Page 30 of Stranded with the Kraken
“Jasper.”
I sink my fingertips into his shoulders to stop him. Not that he couldn’t drag me out if he really wanted to—I have no leverage here. But he only tightens his grip on me and remains still, eyeing me warily.
“If you think I’m going to spend the next nine months without hot monster sex,” I growl, “you’re dead wrong.”
“Thirteen,” he says.
I blink. “What?”
He drags his fingers through his hair, and his expression turns sheepish. “The, uh, the typical kraken pregnancy lasts thirteen months.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Oh god. Okay. We’re going to have to talk about that. But the same issue applies. I won’t have you treat me like I’m a porcelain doll for the duration of my pregnancy.” And when he opens his mouth to object, I roll right over him. “It’s perfectly safe to have sex all through to the end for humans, unless a doctor tells us otherwise.”
Jasper bites his lower lip, indecision wafting off him in waves. “You’ll go to my doctor the moment we return,” he hedges. “She’s a witch, so we’ll be able to tell her everything.”
“Okay,” I agree. “Of course.”
“And she’ll monitor you weekly—” he continues.
But I interrupt him, putting up a hand between us. “Monthly.”
Jasper scowls at me. “Bi-weekly.”
I can’t help but giggle as I shake a tentacle he holds in front of me. “Agreed.” I lean in to seal the deal with a kiss. “But everything will be all right, Jasper. I’m healthy, and the baby will be, too.”
He lets out a long sigh, then kisses me once more, his tongue stroking lightly against mine. “I’m so fucking happy, but also terrified. Is that normal?”
He swims from underneath the pier, and we bask in the last light of the day. The sun is a glowing orange half-moon dipping into the ocean, the water is perfect, and we’re all alone in this gorgeous bay.
“That’s normal,” I confirm, stroking my fingers over Jasper’s cheek. “But now I want to know what you had in mind for me before I told you my news.”
A tentacle slips from around my leg to my inner thigh, teasing its way toward my swimsuit. I gasp, then giggle when another molds itself to my other leg and tickles the underside of my knee.
Jasper’s smile is slow and wicked. “Well, I thought I’d show you what used to happen when a kraken caused a shipwreck.” He pushes back my hair with his hand and loops it around his fist, tugging my head back to expose my neck. “When a kraken catches his prey, he might like to play with it a little.”
I gasp as his lips find my throat. “That sounds good. Yep. Oh,shit.”
The tip of one tentacle slips under my swimsuit and teases my ass, the small suckers opening and closing over my skin. Goosebumps erupt all over my body even though I’m almost too hot with the warm water and the heat of Jasper’s tentacles coiling around my limbs.
It takes me a moment to realize that I’m completely immobile now. Jasper has wrapped twin tentacles around my arms, too, and I’m suspended in the water in front of him, at his mercy.
“I can’t even touch you?” I whine.
He shakes his head, his golden gaze mesmerizing. “Not until you scream for me, beautiful.”
A strong tug of his tentacle, and the bottom of my bikini is ripped away. My heartbeat speeds up at the gesture, and Jasper groans as he inhales deeply through his nose. Then he brings his hand to the back of my neck and undoes the tie of my top. He wads both pieces in his fist, then tosses them to the top of the pier in an impressive arc.
“Littering is bad,” he says, grinning, when I raise my eyebrows at him. “Some poor sea turtle could get tangled up in your hot swimsuit.”
My husband is a majestic mythological monster, and he’s worried about sea turtles.
“I love you,” I murmur. “Do you know that?”
“I do,” he says. He brings his lips to mine for a long, carnal kiss. “I love you, too.”
He slides the tip of the tentacle that’s curling around my thigh higher, and it brushes over my clit. I jerk in his hold, my body aching for release.
“Fast or slow?” Jasper asks, his breath hot on my neck. “Your choice, sweetheart.”
