Page 38 of Riding the Tide

Marcus kissed Blair’s lips one last time. “This time we’re going to make it count.”

“Yes.” Blair sighed against Marcus’ lips. He ran his hands down Marcus’ back and clutched his ass. “As much as I love having you naked, pressed against me, I really need you to put some clothes on. All this naked flesh is distracting me, and we really need to talk. There are things I need to know.”

Marcus ground his hardening cock against Blair’s groin. “I have no clothes with me.”

“Fortunately, I do. Please?”

Marcus kissed Blair’s forehead. “For you, I will.”

Marcus step back and picked up the towel he dropped on the deck. He wrapped the sun-warmed cloth around him and held his hand out to Blair. “You still look a little pale. Let’s get one of those sugary drinks in you, shall we? Then we’ll talk.”

“Come with me?”

“I’d love to.”

Blair led them down to the cabin. There was a small U-shaped galley with a decent sized U-shaped settee to port with a high-low coffee/dining table. To starboard was a built-in cabinet with a high-low TV and two chairs that fit snugly on either side of the credenza. Blair ducked into the small galley. He got a soda for himself and a bottle of water for Marcus.

“Here you go.” Blair handed Marcus the water. “Give me a second and I’ll get you something to wear.”

Marcus took the water and opened it. “Sure. And thank you for the water.”

“No problem.” Blair watched as Marcus lifted the bottle to his lips and drank. Blair licked his lips. Marcus’ throat moved as he gulped the water, and wasn’t that the sexiest thing ever?

“Um, yeah. Be right back.” Blair darted into the stateroom and rummaged around for a pair of shorts—and finally finding what he wanted—hurried back to Marcus.

“Here you go.” Blair held them out to Marcus.

Marcus dropped the towel and slipped on the khaki shorts. Only then did Blair notice he forgot underwear. Great. Now that would be preying on his mind. Marcus sat and scooted to the middle of the settee and patted the place next to him. Blair sat and slid over next to him.

“I guess it’s time for a crash course about merfolk history. You already know, thanks to Brett, who you are to me and that we can scent our mate. When two mers mate, it’s no big deal, but when a mer takes a human everything changes. There’s something in our bite—maybe bacteria?—which is toxic to humans.”

Blair blinked. “Bite?” Had he somehow missed that?

“Yes. We bite our mates. It’s one of the many uses of those sharp teeth you saw when I’m in my mer form.”

Blair shivered. Holy mother of God, Marcus wanted to bite him. That was insane. That was terrifying. That was… making his cock hard. “Does it hurt?”

“Having never been bit, I don’t know for sure.” Marcus cleared his throat. “But from what Kannon has said, that small instant of pain is quickly forgotten thanks to the pleasure.”

“If you bite me, I’ll feel pleasure?” Blair clarified.

“That’s my understanding, yes.”

Good to know. “Some sort of bacterial thingy in your saliva gets mixed with my blood, right?”

“Yes. When a merman or maid bites a human, the saliva enters the human’s bloodstream. But one bite isn’t enough. It takes two. After the second bite, the process takes a few hours to integrate fully into human cells. Then you’re able to adapt to our world.”

Sounded like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to him. “What exactly does that mean? I need you to spell it out for me.”

“It means you’ll develop gills.”

O-okay. “Gills.”

“Yes, gills.”

Blair ran his hand along his neck. “Here?”

“Yes, there. Once the gills are developed, you’ll be able to breathe underwater.”

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