I don’t quite breathe an exhale of relief, but it’s a near thing. This won’t fix the overarching problem of her unhappiness here, but I don’t have a solution to that problem yet. Maybe Embry will have some suggestions. Ze has been giving me sharp looks whenever ze is in my presence, so goddess only knows what opinions ze has managed to keep to zirself since Catalina arrived.
“You won’t drown.”
Her lips quirk into an almost smile. “Yes, I’m aware.”
“I’m repeating myself because I suspect humans learn to swim very differently than my people.” I reach down and touch the gills tucked just beneath my ribs. They’re closed currently, since we’re on land. “We learn beneath the surface.”
Catalina gives that far more consideration than she’s given anything else we’ve talked about to date. Finally, she nods. “Okay, we’ll try things your way.” Before I can say another word, she slips off her dress.
I should look away. I even command myself to drop my gaze. It’s as if another has taken control of my body... specifically my eyes. I trace the sight of her. The curve of her hips, the soft line of her stomach, her breasts—goddess, but I want her. Coaxing orgasms from her, watching her lose herself to pleasure, is an addiction I don’t know how to shake.
I’m not certain I want to rid myself of it.
“Thane.” Catalina wets her lips. “If you don’t stop looking at me like that, we’re not going to swim at all, and while I’m not super opposed to cumming again, I very much want to earn your cock.”
Earn your cock.
I close my eyes, but there’s no relief behind my lids. Her presence soaks into every bit of this space, from the air I breathe to the rock beneath my tentacles. It’s ridiculous. Absurd. One would think I’m smitten with this confusing human, which I most certainly am not. “Right.”
If I don’t do something quickly, I’ll keep standing here staring at her, and then staring will become touching, and then she’s right. We won’t do any swimming at all. I’m having trouble remembering why that’s a bad thing, which is problem enough.
The woman needs more than orgasms. I may not be able to offer her proper freedom, not without accompanying her personally, but I can offer her this.
Before I can talk myself out of this route, I slide into the pool and motion for her to follow. “Come here.”
Catalina doesn’t hesitate. She slips into the water next to me and immediately goes under. I follow her down and catch her waist. She blinks at me, obviously trying to be calm but just as obviously not succeeding. I can’t speak to her down here, but I hold her steady until she inhales deeply and relaxes.
Which is right around the time I realize I may not be the best suited to teach a human to swim. My people move with our tentacles. Humans only have two legs. But so do demons and dragons and the rest of the people in this realm. I try to remember exactly what that looks like. It’s been a long time since I’ve had cause to swim with anyone outside my people.
I wonder if that’s a mistake.
There have been so many made in the past five years. We may be at peace, but since Brant’s death, it’s a fraught peace. It feels more like a pile of tinder that may burst into flame at any moment. The people in different territories don’t mix as much as they used to. Tensions are higher than they’ve been in all the years I’ve ruled.
None of that is a problem for right now.
I spin Catalina around until her back is to my chest. She tenses, but only for a moment. Her ass presses against me, and it’s distracting, but I force myself to focus. I take her wrists and slowly move her arms in an approximation of swimming.
After brief consideration, I shift her away from me, giving her as much room as possible. She tentatively moves her arms like I showed her and then starts kicking her legs. Soon she’s paddling in circles around the space. Now’s the time to let go of her. She’s got the idea of it, and she needs space to figure out the rest.
It’s still far more difficult than it has right to be to release her. The moment I do, she sinks several feet and freezes. But when she looks up and finds me above her, she exhales a string of bubbles and begins moving again.
After ten minutes, I hook an arm around her waist and take us both to the surface. Catalina grins at me. “Did you see me? Swimming like a goddamned fish!”
She has a long way to go before anyone would mistake her awkward movements as fishlike, but I won’t say a single thing to dampen her excitement. She looks so... happy. “You did well.”
Catalina allows me to hoist her onto the edge of the pool. I realize my mistake as soon as I shift back. She’s naked but for the water coating her skin, and that’s more ornament than anything else. Even as I watch, a rivulet from her wet hair slides down one breast to course over her nipple. It’s puckered and tight with the cool air, and I can’t help licking my lips. I have barely gotten a taste of this woman, and I want so much more.
Goddess, am I really jealous ofwaterright now?
She shakes out her arms, apparently oblivious to the direction of my thoughts. “Wow, that was more of a workout than I expected. Silly, right? Of course it’s a workout, or it wouldn’t be an Olympic sport.” She lifts her legs out of the water and frowns at them. “You aren’t secretly trying to get me to work out, are you? That would be shady.”
I swear I don’t understand half of what comes out of her mouth, but I recognize the sliver of insecurity on her face. It gives me the motivation I need to dial my desire back and focus on the conversation. “I have no desire to change anything about you.”
“You’d be the first.” Before I can examinethat, she continues blithely on. “I think I’ve been very good, don’t you, Thane?”
For once, I won’t be distracted by the temptation of her desire. “Who wants to change you?”
She frowns but answers, “Who doesn’t? I am hardly the perfect daughter my mother wanted, and she never hesitates to detail all the ways I’ve failed her as her only child. My father was distant, and when he got sick of my mom’s bullshit, he took off, and it doesn’t matter what I do to gain his attention, the most I get is birthday cards—usually a month or two late.”