Page 35 of Jewel of the Sea

“You have duties, Arkon. I won’t hold that against you. I knew you’d ha—” She let out a shriek as water swept past them, pulling her feet out from beneath her.

Aymee clutched his arms, and Arkon slipped a pair of tentacles around her to keep her upright. She laughed. Once the water receded, he released her, and she stepped back.

“One moment.” She jogged up the beach, toward the larger, higher rocks well away from the water.

Tilting his head, Arkon moved closer to her, leaving the surf behind. He froze when she took hold of the fabric of her skirt, bent, and slid it down her long legs. She straightened and lay the skirt over the rocks, placing a heavy stone on top it. The hem of her long-sleeved shirt hung past her bottom; it flipped up in the wind, granting him a view of the small, triangular scrap of cloth between her legs.

Desire pulsed through him.

Arkon trailed his eyes from her feet to her ankles, over her shapely calves and past her knees, along her supple thighs and the curve of her backside. He swallowed. His shaft throbbed against the inside of his slit, threatening to extrude. The reactions Aymee stirred in him were uniquely powerful.

Was this a test of his restraint, or a testament to her trust in him?

She removed her footwear and placed it upon the rock. Looking at him, she smiled. “Take me swimming.”

A hundred arguments against taking her out surfaced in his mind — she was human, without one of the diving suits Macy wore when she swam; the tide and currents were especially intense this time of year; he had no idea how strong a swimmer she was.

He cast them aside.

“Only if you agree to one condition.”

She tilted her head as she stepped toward him, and Arkon couldn’t keep his eyes from dipping to the juncture between her legs. It was no mystery to him — he’d studied human anatomy through the computer in the Facility, and he’d seen Macy when he helped seal the wounds on her leg — but Aymee’s cloth covering added an allure he hadn’t thought possible. Even if he was familiar with the basic form of a female, he’d never seenhers.

“What condition?” she asked, stopping in front of him.

“You must hold onto me the entire time.” He feared, in that moment, that she’d somehow hear the rapid beating of his hearts even over the ocean’s restless murmuring.

“I can agree to that.” Grinning, she moved behind him. Her hands settled on his back and slid upwards slowly until they rested on his shoulders. “I was thinking the same thing.”

Arkon closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath; it was followed by a shaky exhalation. He welcomed the thrilling slide of her palms over his skin, though such contact was still unfamiliar to him.

“Wrap your arms around my neck.” He spread his tentacles over the sand, sinking down so she could reach.

She did as he said, pressing her chest against his back. “Like this?” Her warm breath and dangling curls tickled his neck.

“Yes.” A tremor ran through Arkon as he reached behind himself and cupped the backs of Aymee’s thighs; her skin was even softer and smoother than he’d imagined. He glided his palms toward her knees, lifting her off the ground.

Aymee wrapped her legs around his waist, locking her ankles at his stomach. The position placed her hot core against his back. His hands continued their slow movement until they settled over her calves; she shivered and squeezed her thighs tighter.

His shaft pulsed. Aymee’s heat flowed directly into him, gathering in his pelvis. Her heels were less than a hand’s length from his slit.

He needed to get into the water.

Arkon rose on his tentacles and slithered into the surf, trying to ignore the aching throb in his loins. Water sloshed around him, freezing cold compared to the fire raging through his body.

She loosed a peal of laughter as the incoming tide splashed her.

When the water reached his waist, Arkon leaned forward, reluctantly releasing her legs to paddle with his hands, and swam — first pulled along by the retreating current, and then battling against its landward flow. Despite the recent storm and rising tide, the sea was relatively calm.

Aymee held tight as his tentacles left the bottom.

The entirety of the sea stretched before them, the waves strips of black rolling through shimmering moonlight. Both moons had risen now, two huge orbs of light hanging in a surprisingly clear sky that was only a few shades lighter than the dark water on the horizon.

He kept his pace easy and soon had broken beyond the cresting waves and the inexorable pull of the tide. They floated in open water, a pair of tiny creatures drifting in the unfathomable expanse of the ocean.

Aymee stretched an arm and ran her fingers through the silvery reflection of a moon. “What do you see when you’re below?” She rested her cheek against his. “What’s it like down there?”

Suddenly, Arkon regretted having declined Jax’s many invitations to explore over the years. For someone who considered himself observant, he’d paid relatively little attention to the ocean as a whole, to the interesting locations scattered throughout. Too often, he’d kept his eyes downcast, looking for rocks and other small objects that might be of use in his works.

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