Page 93 of Echoes of the Tide

She opened her mouth and the words that fell out were, “What do you mean you’ve never done this before?”

“My people are violent in mating, and few males survive afterward. I am a smaller male, very attractive to the opposite sex because of my size and the ease with which they would beat me. But I wanted to live. I knew I likely wouldn’t come out of such a battle without...” He swallowed again, and she thought maybe this time it seemed more like a gulp. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

There it was. The truth of his anxiety. Because he didn’t know what he was doing, and suddenly this was all so overwhelming. Before, he’d been the one playing her body. But right now, he just needed reassurance that this wasn’t going to be like with the others.

She leaned down, brushing her lips against his. “I promise I will be gentle. Nothing about this has to be violent, not unless you want it to be.”

“I really don’t want it to be,” he murmured.

“Then I will be soft. I will be gentle.”

“Soft,” he groaned, his head hitting the stone behind him. “You really are so soft.”

“Can I keep going?”

At his jerking nod, she slid down. Working herself over him. The first inch of him stretched her near to bursting, but she was a determined woman and she’d never been a quitter. The second inch slid a little easier, and then the third was almost too wide. She was panting now, a sweat breaking out as she lifted herself and plummeted, each time taking more and more of him.

She was so full. Stuffed beyond thinking, beyond existing. All she could feel was the sensation of him, the fullness, the slick slide as he plunged deeper and deeper into her body. Her mind fractured, her breathing becoming even faster, her heart thundering in her chest.

Then she was there. Her clit pressed against the scales of his tail and she could breathe again. Taking in a deep lungful, she finally looked up at him to see that wide-eyed gaze.

“You take me so well,” he said, his voice tinged with wonderment. “You’ve never been more beautiful.”

Maketes reached out a hand and pressed it against her belly. She looked down to see a bulge there. A bulge that was him inside of her. She could feel him throbbing in both her pussy and her ass, feel the heat of him as he pulsed again and again.

She lifted, and he hissed out a long, disappointed sound. Freezing, Ace looked at him with a question in her eyes.

“I just...” He hesitated before blurting. “I thought it would be longer than that.”

“Maketes,” she said with a slight laugh before nearly lifting herself off of him. “It’s only just begun.”

She let herself fall. Dropping down on him with all the force of her weight, and watched as his eyes widened. She lifted herselfagain, the slow slide that had both of them moaning before falling. Again and again. Landing harder and harder each time.

He’d never done this. She didn’t even know if his kind did this at all. But now, she got to watch his eyes roll back in his head as pleasure overtook him. She pounded down on him, feeling every inch of him sliding deeper and deeper.

Her muscles clenched. She could feel an orgasm grinding through her, ripping through her entire body and throwing her into oblivion. Ace stopped breathing. Stopped thinking. She was pretty sure she stopped being for a huge portion of it. Time slowed and stopped as she bent over him, taking him as deep as he could go.

She moaned, the sound echoing around them, and then suddenly, she felt him pulsing inside her as well. She could feel the thick ropes of his cum as he painted her insides, the deep, guttural sound he made echoing along with her moan.

It was the most sublime and beautiful moment she’d ever endured. Feeling him seeking out his pleasure, feeling the kick of his hips as he ground himself just a tiny bit deeper, as deep as he could go.

Panting, she stared down at him in amazement. She hadn’t known it could ever be that good. Ace had come plenty of times in her life, but that? That wasn’t just an orgasm. That was two souls intertwining.

He cupped her jaw, clearly feeling the same way. He drew her down until their foreheads were pressed together, both of them breathing hard enough that the air between them fogged.

“I was supposed to give you a gift,” he whispered. “But you are a gift from the sea itself, kefi. My joy. You make me so happy.”

Some broken part of her that had never felt wanted or needed clicked back into place. And oh, Ace’s soulglowed.

CHAPTER 37

Somehow, that perfect, beautiful woman had stolen his soul. He knew perhaps it was a silly thing to say, but he’d felt that way after leaving her in that warm cavern, heated by the mess of their pleasure. He had to find his brothers. They would meet somewhere. He could only assume that was the plan, and he wanted Ace to be with them when they finally unlocked what that keycard hid.

But first he wanted to get her warm. Fed. Pampered as she deserved.

The heated feeling in his chest had only exploded after what she had done. What they had done.

And even more than that, she’d said she loved him. Him. The male who no one wanted because he couldn’t give them children. He couldn’t give her children either, although he didn’t know if his people and hers were even compatible in that way. All he knew was that she didn’t care.

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