Page 26 of Lover from the Waves

She moved closer to him. In her peripheral vision, she saw his tentacles reaching for her, but he seemed to hold them back.

Kat lifted a hand and cupped Ector’s jaw, brushing her thumb over the smear of blood on his chin. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to get that impression. I was laughing because…we werebothacting like teenagers. Which isn’t a bad thing.” She moved her thumb up to caress his bottom lip. “It’s…been a long time since I felt anything like that.”

Ector’s expression softened, and he leaned slightly into her touch as his color returned to normal. He tentatively dropped a hand to her hip and brushed the pad of his thumb across the fabric of her shirt. “I haveneverfelt anything like that.”

Kat’s heart skipped a beat. In some ways, she hadn’t felt anything like it either. She’d loved Colin with all her heart, had been passionate with him, had mourned him for many, many years after he was gone, and she would always have love for him. But what she had with Ector was new, and it was fiery and intense. She knew already that it could easily become love even though it seemed absurdly early for that. It was neither better than nor lesser to her feelings for Colin, it was just different.

And who’s to say it’s too early, anyway? I’d say I’m grown up enough to decide that without anyone else’s input. I’ve waited long enough.

Kathryn smiled and slid her hand around the back of his neck, tugging him down. He lowered himself without hesitation. When she brushed her lips over his, a shiver stole through him. Knowing that the simplest of her touches, the lightest caress, could rouse such a reaction in him made her feel confident and sensual.

“Why don’t we get cleaned up?” she asked. “We can find a deeper part of the stream and rinse off.”

He kissed her gently, letting the contact between their lips linger for several seconds. His nostrils flared with a deep inhalation. He closed his eyes and groaned. “But that would mean washing away your alluring scent.”

A flush heated her cheeks, and she laughed, giving his chest a playful smack as she drew away. He opened his eyes and grinned, flashing his teeth. Despite what those teeth had done, his words and that wicked grin excited her.

Her shirt wasn’t the only thing that was wet.

Before those thoughts could push her to leap into his arms and grind against him again—God, I really am acting like a horny teenager—Kathryn bent down to pick up her rifle, slung it over her shoulder, and forced her feet to move, continuing their trek upstream.

The vegetation to either side of the water thickened as Kat and Ector moved uphill, but there remained enough space along the bank to allow them easy passage. They stopped when they reached a spot where the stream flowed over a bare outcropping of rock in a little waterfall that couldn’t be more than a meter high. The stream was bloated beneath the waterfall, which had likely carved a deeper pool over hundreds or thousands of years. There were many trees nearby now, creating interesting patterns of shadows and light both on the water and the surrounding foliage, but it was another ten or fifteen meters before the jungle properly began.

It was a beautiful spot.

Kathryn swept her eyes over the area. Capeweed and long, green stalks of naba grew amidst the grass around the edges of the pool. She’d have to remember to gather some naba on the way back to camp. She took a few moments to scan the wider area, looking for any signs of danger. Many of the more dangerous Halorian predators kept to the deeper jungle, but there were always exceptions. Fortunately, the plants here weren’t thick enough to conceal any large animals, and the landscape, while sloped, was open enough to allow clear lines of sight in almost all directions.

“This is perfect,” Kat said, flashing a grin over her shoulder at Ector. She sat on a low boulder, stood the rifle against it, and bent forward to unlace her boots.

Chapter 7

She is perfect.

Ector watched as Kathryn removed her footwear, unable but to marvel at her form and figure even as she performed so mundane a task. He discovered some new point of beauty each time he looked upon her. Whether it was the multiple hues of blue in her irises, the various shades of silver in her hair, the little, joyous lines that formed at the corners of her eyes when she smiled and laughed—or a hundred other things—she was beautiful in her entirety.

The kisses they’d shared, however brief, had only heightened his desire for her. Something had passed between them while their lips were pressed together, something powerful and profound. It had been unlike anything he’d ever experienced; the intimacy and affection of that simple contact had transcended everything he’d known, had woken something inside him that must always have been dormant, awaiting Kathryn.

Though minutes had passed since they’d kissed, his lips still tingled in the aftermath of it. He fixed his gaze on her mouth. Kathryn’s lips were swollen and red, sparking his hunger anew, rekindling his need to taste and touch her.

But as much as he longed to watch her, as much as he longed to take her in his arms and kiss her again, he needed to remain alert. He needed to keep her safe. The ocean and the coast had their own dangers, some of which Ector and Kathryn had already navigated during this trip, but the jungle introduced a new set of threats—many of which were unfamiliar to him. Kathryn herself had expressed a cautious and respectful stance regarding the jungle, as did many of the humans in The Watch.

And this was the closest Ector and Kathryn had come to the jungle thus far.

So, he pried his gaze away from her and forced himself to study his surroundings with the same attentiveness he’d have maintained in the ocean. He didn’t know the names of all the plants, didn’t know what animals they were likely to encounter, and wasn’t even sure if this spot was actually considered part of the jungle, but none of that mattered. He had instincts—instincts that had been honed over decades. Instincts he trusted.

Some of which had pushed him—or waspulledthe better word?—to Kathryn.

Once her boots were set aside, Kathryn stood up. She unbuckled her belt and placed it, along with the sheathed knife and small pouch attached to it, atop the boulder. Offering Ector a smile, she walked to the edge of the pool. She stopped there, with smooth rocks and flattened grass beneath her feet, and lifted a leg. Ector tilted his head, attention once again solely upon her.

Kathryn dipped her toes into the pool and held them there for a second. Then she nodded and stepped forward, plunging her foot into the water. The leg of her pants darkened as it absorbed moisture. Her other foot followed, and she walked to the center of the pool, where the water came nearly to her hips. She crouched, submerging herself up to her shoulders, and let out a slow sigh.

When she rose, fire flowed through Ector’s veins. The material of her shirt, now thoroughly soaked, clung to her body, perfectly sculpting over her sides, her belly, her full breasts and hardened nipples. He caught his bottom lip with his teeth, but even the string of sharp teeth against soft flesh wasn’t enough to break his stare.

It was Kathryn herself who broke his trance when she asked with a laugh, “Are you going to come in or just gawk at me all afternoon?”

He curled the ends of his tentacles tight and pressed the tips of his claws into his palms. “My apologies, Kathryn.”

Though he’d learned much about humans and their ways over the last few years, that knowledge remained relatively new to Ector, and many aspects of it did not occur to him naturally. This was an instance in which he’d required a reminder—humans clung to what they calledmodestyand often felt shame, embarrassment, and uncertainty when it came to displaying their bared bodies. For kraken, lack of clothing was the natural state. The only state. But humans were private with their nudity.

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