside me to answer the song in my heart that called for him?

"What if, instead of saying no, you said something else?" he asked. "What if you said a word that was so familiar to you that you wouldn't forget, but out of place in this situation? "

"Like poppy?" I said, thinking of the way the poppies would come up in the spring, filling the fields with color.

"Just like that," he said. Then he took one of his arms from the cage around me and put it back in the water, settling it back on my thigh by my knee. He began to stroke his hand upward, causing me to clench in delicious anticipation. "Say that word."

"Poppy?" I said.

His hand stopped, and he took it out of the water. "Do you understand what happens when you say that word? I will stop."

I didn't say anything, and he reached out with his wet hand and gripped my chin, tilting my face up so I had to look at him. "Say you understand."

"If I say poppy, you will stop," I said.

"Good girl," he smiled at me, his eyes dark and predatory. He ran his thumb over my lips, and I parted them. He slid his thumb into my mouth, and I tasted salt. He let out a low chuckle. Then he pulled his thumb from my mouth and put his hand back in the water. "Now, you are alone and vulnerable."

His fingers found my thatch of hair between my legs and I let out a gasp as he stroked the outer edge of my slit with one finger.

I could feel the slippery slickness coming out of me, his finger finding the different texture as he gently stroked me there, once, twice, intently watching my face, the burning need raged through me, fed by his teasing touches.

"There is a wicked merman in the water who won't take no for an answer," he said before pushing back away from me. In moments, he was in the center of the large pool, the smile on his face positively sinful. "Better not go for a swim."

Then he sank out of sight, leaving only the slightest ripple behind.

I waited, my heart pounding, but nothing happened. There was no touch on my ankle, no movement in the water. The surface was still, and I couldn't see his form in the darkness of the bottom.

"Delphon?" I whispered.

He didn't respond.

I bit my lip and looked at my ring one more time.

This all had happened so fast and was so crazy, but so was every story about fated mates I had gotten my hands on.

I was drawn to him. I felt something that went far beyond the regular dopamine-induced love bombing that the brain inflicted on crush-struck romantics.

Even more than that, I knew Delphon was a good person, not just for how he handled the insanity of my family, but how he interacted with his.

Seeing how his family functioned put mine in stark contrast, showing me the darkness I hadn't been able to see because I didn't knowledge of any other way.

He was a good person, and he lived a good life surrounded by good people.

And I wanted to be his slut.

Decision made, I pushed off the carved bench and floated out into the water. I swam forward, to the center where the pool was too deep for me to see the bottom.

Something brushed my ankle.

I took a sudden breath, wondering if he was going to pull me under, but he didn't.

Instead, I felt lips on my calf.

He kissed his way up, my feet bumping into his shoulders, then sliding over the edge to trail down his back as he found his way to my inner thighs, his kisses a trail of heat until his lips were brushing against my mound.

I put my hands under the water, my fingers lacing through his hair.

I didn't have to tread water or move my arms to keep my head up; he was supporting me from down below in the buoyant water.

He pressed his face into me, his tongue slipping in between my folds, stroking me in a way that no one had ever done before.

I let out a cry, the sound of my pleasure echoing around the room as my nails dug into his scalp.

He licked me like I was a popsicle and he had been in the desert for too long, baking in the heat.

His hands gripped my butt, kneading it, touching me.

He stroked me, circled me, caressed me, devoured me, and I rocked against him with wanton abandon, completely overcome with the overpowering sensation of being tasted.

It was exquisite, and as he brought me closer to each peak, he would back away, just enough so that I didn't crash, until I couldn't take it anymore and my thighs clamped around his head as I rode his face to an earth-shattering peak.

He gave me a few more gentle licks as I lay back, my heart open to the crystal-studded ceiling as I floated in the water, blissful and filled with peace.

He came up to the surface and lay out in the water, floating next to me.

"Oh..." I said after a long, languid moment. "Were we going to...?"

"Let's save that for when you're ready to say yes," he murmured.

I turned to look at him, and he smiled at me, his face soft and satisfied.

I reached out and wrapped my arms around his neck, drawing him to me as I kissed him.

He kissed me back, gently, slowly, with the touch of a lover who intended to stay the course.