He said it like he expected her to try. Even more confused than before, she asked, “I’m sorry, did you want me to try and bite you?”
“No. I like that you are gentle.” He sucked in a deep breath, then let it out in a slow, steady exhale. “Everything about you pleases me.”
Why that soft, lyrical purr made her insides melt, she couldn’t rightly say. “A-Are you the one who’s been leaving me things?” She was fairly certain, but it didn’t hurt to ask.
The merman’s eyes roved over her face and down, over her neck, chest, and arms, as if he was trying to see every part of her at once. “Yes. Did you like them?”
“I did,” she answered. “But I don’t understand why you didn’t just say hello.”
His dark eyes darted back to her face, a flash of black in his ghostly face. “I didn’t want you to run.” His brows lowered. Giving her a reproachful look, he added, “Like you ran today. That was very, very bad of you, my Clementine.”
“Like I ran today?” It took a second for her to understand what exactly he was referring to. “Oh, did you think I was… Oh gods, no! I was just running an errand. I wasnotrunning-running!”
He narrowed his eyes and slowly lowered his head to run the tip of his nose over the top of her forehead and down, tickling her cheeks and jaw. “Errand? What errand?”
Her merman was touchy. Was that normal?Be cool, Em. Come on. This is your chance.
“Um, I needed food and— and I wanted to get you something. A gift. For you. To say thanks for— for all the… I mean, you know what a gift is.” She could feel the heat of her blush radiating from her cheeks and wondered if he could, too.
That wasn’t cool at all!To her ears, she sounded small and uncertain, not casual and friendly. Where was the nonchalance? The charm? How was she supposed to make friends with this guy if she could barely sound like a normal person when she spoke?
The merman’s head lifted abruptly. Fixing her with an avaricious look, he asked, “A gift?”
“Um…” Clementine shifted her weight onto one elbow. Lifting her trembling hand between them, she shook her wrist until the bracelet fell out of her sleeve to rest against her hand. She was absolutely certain her face was glowing when she squeaked, “This is for you… Oh. I’m sorry, I just realized I didn’t ask for your name.”
Gods, could she make it any more obvious that she had no social skills? When someone asked for your name, it was polite to ask for theirs in return. Evensheknew that.
The merman leaned a little bit more weight on her as he lifted one hand to grasp her wrist. Clementine sucked in a sharp breath. She knew that she should have been at least a little uncomfortable having a stranger practically laying on top of her, but she wasn’t. It felt kind of… nice, actually, feeling his warm weight, smelling the salt on his skin.
It made that reckless, hot tingle come rushing back. She liked that, too.
And when the pads of his fingers — curiously textured, almost like the rubber floor beneath her — caressed the chilled skin of her hand and wrist, she felt more than that. Some tectonic force shifted inside her at that simple touch. It was as if every spark of magic in her body moved at once, rushing to the surface of her skin to greet those dangerous fingers.
Clementine gasped, shocked by the intensity of the sensation, but the merman didn’t seem to notice it. His gaze was leveled on her wrist as he slowly turned it this way and that, examining the bracelet with eyes shielded by long black lashes.
“Emory,” he murmured, hooking a claw under the bracelet to slowly drag it off of her wrist. “My name is Emory.”
His name left her lips on a sigh. “Emory. Oh, that’s a really nice name.”
With a flick of his fingers, the bracelet slid over his knuckles and down to rest in the indentation between wrist and palm. It looked starkly green against his coloring: black on the underside of his arm and palm, but white on the top.
Appearing enormously pleased, Emory leaned down again to run the tip of his nose along the bridge of her nose.A nuzzle,her brain helpfully supplied.Oh my god, this man is… nuzzling me. I don’t think that’s ever happened before.
“You are a perfect little creature,” he declared, just a moment before he scraped his sharp teeth over the tip of her nose in a playful nip. Clementine yelped, more surprised than hurt, and scooted back a few inches to shoot him a wide-eyed stare.
“What wasthatfor?”
Emory gave her an amused look. It was a distressingly roguish expression that made him seem not just dangerous, but very, very handsome. Clementine’s heart stuttered first with surprise, then with a sharp uptick in nervousness. It was one thing to try and make a friend, but it was quite another to feel… Well, she wasn’t entirely certain what she was feeling. Only that it made her insides feel like a bunch of squirming eels trapped in a bag.
In a good way. Maybe.
Oblivious to her turmoil, Emory blithely answered, “For running from me. For going into the water when the pod could return at any moment. For not waiting for me to return withmygift. You choose.”
She wasn’t at all sure what he meant about the pod returning, but the rest she took umbrage with. “I told you I wasn’t running. And how was I supposed to know you were out getting me a gift? I thought—” Feeling silly and a little too vulnerable for a first conversation with a new friend, Clementine bit her lip and looked away.
A pale, alien face dipped low to meet her eyes. “You thought what?”
Sighing, she answered, “I don’t know. I thought maybe you might not come back because I hadn’t gotten you anything in return. I was worried you’d stopped wanting to come around.”
