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.“Chiseled from fine stone?” he went on, trying to continue the conversation past my sudden quietness.“That can’t be true, or else I would be sinking in the water as we speak.”“Well that is technically what you’re doing, isn’t it? You didn’t make it very far in our race.” I tried using humor to overcome the tension that was forming inside of me but it was useless.All I could think about was how I was pressed up against his body, a man’s body, no longer with a heavy tail swishing in the water below us.His trousers were tight and slicked against him and I could feel everything about his manliness through the layers of my dress.My blood was boiling.“What is wrong, my Grace? You’re not even looking at me.”I hadn’t realized it but my eyes were cast down at the water, avoiding his stare.“Oh, no, nothing’s wrong,” I said, meeting his gaze.“It saddens me that you are so afraid to be with me.”“I’m not afraid to be with you.”His eyes formed into two sad-looking orbs of gorgeous color.“Then what is it?”“I’m, I’m just nervous.But in a good way, not bad.”“Why are you nervous? I’m just holding you and laughing with you.Nothing more.”“But I want there to be more.”A smile tugged at his mouth’s corner.“You do?”“Absolutely.I’m just so used to you being a merman.I never thought we would be able to physically be together.And now here we are, you with the body of a complete man.I’m overwhelmed.”“Overwhelmed?”“Yes, overwhelmed.Overwhelmed with.lust.”“Lust?” he said, his eyebrows rising with surprise.“Wow.Well, you should feel how I feel then.”“And how do you feel?” I asked, pulling myself more tightly against him.“Well, why don’t I show you instead of telling you?” Without waiting for my answer he kissed me deeply, his tongue parting my lips and dancing with mine.I became like putty in his hands.His fingers traced along the backside of my body, exploring what they could through my heavy attire.I wished in that moment that I was naked so I could feel the strong grasp of his hands directly on my skin.“Gracie!” my father’s voice echoed from the ship.“We be pullin’ anchor shortly!”“Oh lord,” I said, breaking away from our kiss.“When will we not be interrupted by that man’s screaming?”“I guess that means we need to get back on board.”I glanced over at the rock we had tried to swim to earlier.“I have a challenge,” I said, looking back at Ladarius’s handsome face.He smiled through labored breaths.“I never said I liked challenges.”“You’ll like this one.”“Oh you think I will? Okay then, let’s hear it.”“I still want to race to the rock.I want to see if I can beat you wearing this heavy dress.”“But I have no idea how to swim with legs.”“Then I shall give you a quick lesson.”“And what exactly is at stake here if I lose?”“Hmm,” I pondered aloud.“Well, if you lose you will go sleep below with the crew tonight.”“And if I win?”“If you win then you will sleep with me.”His head dropped with a laugh of shyness.“Will I actually be falling asleep with you or can I take ‘sleeping’ to mean something else entirely?”“Well maybe you need to win so you can find out.”“Are you going to let me win? Because that’s cheating.And I do believe it would bruise my ego a bit, you letting me win because I am now a poor swimmer.”“You are not a poor swimmer; you are the strongest swimmer I know.Now, you’ll use your arms in the same way as you did before but you must match your legs to the same motion.So when you open your arms to take the stroke you’ll open your legs as well and push them closed when you close your arms back down to your sides.Here, I’ll show you.” I tried my best to show him but it was a little hard to see, especially with all the fabric surrounding my body.“I thought that was what I did but it didn’t exactly work out for me.”“You’re probably not used to two separate parts moving below you.Try it again.”He kicked off of the sandy floor and treaded slowly along the top of the water.“Like this?”“Yes, it looks like you’ve figured it out!”“But I’ll never win the challenge going at this pace.”“Well, try holding your breath and swimming below the surface.”He took in a deep breath and then sunk down, disappearing from view.A few seconds passed and he was still swimming, or at least I hoped he was swimming and not drowning.To my delight his head finally popped up far from where I was.“My goodness, Ladarius! You got all the way over there?”“Ha, that I did! I guess I can swim with legs; I just do it better below the surface.That’s what I’m used to, after all.”“Then I guess you are ready to race me then?”“Yes, I am.Would you like me to give you a head start?”“Oh, you are rather sure of yourself now, aren’t you?”“I know when I am good at something.”My chest tightened at his remark.“I’m sure you do.And no I don’t need a head start; that would be cheating.Besides, don’t you want me to lose this race?”“Don’t worry.I have complete faith in you that you will lose this race.”“Because you’re assuming I want you to sleep with me in my quarters?”“No, because I am much faster than you and I will win.Whether you want me to or not [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]