Page 10 of Tides of Time

She would get this right.

She had to.

FOUR

Ariana’s heartshould have beat erratically in her chest as they swam for shore. Hours had passed, and hours more would. They would be spent when they reached the shore and would spend most of their first day sleeping. She should have been under a crippling weight to speak to her husband about her plan, to ask his permission.

But she wasn’t.

Since saving the little girl, her entire being was calm. The tension in her muscles from her discomfort with her role in the hunt vanished. The agonizing fury from the unnecessary death of the young child depleted and merely lingered like a minor headache from a time only Ariana could remember. All that remained was a sort of certainty she hadn’t experienced in months.

Changing her husband’s fate should have been his choice. He’d never expressed any concerns with their life as merpeople, but, then again, neither had she until earlier today. Orion also only seemed concerned with how they would find one another again. If that was his greatest fear, she had the solution.

We will.

He wouldn’t remember loving her, but she would remember and could start the process over again for them both. It didn’t matter if it took time. He’d spent a few years chasing her before she’d given in to the sexual tension between them.

Not because Ariana hadn’t loved Orion from the moment she saw him, but in spite of it. There were so few of their kind - far fewer men than women - that she didn’t want him to regret choosing time with her if it didn’t work out.

So much has changed.

The thought pulled a smile over her lips. In the sixty-one years that followed, they’d spent nearly every day exploring one another, learning the secrets of the past and the joys of the present. Ariana never expected to be with a man longer than her human life. Still, every day with Orion made her love him more.

They would get back what she was about to steal from them.

The darkness from a new moon made the journey harder, but only in the sense that the extreme blackness around them kept trying to lull her to sleep.

“You’re quiet. What’s on your mind?” He took her pinky in his and tugged her closer as they continued to swim.

“You. Us.” she grinned at him. “We’ve had a long time together, and going to the land always excites me more than ever with you by my side.”

His grin sent her heart flip-flopping in her chest.

Orion had that effect on her since the moment she took her first breath as a siren. She preferred that term to mermaid. Mermaids from her childhood were filled with goodness and light, but a siren was born in darkness from death.

“Keep looking at me like that, and we won’t make it to land,” Orion teased, his gaze heating up as he looked at her.

Ariana hadn’t realized her own lusty expression had risen, but it wasn’t a wonder with thoughts of making love to him on her mind.

“Much as I would like that, I want this on land.”I want this to matter so much more than every other time.

She swallowed back the small wave of unease brewing in the pit of her stomach. She would save them both and they would have a normal, human life.

* * *

Orion extendedhis hand to her, the moonlight serving only to highlight the lust in his gaze as she rose from the waves to stand beside him.

His eyes were filled with a primal desire, sparking with an intense longing as she emerged from the waves and stood by his side. The soft lapping of the water against her skin added to the surreal atmosphere, as if they were the only two beings in the world existing within this moment.

“The moonlight suits you,” he gently pulled her close, “almost as much as legs do,” he dipped his head and captured her lips against his.

Ariana shuddered into their kiss, her mouth parting to invite his seeking tongue inside.

Every touch of Orion's lips ignited a fire within her, sending her senses into overdrive. His gentle yet passionate kisses stirred a longing and desire deep within her that she couldn't resist. The warmth of his embrace and the softness of his lips left her craving more, each kiss like a flame that burned brighter with each passing moment. She was consumed by the intensity of their connection, unable to deny the alluring pull of his touch.

As their lips met in a fiery embrace, his skilled hands roamed over the smooth curve of her breasts, igniting a fire within her. In response, she pressed her palms firmly against his firm rear, pulling him closer to her with each passionate kiss. A devious glint sparked in his eyes as his erect length brushed against her soft thigh, teasing and tempting her. With a low growl of warning, he sent waves of pleasure coursing through her body. Unable to resist any longer, Ariana's own hands encircled him and stroked twice before leaning back on her heels, basking in the intense desire that burned between them.

Lovemaking under the water came with one very intense drawback for them, and she intended to make that a thing of the past. Spreading her knees in the sand, she sunk lower swept her tongue across the head of his cock. He tasted of sea and man, and Ariana would never get tired of taking him into her mouth.

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