“Emory, what—Oh.”Clementine’s fingers trembled where they rested just below his navel. “Um… Are you okay?”
He really couldn’t decide if he was amused, dismayed, or aroused by the sweetness of her tone. Clementine looked so shocked by the appearance of his cock that he might have actually taken offense if he didn’t recall that she’d apparently never handled one before.
“I’m fine,” he assured her. It was partially true. Certainly he was much more comfortable with his engorged cock free, but now he had to deal with the fact that it wouldn’t go away on its own for a long while — unless, of course, she wished to mount him while he was restrained.
The image of his mate climbing on top of him and taking him into her hot little cunt was enough to make him groan again. Already his belly was becoming slick with his seed.Gods help me if she deigns to touch it. I’ll spill before we ever even get to mounting.
Clementine’s cheeks flushed and her eyes, those pretty hazel things that were so very expressive, kept darting between his face and his cock, which lay livid and flushed a deep pink against the white of his belly. His black markings, unique to every one of his kind, drew the eye to his erection unerringly — though he doubted anyone could miss it. In the fierce competition of ocean life, it paid to be well-endowed.
After a long, tense moment, his mate whispered, “You’re… enjoying this?”
Emory licked his lips. If she would only come just a bit closer, he could taste her again. “Yes, very much.” His voice was throaty and full of need. “My kind like to restrain our partners for mounting. It is the greatest pleasure to be at your mercy, my soft Clementine.”
She made that funny, high-pitched noise again. “Wait, the rope you brought was for?—”
“You. I made it the day I decided you were mine.”
The tiniest twitch of her fingers on his skin was torture. Emory’s breathing sped up as he stared up at her throat through his lashes, watching every tiny flicker of emotion as they danced across her eyes. “I want to tie your hands and your ankles and mount you until you say that you’re mine. I want you to take my cock like the sweet little mate that you are.” He dared to roll his tail, undulating his body so she was forced to look back down at his erection. “But I like the idea of you taking me like this, too. I’ll happily submit to my pretty little mate whenever it pleases her.”
“I…” His mate bit her lip. She looked uncertain, but there was no fear in her eyes. If anything, the flush in her cheeks and her rapid breathing told him that she wanted him, too. Speaking in a soft whisper, she admitted, “I don’t know how to do any of that. I don’t even know if Ilikethat.”
“But you want to touch me.” It wasn’t a question. He could see it in her dilated pupils. He could feel it in the hand that was slowly but surely inching its way down his abdomen. He could smell the thinnest thread of her desire in the salty air, musky and delicious on his sensitive palate.
He watched her take a steadying breath. Clementine shyly met his eyes when she murmured, “I think I do, yes.”
Tempest has blessed me.
He’d been given a perfect, brave little mate and he intended to treasure her for the rest of his life.But first I must be patient.
Forcing his shoulders to relax, to not give in to the impulse to roll his great mass over and pin her to the floor, Emory gave her an encouraging look. “Touch me, then, my Clementine. Learn me. I’m at your mercy. I’ll only take what you choose to give me and be grateful for it.”
“This really isn’t how I saw our introduction going.” Her fingertips skimmed, featherlight, down the ridges of his abdomen and across the flat plain of muscle just above his cock. They stopped there, barely an inch away from the mess his leaking seed made of his skin.
“I agree,” he replied, his tone low and tight, “this isbetter.”
ChapterEleven
There wasa long beat of silence. Emory held his breath. He meant what he said when he promised he would be grateful for anything she chose to give him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t fervently wish for Clementine to move her hand just a little bit lower.
Even so, he somehow managed to find a hitherto unknown well of patience in his soul when he grated, “You don’t have to do anything, my Clementine. My arousal is not your responsibility.”
He might be called by instinct to mount her. He might desire her as his lifemate and the mother of his young. He might long to hold her close and listen to her speak every day for the rest of his days.
But that did not mean she was obligated to touch himnow.
It didn’t sit well with him that she was a virgin. Part of the courting game was each partner having the confidence to fight and submit at their leisure. The idea that his mate might not have that confidence and therefore feel forced, even with him restrained below her, was unacceptable.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I’m over-thinking. I promise I want to touch you. I’m just— This is really huge for me.” It was a great pleasure watching her eyes go round and her cheeks darken with a dusky blush. “I mean thismomentis huge for me! Not— No, I guess that is too, but that’s not what I meant.”
Emory was amused by her, of course, but he knew better than to laugh at his mate in such a vulnerable moment. Instead, he lay there, docile under her hesitant touch, and gave her a truth of his own: “This is an important moment for me, too, my Clementine.”
She didn’t appear to believe him. “Okay, but you’ve done this before. I haven’t.”
“My cock has been touched before, but I’ve never donethis.”He sucked in a deep breath of her luscious scent. There was nothing sweeter, more delicious than his mate. “I’ve never allowed myself to be tied. I’ve never submitted. That is for you and you alone.”
The few merfolk who’d attempted to tie him were all unworthy or incompatible with his lifestyle. If they could overlook his defective nature, they usually only did so out of desperation or a desire to claim his territory. Those rare beings who didn’t fit into those two categories were simply incompatible because they enjoyed pod life too much, something he could never endure.
His Clementine was perfect for him not simply because he desired her, but because of her solitary nature and sweetness. It was no trouble submitting to her will. Now that he had, he struggled to imagine ever doing so for another.
