Page 26 of Between Salt and Serenades
“What do you expect, Breena?”
“Can’t you just enjoy the time wedohave? Not everything needs to be so serious,” she groaned. her gaze settling on the hand bracelet she’d given me the day we’d met.
“When I’m not serious, people die,” I said with a clenched jaw, my voice dropping an octave. “When I give in, when I let go, horrible things happen. I can’t live this life of being carefree that you so clearly want of me.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way.” She reached back out toward me and wrapped her hand around my wrist once more. She didn’t touch me in a manner that sought control, but one that begged for surrender.
“But it is,” I said, wishing my words weren’t true. “I’m here for a few more days, and then I’m never going to see that cute little face of yours again. Or those tempting fingers.”
“That may be your truth now, but it doesn’t always have to be. If you think you can’t change your reality, you’re not as clever as I thought you were.”
When I didn’t respond, she kept going. “Don’t you want more? Don’t you want tobemore?”
“I didn’t realize I wasn’t enough.” I leaned forward my chair to use the countertop as support.
“You are. Everyone else sees that but you. There’s so much more out there than hunting and protecting. I want you to see that,” she said. “Even if it’s just for a little while.”
She thinks I’m enough.I thought to myself as I surveyed her face laced with a fine focus.
Fuck.
“Give me that mead,” I demanded, motioning to what was left of the pitcher. A smile tugged at my lips as she slid it to me. I took the sticky mess by the handle and chugged its contents, the sweet liquid hitting my tongue in a satisfying explosion.
I did want more, but those thoughts were too dangerous to admit. The thought of returning to the sea soft and malleable terrified me. But sitting in front of this woman, seeing the candlelight of the pub flickering across her skin, it seemed impossible not to let go, not to give in.
“That’s my girl.” Breena chuckled then took the pitcher from me. Squeezing my thigh in proud encouragement, she had me cursing under my breath.
She is going to ruin me.
Breena took a chug of her own, finishing what was left of the mead. She wiped her hand across her lips, no coughs following.
“Oh, I love this.” She released a giggle. “I think we need some more.”
“That, little droplet, I agree on,” I said, swiping my thumb across her cheek where a wayward droplet of pink mead rested. She leaned into my touch, and the gaze that met mine was one of need. I had never seen such a look directed at me, at least not one I was ever able to return.
As I pulled away, I popped my thumb in my mouth as Breena kept her eye trained fiercely on me. I needed a taste of her in any form I could get–-even through a tiny drop of mead.
I waved a new barmaid over after I had disposed of the last and ordered us both a large goblet of wild berry mead. Breena and I sipped on it for hours, talking and giggling. With each sip, I felt my composure slip. With each sip, I felt my eyes linger a little too long on places they shouldn’t. With each sip, it became more and more undeniable just how jealous I had been of Denivier’s longing glances directed at the stunning woman next to me. I knew the next time someone looked at Breena the way I did, they would pay far more than the barmaid had. They would pay with blood.
CHAPTER TEN
SLEEP, LITTLE DROPLET
Breena and I stumbled up the stairs of the apartment, using the wall and each other to balance our wobbling bodies. Each touch of her hand was a shock to my senses, lightning striking across my sensitive skin. My tongue was numb from the mead, but my mind had never been more awake. I was aware of each of her breaths that danced across my skin, aware of the giggly smiles and trailing touches.
Great waves, this woman was a temptation hidden under the mask of innocence. She knew exactly what she was doing, always had. When I’d first met the selkie, I’d thought she had no clue the effect she had on me, but tonight, she’d made it clear. She’d known it all along, and she’d been basking in the enjoyment of my suffering—my crumbling restraint.
Pleasure twisted in her with each spontaneous touch from me that slipped past my defenses. The moments my brain shut off, my icy exterior slipped, and my body did what it longed to do. In those moments, she knew I was wrapped around her little finger like a string.
We stumbled into the apartment, the smell of starchy rice and old books flooding my senses.
“Thank goodness we brought food back with us,” Breena said with a laugh as she set down a basket she’d swiped from the tavern’s kitchen. “I hadn’t realized how bad that rice was until I tried other types of human food.”
“It was horrible,” I chuckled in agreement. “Better than the raw fish, though.”
“Anythingis better than that raw fish,” Breena said. “I fear when I take my seal form once again, I won’t be able to swallow them down like I used to.”
“That is if we can manage to take down the huge net. You know that’s the first thing we have to do before returning to our families, right?” I asked, bringing the mood down as I always managed to do.
