I stole another glimpse of Alyx’s eight-pack, and my response dialed right on over todefinitely.
“So, I’m really just supposed to sit here and watch you work your knee in the water?” I still couldn’t comprehend that what I was doing was a real job.
“Precisely. Don’t let me slip and drown,” Alyx answered with a smile. “Oh, and you have to listen to my stories. I like to tell stories while I work out. I’m working on a book, actually. I’d like to get your opinion of it.”
I laughed. Alyx writing fiction didn’t seem to fit his personality but since his voice was so deliciously smooth and sexy, I decided I could easily live in his make-believe world. “Okay. Have at it. Entertain me.”
He seemed to think hard about it for a few minutes—conjuring the story in his mind, I supposed. Then he started talking. “Once upon a time, there was a Mer Folk king and queen. They had a nice little family, consisting of two handsome princes and one lovely princess.” He glanced over at me and then said, “Let’s call the parents King Tearloch and Queen Beathag. Their children will be, just for fun, of course, Prince Aden, Prince Kailar, and Princess Maeve.” He winked. “See how I slid you in there?”
“What’s Mer Folk?” I asked, loving this playful side of Alyx.
“Mermaids? Mermen? Please tell me you know what they are. If not, I’m really going to lose you on the Siren part of my tale.”
“Oh! Okay, I know what mermaids are, but I thought they were all women. I guess I learn something new every day. I know what a Siren is too. They’re mean, right? Lure fishermen to their watery deaths by making their ships crash on the rocks?”
He changed positions and kept working his knee. I scooted just a tad deeper into the water.
“Yes. Evil creatures, they are. Very beautiful on the outside but treacherously ugly on the inside. I’ve even heard that they change their features to reflect their true selves once they have their victims beneath the water—probably to scare them even more.”
I shrugged. “Makes sense. Okay, so we’ve got a King and Queen. Three children—two boys and a girl. To be funny, you’ve named one of the children me, even knowing how terrified I am of the water. Gotcha. Keep going,” I said with a smile. Alyx made me feel good all over. He made me forget everything I wasn’t.
“With the Mer Folk, you see, the women, once they hit a certain age, can decide if they want to stay a mermaid or become a Siren. Queen Beathag and, years later, her daughter, Princess Maeve, were both lured to join the side of evil. The queen even threatened the lives of her sons.”
“That’s terrible. I’m glad I’m not fake Prince Aden or Kailar. My stepmom is awesome. She would never hurt me. On the contrary, she forfeited so much just to try and keep me alive.”
Alyx smiled indulgently at me, though he looked a little nervous. “In a desperate attempt to protect his sons, King Tearloch made a bargain with King Cleotus of Atlantis.” He paused, tilted his head, and amended, “Well, maybe not a bargain. He pleaded with the King to keep his sons safe until they were old enough to protect themselves. At this time, they were still just children and incredibly mischievous.” He laughed softly, like he was remembering something instead of making up a story. “Needless to say, the boys got into a lot of trouble very often. King Cleotus, with the consent of King Tearloch, gave the boys to two of his most loyal commanders to watch over them.”
“Okkaayy, now you are sounding like this king is a pedophile.”
Alyx splashed water straight into my face. “No, he is not! It wasn’t meant that way! He put the boys in their custody to watch over them.”
My tongue swiped across my lips, and I was surprised to find that it was salt water…and it tasted delightful. Oh, there was definitely something wrong with that. My sides started tingling again. I reached around to scratch my right side and then my left. Nothing was there, but the tingling sensation remained. I glanced down at myself and saw the skin was a little puckered. I wondered if my skin was reacting to the salt water. Weird!
“They were under the commanders’ care, so the Atlanteans could protect the boys until they came of age. It was…it should have been…a great honor.”
My heart felt heavy. “But why do I feel like they didn’t think it was such an honor?”
He turned to look straight into my eyes. “The commanders were simply too young themselves to take the job seriously. To try and convince them, King Cleotis had confided in the commanders that one day, when the boys came of age, the princes would be their mates. Their lovers. Their soulmates. That made things worse, because the boys were just children. The young men couldn’t think of them in any such way. They didn’t want to! So, they-they sent the boys away. Of course, they did everything they thought would be needed to keep the young princes safe…but they were unfortunately mistaken.” He shuddered and took a deep breath. “They were so fucking wrong on just about every damn thing. They shouldneverhave sent them away. It was cruel and caused the young Mer princes to suffer needlessly.”
I shrugged. “Okay. It’s your story. Fix it if you don’t like the direction it’s going in.”
Alyx was taking his storytelling to a crazy level, and he was getting so emotional. If I didn’t know better, I would swear there was a mixture of torment and sadness in his eyes. “Rewrite that part. Or let them reunite. The commanders can apologize, and they can live happily ever after in the fictional world of Atlantis.”
Alyx smiled, all sultry and gorgeous. “There’s nothing that I would enjoy more.” Slowly, he eased his way toward me. The way his eyes devoured me made me forget the ugly shell of my body. There was something about him…about this place that made me feel alive and beautiful. My employer made my body throb in all the right places—that hadn’t happened in years. “Do you have any idea how attractive you really are, Kailar?”
He’d moved so close that he was nearly within my grasp. I should have felt humiliated by the comment because we both knew I wasn’t anywhere near attractive but, for some reason, it didn’t bother me as it normally would have.
“Hardly,” I whispered. “Hopefully my inside beauty makes up for the ugliness of the outside, though.” I felt myself blush. My sides tingled and tickled again. I was sitting waist deep in the water on the edge of the pool, and I hoped the water wasn’t causing some kind of itchy rash. The twitching of my skin was even more pronounced this time. I wanted to claw at my sides…claw at Alyx. Why would I feel that way?
“Beautiful on the inside and outside,” he murmured, his lips nearly touching mine. He was so close now that our lower halves touched. At some point, I’d stood up—me and my dick, that is, who had definitely decided he wanted to be a major player in this. Thankfully, Alyx was hard as well. The water was up to my chest and the thin material of our speedos couldn’t really be considered much of a barrier between us.
“May I kiss you?” he whispered against my ear, taking a nibble on the lobe between words.
“You…you want to kiss me?” I couldn’t believe it. This had to be some sort of joke. Maybe Alyx and the Dragon lady were in on it together?
“More than anything,” he answered…and somehow, I knew he spoke the truth.
All my doubts vanished—well, maybe not vanished, but took a step back. Instead of waiting for him, I lunged forward and attacked his lips with mine. He made a noise that sounded something like a growl as he met my hunger with his own. Our tongues dueled. He tasted…salty and sweet at the same time. I couldn’t get enough. I wanted him. I was angry with him. I…I loved him? No, that wasn’t possible. He easily lifted me up, and I automatically wrapped my legs around his lean waist. We continued to devour one another. My cock rubbed his abs as I rode him beneath the water. I hadn’t realized it, but he carried us deeper into the pool.