Page 62 of Treasure of the Abyss

Jax stilled. Macy cupped his jaw and brushed her thumb over hischeek.

“Don’t,” she repeatedgently.

“This is not what you want,” herasped.

“Isn’tit?”

His brow furrowed, and his pupils expanded as he searched herface.

The music thumped, distant and forgotten, overpowered by the heavy, quick beat of Macy’s heart. She wanted Jax more than she could express. Perhaps it was wrong, or unnatural, and part of her was scared…but she didn’t care aboutthat.

She’d told him she was his; now she wanted tobehis.

And she wanted Jax to be hers,too.

Without releasing her hold on him, she leaned to the side. Jax slipped his other hand to her ass, supporting her, as she turned off the music. The familiar roar of the waterfall returned to prominence, backed by the quieter cries of the sea from outside. It was music that suited Jax farbetter.

She righted herself and looked at him. The urgency of her lust had waned, but its strength was undiminished. With her skin overly sensitive, her breasts heavier, and her sex wet with need, Macy felt like a stranger in her ownbody.

That lent a new sense of excitement to theexperience.

Jax tipped his head down, pressing his forehead to hers, and inhaled. He slid a tentacle up each of her legs. They coiled lightly around her calves and brushed her innerthighs.

Macy gasped at thesensation.

“Your scent is maddening, Macy.” His shaft throbbed against herbackside.

She flushed; knowing he couldsmellher was unsettling and arousing at once. Closing her eyes, she moved her hand from his face to the back of hishead.

“I’ve never done this,” Macy said. “I’m…not sure what to do, but I’m not…I’m not uncertain of you,Jax.”

His clawed hands flexed. “I don’t want to frighten you. We are…different. I am not like the man your suit showedyou.”

“I know, and I don’t care.” Macy laughed softly and shook her head. “Maybe I should, but I don’t. I…I want to see. To know you. To…explore you.” She brushed her lips against his. “I wantyou.”

Jax’s shaft slid along her thighs and stomach as he lowered her, and he shuddered. When she was on her feet, he movedback.

Macy watched his face, noting the vulnerability in his eyes. She understood his concern — that she’d find him repulsive, that she’d truly think him a monster — just as she knew it was unfounded. She lowered her eyes to his broad shoulders and their markings, along his torso, over ridges of muscle draped in velvety-softskin.

Catching her lower lip between her teeth, she forced her gaze lower, past the darkened skin, stopping on his jutting shaft. Her eyes widened, and she exhaled in a rush. It was long, thick, and glistening with a sheen of moisture, its color lightening toward its rimmedtip.

But she wasn’t shocked by his lack of a scrotum, or that he secreted his own lubrication; no, it was the thin, two-centimeter-long feelers around the base of his shaft that caught her off guard. She knewexactlywhere those wouldtouch.

“Macy…”

She looked up. The vulnerability in his eyes now warred with the tension in his posture. His hands were fisted at his sides, shoulders squared, chin angled down. Macy steppedcloser.

Jax held his ground, nostrils and siphonsflaring.

Dropping her gaze again, she reached for him. His erection twitched as she held her hand over it until she finally wrapped her fingers around his girth. It was warm and hard, his soft skin made slick by itscoating.

A tremor coursed through Jax, and he released a shudderingbreath.

Encouraged by his reaction, she slid her fist to the base of his shaft, where the small tendrils moved over her hand with surprising strength. She stroked one with herfinger.

Jax groaned. The feeler ran along Macy’s finger with an almost rhythmic, undulatingflutter.

Exhaling, Macy squeezed her thighs together. No, she didn’t feel repulsion toward him. There was only pure, undeniable desire; she saw him, felt him,wantedhim.

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