MERCILESS (The Mermen Trilogy #3) (24 page)

“Roen? Can I ask you something?” Liv whispered to Roen, trying to keep a straight face. “Do mermen have penises?”

“What?” He laughed.

“I’ve always wondered, you know, if they’re half fish down there…is there a penis? Does it just dangle around?”

Roen shook his head, chuckling.

“Don’t make fun of me. It’s a legitimate question,” Liv said quietly.

“Well, maybe I’ll stop drinking water so you can find out.” He cocked one beautiful, caramel brown eyebrow.

“I would totally do you as a merman. Especially if you had a sparkly tail.”

He pulled her close to him, their mouths inches away. “Let’s just focus on regular sex for now. We can save the kinky stuff for later.”

He kissed her hard, making her heart flutter. A heart that she’d freed from the island, but now belonged to Roen.

He broke the kiss and scooped her up into his arms.

“Ohh…are we going back to your place, merman?” Liv asked.

“I can’t wait that long.” He marched up the hill, away from the docks and through a stand of trees. The trail hooked around a bend and opened up at a large lagoon with a waterfall.

“I remember this place,” she said as he laid her down on the grassy bank near the water’s edge. This was the place where they’d once held the strange ritual to see which merman could hold his breath longer. It was all part of their elaborate claiming rituals.

“You know, Roen, you never really claimed me properly.” She smiled at him.

“I’m not going to bite you, Liv. Not while you’re pregnant anyway. But I do have other plans.”

He pulled down her shorts and pushed up her T-shirt, exposing her breasts to the warm evening air.

He whipped off his shirt and then shed his own shorts. His long, thick erection jutted out and made her core throb with anticipation. She spread her legs for him as he knelt and looked down at her most intimate spot.

“Mmmm…” He stroked his hand over her gently. “You have no idea how sexy you are, Liv. Every inch of your warm, warm womanly body.”

“I kind of prefer my view. It’s way hotter.” Her eyes stuck on his pulsing cock.

He took it in his hand and leaned forward, teasing her entrance and c-spot with the soft, velvety head. She flung back her head, savoring the sinful sensation. She then arched her hips toward him, silently inviting him to give her more.

“You’re so wet, Liv. So ready for me.”

She looked up at him, those strong bulging biceps tanned to perfection, the hard contours of his pecs, the deep grooves of his rippling abs.
Exquisite
. That was what Roen Doran was. But what made her hotter than hell was the look in his eyes. Like he wanted to fuck her, bite her, eat her up.

“What are you waiting for?” She ached for him. She craved to feel his cock sliding deep inside and filling her body, pumping and grinding against her.

There was a moment of pause.

“What’s wrong, Roen?”

He winced. “I really do have the urge to fucking bite you, Liv.”

She propped herself up on her elbows. “Oh. And you think you won’t be able to control yourself?”

He shook his head no. “That’s not the problem.”

“Then what?”

“I never wanted to bite her. Not once. I should’ve known, Liv.”

He felt guilty. He needed her to say she forgave him.

She smiled at him and reached for his neck, pulling him down on top of her, settling him between her thighs.

“Roen, I know you love me. And I don’t feel bad about a thing. I won. And I won you.” Not only that, she freed them both.

“I still want to bite you.” He grinned.

“How about just a nibble, no skin breaking.” She trusted him with her life, now more than ever.

He covered her mouth with his, his tongue working rhythmically against hers as his hand reached down between their naked bodies. He positioned himself at her entrance and then moved to grab her hands, raising them above her head and pressing them into the soft grass.

When he thrust his hard cock into her, she gasped with pleasure, breaking from their passionate kiss. She looked into his eyes and noticed how they seemed to shimmer with a million shades of green and flecks of golden sparkles. He moved into her again, holding her in place as he went deeper. She tried not to look away, but the sensual pleasure was too much.

“I think…” She panted. “I think I’m going to…” She was already too close.

“Uh-uh. Not yet.” He withdrew and turned her over, raising her hips and putting her ass up in the air. “I’m not even close to being done with you, Liv.”

He slammed into her from behind, his powerful arms holding her in place as he pistoned his hips. Her ears filled with the sounds of his deep, masculine throaty groans, the sounds of his skin slapping against her bare ass, and the rhythmic humming of her moans.

“Oh God, Roen. Don’t fucking stop.” She could never get enough of this. Of feeling his slick, hot cock sliding into her, pushing against that magical spot deep inside. He went on and on, not slowing down.

“I can go all night, Liv.” He fucked his words into her. “But I won’t.”

He flipped her over and once again kneeled between her thighs, holding his thick, rock-hard shaft in his hands. He slid the head up and down over her c-spot. “You ready to come, Liv?”

She could barely speak. The erotic view of his glistening head massaging her swollen, throbbing bud was too much.

She gave him a quick nod and threw back her head, bracing for his hot, hard thrust. He gave it to her, driving himself all the way in. She exploded and came hard, screaming his name, grabbing fistfuls of dirt and grass, trying to keep herself from losing her mind.

Her screams only made him let go. She realized he’d been holding back, being gentle with her. But now he began fucking her harder, using his entire body to pound his cock into her.

She began climaxing again. “Harder, harder, Roen.” She just wanted him deeper, just wanted more.

His body slapped and she opened her legs as wide as they could go, wanting more.

Finally, as the second wave of sinful contractions racked her body, Roen pillared his hands on either side of her head and arched his back.

He groaned toward the sky, pouring his hot cum into her, his entire body shuddering with his dick twitching deep in her core. With short little thrusts, he finished emptying every drop inside her, finally collapsing onto his elbows.

The two lay there panting, their sweat-slicked bodies pressed tightly together, his hard flesh still inside her. After a few delicious moments of feeling their bodies floating down to earth together, he raised his head and began kissing her.

“That was amazing,” she whispered in between sweet lazy kisses.

“I’m not done yet,” he whispered back, and began moving with slow shallow strokes deep inside her. “I have a lot of bad memories to erase.”

“But I don’t think I can again.” It was so, so good. Every muscle felt like a ball of quivering Jell-O.

He kissed her neck and bit down softly, coaxing a little gasp from her mouth and triggering tiny tingles on her c-spot.

“Just relax,” he whispered against her neck, pulling out just a few inches and easing himself back in. “I’ll do all the work.”

She laid her head back and looked up at the night sky. The sun was completely gone now and there were millions of twinkling stars above them. She let out a breath and savored the feel of the hot man on top of her. “I love you, Roen.”

“I love you, too. Now, open those legs a little wider. I’m going to show you the real power of a merman.”

Epilogue

Two Years Later…

Liv watched a seemingly endless parade of unbelievably beautiful, heavily tattooed men march back and forth in front of her. Every one of them was nearly seven feet tall, ripped from head to toe, and wearing nothing but shorts and snug-fitting tees practically bursting from the seams as they unloaded wooden crates from the small cruise ship’s cargo hold.

“You better not be eyeing my men, wife,” Roen’s deep voice whispered from behind her.

Liv smiled. “Well…you know how partial I am to those fish-scale tatts. Gets me all excited.” She turned and found Roen looking down at her, frowning. “I’m just joking,” she said. “You know you’re the only merman who gets me all wet.” She snorted. “Get it. Wet? You’re a merman and—”

He kissed her. “Silly human.”

“But seriously, I think your men should all go back to the whole man-skirt thing. That was pretty hot.”

“Liv, stop teasing me. You know how jealous my kind get—”

“Honey! Are we in the cottage on the left or the right?” Liv’s mom’s voice called out.

Liv tilted sideways and looked around Roen’s large frame. “The white one on the right. It’s bigger!”

“Okay, honey!” Liv’s mom disappeared up the path toward the cluster of guest quarters that overlooked the harbor.

Liv brought her attention back to Roen. “Thank you for inviting my family to stay for a while.” Even Krista had decided to come and help Dr. Fuller with the studies on the island. Krista, a veterinarian specializing in marine mammals and birds, would be in charge of documenting the wildlife. The non-mer kind.

Roen beamed at Liv. “I know how much your family means to you. And I have to say, your parents have adjusted really well to all of this.”

They’d actually told her parents everything right before the baby had been born. Or make that babies since Dana had hers too. But days before their due dates, there’d been a moment of panic when Liv’d had a terrible dream that Salla had done something to the baby and it came out with a tail. The thought kind of freaked her the hell out, but she’d told herself she’d love the little mer-munchkin no matter what. But still, it made her think about all of the lying and how much damage had been done to her relationship with her parents. And even with Krista.

It was time to tell them everything.

But Liv would never forget the looks on her parents’ faces when she told them the truth—being shipwrecked, getting kidnapped—twice—killing to save her own life—also twice. At first Liv was sure they were going to have her locked up, but then her father had said something that blew her mind. “The people in Wrangell have known about them for ages. There are legends going back generations, old fisherman songs and stories about how they once protected our island. These last few hundred years, they just ordered their supplies from us.”

“Supplies?”

“Yeah. Boat parts, fishing supplies, food, satellite dishes—you name it. The businesses in town make a big part of their living from them.”

Flabbergasted, Liv’s mouth just sort of flapped for a while. “But…why…why didn’t you say anything?”

“Did you not meet them?” her dad asked. “Those are some of the scariest, most ruthless assholes I’ve ever met. And when a seven-foot-tall, walking killing machine throws cash at you and says he’ll kill you if you ever tell anyone, the merchants took it seriously. No one dared speak of them. Ever.”

Liv couldn’t believe it. All that time, her parents knew? And so did most of the small business owners on the island. But now that she’d thought about it, it made sense. There wasn’t a whole lot of tourism on the island because it was so remote and only accessible by small plane or boat. The fishing industry was almost nothing. Yet, people seemed to live fairly well. Now she knew why.

Anyway, it took a while to convince her parents that things had changed and she and Dana were not insane for wanting to marry two giant “mean” mermen or have their children.

After the babies, Pike and Cruise, came and her mother saw Roen and Lyle being so gentle with their newborn sons (yes, sons—with legs. And lungs of steel and the screaming capability to match), all hesitations flew out the window. Pike, by the way, was the name she and Roen chose for their son. Yes, he was named after a fish—kind of an inside joke since Liv had been so worried that Pike would be born an actual fish. Pike also meant “spear,” so Roen liked that his son’s name signified something dangerous and deadly. “A real merman’s name,” he’d said. Dana chose “Cruise” because she said that being taken for the Collection and going on that cruise was what led her to Lyle.

Strange thing to want to remember, a cruise that brought her to an island where she almost died, but okay.

Anyway, Roen wanted a small quiet wedding, free from the paparazzi, who still stalked him every time he stepped on dry land. It got even worse after Phil filed for their marriage certificate. The world wanted to see the infamous billionaire bachelor marry the shipwreck-slash-kidnapping survivor Olivia Stratton. That made it impossible to book a church anywhere, so they ended up having the ceremony in Wrangell a few months after Pike was born.

As for Dana and Lyle, they were engaged, but Dana said she wasn’t going to tie the knot until Lyle showed her his sparkly green tail. Which he refused to do. Of course, Dana was absolutely head over heels in love with Lyle, but Liv suspected the two didn’t really care about getting a marriage certificate. They were both too busy having sex all the time and being new parents.

She and Roen, on the other hand, had billions of dollars in assets they needed to have jointly owned. First, for their son, and second for the island. They both worked like mad to have a private research center built right next to the Great Hall. It had just been completed, and Phil had successfully (and discreetly) hired seven of the world’s top scientists in the field of physics, molecular biology, genetics, and environmental biology. Naturally, they would’ve preferred to use mermen, since most of them studied at some of the world’s top universities, but most of the science geeks were not coming back. So, she and Roen decided they’d have to trust a few smart humans to do the work. This island was far too important not to take the risk of letting a few in on the secret. Not when they were both convinced that the island held the key to healing the planet someday. With so much pollution and global warming, the work they started today might be the only hope generations from now.

That was also why she and Roen had decided to move back. Liv had finally finished her PhD—yes, she was Dr. Olivia Stratton now—and the research center was complete.