Page 13 of Deep Sea Kiss
Her grumble was unintelligible, but Eiric could grasp the basic meaning. When he’d come to pick her up an hour ago, he’d found her wearing a cute summer dress and sandals—it was a rare balmy late May evening, and she seemed intent on making the most of it. It was the saddest thing he’d ever had to do, but he asked her to change into jeans and sneakers. He’d known her sandals would be useless on this path.
Still, he regretted that summer dress. It had shown just a hint of Lottie’s cleavage and a whole lot of leg. Maybe someday, when she learned of his family’s secret and had time to process it, he could ask her…
“Eiric, if you’re taking me to that beach to kill me, please spare me the torture and just finish me off now. Crap!”
Her foot slipped on the slick rock, and she wrenched at his arm.
“I’m not taking you there to kill you,” he muttered, steadying her. “And I thought you liked hiking.”
“I do. But in daylight, on a path. Not in the middle of the night on razor-sharp rocks.”
She wasn’t wrong about the razor-sharp rocks: this part of Norway’s coast was a labyrinth of little islands, coves, and promontories. But it was hardly the middle of the night. The moon was peeking over the hills in the east, just past full and beginning its ascent over the sky. A night bird squawked in the distance, the only sound besides the lapping of the waves. The wind had quieted down, and the sea was restive, her surface barely disturbed at this late hour.
“We’re nearly there. It’ll all make sense soon.”
Ten minutes later, they arrived to a narrow crescent of a beach. The beam of Lottie’s lamp danced over the rocks, the sea, the smooth gray pebbles that seemed black at night.
Eiric stepped up to her and turned her to face him. He squinted in the lamplight—she craned her neck to stare up at him—so he reached for the lamp and switched it off. Then he pulled it from her head. Her hair snagged on the elastic band, and he gently untangled them.
Lottie blinked in the darkness, her eyes wide. For a moment, she stood still, but her gaze shifted over his shoulder, and her mouth formed a little O. Eiric moved to see what she was looking at and realized the moon had finally appeared from behind the hills. Its nearly full orb hung in the sky, and because the night was clear, and there was no light pollution so far from any major cities, it was visible in beautiful detail.
“I’ve never seen it like this,” Lottie whispered. “And I’ve lived here for years.”
Eiric lifted a shoulder, though she wasn’t looking at him. For sea dragons, the moon and her influence on the sea was an essential part of their lives. Right then, the tide was turning, and the small beach would slowly lengthen with every passing minute.
Lottie walked in a circle, taking in the moonlit beach and the silvery sea. She didn’t exclaim over the beauty of it—that wasn’t how she was. Instead, a quiet sigh escaped her.
Then she faced him again. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
She stood so close, he smelled her hair and the sweet, unmistakable scent of her skin. Eiric remained completely still, afraid of what he’d do if he got any closer. Damn his brother for meeting this woman first. If Eiric had been the one to see her, he’d have made a real effort, taken her on dates where she could wear that summer dress.
Or maybe he would have convinced himself that a sea dragon like him had no business getting entangled with a human like her.Yeah.
Lottie’s exhale tickled the skin on his neck, just above his t-shirt, as she lifted her face up to him. She hadn’t moved away. The thought registered, though he was thinking only of how he needed to explain his family’s secret to her, how important it was that she accepted them. That she acceptedhim, all of him, before he…
Lottie placed her hands on his shoulders, her exquisite features glowing silver in the moonlight. Then she went on her tiptoes and snuck one hand behind his neck, tugging him down.
Eiric could have stopped her. She was far slighter than him, and yet he was powerless to deny her. Her warm breath touched his lips, and her breathing hitched. Then she pressed her lips to his, and his world tipped sideways.
He’d known, on an instinctual level, that kissing Charlotte would be incredible. He’d imagined it every time he’d glanced at her these past weeks, and often when he was alone. But nothing had prepared him for the pull of energy between them, for the soft, determined movements of her lips, for the first touch of their tongues as he took initiative and she opened her mouth for him.
He brought his arms around her, half afraid to squeeze her too hard. But she clung to him, her fingers digging into his shoulders, one palm toying with the hem of his t-shirt at his waist. She slipped it underneath the fabric, and he groaned into her mouth. He wanted to strip off his clothes, then hers, and worship her on this beach. Her naked body in moonlight, an offering for the gods.
Growling, he wrenched himself away from her. “No.”
He turned his back to her, put his fists to his hips, and breathed through his nose. He couldn’t face her, not yet, because he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her, and then he’d do nothing but repeat his brother’s mistake. It was hard enough resisting Lottie when it was just him fantasizing about her, but she was so willing and soft.
She hadn’t moved. He would have heard her steps, but he only discerned her fast, shallow breaths, nearly masked by the sound of the waves.
A long moment passed before he was calm enough to face her again.
She stared at him, her hand covering her mouth. “I’m so sorry,” she mumbled.
Eiric shook his head, still too rattled to reply.
“I mean, you’re Mikkel’s brother. And I threw myself at you. You’ve been nothing but kind to me.” She covered her entire face with her hands. “Can we just pretend this never happened?”
The last thing Eiric wanted in that moment was to discuss his dead brother with her. “No, it’s fine, I don’t…” He didn’t know how to finish that sentence, so he clamped his lips shut and stared out over the water.
