Page 39 of Sheltered in the Storm

I rose, settled her on the sofa, and hurried to the bathroom to draw the bath, my tentacles dancing in happiness and anticipation.

CHAPTER 13

CALLA

I’d fibbed—Iwasn’t really in any pain. I just wanted to be in the water with Vos.

I wanted him to cradle me with nothing between us—no blankets, no clothing, no distance. I wanted to see more of the raw desire I’d glimpsed in unguarded moments when he thought I wasn’t watching.

When I woke this morning, I hadn’t necessarily planned to ask him to join me in the tub today. He’d been so obviously cautious not to push me in any way. But when he’d told me he smelled like a predator to most sea life, I couldn’t hold back a shiver of desire.

He was a beautiful predator who’d been nothing but kind and gentle to me, and I wanted him. I ached with need—so much so that I had to fight the impulse to slip my hand under the blankets and between my legs, where wetness already dripped.

My healing body had limitations, but we’d find ways around that. Maybe his reminder that I had to be careful not to over-exert myself was about more than just my morning exercise routine. And maybe he was reminding himself too.

When he emerged from the bathroom, he had already removed his shirt, and his loose-fitting pants rested low on his hips. I let myself devour the sight of his broad chest and shoulders, the lines of his muscles, and his gills that fluttered as he breathed. Oh, to be able to swim with him in the sea and see him in his element. For now, the wonderfully enormous bathtub would have to do.

I’d gotten enough deep breaths to relax again, but that didn’t mean my scent didn’t give me away. I didn’t mind, though. I liked that Vos would be able to tell how aroused I was. He didn’t have to wonder, and I didn’t have to say.

Vos scooped me up as carefully as ever, his eyes glowing. “Ready, my Calla?”

“Yes.” I lay my head against his chest to listen to his hearts beat. “Very ready.”

As he carried me to the bathroom, I spotted Poe’s eyestalks peeping out from her shell. When she saw me looking at her, they darted back into hiding. She’d clasped her claws in front of her massive shell, which I’d learned was a sign of tranquility. Because she was warm, safe, and comfortable in Vos’s house instead of outside in the nasty weather, or because Vos and I had decided to take another step toward the kind of relationship she so clearly wanted us to have? Either way, her contentment made me smile.

Vos kissed my temple. That spot had only recently stopped hurting from the crash and then being burned by the barrel of the Atolani raider’s plasma gun.

“You probably think it is silly of me,” he said, “but I will never tire of your smiles.”

An unexpected pang in my heart made my smile fade. “I don’t think I’ve smiled as many times in my life as I’ve smiled in the past week.”

“I am sorry.” He rested his forehead against mine. “But also I am glad.”

“Me too,” I said softly.

He closed the bathroom door to keep in the heat, slid his pants down and off, and sat on the side of the tub. Not only had he put in the leaves I’d requested, he’d added something that smelled sweet and made the water froth and bubble.

“My Calla,” he said, his gaze on mine.

He unwrapped my blankets slowly. He was always careful not to touch any of my healing cuts or bruises, but he seemed to want to take his time. Maybe he wanted to savor this, or maybe he wanted to give me time to change my mind.

I was impatient to be out of my coverings and into the water with him, but I also wanted us to go slowly so I could watch him watching me. That candor I’d come to rely on was evident even now in the way he didn’t seem embarrassed or self-conscious or shy about baring me in a very different way than ever before, and that kept my own self-consciousness at bay.

When the last of the blanket fell away, he let it slip to the floor, leaving me naked and cradled in his tentacles rather than sitting on his lap. His gaze devoured me so intensely I shivered.

Vos’s hand caressed my shoulder, moved down my arm, and captured my hand to bring it to his lips. “Beautiful,” he said, his mouth on my fingers. His sharp teeth pressed into my skin, a thrill of danger, as if he knew what his predatory side did to me. “Mercilessly beautiful, like a star.”

I opened my mouth to say something self-deprecating, only for him to silence me by lowering his mouth to my right breast to catch my nipple between his lips. He flicked it with his tongue and sucked gently.

Oh, gods. I tried to arch my back, but Vos held me still.

“No, my Calla,” he murmured, his softly glowing gaze locked on my face. “You must not injure yourself. I will give you pleasure, but I would die before I would hurt you.”

He was right, but desperation and desire made it difficult to care. “Vos,please.”

In an inhumanly fluid movement far more reminiscent of a cephalopod than a man, he slipped us into the tub. The water was the perfect temperature—hot to the point of not quite scalding—and whatever made the water bubbly made my skin slick and soft.

But the moment I rested my head on his chest, the sensation of his hot, bare skin against mine and memories I’d kept buried since that night stole my breath right out of my lungs. Everything good about this moment evaporated.

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