Page 37 of Secretly Abducted
"From kissing you," I correct, trying to shift into a less obvious position. "Just from kissing you."
He stares at me with something like wonder. "Humans really do experience physical and emotional together."
"Yeah, we really do." I take a shaky breath. "Which is why I should probably jump in the water for a bit."
"Or," he says, and there's something new in his voice, something brave and decided, "you could kiss me again."
"Vel'aan, if I kiss you again, I'm going to want more."
"I know." His hand finds mine again, squeezing gently. "I'm not ready for everything. But I'm ready for something. For this."
So I kiss him again as the last of the sun disappears into the ocean, his bioluminescence the only light between us, painting us both in colors that have no human names. And in that moment, I swear I feel it—something clicking into place, a spark of connection that goes deeper than skin.
When we finally part, he looks as stunned as I feel.
"Did you—" he starts.
"Yeah," I breathe. "I felt it too."
Something is beginning between us. Something that started with a rescue ten years ago and has been waiting all this time to bloom.
"Tomorrow?" he asks, like it's a promise.
"Tomorrow," I agree.
He slips back into the water with barely a splash, but before he swims away, he turns back. In the darkness, his natural luminescence makes him look like something from a dream.
"Thank you," he says. "For the nachos. For waiting. For being patient with me."
"Thank you for coming to check on me," I reply.
He smiles—rare and precious—and disappears beneath the surface.
I sit on the dock for a long time after he's gone, my lips still tingling from his kisses, my skin still humming with that strange spark of connection.
Finn finds me there an hour later, grinning like an idiot at the stars.
"Good talk?" he asks innocently.
"Something like that."
"Your lips are swollen."
"Shut up."
He laughs, dropping down beside me. "So? Progress?"
"Progress," I confirm. "Slow, careful progress."
"The best kind," Finn says. "The Nereidans are worth the wait."
Looking out at the bioluminescent waves where Vel'aan disappeared, feeling that new spark of connection humming under my skin, I know he's right.
They're absolutely worth the wait.
Chapter Nine
Vel'aan
