by Ellen Mint
In an instant, she fell into the warm depths. The water raced up around her, bubbles obscuring her vision while her nose burned. Salt stung her wounds, the ocean trying to rip away the interloper. She paddled against its vengeful waves, struggling to rise to the surface when a hand tugged her down.
Jo whipped her head around, her heart racing with the fear that they lied to her. That they always intended to drown her. Enki wrapped his hands around her cheeks and pulled her in for a kiss. What a cruel and romantic way to die.
But wait. Breath rolled down her throat and into her lungs. Ah! Bubbles spurted from her nose to match the air Enki kissed into her. Jo rolled her hand up and pinched her nostrils closed. Not only was breath filling her lungs, Enki was also taking her exhalations. She watched a series of frills rise along the sides of his neck as he bobbed along beside her.
Another volley of cannon fire pulled the two apart, its ricochets reaching deep into the ocean. This time, Jo held her breath. Enki inspected to make certain she was okay to continue before the merman swam with the woman gripping tight to his hand.
Joanna flew through the ocean as fast as the largest ship on a windy day. She had to clamp down to keep from shrieking in delight at the water whipping past. Corals and sponges of bright orange and soft greens covered the beds below them, Jo almost able to reach out to touch them.
On occasion, a school of fish would swim up to the merman, keeping pace as if he was one of them. Then Namhu would glance back and they’d scatter. When the burning rose in Jo’s depleting lungs, she’d grip onto Enki’s cheek.
He’d have to pause in swimming to wrap his lips around hers, both bobbing in the ocean waves. It wasn’t a problem until the surface above them lit up with haunting fire. Bodies shattered the calm ocean, more lead crumpling around them.
Enki swam with her clinging to his back, the pair dodging as best they could. But when a red hot nail, ripped from the exploding ship, plummeted down and struck Enki’s cheek, Namhu grabbed her. He called in his underwater language, gesturing for Enki to head towards what looked like a hole to another cave.
The prince hesitated, his pink blood spooling in the water from the cut, but Namhu wouldn’t hear of it. Unable to argue with the man in charge of protecting his life, Enki dove, vanishing into the black cave inside the ocean floor. Namhu groaned, one hand wrapping around Joanna’s waist, while the other held her dress.
More bodies plundered over the edge, the seas boiling in blood. Even in his grip, Jo could feel Namhu straining. Her legs kicked back and forth, praying that she could help the man saddled with her swim faster towards safety. Cannons, crates, and planks ripped off of the ships all sunk in around them.
And clawing up her lungs came the familiar screaming need for air. Jo tried to shake it off, to keep diving down. Namhu was only looking ahead, no doubt worrying for Enki or themselves. She couldn’t stop him. Not here. Not now. She just had to hold on, to ignore the darkness seeping across her mind and pounding down her chest.
There! Jo spun in the water, pulling Namhu with. His icy eyes burned into hers, anger rising as she took them off course until she wrapped both hands to his face and yanked herself to his life-giving lips. The pair of them floated behind the rock she spotted, their bodies entwined as Joanna filled with air. Heat pounded from Namhu’s lips, and first one hand, then the other wrapped around her waist.
This was no longer a matter of sharing air, the pair were pressing their lips together in a kiss of need and…more?
Jo’s eyes opened wide at the thought, and she watched the tail end of her dress slip from Namhu’s holding hands. A dress sewn for both her wedding and funeral floated up to the surface world. That was where it belonged, in the tattered remains of pirates plundering the open seas.
With her hand enveloped in Namhu’s, the pair swam towards the cave to chase after Enki. The surface world could contend with its own problems.
CHAPTER FIVE
JOANNA’S HEAD BREACHED the surface for the first time in hours. She guzzled in air that smelled of hibiscus, her lungs aching after every straining fear of suffocation finally relaxed. Enki’s hands scooped around her stomach, pulling her down until Jo’s nose and eyes lingered above the safety of the lagoon’s water.
Tropical trees pressed in from all around. Waterlogged reeds and grasses on the shore’s edge lapped around the three swimming towards a clearing. The sun peeked above, meaning they’d been swimming underwater nearly all night. It wasn’t an experience she wanted to relive anytime soon, Jo forever in a state of fearing for death. But she was warmed to know that both men kept tender care of their fragile passenger.
She heard Enki’s tail slap the water, ripples cascading back while he swam her around the jutting of rocks into the lagoon. As they turned the corner, Jo gurgled in salty seawater from surprise. A wooden structure rose from the jungle’s embrace. Green vines dotted with yellow and purple flowers ensnared pale timber prodding from the seafloor like a bone. It formed what looked like the start of four walls, though holes were punctured on every side, and a potential roof with grasses growing atop it.
Towards the line of logs laid out above, Enki swam with her. Namhu remained behind at the cave’s exit, making certain they weren’t followed. A pang of worry worked through her, hoping he could handle any problems when Enki wrapped his hands around her sodden hips. Without a by-your-leave, the merman hurled Jo clear out of the water and into the air.
She flew nearly six feet high, her eyes flying open as she lashed out to grab one of the beams coming at her. Hooking her feet under, she took a deep breath as her body didn’t fall back into the sea below. Jo tipped her head up staring at the derelict outpost above before beginning to climb the ramshackle ladder lost to the jungle.
When she reached about halfway, she paused and glanced down at the water. Did she need to lend Enki a hand? Could he climb with his tail?
The answer came in the merman circling thrice in the water, then launching from its sea-green trap into the air above. Droplets glittered across his verdant scales, the tail snapping in the air and spraying Jo as Enki landed upon the platform above. The loud strike of his body against the wood caused Jo’s eyes to widen in concern, but it was all for naught as green hair and a friendly hand thrust down for her.
“Here I thought I might need to help you,” she said, taking his fingers and scurrying the last few steps up.
“Really?” the prince chuckled, one hand wrapping around the small of her back as he held her safely in his arms. “What a delightful idea, a land-walker helping one of us.”
“It’s not such a…” she began before her eyes skirted across the beautiful face an inch from hers. He’d wrapped his hands tightly around her, the ones that’d tended to her during the long swim and comforted her if she grew worried to never find daylight again. Jo brushed her palm to his cheek, hooking her fingers to the back of his jaw.
Those flippant lips faded from their smile to a gentle pucker, Joanna pulling him closer, when realization struck. “Your cut?” She drew her thumb over the flesh that’d bled in their escape. “It’s not even there?”
“Hm?” Enki’s eyebrow raised, the man forgoing her hips to touch his skin himself. “Oh, yes. That’ll happen,” he said with a shrug. Jo wanted to ask more, but the naked man swept his hands around her back, his palms caressing her buttocks as he kissed her.
The constant fear of drowning from the entire night snapped itself into libidinous hunger. Jo’s body pleaded for him. Even as his fingers pushed her drenched chemise deeper into the crack of her ass it wasn’t enough. She felt his manhood rising, the curve of it circling along her mound. How different would it feel to Namhu’s? Or what if he took her as he did his fellow merman?
Enki smirked, his turquoise eyes lighting with fire as he watched Jo’s fingers pile upon his hips. “I am so glad we kept you,” he whispered, digging into the high hemline of her chemise. It slithered up her skin, exposing her to the jungle’s heat that was no match to the on
e burning inside. Enki’s hands swept from the swell of her buttocks back to the rise of her mound. He wiggled his finger and moved to part through her.
“We are…” Namhu called causing both to whip down at the forgotten man. He caught the two in a scandalous embrace and sighed. “I see you wasted no time.”
“Is the entrance secure?” Enki cried out, his hands holding Jo tight even as his lover circled below.
“Yes,” Namhu growled, his annoyance at missing the festivities growing.
“Then get up here,” Enki shouted before turning his full charm on Jo, “We have our survival to celebrate.”
Jo watched Namhu perform the same stunt Enki did, even as the prince rung her undergarment over her head. Namhu landed, the grey-blue fin melting off him as he rose from a fallen knee. His cock began engorged as it emerged, the foreskin slicking back while Namhu rolled a hand across the tip.
All the while, Enki swirled across her breasts, each tug on her nipples causing Jo to cry for more. The prince plunged his lips to her neck, the kisses sweet and light while Namhu… Namhu stood cock in hand and watched. His stance was solid, the legs wide and shoulders up, but he didn’t reach for her. Didn’t glance a hand to her. All he did was watch.
Enki turned her to face Namhu. The prince’s palms swept down her stomach, fingers clawing against her thighs, while snow-grey eyes burned into hers. Jo wanted to close her eyes tight, to savor in the pleasure Enki was bathing her in, but she met Namhu eye for eye. And the longer he stared, his manhood plumping in his stationary hand, the hotter she burned.
“There are not enough tales told of your graceful neck,” Enki whispered, his lips nibbling on her ear. One hand swept across her nipples, darting from one to the other straining for his attention. The second hand found its way to her thighs. Jo tried to widen her own stance, begging for the man’s nimble fingers to dart inside, when she caught Namhu mimicking her.
He too opened his legs further, Jo watching his sac sway as Namhu struggled to keep that cock in his hand still. Judging by the sweat building on his brow, he ached to stroke himself to pleasure but something was holding him back. The man on the edge held his breath as Enki plunged inside her.
“Ooh, by the waves, you are lovely inside and out,” Enki whispered to her. Each thrust and twirl of his curious fingers caused Jo to gasp, his thumb cradling her pearl with a slow circle.
“Be careful,” Namhu warned, those icy-grey eyes flaring. Jo opened hers at his command, her breath held as she wondered what she was doing wrong.
“I am aware,” Enki responded. “Only the gentlest of fucks for now.”
Was that why Namhu was holding himself off? Because he worried about hurting her? Why he was angry about Enki diving back for more so soon?
The achingly perfect fingers slipped from her, Jo falling forward as she realized she’d been on the tips of her toes to aid him. She mewled at the loss, Enki cupping both palms to her hips. “Tell me, Daughter of Havana. Do you feel too sore?”
“No.” She whipped her head in the negative and swallowed. “Not at all.”
Enki cupped her chin and pulled her back to him. “Excellent,” he whispered, taking a kiss from her. Jo went to return it when he began to lower her to her knees. It was a smooth fall, Enki holding her upright as she came face to cock with Namhu’s manhood. Enki rolled his hands through her hair, straining it behind and lifting her chin so her eyes stared triumphantly at Namhu’s.
A groan rattled from the stoic guard, and his hand pumped twice. He winced after, as if he shouldn’t have done it, and Jo cringed at the pain. She reached out to help him when Enki pressed upon the back of her shoulders to guide her onto her hands and knees.
Glancing over her shoulder, she watched Enki serpentine a finger down her spine as he too took to his knees. Jo’s heart throbbed at the primal position of a naked man straddling behind her, the crown of his prick glancing against her crack and folds. “Come to me,” Enki said, sliding her legs further apart as he mounted her.
His curvy manhood thrust in like a thief in the night, Jo growing more aware as it slipped deeper into her. There was no pinch of before with Namhu. As with the rest of him, Enki’s cock was gentle and safe. So too were his thrusts slow and melodic, Enki swerving his hips with each thrust as the curvy tip found its way to swivel against all of Joanna.
The heat built-up like a pot simmering on the fire, her own hips pulsing downward to meet Enki’s tender care. All the while, he curled his hands over her back, his nails scratching patterns against her skin. “Mmm, I wish for this to continue until dusk,” Enki murmured, no hurry in his stroking her.
It was Namhu who strained and groaned, his fist clenching tighter to his manhood as he flexed his toes into the wood. Jo stared up at him, trying to find the eyes closed tight in concentration. Balancing on one hand, she cupped her fingers to the only part of him she could reach — his ankle. In an instant, Namhu crumbled to his knees.
This was no graceful fall, but the plummet of a man wanting to bow in subjugation. His hand fell from his cock, Namhu gripping to Joanna’s shoulders as if he needed her for support. Enki thrust deeper than before, his thin hipbones pressing tight to her buttocks. It was Namhu who circled his hands up, Enki’s wily fingers darting through the larger man’s grip.
Namhu glanced up, his hot-grey eyes burning in Enki’s, then drifting down to Jo’s. They softened at her concern, his hand curling around her cheek. Enki slid back, palms cupping under her breasts, though his nimble cock didn’t stop its antagonizing and slow thrusts.
Staring down that great manhood that’d pierced away Jo’s virginity, her tongue rolled out. She licked along the tip, barely able to reach, but the effect was instantaneous in Namhu. His head shook back, the hand on her shoulder digging in as he groaned from the bottom of his balls.
“You don’t,” Namhu gasped. His thumb graced her jaw, lifting her to stare in his eyes. “You don’t have to if you…”
Before he could finish his response, Joanna leaned forward, her mouth straining to open wide enough to fit the man’s cock. As the entire head slipped inside the wet heat, her tongue lapping and curling around it, Namhu cried out.
“Told you,” Enki chuckled. The gentle thrusting increased, his cock pounding against Jo as he began to flick at her pearl. In an instant, the low simmer in her body erupted into a boil. Namhu reached for her breasts, both bounding freely from Enki’s powerful thrusts. With one man in her mouth — his hands kneading her nipples to ecstasy, another pounding in her cunt — his fingers dancing against her pearl, Joanna was aflame.
Enki dove deep, fingers clawing into her thigh, and the sensation caused Jo to moan around Namhu’s cock. He shuddered at that, plucking her aroused nipples in response. Her hands falling numb, her knees quaking, Jo was barely aware when Enki hefted her back onto his thighs. Spread eagle in his lap, his cock giving the final thrusts while he fingered his all around her widened folds, Joanna came undone.
Her head snapped back, slapping into Enki’s chest as she cried out from the orgasm pulsing through her. Warm hands almost as big as her chest cradled her breasts as Namhu drew closer. She could feel his eyes staring down at her, his cock — wet from her ministrations — tucking into her belly. As Jo’s senses returned, her orgasm abetting, she stared deep into his cautious grey eyes, grabbed his cheeks, and pulled him to her for a kiss.
Pulling himself out of her, Enki said, “I believe I’ve warmed her up for you.”
“No,” Namhu shook his head, convicted in not entering her. His eyes drifted down to the prince who rose to his shaking legs, Enki’s chest soaked in sweat, “Though she seems to have gotten to you.”
Enki laughed, Jo whipping her eyes over to find the man’s curvy cock deflating in exhaustion. She hadn’t even felt him come. He hadn’t let on, but Enki was all smiles and shrugs. Gliding a hand around Namhu’s shoulders and falling beside Jo, he said, “I’m a silent type, but this man here, he gives the best displays.”
At N
amhu’s scoff, Enki asked, “No? Why don’t we both show you?” He fell to his knees, his lips open as he took Namhu’s wet cock in his mouth. The slurping sounds gushed through Jo’s insides, her lips parting as she watched Enki suck his cheeks in tight while tasting Namhu.
Suddenly, he paused, and — like passing a shared bottle — guided the shivering manhood to Jo. She glanced at Namhu, who was digging his hands into both their shoulders. Slowly, she pulled him in, her tongue swerving like a whirlpool to drag him down. “Mercy,” Namhu cried, his hips twitching as he begged for both release and more.
Enki leaned closer, his mouth opening to suck upon the man’s sac. The moans and pleas from Namhu shook through Joanna’s core like an earthquake, and he stretched her mouth even wider. Her jaw strained, unused to being distended so long. It was Enki who cupped her cheek, pulling her off.
She expected him to take over, but he plunged his lips to hers instead of Namhu’s waiting cock. Their overworked tongues rolled with each other, and — as Enki slid their suckered faces — Namhu’s manhood joined them. Lips sucked upon the skin of the shaft, tongues plied with the foreskin, fingers tickled up and down the sac, others pressed kisses to the edge of her mouth, plucked at her nipples. Her skin tingled with every touch, every caress a promise for more that lurked in her belly.
A great roar erupted from Namhu, the man’s cry scattering a flock of herons into the air as he erupted. His semen shot through the air, landing upon the forgotten planks as he crumbled to the ground. Both Enki and Jo gripped to him, keeping him aloft, as he brushed his forehead against both. “You are…” he babbled, pressing a kiss first to Enki’s lips with a loud smack, then the same to Joanna’s. Her eyes snapped open in surprise and fell into the grateful and besotted ice-grey ones before her.
Shade cut across them, clouds drifting over the bright Caribbean sun and Namhu turned aside to focus on his prince. The shattered man hooked a hand against Enki’s shoulder and began to rise by himself. “I thought we agreed…” Namhu whispered to the prince, but he clearly wanted Joanna to hear as he said so in Spanish.
