There were so many questions Morgan wanted to ask. What was a long time? Had Ty felt this way about another human? Had he felt this way about an octopus? How did that evenwork? Male and female octopuses died shortly after mating, didn’t they? Was it something he even wanted to know?
“I don’t—” he began, then stopped. “This is. Um.”
Ty nodded, staring down at the tabletop. “It’s a lot,” he said. “It’s too much, I’m sure, but.” He shrugged. “It’s how I feel.” His thumb stroked over the back of Morgan’s hand, and because his eyes were still averted, Ty likely had no idea just how strongly his words had hit home.
“I’ve always known what love is,” Ty continued. “I’ve felt it before but never like this. You came into my life so suddenly, but from the moment I first saw you, I felt at ease with you.”
Love?There was no way he meant that. Loving someone else was a long process, drawn-out and tenuous if you weren’t born family. It had taken Bentley over two years of dating to actually say he thought he was in love. Perhaps love didn’t mean the same thing to Ty that it did to a regular person. “Maybe you felt at ease because you were hauling me unconscious out of the ocean,” Morgan said in an effort to lighten the serious turn things had taken.
Ty just shook his head. “No,” he said simply. “No, but thank goodness I did. To see you and lose you in the same moment would have been too much to bear. And now,” he forged bravely ahead, “although I might still lose you, at least I have ...” He swallowed. “At least I’ve had the pleasure of your company. Iknow the warmth of your spirit and the feel of your body next to mine, and I’ve felt the courage inside your heart.”
He finally raised his eyes to look directly at Morgan. “You saved my life today. There’s no debt between us, and there never was, but if the thought of possibly imposing on me made you uncomfortable, know that you have repaid me with that act a hundredfold.”
“Not a hundredfold,” Morgan said. After a moment, he turned his hand palm up so he could interlace his fingers with Ty’s. “We saved each other, didn’t we?”
Ty smiled. It was like the clouds parting for a brief moment and letting a beam of sunlight turn the sea into sparkles. “We did.” He paused, then said slowly, “Does knowing who I am make you want to run away?”
Morgan shook his head slowly. He didn’t want to run, and yet … he wasn’t sure how comfortable he was with this situation, with living with someone he didn’t understand. It had been enough of a challenge when he figured Ty was another human being. But now?
What could he make of any of this? What did it mean, to be loved by someone like Ty?
“I don’t want to run away,” Morgan said, “but I’m honestly not sure where to go next. I kind of thought we were—I mean—” He used his free hand to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly. “When we were on the couch before, and you touched me, and I, you know, kind of, um …”
“Released your seed,” Ty supplied.
Now it was Morgan’s turn to have a red face. “Yeah, you could call it that.”
“Do you prefer orgasmed?”
“I prefer not to refer to it in quite such clinical terms,” Morgan said, “or honestly at all. It’s … well, sex is a complex topic for a lot of humans. It’s a little taboo, and I can genuinely state thatI’ve never even approached this level of taboo with anything I’ve done before.”Complete understatement. “I mean, you’re not human. Do you actually want me like that?”
Ty smiled. “I’m human enough. As for whether or not I want you, would you like to find out?”
Hell, yes. He wanted nothing more than to pull Ty right back down with him on the couch and pick up where they’d left off, but …
“Maybe in the bed this time,” he suggested, and Ty smiled brightly.
“Take me there,” he said. His eyes were shining, shining for Morgan because he—no. Morgan wasn’t ready to think about love. He could barely face talking to the family he loved without feeling like he might not really deserve their affection. There was no way he could confront the same emotions coming from someone he was so enamored with, who’d been stuck with him for so long. How much of what Ty felt was just proximity?
Probably more than Morgan wanted to admit.
“Come on.” He took Ty by the hand and pulled him up to the bedroom. Rather than laying him down on the bed immediately, Morgan held Ty at arm’s length, inspecting him for more bruises, gashes, or cuts.
Ty gently covered both of Morgan’s hands. “I’m all right,” he assured him. “I heal very quickly.”
“I just have to make sure,” Morgan said.
“Mmm, that will be easier with this off.” Ty pulled his sweater over his head in one smooth motion. When he revealed the skin beneath it, Morgan gasped. Color rolled across Ty’s chest, shades of pink and red, like vibrant ripples in the pale water of his skin.
“Gorgeous,” Morgan whispered. “You’re gorgeous.” And he was treated to the sight of Ty’s entire upper body momentarily going bright red. He grinned. “You like being complimented.”
“Who doesn’t?” Ty said a bit self-consciously.
Feeling bolder now, Morgan reached out to the waist of Ty’s borrowed sweatpants. They were slightly too big for him, sized for Morgan’s frame. He slid his hands beneath the waistband across cool, dry skin and finally pulled them down.
A naked Ty wasn’t exactly what Morgan had been expecting. He hadn’t gotten a good look at him while he was hauling him out of the ocean, but he was certain that what he’d felt pressed against his groin earlier had not been, well … a dick that looked very much like his own. Still gorgeous, and something he couldn’t wait to get his mouth on, but …
As if basking under Morgan’s scrutiny, Ty’s momentarily human dick seemed to coil around itself, tightening up into a corkscrew shape before relaxing again. “Holy shit.”
