by S. K Munt
‘Feeling about her?’ Lux giggled, slinging her purse onto the table by the spa.‘As a former writer, I take offense to such bad grammar.’
‘You wrote about sex. I doubt the correct use of words played that big a role in your craft.’ He pointed out, watching her kick up her calf and wrestle off a leather sandal. The outdoor lights were off, and despite his drunken haze, his lingering lifeguard instincts penetrated his consciousness enough to sound an alarm. ‘Hey...you can’t go in Lux. You’re hammered.’
‘That’s why I need to go in.’ Lux tossed the shoe, then lifted the other foot, smiling at him over her shoulder. ‘Don’t be such a party pooper. You’re supposed to be wild now, Grey, not a school marm.’ She tossed that shoe, and reached for the knot in her sarong, at the back of her neck. ‘In fact, you should join me for a dip. The water looks warm.’
Lincoln didn’t know why, but her suggestion appealed to him. He wanted to duck under the surface and clear his head. ‘You can see the water?’ He asked, stepping out of his shoes and feeling the foot swell achingly as it was released from the constrictive leather. ‘You can see the warmth in the water?’
Lux giggled. ‘No. But if it’s cold, it’s probably for the best.’
‘You might be-’ Lincoln’s voice died in his throat at the sight of Lux’s sarong falling down her body, leaving her back and rump bare to his gaze. He stood, transfixed, realizing he’d never seen a larger woman naked before, and shocked at how lovely she was. Her legs were long, and though her proportions were wide, her waist scooped in like Ivyanne’s did, forcing the eye to skim around the curves.
A beat after he realized how nice the view was, he realized how bad it was that he was seeing it. His head hurt straight away, and his grip on his second shoe slipped, causing him to stumble.
‘Hey!’ He caught himself on the curved, stainless steel handrail leading into the spa. ‘Lux...I cant get in the spa with you naked.’
She turned, and her breasts caught his eye and made him swallow. They were huge, nothing like any he’d ever come close to before, and yet their shape and lift seemed to defy their own proportions. She smiled at him as she inched one leg into the spa. ‘You’re either in the community Link, or you’re not.’
‘Um, I’m not.’ A female voice stuttered. ‘And if you guys are in here to screw, I’m not going to be in the spa, either.’
Lincoln’s eyes closed as he recognised Sherri’s voice. ‘Oh...this is so unprofessional…’
Lux laughed. ‘Oh Link drop the woeful thing, okay? Hey Sherri...I recognize you.’
‘You saw me five minutes ago.’ Sherri smirked. ‘Sorry for the interruption, boss. There just aren’t many pools where I come from and I figured a night swim would be okay, so long as no one saw me….’
Lincoln opened his eyes and peered into the spa, relieved to see that Sherri appeared to be wearing a hot pink bikini under the surface.
‘It’s fine,’ he said. ‘You earned it tonight. Just like I earned a dousing.’ He tore his shirt off over his head, deciding that the damage was done. He’d seen Lux’s rack, and he couldn’t palm her off onto the poor new girl and excuse himself. If Ivyanne heard about this, she’d be pissed-but she was going to be pissed anyway, so what was the point of damage control? He reached for his fly and unzipped it, stepping out of his pants and dragging the other shoe off with them. ‘And don’t worry, I’m keeping my boxers on.’
‘I wasn’t worried.’ Lux joked, settling against the wall of the spa, a few feet from Sherri. ‘Not a lick.’
Sherri snorted. ‘If I wasn’t so embarrassed right now, I’d laugh.’ She glanced at him. ‘But I can’t say I was concerned for my eyes or anything either.’
Lincoln’s face grew hotter as the flattery met the alcohol in his system and they fed off each other. He eased down on the pebble-edged side of the spa, and put his feet in, lifting his face to the scuttling palm fronds above and almost growling as the water eased the throbbing in his feet instantly.
‘You two, behave.’ He cautioned them. ‘I’m already in deep trouble with the chick. I don’t want it getting back to her that I had a midnight swim with two beautiful blondes who stroked my hammered ego.’
‘It won’t.’ Lux said softly. ‘You need to kick up your heels, Link, and I’m not going to make this any harder for you. So as far as Ivyanne knows-we went straight to bed. Separately.’
‘Agreed.’ Sherri said. ‘That girl is tightly wound, but I can see you’re completely gone on her. I mean, she’s stunning. So is the guy who came in after her! I mean, wow. I totally get why you’re freaked out by the competition-even if you do have that dark prince thing going on.’
Lincoln snapped out of his drunken stupor. ‘What?’ He sat erect. ‘Someone came after her?’
Sherri’s face was slightly concealed by darkness, but he saw the whites of her eyes clearly enough. ‘Um...yeah? The blonde, curly haired guy? Right as she left, he came to the door, saw her, called out, but she didn’t hear him. So he went around the bar, towards the beach. I gathered he was going to cut her off.’
‘Ugh!’ Lincoln dropped his head into his hands, but he was so drunk that the force almost caused his elbows to slide off his knees and into the water. Tristan had come back! He’d been right there, and Link had been too Ivyanne-focused to even see him! ‘Son of a-’
‘Ssh!’ There was a tug on his foot and the sound of water lapping against Lux’s body. ‘Link...chill. You’ve got too much booze in your system to get worked up over something that happened hours ago.’
‘Too much?’ Sherri repeated. ‘He had like, three.’
‘Well, he’s sleep deprived.’ Lux fibbed. ‘And I didn’t see him eat all day.’
‘Oh. I was going to say….lightweight, for a bartender!’
Lincoln shook his head, barely hearing them. He didn’t care if he let something mer slip out in front of a human. At that moment, he just wanted to die. Where was Tristan now? Were he and Ivyanne still together? Why had he returned? Had she known? Angry tears sprung to his eyes.
‘This is hopeless..’ He swept the tears back into his hair, lifting his head so he could inhale a calming breath through his nose. His lung swelled up with chlorine, honeysuckle, and a hint of fertilizer, but not relief. ‘He’s going to win. He’s just got too much going for him...least of all, the ability to fund three flights in one bloody day!’
‘Hey..’ Lux’s Scottish accent made the soothing whisper more comforting than it might have normally been. Her hand slid up his leg grasping his knee. ‘You’ve got plenty going for you, Lincoln Grey. You just need to believe in yourself.’
‘How can I do that, when Ivyanne’s love for me is the only thing I’ve ever completely believed in?’ He shook his head, staring into the water behind Lux so he wouldn’t glimpse more than he already had. ‘I can act as confident as I want, but it’s still just an act. At the end of the day...I’m just too damn insecure to do what I need to-grab her by the hair and drag her back to my damn cave.’ Bitterness coated his tongue. ‘Like he did.’
‘You want some self-esteem?’ Lux’s fingertips curled, tickling the inside of his kneecap. ‘How about the fact that you have two scantily clad girls in a spa with you, who are silently praying that you let them make you feel better?’
Lincoln stared at her, flabbergasted. Those beautiful eyes returned his gaze soberly, full of blatant desire. He looked to Sherri to break her hold.
‘Sorry Sherri,’ he said apologetically. ‘She’s drunk. I know she’s speaking on her own little horny behalf and nothing is going to come of it, so don’t worry.’
‘I wasn’t.’ Sherri smiled, sliding out from under the shadow of the cluster of trees behind her and bringing her hand down on the button to activate the spa bubbles. The motor in the garden whirred awake, and the jets began to hiss and spit near his calves. ‘I’m quite comfortable...right here.’
‘Girls…be serious.’ Lincoln squeezed his eyes shut as though he could activate the logical part
of his brain by doing so. But with his eyes closed, his other senses began to compete for supremacy-the sensation of a warm, wet hand sliding up his thigh coming out on top. ‘You’re messing with me, yeah?’
‘Do you hear me laughing?’ Lux’s fingertips slipped under the hem of his shorts, and his manhood twitched in reflex to their proximity. ‘I mean, I can’t speak for Sherri, but this doesn’t have to be a big deal, or even something that’s spoken about. It’ll just be cathartic, for both of us.’
‘No it won’t,’ Link whispered, bringing his hand down on hers, halting her progression. Her fingertips pressed down on the head of his growing erection, and he quivered, pushing her hand back.
God he needed to be touched. But it was the wrong hand doing the touching! The wrong mouth saying all the right things. He opened his eyes, and stared into Lux’s, trying to look more convincing than he felt. ‘I’ll feel worse for it tomorrow. And if I’m worth what you say I am, I ought to.’
Lux rose, resting her hands on his knees, spreading them apart to slip between. Wet, naked, glowing despite the lack of light with the water frothing behind her, Lux was magnificent.
‘Why? You’re not with her, and she might be with him right now, doing worse.’ She took his jaw in her hands and lowered her voice to an intimate whisper, too low for Sherri to decipher over the bubbling jets. ‘Our species exist to do this. If Ivyanne begrudges you a little relief, relief she won’t provide, then why would you want to be with her anyway? Aren’t you sick of being tortured?’ She spoke with quiet earnestness. ‘Because I’ve been where you are Link-I remember. And you need this if you’re going to survive the next few weeks.’
‘Don’t,’ Lincoln said, but lips touched his seconds later. Alarmed, he tried to pull back, but she held him firmly, and slid the tip of her tongue against his upper lip, parting his mouth. She tasted like lemon and salt.
‘Tell me you don’t need it. The human girl wants you too, Link. You could do us both, right now. Don’t you want to?’
Lincoln did. Not because of their bodies or their looks, but because he needed their need for him and the calm that would follow climax. He wanted to keep his eyes shut and pretend they were Ivyanne’s hands on him.
But they weren’t. He opened his eyes and his mouth at the same moment to rebuff her in a way she’d actually heed, but before he could speak, he caught Sherri watching him with wide grey eyes, and he was distracted by how inappropriate it all was. He should never have taken his shoes off. He shouldn’t have drunk at all and he definitely shouldn’t have used the new girl as a means to entice Ivyanne’s jealousy! Remi was right-he was acting like a fool, not a man, and if word spread-which it always did-he’d become the guy some idly accused him of already being-the lecherous boss, not fit to be anyone’s king, let alone to someone as lovely as Ivyanne.
Lux pounced, taking advantage of his momentary stupor, but before he could actually tell her off for it-a gasp of disbelief made him turn his head towards the bar.
Of all the people he’d expected to see standing there, Pintang was not one of them. But she was as real as his ridiculous predicament, and her blazing blue eyes were full of bewilderment.
‘Lux?!’ The name was expelled like a curse. ‘Oh my god...and Link?! If Ardhi-’ She shook her head, taking a step back. ‘I don’t freaking believe this! Where is Ivyanne?’
Lincoln rose swiftly, his movement knocking Lux back. ‘Pintang! Hey! Oh my god, please-this is not, I mean, I wasn’t going to kiss her back-’
‘If it’s not what it looks like, it can only be worse.’ Pintang glanced at the new girl, and her brow furrowed. ‘Who in god’s name are you?’
‘I’m leaving, that’s who.’ Sherri got to her feet, water spilling off her. ‘Good night Link and uh...good luck.’
‘Good. Scram.’
Lincoln’s mouth fell open, watching Sherri scamper away, humiliation contorting her features. So much for not scaring off the best bartender he’d ever had!
‘Pintang!’ Lux stroked backwards. ‘Calm down. You don’t know the half of what’s going on around here-’
‘I know that if Ardhi saw this, he’d flip!’
‘Would he?’ Lux challenged. ‘Are you certain about that? As far as I can tell, no one had a good grasp on what he was going through in the end-not even enough to pick up on the suicidal vibe. And as his sister-’
‘Shut it!’ Pintang looked furious, and tears came to her eyes. ‘I picked up on it all, Lux. But there’s a difference between a runaway train, and a derailment you know! And I was powerless to prevent either!’ Pintang turned back to Lincoln. ‘Have you lost your mind? Of all the ungrateful-’ She shook her head, backing off. ‘Actually, don’t explain. I don’t want to hear it. I came back for...not for this kind of crap. Good night.’ She shot Lux one final, baleful glare. ‘And by that I mean go to bed. Alone.’
Both Pintang and Lux were long gone by the time Lincoln snapped out of his frozen panic.
⁓
It seemed to Tristan like a millennia had passed before Ivyanne spoke again. She turned away from the ocean and glowered at him, crossing her arms across her chest, looking like a goddess against the inky black night.
‘I don’t want to get on a plane, and even if I did, I couldn’t just ditch Lincoln like that. It would be heartless. So what else can I give you that will make this trip a non-issue?’
‘Aside from the obvious?’ Tristan asked. ‘I want to know that my odds of winning here are the same regardless of whether you’re carrying my child. I want to know that you’re not saying no to this trip because you can stand to be away from me easier than you can stand being away from him.’ He could tell Ivyanne was about to say something but he held his hand up. ‘The scales are so in his favor that it’s almost comical. For one, he gets to see you every single day and secondly, you’re giving him an equal chance regardless of the fact that you’d already promised your future to me! And to make it sting just that little bit more, I had to get you pregnant to be considered at all!’
‘Not true!’ she said. ‘That day on the beach, before we made love, I told you that I was falling for you.’
‘Because I was the least horrid option available then! Face it Ivyanne, if Ardhi had turned Lincoln that morning-you probably would have forgotten my name by now!’
Ivyanne opened her mouth, then shut it. Her face was still wet with tears, and she swiped them away, even as fresh ones began to pool in her eyes.
The angst in her expression did it for Tristan. Feeling like everything inside him died from that one look, he got to his feet, as words he loathed to say spilled from his lips.
‘Fine,’ he nodded, backing away from her. ‘That’s the answer I needed, I guess. The final one.’
‘What?’ Ivyanne got to her feet. ‘Wait Tristan I didn’t say anything!’
‘You didn’t have to-I know you well now Ivyanne-words always come to you when they’re from your heart,’ the fact stung him with its accuracy. ‘It’s when you have to make something up to please someone else, that you get tongue-tied. Well, I won’t be the guy who renders you speechless anymore.’
‘Tristan don’t say that!’ She flung herself at him, pressing her face into his chest, trying to slip her arms under his, but he was immovable. He stood there, turning to stone to ward off the ecstasy her touch promised yet never seemed to deliver. ‘I’m just having a rough day is all!’
‘Maybe. But if you loved me, I’d be the one to make it better for you, not worse,’ he held out his hands helplessly. ‘I offered you an escape but you don’t want it. Not with me.’ His vision began to blur. ‘Forget your promise, okay? I’m releasing you from it. And the damn IOU.’
‘No!’ Ivyanne dug her fingers into his flesh.‘I just need time. I don’t want to be released!’
‘Yes you do,’ Tristan said quietly, keeping his eyes on the stars above her head so he didn’t have to look into her pleading face. ‘You just don’t want me to feel bad that I’m making your life that mu
ch easier by walking out of it. I’m sorry that you feel so responsible for me.’
Ivyanne began to rain little punches on his chest. ‘Don’t apologize for this!’ She cried. ‘I won’t! And what if I have your child, huh? What then?’
‘We won’t have been the first mer parents to create life and live separately from one another, would we? Breeding is our objective, not love, I know you’ve told yourself that a million times lately. So you’ll be fine.’ He couldn’t look at her in case he actually fooled himself into thinking that her shock was actual heartbreak instead of lack of control. ‘What won’t be fine, is me robbing you of your right to do what you want. Or you settling for me out of duty, or because the sex was good. The truth is in your dreams-and in them, you kiss him. In reality, you use my body to soothe the need you have for his mouth, because I happen to make quick work of it.’ He shook his head again. ‘I deserve better than that. I deserve to be kissed by a woman who never wants to stop-I think I deserve better than you.’
‘You probably do!’ Ivyanne wept, clinging to him. ‘I’m sorry I’m so confused but Tristan I need you! You can’t give up on me-you know that I love you!’
Tristan took her by the arms, forcing her to look into his eyes. ‘Well your love hurts me,’ he said honestly, tears running down his own face. ‘I won’t spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder for him-and you can’t promise me that won’t happen even if you marry me.’ Feeling physical pain in doing so, Tristan took her tiny hands and forcibly removed them. ‘Tell your mother I sent my regards, but I have to leave. I’ll come back for the boat in a few weeks when I get a chance to.’
The color drained from Ivyanne’s face. ‘Please, please Tristan don’t do this....’ her wet eyes were so round he could have fallen into them. ‘If you love me, you can’t do this!’
Tristan’s heart broke for her. Ivyanne was definitely a mess now, and it tore him apart to see that he really was causing her anguish. But she didn’t have the faintest idea of the agony he was in. And if she did, she’d never be able to heal it without making sure she soothed Lincoln for her attentions to his rival afterwards. It was a vicious cycle, and one he had to end.
