Page 84 of Lessons with the Mothman

I paused on the threshold of the stairs as Victoria's hand slipped into my coat pocket, her fingers fitting smoothly between mine.

"You're sure about this?" she asked, eyes tired behind thick framed glasses, searching my face.

I stared back at her for a moment, trying to anticipate the correct response, to guess at what answer she was searching for. And then I realized it would be better just to ask.

"You have concerns?" I asked.

She smiled and I had a strange, warm reaction to getting this particular puzzle right for once. "Usually there would be a little more discussion about the idea of a threesome than just a cheeky text."

"Mmm, I suppose I understand where you're coming from," I said, nodding. "I planned this, so I am sure, but my reasons are that I think you'll enjoy yourself. I knowI'llenjoy myself. And Ilike the idea of watching you, and you watching me, and both of us having this experience together."

Victoria's eyes lit up and her smile grew as she stretched to her toes, grazing a kiss against my jaw. "Well, I like those reasons. Thank you. Let's go and enjoy ourselves."

I wondered if I should say more. That I didn't think a pleasurable threesome would have any bearing on our budding, possible, hopefully, maybe relationship. That I wanted her to know she could share this with me, or enjoy something like it privately, and I would still be secure with how I felt for her.

Those words could wait.

"If at any point you aren't enjoying yourself, let me know and we'll stop," I said, pulling our hands free from my pocket, guiding her gently down the stairs. "That's all that matters."

Victoria nodded, but she was already studying our surroundings, cataloguing every detail, and I knew she was too excited now to continue to dwell.

After a brief tour of the apartment, I guided us to where Nico lounged, half submerged in their pool, and greeted us both with a languid wave. "I'm glad you could make it."

"Apologies for the absurd hour, Nico," I offered, slipping my shoes off and rocking on the balls of my feet, the tile cool and smooth beneath my toes.

Victoria's hand clung tightly to mine, her expression holding a rare shyness as she smiled back at the kraken.

They shrugged in answer, one webbed hand reaching up to slick back sage green hair. They bobbed down into the water, the gills on their ribs expanding for a breath. "I keep strange hours in my season. And I just had some time to rest from my last visitor."

That caught Victoria's attention. "You have a mating season too?" she asked, glancing back at me.

Nico nodded, smiling, revealing sharp teeth. "Not so often as Elias's. And I'm near the end of the egg drop now."

I nodded. They didn't look as bloated as I would've expected.

"Must've been a very accommodating guest," I teased.

Nico blushed, their pale blue skin warming to a deep purple. "Astraeya. I had to tell her to leave you something to work with."

My eyebrows rose at that news. Curious. Technically, Nico worked for the agency, although mostly as a driver rather than a partner. But Astraeya had to feed, I supposed, and she and Nico were friends. Hopefully, she wouldn't mind the kraken having shared that tidbit with me.

"She has been stressed," I reasoned.

"Mmm. There's been another mating," Nico said, bobbing up once more and floating in our direction.

Victoria sat on a cushioned bench near the pool, unlacing her boots, her jacket draped to the side. She watched us gossip with a neutral expression, mostly studying Nico in the water. I tried to picture them from her perspective as well.

Nico was broader than a human, muscular chest built for long swims, trapezius extending farther down their back and spreading wider, similar to those of us whose bodies needed the structure and strength for flight. Instead of wings, there was a stretch of dense skin that expanded at their underarms for easy gliding along the floor of the sea. They had high, sharp cheekbones and features more flat against their face, eyes set wide beneath a long brow. There were the gills too, of course, along their ribs and behind their jaw.

Was Victoria able to find the kraken attractive, or did their features fall too far outside of human familiarity? Then again, did mine? She had never called me handsome, not that I could recall, although she seemed to enjoy tracing her fingertips around my face in the aftermath of lovemaking.

Below the water, Nico's body flared like a gown, nearly amorphous at some moments, and then extended into long, flexible limb-like tentacles.

By the time Nico was done filling me in on the latest scandal at the Agency, Victoria was standing, her blouse discarded and her trousers falling loose down her bare legs. It suddenly struck me how small she was, howhuman. Nico might be too much for her body to handle.

You just don't entirely like the idea of how much she might enjoy them, a voice hinted in my head. I smiled at the taunt and hurried to shuck off my own clothes. I enjoyed the spark of jealousy, a rare emotion in my life. My suspicions about howwellNico's physiology would suit Victoria's needs were more than half the reason I'd arranged this liaison. The rest was due to how muchIenjoyed a romp with Nico.

Victoria paused at the ledge of the pool, still wearing her bra and underwear, and glanced over her shoulder at me with a reserve in her expression that chilled some of my eagerness.

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