by Starla Night
“Thank you, Lieutenant. Someday, I will tell your son or daughter of this conversation.”
“Daughter?” Malem snorted. “Perhaps you will. After the events of these past days, I believe almost anything.” The purple-tattooed mer shook himself from the dream, nodded to the both of them, and slipped over the side of the yacht.
“Oh my gosh, was that another one?” Elyssa ran to the railing. She searched the empty waves. Her cell phone almost slipped out of her hands. “Whoops!” She grabbed it to her chest, finished her search, and turned in disappointment. “He’s gone. All the mer are gone.”
“Not quite,” Lucy reminded her. “Torun’s not going anywhere.”
She brightened.
“Was there a reason you returned so swiftly?” Torun prodded. “Even before you saw Malem, you were running.”
“Yes!” She smacked her forehead and pushed the phone on Lucy. “I can’t believe I forgot. Mel’s on the phone with your parents!”
Chapter Thirty-Three
At the mention of her parents, Lucy went weak in Torun’s arms.
Of course, her parents would be concerned. They thought they had buried their only daughter at sea, and now she had emerged from the depths, reborn.
Torun held her until she recovered her strength and scrambled for Elyssa’s phone. Elyssa fumbled it once again. Lucy caught the device and held it to her ear. A huge smile lit her face.
“Mom? Dad? Oh, it’s both of you. Hey, I made it! … Yep, totally fine. Except there’s someone you’ll have to meet. … No, he’s going to be a much better son-in-law, Dad. I promise! … Oh my god, I was on TV? No way! What do you mean, they broadcast my Facebook?”
Lucy reassured them with laughter and giggles, in all the ways a child reassured her parents.
Elyssa stood nearby, also smiling.
“Thank you for your patience,” Torun said.
“Of course.” Her gaze dipped down his now uncovered, naked body. She quickly averted her eyes. Her cheeks reddened. “I’d be doing exactly the same.”
“Your parents are close to you.”
“Yep.”
This was, truly, his desire for his young fry. If she healed enough to have a son — or daughter, as Lucy was always careful to emphasize — he might be blessed with any miracle. How could the mer chase the old traditions once their young fry knew the love of both father and mother, and became a family united as one? That was their future.
Elyssa edged away. “Are you hungry?”
“Very hungry.” His belly grumbled and his bones ached. He was starving.
“I’ll start something.”
“Lucy likes tuna and hot chocolate.”
“I’m on it.” Elyssa departed.
Lucy finished her conversation and tripped back to him. A huge smile beamed across her face. “You have to come home with me and meet my parents.”
“I accept.” He rested Elyssa’s cell phone on a table and gathered up his queen. “Food is being prepared. How can I make you comfortable?”
“We’re alone?” She twined her fingers in his hair. Her gorgeous eyes darkened to naughty. “I feel all salty. Want to take a bath?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Come with me.”
They descended the stairs, passing palatial rooms filled with pianos and white carpets and glass sculptures. Lucy opened every door.
“That bedroom was Blake’s,” she decided, closing up the biggest suite with a shudder, and tripped over to the untouched, second-largest suite. “This will be ours.”
He liked the way she said that. Ours.
But there was still a hesitation in her voice and her manner, and in the quick look she gave to him. He tried to pull her close to reassure her that it was all over.
She avoided his gaze and tugged free. “Let me check on something.”
He stood in the center of their new room. A large bed piled high with fluffy pillows and a huge mirror reflected the nautical windows’ soft, golden lights. They would use this bed, perhaps, to rededicate their commitment. Adjoining rooms beckoned off either side; she examined these for clothing and set out thick, white robes and towels, and fuzzy slippers.
While a bath filled, Lucy opened cabinets and revealed a cold storage refrigerator. She squinted at a bottle’s label. It was called champagne.
“Hmm. Something tells me this is worth more than my last car.” She toyed with the silver foil. “I really shouldn’t.”
Any time his queen spoke with that naughty look in her eyes and glanced at him sideways, daring him to stop her, he vowed that she really should. And he would help her.
He peeled back the foil, examined the top, and discovered how to pop it open while she found glasses.
She jumped in surprise and laughed. “Whew! That’s fancy. Oooh.”
Golden liquid foamed out. She thrust glasses under the fountain.
“And look what else.” As the glasses filled more slowly, she bit into a strawberry coated in chocolate. “I found these in the freezer.”
These were cold chocolates. “Elyssa is making you a hot chocolate.”
“Yum. I could drink gallons.” She sipped her champagne. Her eyes widened and she drank deeper. “Wow. I don’t know if this is good or not, but it tastes great.”
He also enjoyed the sharp, clear bite of the sweet, fizzy liquid. “It is great.”
“We have to eat so it doesn’t go to your head.” She laughed nervously.
Hmm.
“I will do so.” He ate a small selection of the other foods she had found for him. Creamy things she called cheese spread upon crunchy crackers. “Will I need my head?”
“Yes.” She trailed her gaze down his nude body with a heat that made his cock pulse with life. “And then some.”
When she had also eaten and drunk, she led him into the calm bathroom. Soft lights reflected from the fixtures and mirrors around the vast tile. In the center of the room stood a large tub. She tested the water and turned off the tap. Bubbles floated on the surface.
He examined them curiously. Soapy bubbles tasted like a flower chemical. Vanilla, perhaps. Lilacs.
She noticed him cupping a handful. “Is this your first bubble bath?”
It was his first bath. “Yes.”
“Let me take care of you.”
He warmed to her invitation and climbed into the tub. She divested her wet T-shirt and shorts. Bending over to inspect her lingering toenail polish, she gave him a view from both the front and the reflection of the back. Mirror teased him with glimpses of pink promise. His cock pulsed again. A pleasant throb.
This was the woman he loved. His queen.
His wife.
She straightened and caught him looking. Her cheeks turned an adorable shade and her smile grew. “Enjoying the view?”
“Very much.”
She blinked. His honest answer had surprised her? Perhaps his ardor had. She was gorgeous, a goddess, radiant inside and out. He was attracted to her in every way.
“Come in the water.”
“In a moment.” She pranced around the tub, leaning closer and stepping away. Teasing him.
His cock responded. He gripped the thick shaft and stroked. It was very, very pleasant to be teased.
She made the mistake of leaning too close.
His hand leaped from the water. He caught her forearm. “Lucy. You are nervous.”
“No. Well…”
He knew it. Torun melded their lips. She gasped in surprise and melted into his embrace. Whatever her nervousness, he would reassure her with his body.
He nibbled her soft lips. Her mouth opened, hungry and hot. She tasted of the champagne and chocolate, just like their first night. She intoxicated him.
“Okay.” She licked her lips, her eyes dark with passion. “Scoot forward. I’m getting in.”
That confidence was better. He obeyed.
She sat behind him in the bath and rubbed suds across his wide pectorals, down his abdomen, along his long arms and l
egs, and across his wide back. Her breasts nestled against his back. The hard pearls of her nipples made his cock fill with heat.
“You have so many scars.”
“I trained my warriors hard.” Some were from battles or hunts.
She slid a finger over each one as though learning it. He warmed. She was accepting his body more intimately. Soon, there would be no surprises left between them. Only acceptance and love.
Lucy squeezed sweet-smelling shampoo into his thick hair. Her fingers dug into his scalp and made little shivers down his spine. His Lucy was so powerful. He had never experienced such intense sensations before. He relaxed into her ministrations.
She paused.
He roused himself. Now to wash her hair and give her this new pleasure. “Come in front of me.”
“Wait. I missed a spot.” She slid her hands down his taut abdomen and curled her fingers around the base of his shaft.
Pleasure flooded him. He sucked in a breath and hummed. “Lucy.”
Her small tongue licked his jaw, tasting his masculine sweat. “Mmm?”
He rested on the edges of the wide tub. “You have me.”
“Good.” She tightened her grip and pumped. Pleasure danced along his shaft. Completeness filled him because she was his wife, his soul mate, his love. He thrust into her hands and groaned.
She nuzzled into his neck. “Don’t let me go.”
He rolled over. The water sloshed, fresh and sudsy. He covered her. She gasped in surprise but did not resist. He stalked her mouth. “Yes.”
She tipped her head, closed her eyes, and offered her lips.
He took them. She moaned and opened herself to him. This complete trust made his chest swell. He eased his hand under the back of her head to cushion her from the hard porcelain and aligned his mouth. His tongue swept her secret depths.
She wrapped her legs around his waist.
Yes.
She sucked in a breath and released his mouth. Her dark eyes were confused. She stroked his damp forehead. “You make me feel so safe. Like I could show you any side of me because I’m fine just the way I am.”
“You are beautiful.”
Her full lips quirked to one side. “Well, maybe not the back side—”
“Every side.” He lifted her from the water and turned her to face away. “And the back.”
She straddled his thighs. “Torun!”
“Relax.” He pumped the liquid soap she had used on him, reached around, and cupped her breasts. “I am washing you.”
Her breath hissed between her teeth. Her chest pulsed with light. She arched her back, pressing her head into his shoulder. Her large globes filled his palms.
She was so beautiful. Her full form said female in every language. He spread slippery soap across her rounded abdomen and over her silken thighs. Her soft buttocks enveloped his pulsing erection. Her tapered waist temped him to pull her close. Lush breasts begged for his caress.
He brushed her sensitive pearls.
“There.” She leaned back and nipped his jaw. “That feels so good.”
“I know.” He listened to her body’s desires so he could give her the pleasure she deserved. Her curly softness enticed him. His hand moved up her inner thighs to the sweet, hot center.
She opened her legs. Trusting him to take care of her. He was worthy of her trust.
He caressed her soft, wet folds.
“Mmm.” She shifted her hips, offering herself. “More.”
He coated his fingers in her sweet wetness, existing on her moans. His pores opened as though drinking her in. He would never need any other prize. Her need filled his veins like a sweet drug.
She positioned her soft entrance against his hard tip. “Now.”
And he existed only for fulfilling her desire. He pressed upward.
She arched. Taking in his shaft, she coated his full cock like a hot, tight sheath. She breathed out and looked at him over her shoulder. She was so beautiful. Sinuous. Powerful. Woman.
He gripped her feminine hips. They fit in his palms. Just the right size.
She closed her eyes and moved.
He rocked into her. His hard shaft pushed in and out of her feminine channel in a dance as old as the ocean tides. She moaned and took him deeper. Her breasts bounced in the suds and her cheeks pinked as her arousal grew. Good. He made her feel this powerful, this trusting, this beautiful. She released all her worries for the first time and her whole body chemistry changed to pure liquid heat. Her ass slapped on his hard thighs. He gripped onto his sliding control.
She tossed her head and gasped. He would not release his seed until she had taken her full pleasure. Her channel clenched him. “Torun!” She writhed in ecstasy.
Her release whipped through him with exaltation. He lost control. His own release poured out a pulsing, hot funnel into her wet, relaxed, ready body.
She shivered with release.
He calmed. His body still throbbed, wrapped in the warmth of his one true love. He rested on his elbows, on the porcelain tub. His face and nose were below the water. He had been so distracted by their joining that he hadn’t even noticed shifting to water-breathing.
He rose and lifted his face above the water.
She brushed away bubbles on his cheeks. Her tight heat clenched his sensitive masculinity. It tickled. He twitched.
“Oops.” She struggled to free him. “Sorry.”
“It is not an injury.” He would take tickling from her any hour of the day so long as it meant they were joined in this way.
She struggled upright.
He lifted her off and rested her on his chest, nestled against him. “I am so very lucky you pulled me onto your boat.”
“I thought I was rescuing you.” She snorted at her naivete. “Rescuing a merman from drowning? That takes the cake.”
“You did rescue me.”
“What, in Sireno? That was terrifying.” She traced his tattoos, the gold swirls of his identity. “I’m glad it turned out well. It’s useful knowing I could fend off those warriors. Any mermaid can do that?”
“I believe only one who has claimed her power.”
“Maybe someday we’ll raise an army of women and save every merman who needs us. We’ll be a Mer-Human Alliance. I bet Elyssa would do us proud. Mel is happily married, so she’ll be our land support. Aya would make a fierce warrior.”
He threaded their hands. His fingers webbed, the skin reacting to the water. Hers didn’t yet, but they would, given time.
He would have her practice in the ocean far from dangerous Council, where it was safe. Where the two of them could be together.
“You also rescued me from my misconceptions, and my small-minded thoughts, and a pointless exile,” Torun said. “You have rescued me from so much. Someday, I swear I will do the same for you.”
She regarded him tenderly. A small light glowed in her chest. Clear and pure. “You already have rescued me.”
“Lucy,” he breathed. Finally, her ultimate powers emerged. “You are shining.”
She held his gaze. Simple and clear as her gentle, warm, powerful soul. Mer and human, united into one. A mermaid. His queen. Believing in him, faithful to his vow.
“Don’t worry, Torun. I’m sure we’ll rescue each other for the rest of both our lives.”
Dear reader,
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Starla
Epil
ogue (Super Sweet Bonus for Newsletter Subscribers Only!) “Lucy’s Honeymoon Surprise”
Crash!
Lucy bolted upright. The bed was empty. A body shape beside her showed where a large, sexy male had recently abandoned their warm sheets.
She swung her legs out and rested her feet on the familiar, worn slats of her bedroom floor. “Torun?”
He didn’t answer.
Ker-rash!
Did someone’s fist bash a cabinet full of glass? She pushed out of bed and hurried to the top of the steps. Below, the main floor of her parents’ house was in shadow.
She raised her voice. “Torun?”
“Stay where you are, Lucy!” His deep bass reverberated in the old, converted lighthouse. “Do not approach.”
Crash! Crash, crash!
She clutched her white cotton nightdress to her neck. “Are you sure?”
“Return to the bed this instant.”
She hesitated. He needed help.
“Now,” he demanded.
Lucy stopped at the bathroom on her way back, brushed her wild, brown hair and scrubbed her teeth of the previous night’s champagne. Crashity-crash!
Ignore the noises.
She flopped onto the old wooden frame bed and snuggled into the warm, fluffy blankets on Torun’s side, burying her nose in his pillows and luxuriating in his scent. They held his warmth in the morning sunshine.
This was how her husband smelled. Of sunshine and cinnamon. She breathed deeply.
Only a few days ago, she had introduced Torun to her parents. Neither had quite known how to feel about their new, tall, blue-tinged, covered in gold tattoos son-in-law. Her mom had started to flay Torun for disappearing with Lucy beneath the ocean for two weeks, but she kept getting interrupted by Lucy’s dad, who kept having to hide his head in his checkered flannel jacket while they all pretended he wasn’t crying.
Now, in their old family kitchen, she hoped that Torun wasn’t receiving the wooden spoon beating her mother had practically threatened.
“The women are fierce in your family,” he’d said after that first evening’s dinner, straightening under her mother’s lingering gaze.
