Page 55

He hadn’t been about to ask that, had he? He’d been wanting to know…something else. Some question about how Syrus felt out of the water like this, his tail and fins out on dry land.

But he supposed his self-deception only went so far, because Luke had to admit he was curious. More than curious, even. Syrus had talked about mating in his pod, relationships between breeders and their protectors. It had to happen somehow.

Yes, that’s exactly what this is, some inner voice taunted. Scientific curiosity.

Syrus’s gaze was burning, and Luke lifted his own to meet it. There was that crinkle at the corners, Syrus’s ever-present amusement at Luke’s hesitation, so at odds with the fierce hunger in his gold-flecked eyes. It was the hunger that had Luke frozen. Syrus didn’t push, though, only let his question hang in the air.

He didn’t need to push, not with the intensity of his stare.

Ask me, his eyes seemed to say. Ask me before I pounce on you anyway.

“Syrus...” Luke’s cheeks went even hotter at the rasp in his own voice. “Where…where is your cock?”

Syrus blinked, breaking the tension, if only a little. He beamed at Luke, then rolled over onto his back. “Oh, Luke, I thought you’d never ask.”

He reached out and grabbed Luke’s hand, bringing it to a spot right around where Luke had been eyeing—below Syrus’s navel, in the middle of where his hips seemed to be. Syrus pressed Luke’s fingers to the spot, then slowly dragged them down. There was a…seam there, a slight indent to the skin, deeper than the texture of his patterned scales. And it was sensitive, judging from Syrus’s gasp as their joined hands gave it a stroke.

“Here?” Luke asked with a frown. Sensitive it might have been, but Luke didn’t see any sign of what Syrus had been teasing.

“Mm.”

“Hidden?”

Syrus gave him a secret sort of smirk. “Protected.”

“But I want to see.”

It was the raw, unvarnished truth. Luke wanted it desperately. Because yes, it was strange seeing Syrus like this, laid out with a tail on the floor of Luke’s garage. It wasn’t like any part of Luke had been prepared to have a merman enter his life, let alone one so determined to seduce him. But it also did something to Luke, the oddness of it, something about the strangeness enhancing everything between them.

Luke had never felt so…aware of another person. Trying to do his work while Syrus lay on his side, watching Luke in his piercing way, swishing his tail in either invitation or taunt…

Well, it had been a fucking losing battle if there ever was one. Even turned away on his stool, Luke had been able to feel Syrus. A certain vibration in the air. A warmth at the back of his neck.

The only time Luke had ever been so attuned to anyone else was with his own son, and that was someone he both loved with all his being and someone who needed him for his very survival.

So how had Syrus found his way into that frequency so quickly? So effortlessly?

Luke pondered this while he stroked, and Syrus’s seam grew…slippery. Luke paused, staring at his own fingers pressed against blue flesh.

Syrus’s tail didn’t feel anything like Luke might have imagined. It wasn’t sticky or slimy or wet. It was dry and cool and smooth, the skin firmer than a human’s but also terribly soft, even with the slight texture from the patterned scales.

But now…now there was moisture.

Luke scanned Syrus’s face. The merman’s breaths were coming faster, his beautiful dark eyes heavy-lidded. It felt good, then, being touched here.

Syrus noted Luke’s attention. “Luke,” he sighed. “Press harder.”

Luke did as he asked, adding a little weight to the two fingers he’d been stroking with, and his own breath rushed out as the seam gave way and those same fingers suddenly dipped into…

Heat. Wet and slick and scorching.

A tight groan. The thump of Syrus’s tail hitting the floor.

“Jesus,” Luke breathed.

He hadn’t expected…

Well, he hadn’t expected any of it, but he definitely hadn’t expected the warmth. Syrus was always so cool to the touch. But inside…