The Mermaid and her King (13 page)

Skyla

I struggle to slow my gasping breaths. Chase
said he was going to take his time and pleasure me, and let me just say he’s a man of his word.

“I knew once I got a taste of you
, it’d be addictive, and knowing I can drive you that crazy is only going to make me want to do it more,” he says.

“No. I’ll die if you do it a
gain right now. It was so pleasurable that it was on the verge of painful.”

Ch
ase gets up and puts on a condom. Lying on top of me, his lips brush along my forehead, down to my temple and to my cheek.

“I want to make love to you
, but I’ve never been that slow or gentle before.”

“Ch
ase, you’ve already been gentle and sweet with me. I have no worries.”

His lips curl up into a light smile
before they claim my mouth. Our tongues twirl as he tenderly sinks into me. We move together at a slow, sensual rhythm, relishing in the feel of the spellbinding friction we’re creating. Chase releases my lips and gazes at me with so much warmth in his dark eyes.

He slightly increases his tempo, thrusting deeper inside of me. I sense his struggle to go slow. He pulls
out slightly and drops kisses down my neck to my chest. His tongue is taunting as it traces circles around my hardened nipple before he sucks it into his mouth, repeating several times on each breast.

A tingling spreads to my extremities, causing me to
moan and arch against his wet, scorching mouth from the exquisite sensation. He groans and thrusts back into me.

“Hol
y shit, Skyla. You feel so warm and tight. I’ve never felt anything this good before.” His lips crash against mine, searing them with his satisfaction.

The tingling pleasure builds and builds
each time he fills me full, climbing to an intensity that sweeps me to a shuddering orgasm. My eyes close, and my fingers delve into Chase’s hair, grabbing on as I moan from the prolonged, pulsing ecstasy.

I feel his face bury into my
neck, his body succumbing to its climax, jarring him above me. He lifts up and captures my mouth, kissing me softly. Shortly after, we’re tangled up together, naked and warm, content from our lovemaking. I glide my fingertips down his arm before running them up the middle of his chest.

Patient lips graze
along mine, mingling for a time as hands skim through hair and breaths collide. He lets my lips go and gazes at me with such sincerity. I’m loving every second of his tenderness, amorous and unexpected.

“Skyla,
I’ve been soaking in the feel of your skin, the way your mouth tastes and how your touch causes every one of my nerves to ignite. I’ve never had sex without being drunk, high or coming off of it until today. I’m not numb or in oblivion, so I can hardly believe how good it felt and how good it felt to go slow.”

“You’re the sweetest man
, Chase, and I’m so grateful you gave us a chance.”

“
I want to ingrain in my mind the memory of how you feel, angel, so I can relive it every second you’re not with me.”

Minutes of memorizing and cherishing the other’s needy body turn into hours, and I don’t want night to fall.
A lovesick spell surrounds us like a shield, and I pray that nothing ugly permeates it. We’re still tangled together as one with our eyes closed. Our mouths and hands feel their way along the other’s sultry skin, pleasure being our guide.

There are those few days in our lives that are so riveting and special that they’ll stay with us forever, and when we think of them
, we’re taken right back, able to recall every touch, every smell, every sound. This is one of those days.

Chase

I don’t want either of us to le
ave this bed-ever. My senses forgave me for the dormancy they were placed in, and now I’m abusing them for pleasure and to bring Skyla as close to me as possible.

Her taste
is like the sweetest lick of forbidden fruit. She was supposed to stay forbidden, but thank God she didn’t allow that.

“So … who wins?”

Her head is on my chest
. She raises it to look at me.

“Wins what and who?”
she asks.

“Me or the coconut-amaretto cream cake?”
I try not to smirk, but it’s near impossible.

She
rests her chin on her hands and gives me that cute ass smile. The one that makes me want to give her everything.

“Well … the cake lo
oks good, but it can’t look at me with stunning, mysterious eyes.” Skyla gives me an intense stare. “It smells so good, but it can’t breathe in my scent along my neck and hair, which sends chills through me.” She buries her face against my neck before planting kisses along it. “It tastes yummy, but it can’t taste me, which feels phenomenal.” She runs her tongue down the middle of my chest.

“
Also, you look better, smell better and taste more delicious, so with that said … you win by a long shot.” She leans up and gives me a hot, arousing kiss. I flip her over and straddle her, pinning her hands by her head. I give her a penetrating stare, letting her know that she’s driving me insane.

“You’ve done it now, angel, and it won
’t be slow and gentle this time.”

A smile slowly spreads across her face. “Swear?”

I shake my head. “You’re an angel with horns.”

She gig
gles, her chest vibrating below me. It’s the happiest sound, and at this moment, I realize I can’t live a day without Skyla.

***

More hours pass, and it’s now dark outside. We skipped dinner, but I’m just noticing since she’s fed my appetite all day.

“I should go home. Will you take me?”

Her words are painful. I figured they were coming, but I’ve been hoping she’d fall asleep again and be here in the morning. I don’t want to spend another night alone in my bed. In actuality, I’ve been alone in it forever.

“You can stay here if you want.”
I want to beg, but I’m pathetic already. After how upset she became over me paying for all the seats on the boat this morning, I can’t imagine how angry she’d be over the money I gave Hilda.

“I better go home. You were hardly speaking to me
before a few days ago. I don’t want you to feel like I’m crowding you.”

“Tell me I haven’t given you that impression.”

“You haven’t, but I don’t want it to happen.”

“
I can assure you that it won’t.”

“My board
’s at home, and I have other stuff I’ll need for tomorrow.”

“OK, I’ll
take you.” I move wayward strands of her silky hair away from her face and kiss her forehead.

I take the jeep in hopes she’ll
have a change of heart, and I can put her board in the back. Skyla plays with the back of my hair on the way to her house, and it makes me think of the night at the bar when I kept removing it. Now I’m pissed that she’s going to.

“I can’t fix lunch tom
orrow since I’ll be surfing, so I thought maybe all of us could go out to lunch after. Would you go with us?” she asks.

“Absolutely.”

She kisses my cheek and gets out. This sucks.  Now that I’ve given myself permission to be with her, it’s going to be hard for me to accept that I can’t have her whenever I want. I’ve only ever been around women who would do what I tell them, so they could get their hands on money and drugs.

Skyla’s independence is something that drew me to her, but it’s also going to be the death of me.
I want her like I’ve never wanted anything in my life. No drug I’ve ever tasted on my tongue makes me feel as good as she does. I head back to my empty bed with the memories of a perfect day. A bed that smells like Skyla and sex.

Skyla

It takes all my strength
not to stay the night with Chase. The day was perfect, so I want it to be just that, a day.

I’
m falling in love with him, and I’m terrified I’m going to get hurt. His one hundred and eighty degree turn is a drastic one, so I’m paranoid. He couldn’t be sweeter or more attentive, and I hope with time I trust it completely.

Chase is also used to getting his way, and I have to be sure not to lose m
yself. It would be easy with him. His bossiness is adorable right now, how he’s so protective. He has to see up front though that I’m still going to be my own person and make decisions for myself. But damn, it pained me not to give him what he wanted tonight ... what I wanted, too.

Chase

I get up early and make coffee. It became my drug once Bud died. I sit on the patio at eight o’clock in hopes that Skyla will come early and talk to me. She insisted on walking, and I’m seeing that she’s not going to do what I say just because she likes me. I see her, and it perks me up way more than the damn coffee does. Shit, she looks good. She’s wearing a black and pink rash guard with her little denim shorts.

“Hi,”
she says sweetly after she props up her board and sits down a bag.

Yes, that’
s something I can buy her, a new board. She walks over, and I pull her into my lap, kissing her neck. “Good morning, baby.” She smells like flowers again.

“If you don’
t care, I’m going to leave that bag of stuff here. I thought I could get a shower later.”

“
Of course. I'll even help if you need me to,” I say with a chuckle before I kiss her neck again.

She turns her head and kisses my cheek before hopping off my lap.
“I’m going to go ahead and get into the water. It’s been awhile, so I don’t want to look like a complete amateur when the guys get here.” She begins taking off her shorts, revealing black bikini bottoms. Watching her undress is like the Pavlov effect. I’m immediately horny. “Be careful.”

“
I will.” She smirks and rolls her eyes before she goes down the steps. I watch her, and the further out she paddles, the more panic fills me. I should be out there with her.

It’
s not long before I see the guys walk around the house onto the beach. They come to an abrupt stop when they recognize Skyla surfing. After a couple of minutes, they head my way.

“Bro
, can you see her?” Eric asks as he and Andy come up the steps.

“She can surf,”
Andy says with amazement in his voice.

“I can se
e.” I never take my eyes off her as fear consumes me.

“
Get out there with her,” I say.

“
You’re worried about her. I see it all over your face. You obviously have nothing to worry about. The hot surfer chick would have to like your sorry ass,” Eric says, sounding irritated before they walk away.

He might as well get over it. His chance with her is long gone.
After a while, I go back inside. I can’t take watching them any longer. I don’t like that my guilt over Bud is affecting Skyla.

If I would surf
, I’d be with her right now. I have to get back out there. It’s just not going to feel right surfing without Bud. Maybe surfing with Skyla will be the cure for that, too.

Skyla

It feels unbelieva
ble to be back in the water. It’s bittersweet since I didn’t get a chance to surf off this island with Bud. The first couple of months after he died, I felt some responsibility for his death.

I’d say to myself that if I’
d moved here sooner, it wouldn’t have happened. I would’ve convinced him to clean up his act, but I finally realized that being here wouldn’t have been enough. Maybe at first he would’ve behaved, but he’d dabbled with drugs since being a teenager, and Lee said his addiction had worsened.

He
wouldn’t have been able to stop without professional help. He was a thrill seeker, always looking for an adrenaline fix. Maybe that’s what it felt like when he did drugs. The guys and I decide to stop after a few hours.

“Skyla, you’
re really good. You should get into some competitions,” Eric says as we walk up the steps.

We sit on the
patio, trying to dry off some. Chase comes out and eyes me. He appears sad, but he also looks like he wants to eat me alive. I already know that look. He sits next to me and leans over to give me a kiss.

“
You were killin’ it out there,” he says.

“
Thanks. I’m usually better, but it’s been a long time.”

“Chick, you
absolutely shred. You’re already making us look bad, so you can’t do better,” Andy says.

“You’re just being nice.”

Eric shakes water out of his golden blonde hair.

“
No, we wouldn’t tell you that if we didn’t mean it. Did you forget where we’re at? We’ve seen every skill level of surfing.”

“Well, thanks guys. I’m going to go throw some clothes on, and we can get some lunch.”
I go inside and change into a tank and my denim shorts before putting my hair up into a messy bun. We pile into Chase’s jeep and drive into town to eat.

All of us are in a great mood except for Chase. Mr
. Moody is paying a visit. I might have to pressure him to get on that surfboard after all. He misses it, and he’s battling another internal struggle as to what to do about it. I can’t believe he’s punishing himself this much for his past mistakes.

We’
re eating, and I see Eric ogling a girl who looks younger than myself. I throw a French fry at him and hit him right in the face. He jumps and looks at me.

“S
he doesn’t look legal, but you should go find out. Then if she is, you can ask her out instead of drooling over her from this table,” I say, laughing.

“That’s it. In the ocean you’re going next time, girl.”

“Have you forgotten since this morning that I’ll get in voluntarily?”

“Well, I’
ll just wait until that pretty hair of yours is fixed, and then I’ll toss your ass in.”

I squeez
e Chase’s leg. “Tell him he can’t throw me in.”

“I don’
t have to. He knows that already,” Chase says as he glares at Eric.

What’
s up with him? “Eric, I need to get my hot friend from California to move here. Then I can fix you up with her.”

“Don’
t forget about me,” Andy says.

“
I don’t have any more girlfriends worthy of dating you, Andy.”

“Although that’s a bummer,
it’s nice of you to say,” he says with a wink.

“
I need to get Brooke away from Rob, anyway. He treats her like shit. I sure don’t miss being around that.”

Eric gives me a boyish grin.
“Make it happen. She won’t want to return to the mainland after she visits here and gets a look at me.”

“I’ll work on that for ya.”
I throw another fry his way.

He
looks at Chase. “Tell your girlfriend she can’t throw French fries at me.” He says it whiny like I did when I told Chase not to let him throw me in the ocean.

“I’m
not his girlfriend.” It’s out of my mouth before I even think to sort out the consequences of my response. All three of them stop moving, and I know I have to look at Chase. I glance to him, and he looks hurt and sad. He’s already moody today, and I don’t want to add to that.

“I mean, h
e hasn’t asked me to be,” I say softly. What else do I say? It’s the truth. He did say I was his yesterday. Is that the same thing? Shit. If I’d taken time to process Eric’s remark, I would’ve kept my mouth shut and let his comment pass on by. Things would not be awkward like they are at this very moment.

Chase leans over and kisses my cheek.
“She’s right. I haven’t, but I think that needs to be remedied. Are all of you done eating?”

Eric
and Andy are on their feet. It’s visible they want out of here.