“You used to be a mermaid?” he asked, understanding her bitterness now.
“I did. But I was stupid and left.”
“What happened?”
“Some rich pretty-boy jackass—sound familiar?—made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
“And?”
Urs started to walk down the hall.
“I didn’t refuse it.”
Derek returned to the lounge, Urs’s angry words echoing in his ears. Maybe she had a point. If Xenia was happy here at Fathoms, why leave it behind for the uncertainty that came standard with the real world and real relationships?
“Hello, my handsome Derek,” he heard a voice over his shoulder.
He turned his head and found Xenia, naked and dripping, standing in the doorway to the lounge. Water droplets gleamed on her breasts and belly.
“I’m sorry. I think I’ve forgotten English,” Derek said, blinking at her.
“It’s cute how you can’t stop staring at my breasts.”
“Cute is better than sociopathic. I really do know what your face looks like.”
“Really?” She put her hands on her hips. “Close your eyes.”
Derek took a nervous breath and obeyed. He heard soft wet footsteps on the tile floor coming closer to him.
“Now,” Xenia said, “tell me what color my eyes are.”
Derek smiled. “Dark blue like the ocean at night. And you have dark eyelashes that make them look even bluer.”
“Very good. You can open—” she began, but Derek wasn’t finished.
“You’ve got a freckle under your left eye and another freckle on your bottom lip. It looks like a tiny smudge of lipstick and I’m dying to kiss it. You also have a birthmark on your derriere that I also wouldn’t mind kissing.”
Christian burst into slightly drunken laughter.
“Did you really say ‘derriere’?” he asked.
“I was trying to make her laugh.”
“Did she laugh?” Mark asked.
“Better,” Derek said.
With his eyes closed he tried to think of a few more details to throw at her—how her hair looked like a silk veil as it trailed her in the water, how her nose crinkled when she giggled…but before he could get the words out, her lips, moist and cool, pressed against his lips, warm and ready. He expected a quick kiss, sweet and brief. But she surprised him again by turning her head and touching his bottom lip with her tongue.
Nearly groaning from the need to wrap his arms around her naked body and drag her to him, Derek forced himself to focus only on her mouth.
Soft and full, her lips moved on his with as much curiosity as hunger. She tasted clean and pure like water. He wanted to drink her.
Finally she pulled back and Derek opened his eyes. She smiled down at him and he decided then and there that when he died, he would be buried at sea.
“You’re an idiot, Derek,” Christian said.
“I’m not arguing with that,” Derek said. “But I was an idiot in love.”
“What happened after the awesome kiss?” Mark asked.
“Nothing torrid,” Derek said and saw Mark’s and Christian’s faces fall like those of two kids who didn’t get what they wanted for Christmas. “Not yet anyway.” Their faces lit up again. “Unfortunately she put on clothes.”
“What was she wearing?” Mark asked. “That hot white skirt and cami mermaidy thing again?”
“No. Pajamas. White shorts, a white tank top, white socks. She looked adorable.”
“I want a mermaid.” Mark sighed.
“I want torrid,” Christian said and waved at Derek to go on.
“Torrid did happen that night. But not between Xenia and me. Stay tuned. It’s about to get even weirder. And hotter.”
Derek narrowed his eyes at Xenia.
“Do you have any eights?” he asked.
Xenia bit her bottom lip, smiled and shook her head.
“No. Go fish.”
“Dammit. I think you’ve rigged this game.” Derek reached into the ocean to take a card.
“I’m even better at Old Maid.” Xenia winked at him.
Derek laughed, relieved she had a sense of humor about her virginity.
“But Go Fish! is my favorite,” she continued. “Mermaids and fish are very good friends. I have connections.”
Smiling, Derek sorted the cards in his hand. This might go down in history as his oddest first date ever. In some respects the date progressed very well—already he’d achieved access to Xenia’s bed. But in other respects he imagined his friends scoffing at his current activity. He and Xenia sat cross-legged on her covers, a deck of cards between them as they played Go Fish! and talked.
“I have connections too.” Derek stretched out on his side. “My father’s the deputy mayor.”
“The governor of Vermont offered me fifty thousand dollars for my virginity. So there.” She stuck her tongue out at him.
“Are you serious?”
“No.” Xenia laid down a book of cards. “It was Connecticut.”
Groaning, Derek rolled onto his back.
“If 50K and a governorship doesn’t do it for you, then I have no chance, right?” he asked, still smiling.
“The governor of Connecticut never played Go Fish! with me. And he’s ugly. You aren’t. Alanna said you look like Paul Walker. I have no idea who that is, but apparently it’s a compliment.”
“Well, you look like…” Derek tried to find someone beautiful enough to compare Xenia to but came up short. “You look like you. And that’s the best compliment I’ve got.”
Blushing, she looked down and rearranged her cards in girlish nervousness. Part of him wanted to kiss her again and kiss her for a good three hours. But although he sat on her bed, he didn’t quite feel comfortable making a move on her. The virginity thing he considered only a small stumbling block. Xenia’s three roommates constituted a slightly larger problem. Derek had wondered how Kingsley could be so sure his mermaids behaved themselves. And Urs said they lived in gorgeous apartments the club paid for, and he had to admit Xenia’s apartment, located in the building next to Fathoms and Cirque du Nuit, qualified as gorgeous. Expansive and elegant, the apartment had hardwood floors, lofted ceilings and—
“Derek, seriously, we don’t care how awesome the apartment was,” Christian interrupted.
“Sorry, sorry.” Derek held up his hands in surrender. “Mom’s a real estate agent. Crown molding is in my genes. Anyway, the apartment was amazing but annoying because Xenia had three roommates. And all four beds were scattered around the big main room.”
“That’s insidious. I guess that’s one way of keeping your mermaids virginal—put them in dorms with chaperones.” Mark shook his head. “This Kingsley Edge guy is an evil genius.”
“Oh, God, Kingsley. We’ll get back to him in a minute,” Derek said.
Xenia beat Derek at their first and second game of Go Fish!. As they played they talked about everything and nothing. Derek learned Xenia grew up right on the ocean.
“Probably why I’m still a virgin,” she told him as she shuffled her card deck. “My parents run a bed-and-breakfast on Hilton Head Island. Everyone I met was a temporary resident. They’d stay a week maybe, or a month at the most and then be gone again. You learned to guard your heart, not get too attached. The only thing that ever seemed permanent to me was the ocean.”
She’d opened her heart a little to him, so he told her about his brief marriage that had ended in disaster and had temporarily shattered his faith in women. He even told her about his two best friends, Mark and Christian, who’d helped him through that nightmare three years ago.
“Aw…I’m touched, man,” Mark said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.
“Shut up,” Christian ordered. “I have a feeling things are about to get torrid again.”
“You are correct, sir,” Derek said.
At about three in the morning he and Xenia gave up on the cards and simply lay on her bed talking while
Derek played with her hair. At three-fifteen, he decided he didn’t care if one of her roommates—a Nubian goddess named Alara—sat reading in her bed across the room. Leaning over Xenia, he kissed her long and slow. With a sigh of pleasure she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer. He felt like a teenager again making out with a beautiful girl without any expectations of getting laid. He wanted to touch her, to slip his hands under her shirt and caress her breasts. He wanted to slide his fingers into her little shorts and find out if she was as wet as he was hard. But he merely held her and kissed her and decided if it never progressed further than this kiss, he would be okay with that.
At about three-thirty a knock on the door interrupted them. A girl so beautiful she had to be another mermaid entered without waiting for a response and looked at Alara and Xenia.
“Coming, ladies?” the girl asked. She didn’t seem the least troubled by Derek’s presence in the room.
“I don’t know.” Xenia rolled up and rearranged her hair. “I hate goodbyes.”
“I know,” the intruder agreed. “But Emelia wants us there.”
Nodding, Xenia stood up.
“Where—” Derek began, but Xenia covered his mouth with a quick kiss.
“Don’t tell,” she whispered and took his hand.
Derek, Xenia and her roommate followed the girl down a hallway to another room. In the room Derek saw nothing but a bed covered in white satin sheets ringed with candles. Xenia, Derek and her roommate stayed in the shadows at the edge of the room and sat on floor pillows. Derek put his arm around Xenia and let her back rest against his chest.
“Are you okay?” he whispered to her when he noticed a tear rolling down her face.
“It’s just really sad when one of us leaves. Emelia’s like a sister. I wanted to pretend she wasn’t really going. Now I can’t anymore.”
“So, is this some sort of going-away party?” Derek asked, seeing the dozen or more mermaids that lined the room.
Xenia shook her head and pressed closer to him.
“It’s not a party.”
After a minute or two Emelia entered the room wearing a beautiful white silk nightgown. It displayed her ample cleavage but trailed all the way to floor. Her black hair curled magnificently down her back. She wore no jewelry other than her mermaid pendant around her neck. Gazing at her glowing face, he thought she looked like a virgin bride on her wedding night.
If she was the bride, he had to wonder who her groom could possibly be. But just as he had the thought, Kingsley Edge entered the room and shut the door behind him. He strode to where Emelia stood waiting by the bed, twisting her fingers nervously. Bending his mouth to her ear, he whispered something to the scared girl as he raised his hand and lightly stroked the side of her face.
“Xenia,” Derek whispered. “They’re not—”
But Xenia didn’t answer. She only turned her face up to him, kissed him and looked back at Kingsley and Emelia.
Whatever Kingsley whispered to Emelia, it seemed to help. She nodded her head and Kingsley took her face in both hands. Gently he kissed her. Then the kiss grew deeper, more passionate. Kingsley ran his hands up and down Emelia’s back and lingered on her hips. Derek’s chest tightened when he realized what was happening right in front of him.
Kingsley’s mouth moved from Emelia’s lips to the top of her breasts. Slowly he slipped her nightgown off her shoulders and let it cascade like white water to the floor. Sitting on the side of the bed, he pulled Emelia to him and took a nipple in his mouth while his hands continued to caress her stomach and thighs. He pulled back and said something softly to Emelia, gave her some kind of order. Obediently she lay on the bed and opened her legs.
Quickly and using white silk scarves, Kingsley bound Emelia’s hands and wrists to the bedposts, tying her down spread-eagle. Once he had her securely tied, Kingsley straddled her hips and kissed her breasts again. His mouth slid from her nipples to her stomach and then came down between her thighs.
Torn between the red-blooded male in him that wanted to watch everything that happened, and the conscience in him that whispered he shouldn’t be witness to such a private moment, Derek looked down at Xenia and saw her following the scene intently. Her eyes held no hunger, only sadness coupled with interest. Clearly she grieved for the girl who would leave their little coven, but still, she seemed fascinated to witness an act she had never participated in.
Emelia’s breasts rose and fell as she panted with pleasure. She gripped the scarves in her fingers, her hips raised off the bed, and she came with a loud, throaty gasp.
As Emelia lay on her back and breathed, Kingsley rose up and pushed a single finger into her. A second finger followed and Derek saw Emelia twitch with either pleasure or pain. Kingsley’s fingers moved in and out of her slowly and then side to side. Kingsley spread his fingers apart inside the girl and the sound that escaped Emelia’s lips clearly indicated pain. But Kingsley worked patiently on her, and after a few minutes he pushed a third finger into her and made spirals inside her with his hand.
Slowly, meticulously, he opened her more and more, his fingers digging deeper and deeper into her. He massaged her clitoris with his other hand. Once again her wrists pulled against her bonds, once again her back arched as another orgasm gripped her.
Kingsley pulled his fingers out of Emelia. He unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it aside. Derek wanted to look away as Kingsley opened his pants, rolled on a condom and positioned himself between Emelia’s wide-open thighs. But instead of feeling as if he was watching some sort of creepy sex show, Derek felt as though he was witness to something beautiful and brave. Very brave. Extremely well-endowed, Kingsley, although rich, handsome and French, might not have been Emelia’s best choice for her first lover.
Derek watched as Emelia took a steadying breath and focused her eyes on the ceiling. Kingsley bent his head to her ear. Once more he whispered something to her. Once more she whispered back. Emelia’s eyes met Kingsley’s. She nodded her head and took a quick hard breath. At the end of her exhale, Kingsley obliterated the girl’s virginity with one fierce thrust.
Xenia flinched in Derek’s arms, and he held her even tighter. For a long time Kingsley didn’t move. He simply let Emelia breathe and cry. Arching in pain, she pulled on her silken bonds while Kingsley continued to whisper reassurances to her. After a few minutes her agonized breathing settled. Carefully, Kingsley began to move inside her. The whimpering continued, but when Kingsley reached between their bodies and found her clitoris, the sound ceased to be agonized and instead turned rapturous.
Xenia shifted in Derek’s arms and he swallowed a groan as her small shapely bottom pressed against his erection. He couldn’t help imagining Xenia underneath him like that, his body inside hers. What an honor it would to be her first lover, to be the one she gave up the Fathoms for. But he remembered Urs, the bitterness and regret in her voice. She’d left Fathoms for someone like him, and now she couldn’t come back except as an outsider. Would Xenia regret leaving the way Urs did?
After what seemed like an eternity of slow tortured thrusts, Kingsley began to move faster inside Emelia. The wave of pain had seemingly passed and now sounds of bliss alone escaped her lips.
Derek tensed as Kingsley increased his pace and moved harder against Emelia. Kingsley gathered her to him as she buried her head against his chest. A shudder racked Emelia’s body as she climaxed a third time. Kingsley thrust once more and came with a sharp intake of breath.
Slowly, Kingsley pulled out of her and Derek saw the blood on him. He closed his pants, pulled on his shirt and untied Emelia. Rolling up, Emelia slipped back into her gown, wincing a little with every small movement. Finally she reached up and unclasped the mermaid pendant from around her neck. She reached for Kingsley’s hand and placed it in the center of his palm. He wrapped his fingers around it like a cherished gift and kissed the back of her hand.
Emelia turned away from him and left the room, a hint of tears at the corner of he
r eyes.
“Oh…my…God,” Christian said, and Derek nearly laughed at the expression on Mark’s and Christian’s faces. They looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights.
“I know,” Derek agreed. “That’s how I felt.”
“I can’t believe you got to watch Kingsley Edge tie some girl down and take her virginity right in front of you,” Mark breathed. “You lucky fucking son of a bitch.”
“I didn’t feel lucky right then. Privileged, sort of. But also freaked out. Not kidding, the bloodstain on the bed was as big as your hand. And I was there. Kingsley was incredibly careful and that girl was still in agony half the time. I’d say it was as sobering as it was sexy.”
“My first time was with a virgin,” Mark said. “She was fifteen, I was sixteen. After that first time she wouldn’t let me near her for three months, that’s how much it hurt.”
“Or she just didn’t like you anymore, and she used that as an excuse,” Christian posited.
“Highly probable,” Mark agreed. “But continue, you pervert. I’ve got to hear what happened next.”
“What happened next,” Derek began, “was me spending a couple of minutes on the floor trying to will my erection away. No amount of imagining dead relatives or my parents having sex seemed to work. So Xenia sat down in front of me and started telling me about Emelia. About how she came from this poor family of about eight kids and how she couldn’t even afford community college until Kingsley found her working at some Catholic charity when she was nineteen.”
“Catholic charity?”
“Supposedly, Kingsley’s best friend is a priest. Don’t ask—I didn’t. Anyway, talking about Emelia as a person who wanted to do nothing except help people helped me get to the point I could stand up again without coming all over myself.”
“Then what did you two do?” Christian asked, his eyes gleaming with mirth.
“I did something absolutely insane at that moment. I asked Xenia to spend the next day with me. And she said yes.”
Derek left shortly after that. Both he and Xenia had to get some sleep. But he promised her he’d pick her up in front of Cirque du Nuit later that day. Once he returned to his apartment, he took a fifteen-minute shower. Only five minutes of the shower comprised actual shower. The other ten minutes involved him relieving the pressure of the four most sexually frustrating hours of his life.
Immersed in Pleasure Page 3
