Come here.
There was a small nook in the back, one she hadn’t noticed before. He led her around the corner and upward. Beneath her feet, she saw stairs carved into the rock. At the top of the steps, her head emerged from the water, and she took a deep breath of air.
“I don’t believe this,” she breathed, her voice echoing hollowly. The air was moist and comfortable. “Are we no longer below the water?”
He shook his head. “Imagine a bowl, turned upside down in a basin. Now imagine the basin filling with water. The bowl displaces the water around it, but it keeps the air inside. That is this place. The ocean is full of them. It is what allows us to exist on both the land and beneath the sea.”
“Now I can, too.” She trailed her hand over the smooth walls before looking around. She realized with a start that the cave was full. An antique four-poster bed rested in the back, and light glowed from holes cut into the wall. She peered inside, standing on her tip toes. “How…”
I promise to explain everything to you, my scientist.
As her eyes fell on Linc, she felt a wave of need come off him. It left her breathless and disbelieving. How could he feel so strongly about her? It didn’t seem possible.
He walked toward her, his tread across the floor muffled by some kind of soft moss. She looked down, wiggling her toes curiously. She sensed Linc’s pleasure and also his impatience. He wanted her focused on him, not on the moss species lining his home.
This is your home? Her eyes widened, distracted.
Edie.
She leaned down to touch the moss. Yes?
Edie.
It’s not moist, and it doesn’t seem to be…
Two strong hands grasped her arms and lifted her off the ground. She found herself nose-to-nose with Linc.
“Remember me?” He smiled at her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He released her hands, and she dragged them over his face and neck, watching the scales disappear. It was magical. She loved the feel of the scales under her hands, but she loved his skin just as much. It was smooth and soft, but beneath that, his body was hard.
Hope he’s not disappointed, she thought before she could stop herself.
His response was to kiss her. He cupped his hand around her neck, holding her steady and licked her lower lip, sucking it gently into his mouth. She groaned, loving the tightness in her belly his mouth caused.
He explored her. He didn’t thrust into her mouth, he nibbled and pecked at her skin. His tongue gently tasted her neck, along her collarbone and next to her lips. His kisses had her arching in his arms, trying to get closer. She touched him everywhere she could reach, feeling the scales dissolve beneath her caress. She gripped his waist, fingers digging into his sides. She’d never been so desperate for someone’s touch.
In Edythe’s life, she hadn’t allowed many people close to her. She’d stayed distant, focused. She graduated from high school early, moved out of her aunt’s house, went to college, and stayed away. She never allowed guys to distract her from her plan. The few times she went on dates, she’d faked illnesses to end the night early. The guys who did persist, trying to force a kiss or grope clumsily at her, were left huddled on the floor outside her dorm.
So what if she’d developed a reputation as a frigid bitch?
With Linc, she was anything but cold. He warmed her from the inside out, stoking a flame inside her until it ran along her veins like a wildfire. She felt something soft at her back and realized he’d placed her on the bed.
His lips left hers. She studied him. She could see, barely, the scar left from her father’s cruelty. She let her fingers trace the pattern of wavy lines left on his skin. How could you forgive me for this?
“It was never your fault.”
She bit her lip. It was her fault. Why had she waited so long to force him to leave? There must have been something she could have done to save him. She understood, after he showed her what it meant to be a mate, the pain he felt at their separation. He endured it for years until it was such a part of him, he forgot what it meant to feel healthy.
She wanted him to feel good.
Edythe wrapped her arms around Linc, raising her head to capture his lips. His response was immediate. He caressed her tongue, running his tip along her teeth and the roof of her mouth. She tried to mimic him, but then his mouth was moving to her neck and down to her chest. He looked up at her, and she heard the question in her mind.
Her fingers left his shoulders to lift her sweater, but he was there first, stopping her hands so he could run his fingers beneath the hem, slowly revealing her inch by inch.
She watched him. Waiting to see disappointment when he revealed her soft belly, and generous hips. But nothing of what she saw on his face could be called disappointment. He pressed his lips against her stomach, licking his way from one hip to another, his hands gripping her hips and kneading the skin.