Page 63 of Song of Lorelei

Grasping his father’s arm, Ryn looked up, pleading. No words needed to be signed to understand the question there or the excitement sparkling in his eyes. Seeing her boy’s eagerness made hope soar in her heart.

She didn’t know what was supposed to come next or what the right things to do or say were, but this seemed like a good beginning. Commonalities. Filling a need.

Ruffling the boy’s hair, Aquilus cast Aersila a warm smile before tipping his head forward in agreement.

Chapter Thirty-Six

LORELEI

Love was in the air. Or the water to be strictly accurate.

Just two months following “the cure,” and so many of Undine’s pod were pregnant, including the siren leader herself, spurred by some biological drive to save their species.

Caught up in the wave, Lorelei’s own hormones went haywire.

“I don’t know how I can tell,” Killian murmured, nuzzling her neck. Barely in the door from his last offshore run, he’d backed her up against the nearest wall. His hands roved the length of her body until they found the hem of her sweater dress. “You don’t smell any different, but I’m hard all the time. Just ready to go.”

He hiked up the skirt, the thick fabric bunching around her waist and swore. His fingers brushed the bare skin at the tops of her stockings, between her thighs. Pleasure raced up her spine, her back arching at the lightest touch, ready to come undone.

“Where’s your underwear, Lorelei?” His breath was hot against the shell of her ear.

She mewled as his fingers dipped into her wet heat, one knuckle rubbing circles around her sensitive bud. No underwear. No point. The last time this happened they ripped her favorite pair. “Forgot to put them on, Captain.”

He growled, whisking her off her feet.

He carried her upstairs and dumped her on the bed.

It was honestly a miracle he bothered. Lately he’d taken to having her whenever and wherever the urge struck. Not that she minded. At any given moment, she was rearing to go. If Killian wasn’t home, she could spend whole afternoons with her vibrator.

This “mating” frenzy business was absolutely nuts. She had no idea a person could be so turned on all the time.

Lorelei shrugged out of her dress, too stifling to keep on, and watched Killian yank off his shirt, pull open his belt, and unzip his fly. She licked her lips, riveted by the bulge, and while it was familiar, she’d been thinking about it all day.

After shedding his pants, he held up a foil packet. “Condom or no condom?” His tone was light, but the heat in his gaze was anything but.

She gulped, harpooned by the bigger underlying question.

They had gotten in the habit of using two kinds of contraceptive simultaneously to ride out the siren baby fever. And in that time, he hadn’t asked this. She was on the pill, but there was always the chance of failure, especially now with her “mating-addled” brain, which made her rather forgetful about taking it. Last week, she forgot three nights in a row. Her phone alarm would go off, but then she’d get distracted by something else and next thing she knew three days had gone by.

She would have forgotten a fourth night, if Killian hadn’t pressed the pill packet into her hand and told her that she’d been missing doses.

Now he stroked his dick idly, precum beading at the tip like an offering, patiently awaiting her answer.

Shit. Shit. Shit. They hadn’t exactly talked about this. They were getting married, yes, but it never came up. “I’m not sure I want kids,” she forced out. It hung bluntly in the air between them. She wanted to smack herself.

He nodded once, tearing open the foil packet. She searched his face, trying to determine whether he was disappointed, but a small smile played at his lips as he rolled the condom down his length. “I’m happy to follow your lead,” he said, yanking her to the edge of the bed by the backs of her stockinged knees. She yelped in surprise.

Gripping her hip, he tipped his dick to her entrance and pushed, gliding right in on natural lubricant. Usually there was a little resistance, but not today. He squeezed. “Shit, that feels so good.”

He rocked into her with long, languid strokes, a thumb at her clit sending shockwaves throughout her body. “If you want them, I’ll give them to you,” he said, thrusting more forcefully to emphasize the point. Her inner walls clamped around him, causing him to curse. Dammit, she hadn’t been even slightly interested in babies before, but this dirty talk was so, so hot.

She lay splayed out across the mattress, arms thrown back behind her head, tangling with the mess of her hair, skin too hot and tingly, her brain feverish with desire. How easy it would be to give in, caught up in this moment between them, to take off the condom, to stop taking the pill. To let Killian knock her up.

“But if not, that’s all right, too,” he continued. “Just happy to have you.”

Her body screamed, yes, take me bare! while her heart basked in his words, and her mind whispered a quiet, uncertain no.

“Killian…” she breathed, chest heaving. “I want…but I don’t. I’m so confused.”

---