Page 19 of Tentacles for Christmas

Rowen suppressed a chuckle before nodding, “Of course.”

“Not your place,” I added, not sure how I felt about being in his house after what I saw.

“The shop?” Rowen suggested and I nodded. “All right.”

Following him to the side door, I hoped he had a heater inside, and that he would explain what I saw.

Chapter twelve

Rowen

Findingoutthefirstperson I’ve ever wanted to be intimate with—hell, the first person I wanted to even date—had seen my tentacles, was scary as fuck. I wasn’tcertainCam had seen me coming, but the well-timed gasp and running away said otherwise.

After leading Cam into my shop, I sat him down in the same chair my father had sat in to tell me he was worried about me. Maybe he should have been more worried about someone catching me with tentacles out rather than my dating life.

Turning on the rarely-used space heater, since my shifter body didn’t mind the cold like humans’ did, I rummaged in the bin I had for rags to be washed. “Ah-ha,” I whispered to myself when I found a grey jumpsuit, hopping into it and zipping it all the way up.

Cam was staring at the large fishing boat I had lifted to work on, the engine parts scattered around, waiting to be reassembled. Cam had calmed down some, their heart rate only slightly elevated instead of the rapid beat it had when I’d caught up to them running away. With the strong smell of the lake water and motor oil, I couldn’t discern their mood as well as I might.

While Cam had told me to put clothes on, I hadn’t missed their hungry perusal of my exposed skin. Had they looked at my tentacles the same way? Judging by them running away, I doubted it. Had I screwed up my chance with Cam?

Leaning on the boat, I decided Cam likely wanted some space between us. They were staring at my bare feet, and I felt weird looking at Cam’s face, so I looked out of the single window, realizing I hadn’t put my glasses on. I couldn’t see the full range of colors without them, despite my heightened senses.

“So?” Cam prompted, waiting for me to meet their eyes again before they went on. “What did you want to talk about?”

“First, I like you,” I started, remembering an article I’d read about starting with the positive when you have something hard to discuss.

“Okay. Good.” Cam nodded before taking a deep breath. They sighed and uncrossed their arms. Nibbling their lower lip, Cam added, “I like you too.”

“Good. That’s…Great.” Fuck I was awkward. Swallowing hard, I went on. “I’ve never been intimate with anyone.”

Cam was silent for a moment. “Was that your first kiss last night?”

“Yeah.” I rubbed at my beard before reaching up to undo my tangled hair. When I was putting it back up into a messy bun, I noticed Cam watching my hands move.Don’t get distracted. “There’s a few reasons I’ve never been with anyone, and I think you saw one this morning.”

Cam gulped audibly and I watched their Adam's apple working. Finally, they nodded, back to looking at my feet. “I think so.”

Well, that answered my question. Cam saw my tentacles. Six of them, including my breeding tentacle. Cam watched me cum whilecalling out their name. Guess I had to bite the bullet. It was time to start sharing if I didn’t want to lose my chance.

“Do you want to know more? About what you saw?”

“I don’t know–” Cam stopped, shook their head, ran their fingers through their blonde curls, and looked at me again. “I don’t think I’m ready to hear more right now. Is that okay?”

“Yes. Of course,” I rushed to reply, not wanting to scare Cam off of knowing more about me. “Take as much time as you need.”

“But…if you were going to tell me—show me—more…” Cam’s words kept petting off as I waited patiently. “How would you show me?”

“Oh! Well, I go for a swim every night…”

“Ha, no wonder I’ve never seen you out swimming,” Cam laughed without humor. “I usually go for a swim every morning.”

“That’s not the only reason you wouldn’t have seen me,” I told them, hoping the little bit of information wasn’t more than they could handle. “But maybe…you could join me for a swim?”

“Maybe,” Cam conceded, and I did a mental fist bump. “What time?”

“Usually right after the sun is fully set. At full dark.”

Cam stood and adjusted their scarf, “Alright, I’ll think about it.”