Page 83 of Siren in the Rain

My tail starts wagging like mad.

And let me tell you, that’s super weird in the water.

I nuzzle the top of his head. “It always feels better with a partner, but especially with a fated mate.” My eyes get a little teary. “Our bond’s special—and what we just experienced was totally magical.”

“Yeah, it was,” he agrees softly and then arches an eyebrow at me. “I didn’t do too badly for a newbie, did I?”

“Total natural,” I assure him with a grin.

With a sigh of contentment, he lays his head on my shoulder again. “I’m glad we came here. Already I feel like I’ve reclaimed a big part of who I used to be before… everything.”

I stroke his back. “I’m glad we came too. This island will always hold a special place in my heart for helping you get so far on your personal self-healing journey.” I hesitate. “Do you think you’d want to relocate here permanently someday?”

He considers my question for a moment. “Hmmm, I don’t know. Maybe? There’s a lot to love about this place, and I do want to get to know my maternal side of the family better. There are some other relatives I haven’t met yet, too. Coral told me she wanted to keep things simple and not overwhelm me on my first visit.”

“She’s pretty awesome.”

He chuckles. “That she is.” He starts to trace a finger across my chest, drawing patterns on my wet skin. “I’ll admit, I like the safety the island provides, and the peace I’ve found here is something I’m not sure I could achieve back in LA. But, at the same time, I still have some things I need to do that I can only accomplish back on the mainland.” He leans back and gazes into my eyes, a determined look on his face. “First and foremost, we have to find and rescue my mom.”

I don’t try to hold back my answering grin. “And second?”

The expression on his face is calculating and, dare I say, a teensy bit evil.

“Revenge, darling.”

Chapter

Nineteen

Shae’s List of Life Goals

11. Get a tattoo. Maybe to cover the scars on my neck.

(Addendum: Perhaps getting some kind of matching tattoo with all the members of MEOW Squad if we could manage to come to an agreement on what image to get!)

Shae

My last few days here on the island are spent swimming, relaxing, and fooling around quite a bit with Griffin. I spend time with my grandmother and aunt too, of course, but the libido I feared might be gone forever has been fully revived, and now my cock is making up for lost time.

While spontaneous erections might sound like fun, I’ve discovered they can also be stupidly inconvenient.

And fuck if Griffin doesn’t inspire most of them for me. The man is too sexy for his own damn good—and it’s like he doesn’t even know it.

Granted, he might not. While Griffin is always quick to compliment me, he tends to be rather harsh on himself. He’s made it clear that he doesn’t consider himself to be very smart, and from what he’s told me of his family, they always made him feel inadequate when it came to their expectations. It’s one of the reasons I’ve latched on to his obvious praise kink and have been nurturing that—hard.

The man is utterly gorgeous and so fucking cute I can’t even handle it. His sensitive nature and tender heart have managed to win over deeply scarred and cynical me, which is a testament to just how amazing he is. But he doesn’t fully see it. So I plan to make sure he does, no matter how long it takes.

Then there’s our mate bond, which seems to get stronger every day, especially in terms of my carnal need for Griffin. Now whenever I look at him or his unfairly adorable smile, I get hard like I’m seventeen all over again.

Nevertheless, we haven’t fully gone all the way yet. We’re exploring things together slowly, and I’m taking time to discover what I like and don’t like in the bedroom.

Or the ocean, for that matter.

I seem to have a bit of a sex-in-the-sea kink of my own.

My grandmother even winked at us one morning when we’d come in from an early dawn pleasure-fest out in the water.

“Oh, to be young again,” she said wistfully before sipping her morning coffee.

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