She nodded brightly. “Yes, we do something similar. We are given a name, but are also called by our mother’s name. I am Aliya of Coraline of Nelana.”
“Nelana is where you’re from? Is it far away, in the ocean?”
She shook her head with a giggle. “No, I’m not an ocean mermaid. They’re quite different from us, I’ve heard. Bigger, wilder, less concerned about humans.”
“Oh,” he said. “So Nelana is here, in the lake?”
“No. Nelana was my grandmother, my mother’s mother. But she has gone on now.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that she’s gone. So you’re named after your mother and your grandmother?”
“And the mothers before them. We are careful to keep the memories of our ancestors alive through the generations. If I may boast, my sisters and I are honored to be from a very distinguished line of lake mermaids. My grandmother is just one of several grandmaids in my lineage.”
“Grandmaids?”
She looked down at her plate and blushed. “Women who have been privileged to birth more than one hundred mermaids.”
He choked on his coffee. “One hundred! Holy shi…I mean, that’s quite a privilege.”
“A mermaid has to earn the right of motherhood,” she explained, noticeably shy. “It is not granted frivolously.”
“That’s very intelligent,” he said, hoping it sounded, well, intelligent. “Still, one hundred little mermaids swimming around…”
“It is spread out over years and years. We live a bit longer than you, and of course, not everyone births so many. Things like that are carefully managed. The whole community participates in the decision to produce a new life. I take it things do not work that way in your world.”
“No, not so much. For us, each person makes his own decision whether to become a parent. At least, usually that’s the way it goes.”
“Are you a parent, Devin?”
“No. I am not.”
“So you decided not to have children?” she asked.
It didn’t sound like she was making any judgments about that, but just curious. He hoped so. If parenting was such an honor in her world she might have a hard time understanding how he and Judith could have put it off and put it off, thinking they had all the time in the world to get around to having kids.
They didn’t.
“We decided to wait a while for that,” he said.
“Oh,” she said.
She didn’t sound like she understood that answer any more than he understood that business about her grandmother having a hundred kids. Wow, there were a lot of things they were going to have to get used to about each other. Thanksgiving dinner with all of Aliya’s relatives would be hell!
Then again, he figured they probably didn’t have to worry about that. If she stayed with him as she promised, there would likely be no family get-togethers for Aliya anymore. Had she thought it all through? Could he let her give at all up?
“You must have a lot of people wondering where you are right now,” he said, then wished he hadn’t. He really, really didn’t want to think of those cousins and siblings and relatives, those hundreds of reasons for her to leave him.
“They would not notice my absence for another few days,” she said softly, “at the In-Swim. I’m not due to check in until then.”
“But don’t you call your mother every now and then, or something?”
She laughed again. “In times of need we are aware of each other, but it is not a consistent link. She will think nothing of it if she does not sense me for a few days. She knows my duty is to the Veil. It gives her honor when I uphold my responsibilities properly.”
“And you’re not worried what we are doing now might conflict with that?”
“Oh, it does indeed! That’s why…why I will be careful not to let anyone know.”
He could have sworn she’d been about to say something other than that, but she did not elaborate. Did he want to pry into her life? Yes, he did, but of course he wouldn’t. He just had to trust that she would share with him when she was comfortable. Still, a few more casual questions couldn’t really be prying, right?
“What about your sisters? You said you’ve got sisters so I figure you must be pretty close.”
“Yes, many of us get together frequently.”
“Many of you? Jeez, how many are there?”
“Only twenty-four, and a few of them have gone on to posts in other areas. My mother has been very devoted to her work, but she has not been honored as frequently as my grandmother was at her age. We are still very proud of her, though.”
“I’m sure you are! Heck, my mother barely kept her sanity raising two of us. I can’t imagine twenty-four. What does your father think of it all?”
Now she really looked confused.
“You know, your father? Your mother’s husband, or whatever you call that arrangement down there?”
She looked up at him, puzzled. “But, you know I’m a mermaid.”
“I’m not likely to forget that!” He chuckled. “But you’ve got to have a father somewhere, right? Can’t have mermaids without mer-daddies.”
“Mer-daddies?” This made her giggle. It was a charming sound, but he didn’t quite like the feeling that he’d said something stupid.
“There are no mer-daddies,” she assured him. “We are all female, of course.”
All female? Well, that was interesting. How on earth, then, were they popping out little baby mermaids? No wonder the whole sex thing was such a new experience for Aliya!
But all female…well, that gave him something to think about. Images of wet, sleek mermaid bodies like Aliya’s all heated up and writhing around one another flooded his mind. Man, baby-making in Aliya’s world seemed pretty damned appealing. They ought to charge admission for something like that.
Then again, he was probably being a pig. Whatever these gals did with each other to spawn little mer-minnows was obviously special to Aliya. He was pretty sure it was out of line to be getting hot thinking about it like this.
But, damn, what he wouldn’t give to be scuba diving that day!
“Devin?” Aliya was saying.
He pulled his mind out of the gutter and smiled innocently. “Yeah?”
“Did you say something?”
He hoped not, since it probably wouldn’t have been exactly G-rated.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Oh.” She frowned, and chewed her lip. “I thought I heard…something.”
Shit. He’d forgotten she was some kind of telepathic.
“Well, maybe I did. I don’t know. I was just…well, I was trying to figure out how a bunch of females manage to keep on reproducing. Up here pretty much every species needs a pair. Male and female, you know.”
“Oh. Yes, that would make sense. You are a natural species, after all.”
“Natural species?”
“You—humans, that is—occur by nature. Like the fish, and the birds. Of course you will have a male and a female. I keep forgetting we are so very different.”
“So how do you…um, I mean…well, how do you make more mermaids, then?”
“It’s obvious, of course. We are half fish.”
“Fish?”
Oh God, they did it with fish! Okay, that image wasn’t quite as nice as the one before. He wasn’t so sure he liked the idea of Aliya slithering around with a horny hammerhead. Fortunately, it appeared she was happy to give him something of an explanation.
“When a mermaid has reached full maturity and earned the honor, we have a ceremony. The Life Fish is sacrificed and the eggs are taken. The mermaid makes herself willing, and the eggs are placed in her hollow where they are incubated until birth, some months later. And then, if the mermaid survives, her essence combines with the eggs and she becomes a mother.”
“If she survives! Good God, how dangerous is this?”
“There are always risks. My mother’s sister died three seasons ago after her first Life Ceremony. But obviously
many of us survive.”
“Please tell me you haven’t done this.”
He knew he should be happy for any special honor she’d been given, but to be inseminated by fish eggs and risk death! He would never wish that on his Aliya.
“I have not been granted that honor,” she said, with more blushing. “My body has not been ceremonially altered to accommodate the incubation process. That’s why you found me unable to satisfy your needs when we attempted to couple underwater two nights ago.”
“Well, I’m relieved to hear that. And, as I recall,” he added with a grin, “you managed to satisfy my needs pretty darn well that night.”
“As you have done for me many times since.”
“We’re damn good together, aren’t we?” he said.
And he was determined there had to be a way they could keep on being good together. He’d make her so happy, she’d never miss that life she’d left behind. Whatever it took, he’d do it for her.
It looked like he’d have to start cooking differently, that was for sure. She’d barely touched her eggs. Damn. He was fresh out of snails and algae for her.
She noticed him frowning at her still-full plate.
“I’m sorry, Devin,” she said. “I just am not hungry. Really, I don’t think this new body needs to eat much.”
“Well, when we get back to shore I’ll take you shopping and we’ll find something you’ll like better.”
She was studying her eggs again. “Shopping? Is that something you do on the dry?”
“It is. There are stores…buildings with all sorts of things to buy. We’ll hit a grocery first thing and you can go crazy in the seafood section.”
“Will there be many humans there?”
It was impossible not to notice how her voice broke.
“We won’t do anything you don’t want to do,” he said gently. “If you’re not ready to go back, we won’t go. I can call the office and work from here for a few days. I won’t take you away from here until you’re ready, I promise.”
She smiled and it nearly blinded him. How had he lived without her all this time?
“Thank you, Devin. I will go with you whenever you want to go. Just teach me what to do.”
“Teach you, huh?” he said. “Yeah, there’s a lot I’d like to teach you.”
“I can’t wait! Tell me everything I need to know to be the perfect human for you.”
He laughed and stood up. “You’re already that, Aliya. All you need to learn is the details.”
She stood with him, matching his movements as he gathered the breakfast dishes and began moving them to the sink. “Details? What details are those?”
“Well, first off, you need to learn proper after-breakfast protocol.”
“That sounds complicated!”
“Not at all. You just sit back and relax while I wash the dishes.”
He took a cup and two spoons out of her hands and pointed her back to her chair. She laughed and simply reached for the plate he’d put the toast on and a stray fork. She carried them to the sink.
“Hey, you’re breaking the rules!” he said, emptying her hands again. “Everyone knows after a night of incredible lovemaking, the man has to clean the kitchen when breakfast is done.”
“It seems the men in your world are very misused,” she said. “You wear yourselves out giving incredible pleasure in bed, then your women force you to work in the food preparation areas.”
She was a treasure. Damn, he almost hated to take her back to his world. Humans were unworthy of Aliya.
“Couples who care about each other take turns,” he said. The dishes began disappearing under warm water and soap bubbles in the sink. “Sometimes you let me take care of you, and sometimes you get to take care of me. Today, I take care of you.”
She smiled at him, then her attention was caught by the foaming soap. “What is that? How do you make the water fill with air that way?”
He let her come up beside him and explained about soap and how it formed bubbles in running water. She was fascinated, tentatively reaching to touch the bubbles, then studying a glob of them carefully in her hand. He stood close, just watching her and enjoying the view.
She was unversed in such complicated things as buttons, so the shirt he’d loaned her was gaping at all the strategic places. As she studied how the light bounced off the soap bubbles, and how they sparkled and popped in her hands, he studied how her nipples were taut against the fabric of his shirt and it gathered at the small of her back where her wonderfully rounded bottom teased as she shifted and leaned over the sink.
He moved closer to her, feeling the wonderful warmth of her skin against his. She backed up to lean against him, holding the bubbles up to the sunlight filtering in through the galley window. She smelled good—warm woman, hot sex, and lemon dish soap. His groin hardened against her.
She felt him and made a breathy moan, moving slightly so his cock was pressing into her from behind. His reaction was overpowering. He wanted her every bit as badly as if he’d never had her. A growl escaped him as he reached around and slipped his hands inside her shirt. He found her nipples tight. She let out a sigh as he cupped her breasts and rolled those nipples between his finger and thumb.
She rested more of her weight against him, rising to her tiptoes and allowing his rigid cock to slide into the juncture between her legs. He thought he might come right then, but somehow managed to control himself. He needed to slow down. It wasn’t fair to ambush her like this. Heck, she was probably more interested in the soap bubbles right now than boffing in the galley.
Then again, she was making those sweet little mermaid sounds and arching back into him. Yeah, she wasn’t altogether indifferent to him, that was for sure. She moved even closer to him and leaned her elbows down on the sink.
Wow, her bottom was presented to him in a most delightful way! He ground against her, careful to go slow. She was hot and ready for him, he was glad to find. He could barely reach the swollen moistness, that delicate hot flesh he couldn’t seem to get enough of, but he could reach enough to give her pleasure.
Reacting to his fervent probing, she bent farther to enhance his access. He took advantage and thrust himself into her. Oh, she was wonderful. Her hands grasped the windowsill above the sink and her nipples, still under his control, dipped into the foaming dish water. She moaned.
Letting the bubbles embrace her breasts, he slid his hands along her sides and down to her hips. He pushed the shirt up and watched their coupling in awe. He was far into her now, her round backside pressed up against him and sending flashes of heat and thrill through his whole body. She rocked with him, and he caressed her skin.
So soft, so yielding. She seemed in tune with his every move. She would let him do anything he wanted. And what he wanted, more than ever, was always.
“You’re so wet,” he breathed, pushing his way even farther inside her.
“Of course,” she said, her voice as husky as his. “I’m a mermaid.”
He laughed.
“And,” she added, “you’re really, really good.”
He groaned. One hand skimmed around to touch her mound, applying gentle pressure just above where he was joining with her. His other hand went back to minister to her breast. The sink began to spill over, but neither of them cared.
He was thrusting against her with more force now, and she was making sounds of pleasure and encouragement. He held her to him for support and her knuckles whitened where she gripped the sill. Bubbles clung to her arms and where the shirt was wet it became transparent. He couldn’t take his eyes off her; the shape of her body where her waist tapered and flared out at her hips, the texture of her silky, fresh skin on her lovely buttocks, the sight of his cock disappearing into her.
He rocked again and groaned as she shuddered and tensed around him. They came together, as he knew they would. It was always perfect with Aliya.
Perfect, except…there was something she wasn’t telling him. He could feel it. Eve
n as they stood together, her body still spasming around him and his knees barely stable enough to hold him up, he knew something was there between them. And it was bigger than either of them.
Damn, he couldn’t lose her. Not now. Not ever!
“Mine,” he whispered in her ear. “You’re mine, and I love you.”
“Devin,” she murmured, letting him break their union and turn her to face him.
He kissed her and she melted into him. Maybe if they spent the rest of their lives together this way, joined in some physical fashion, they could hide from whatever unspoken force it was that appeared to be trying to separate them. Hell, it was worth a try.
He shut off the kitchen faucet, scooped her into his arms, and headed back to the bedroom.
Chapter Fifteen
Aliya rolled onto her side and watched the clouds drifting by outside the window. The sun was high in the middle of the sky now. Her stomach was beginning to ask for lunch. Yes, she supposed she should be hungry, after all the exertion of the last three hours.
Devin was like a starved man with a feast. He must know that their time together was nearly over. That fact hovered over them like a dark cloud. In just a matter of hours Raea would return and change her back to her true form. She would be a creature of the deep again, and Devin would go back to the dry. He would be over this obsession. He would forget her.
The clouds outside became blurry as tears welled in Aliya’s eyes. Funny, she’d never had need of tears before. Odd that it would take living in the dry to make water collect in her eyes. But what she felt inside was even worse.
How could she live without Devin? How could she go back to any life she’d previously known? She couldn’t. That life was past; Devin was her future now.
Something made her startle. What was that? A voice? No, Devin was still sleeping soundly and there was no one nearby. But it seemed like…
Silently she slipped from the bed and padded out to the galley. There was still a puddle on the floor where the sink had run over, but other than that things were just as they should be. She could hear nothing outside but the gentle sounds of water and an occasional bird in the distance. Still, she could not discount the feeling they were not alone.
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