Wild Blue Under

by Judi Fennell

  She tugged her face from his grasp and slid from the barstool. He was giving her too much credit. Undeserved credit.

  “That’s not admirable, Rod.” She walked to the sliding door and fumbled with the handle, trying to get away—as usual. “That was me, running from something I didn’t want to deal with. Just like always.”

  He followed her and unlocked the latch, but he didn’t open it. He stood a hair’s breadth behind her. Close enough that she could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her shoulder blades.

  She made no move to open the door.

  “Except you didn’t run, did you, Valerie? You stayed. Even when I told you one unbelievable thing after another, you stuck with me because of the bigger picture. Because of what you want out of life.”

  He made it sound so noble, but she’d just decided she was leaving before he’d shown up in the kitchen.

  Except… she hadn’t.

  She’d had the chance to get out, yet she hadn’t gone. She’d stuck around to eat that apple… and work this out.

  She wasn’t like her father.

  Relief flooded her. Along with something else when Rod eliminated that last slip of air between them.

  His hand brushed her curls before sliding along the slope of her neck, down her shoulder where he gripped her bicep, his touch slight, but by no means insignificant.

  “Without my tail, without the throne, I finally have the same chance you’ve always had. I’d like to take that chance. To share my life. With you, Valerie.”

  This time when his voice dipped, it wasn’t because he’d been disappointed. This time it was with hope.

  And that was her middle name.

  But she’d hoped before. And lost. Every time.

  Would it be different with Rod? Did she want it to be?

  Could it be?

  Her first instinct was to run—no surprise there. But she was done with that. And, scary though it might be, if she ran from Rod—from his declaration—she would always wonder. Would it have worked? Was he the one? Could she have had the life she’d always wanted?

  Could she commit?

  The answers were all right there, hers for the taking…

  If she had the courage to try.

  Chapter 34

  “Rod, I…” Val nibbled her lip, wanting to say yes. Wanting to give him the answer he wanted, wanting to make it all true, but still unsure. What if she was wrong?

  He put a finger on her lips. “Sshh. I don’t need an answer now. I know how hard all of this is to take in.” He gave her that sideways grin he did so well. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  She smiled at that. He wasn’t going anywhere because he hadn’t gotten a tail. That big, life-altering, reality-shifting thing, yet she was worried about… what? Silly things like would he leave, could she trust him, what if she ended up getting hurt…

  No guts, no glory. No pain, no gain. Pretty it up with clichés, it all came down to one thing: was her fear going to keep her from getting what she wanted out of life?

  And was Rod what she wanted?

  There was only one way to find out.

  “Rod, kiss me.”

  “I—what?” The look on his face made her uncertainty worth it. He hadn’t seen that one coming.

  She hadn’t either, really.

  “Kiss me.”

  “You’re sure?”

  No. “Yes.”

  “Okay, but, Vale—”

  Oh, hell. Any more talking and she’d lose her nerve. Val wound her arms around his neck and pulled his lips to hers.

  It didn’t take him long to wrest control of the kiss away from her.

  She sighed when he nipped his way from her lips along her jawline to that spot he’d found beneath her ear.

  God, he knew just the right spot…

  Her head fell to the side as his tongue and lips did something magical to the cord in her neck and his hair brushed her lips, and every nerve cell in her body came alive.

  Oh, she’d felt physical attraction before, but never anything like this. He liked her for her. For the person she was inside. Flaws and all.

  No. That wasn’t right. She was starting to get a little fuzzy on the details since he’d decided to swirl his tongue in the hollow of her collarbone, but she did remember that he didn’t just like her. He loved her.

  And that made all the difference.

  He loved her. And she—

  Val cupped his jaw in her hands and urged his lips to hers, wanting, no, needing to taste him, to be as active a participant in this as he was. She swept her tongue between his lips with all the urgency and inevitability of those waves out there on that beach, finding all the hidden nuances to his mouth, the taste and scent and feel of him oh-so-right beneath her lips and tongue and fingers.

  Then he groaned and the want in his voice ricocheted through her. Her knees gave out and she splayed her fingers across the strong shoulders that rippled with muscle beneath her touch to keep herself vertical.

  Vertical? That wasn’t how she wanted to be with him.

  Memories of how she’d awoken this morning, naked and sprawled all over him, skin to skin, her knee cradled between his thighs, flashed in her mind’s eye and it was all she could do not to rip his clothes off.

  Because she wanted, no needed, to connect with him as closely as two people could. To have him physically inside her because…

  Because…

  He already was.

  Somewhere along the drive, or maybe during the flight, he’d slipped past her defenses and made her care. Made her want to care, to take that risk, to know that the risk was worth taking and that she wasn’t setting herself up to be abandoned again.

  He’d proved that when she’d volunteered to go in the water. He could have taken her up on the offer to get what he wanted, but he hadn’t. He’d declined it. For her.

  She slid her hands between them to cling to his shirt, the only thing beside his arms holding her upright, and Rod’s lips skimmed over her cheek to her jaw. She tilted her head back, still clinging to him, not letting go.

  Then his tongue danced along her throat, and her tummy fluttered with a million possibilities when he swept her into his arms.

  “Tell me, Valerie,” he whispered by her temple, his breath feathering across her skin. “Tell me what you want.”

  What was amazing was the uncertainty behind his demand. Rod was just as vulnerable as she’d always felt, and it made her believe, really believe, that he did love her.

  “You, Rod.” She scraped her teeth along his jaw, fumbling with his shirt, shoving it up his torso, seeking the tight flesh of his stomach as he hitched her higher in his arms. “You… and to share my life with you.” She nipped his earlobe then slid her tongue into the shell of his ear and he shuddered against her.

  “Hold that thought,” he growled against her hair.

  For a guy who hadn’t been born with legs, he used them amazingly well as he carried her to the back-corner bedroom she’d changed in earlier. He rested one knee on the sunlight-streaked, pale-blue comforter and lowered her to the bed with tantalizing slowness.

  A mixture of urgency and lethargy flowed through her limbs as she watched him watch her.

  Then he inhaled, the muscles of his stomach contracting, and her lethargy disappeared. She sat up, running one fingertip along the line by his hip that so enchanted her and his groan covered the sound of the waves on the beach outside.

  “Gods, Valerie… You see what I mean? You go for what you want, and I, for one, have no complaints.”

  She smiled up at him, nibbling on her bottom lip while she figured out what she wanted next.

  Then she drew her lips along that line by his hip, glad she’d made that choice when Rod wavered beside her.

  That was effective.

  So was
running her tongue across his nipple.

  Rod groaned and leaned forward, forcing her back, bracing himself with his elbows by her head. But that didn’t stop his lower body from letting her know exactly how effective that last maneuver had been.

  “Still sure you like this about me?” She followed that with a nip to his jaw just before Rod shook his head.

  “No?” She pulled back.

  “No. I don’t like it.” He feathered his lips over her cheek. “I love it, Valerie. Don’t stop.” He did it again. “Ever.”

  Ever.

  Ever meant permanence.

  Stability.

  Commitment.

  And that was something she wanted more than anything else.

  She turned her head so the next pass of his lips met hers.

  She did want ever more than anything. Well, more than anything except Rod. And it looked like she could have both.

  Rod needed this. He needed her. Something tangible to hold onto as this crazy, whirling eddy of a day finally flowed into a steady current, washing the guilt from him like an ebbing tide.

  He couldn’t believe how free he felt.

  He hadn’t failed Reel all those selin—years ago. No, he’d failed himself over the years, always accepting everything they’d told him as truth. That the throne came before all else.

  But Valerie made him see things differently.

  Rod found the hollow of her throat and inhaled. Her scent streamed through him like the Caribbean Current, warm, and full, filling every space inside him. He wanted to ride this wave for the rest of his life.

  Her fingertips played with his nipples, sending shivers down his spine, straight to his balls, and he slid against her, feeling the soft muscles of her belly accept the thrust of his cock, and the tenor of the moment changed.

  He framed her beautiful face between his palms. “I love you, Valerie.” It was a truth so universal to him that he was surprised he hadn’t realized it the moment he’d met her. But he’d been blind to the truth. Blinded by the dictates and statutes and strictures that had defined who he was.

  Well, no more. He defined who he was.

  He didn’t need the throne, he didn’t need Immortality, and he didn’t need a tail.

  All he needed was her and the chance to share her life. This beautiful, strong, independent woman looking up at him with eyes so direct and clear and full of wonder that he could see his future.

  “I want you, Valerie.” He kissed the corner of her mouth she so often nibbled. “Now and for the rest of my life.”

  Her breath caught and she nibbled that corner again. “For real?”

  He couldn’t resist. “No. For Rod.”

  Then she smiled and it was as brilliant as dawn over Antarctica, bright and vast and pure. “I… I love you, too, Rod.”

  He took her lips, tenderly at first, sipping at their sweetness, slicking his tongue over her soft lips, tasting something both tart and sweet at the same time, so very much like her.

  She groaned into his mouth, and the sound vibrated down through his heart into the marrow of his bones and he needed to be inside her. As she was in him.

  He pressed against her, his cock aching, and she moaned. Her legs shifted to accommodate him, cradling his hardness, her mound pressing against him, and Rod felt fire ignite at his core.

  She slid her hands over his back, arching against him so that her breasts swelled beneath the soft fabric of her shirt, their hardening tips grazing his chest.

  Rod shifted his weight so he could slide a hand down her side, into the indentation at her waist, curving around her hip, to palm the sleek flesh of her thigh.

  She whimpered, or maybe that was a groan he muffled with his mouth as his tongue delved inside, when he slipped his fingers beneath the edge of her shorts, sleek muscle and soft, damp skin greeting him.

  She turned her head just enough to break the gentle suction of their lips and inhaled, her moist breath skittering across his skin.

  “Rod, are you sure—?”

  “Sure?” He growled against her jaw. “Oh… yeah.”

  She smiled, her breath hitching with a soft laugh. “I meant about the water. I get that you’re sure about this.” She arched beneath him, sending a trail of fire from the tip of his cock to the base.

  He slid his hand beneath her shorts, around to cup her backside. “I’m sure, Valerie. If it means I can’t have you, then frankly, I don’t give a damn.”

  She moaned when he clasped the firm muscle. “You forgot ‘my dear,’” she panted.

  “My dear what?” He traced the cleft there, down between her legs, wanting to tear the shorts from her body.

  “My dear Scarlett.”

  He pressed against her mound with the heel of his hand and she arched again into him. “But your name is Valerie.”

  She shook her head and moaned. “Never mind. Just… oh… do that again.”

  Gladly.

  But first, he tore himself off her, wanting the feel of her skin against his. She moaned, her eyes half-closed, her lips swollen and moist, skin flushed, curls jumbled around her head like a halo as she reached for him.

  He ripped off his shirt, hearing the tear in the seams and not caring. The shorts were more difficult, zippers and buttons and all manner of fasteners to slow him down. He managed to get them off in one piece, kicking them aside as he reached for hers.

  She’d caught on quickly, working the fasteners on her shorts the moment he’d left her, so Rod only had to reach out and slide them down her legs. He tugged, wanting them out of the way, then stopped himself.

  He wanted to take this slow. Taste and see every inch of her. Experience all she was to him. Show her how he felt, so she’d never question how or why he loved her.

  He spread his hands over her thighs, flexing his fingers against her firm muscles, and she wiggled, scooting back on the bed, trying to kick the shorts off her legs.

  Rod pressed down. “Valerie.”

  She looked at him from beneath hooded eyes, the blue as pure and crystal clear as glacial waters, but so very different in temperature, and he felt his own temperature rise.

  “I want you. Here. Now. Fast. Slow. All of you.”

  She nibbled her lip again as her chest hitched, breasts swelling beneath her T-shirt, nipples hard, begging to be released. She gripped the comforter, and her tongue flicked out to moisten her lips.

  Rod sucked in a breath, putting a rein on the impulse to claim her. His balls tightened as he tugged the hem of her shorts and another inch of thigh was bared to him.

  She writhed, trying to rid herself of the shorts, but Rod gripped her legs, imprisoning her. He tugged then, sliding the clothing to her knees—and her knees to the edge of the bed, the fabric beneath and around them, trapping her there for his pleasure.

  And hers.

  He slid one finger beneath her panties.

  Her heat and her scent almost drove him over the edge.

  He slid his finger closer to her core, already anticipating the wetness he’d find, the urge to slip inside her almost overcoming his desire to take it slow.

  Next time, however…

  And there would be a next time. And one after that, then another…

  She flattened her thighs, straining against the confines of the band of clothing that prevented her from opening herself up fully and arched against him when his finger found her.

  Wet. Hot. Swollen.

  He touched her again, this time long and slow. Lightly.

  She groaned, panting, her eyes shooting open. “Rod. Please.” She shoved her panties down over his hand.

  “I will.” His own breath sounded heavy to his ears, his cock swelling at her plea and the blonde curls he found there.

  He slid the fabric down to her knees, then found her again, lingering this time, slipping betw
een the folds gently and she gasped, surging against his finger. Her backside lifted off the bed and Rod found himself engulfed in heat. In need so fierce he almost came with the force of it.

  Fighting for breath and control, Rod slid her shirt up, needing to see all of her. “Take it off, Valerie,” he said, his voice lower than he’d ever heard. Hades, he was lucky he could speak at all, with the breath barely able to reach his lungs.

  She moved then, her abdomen contracting as she raised herself, her body sliding against and around his finger, and they both gasped.

  “Take it off.” The words fought for life in his dry throat.

  Valerie nodded and removed it, pink lace beneath cupping her breasts. He had little time to enjoy that visual feast before she’d removed that piece of clothing as well and she was bare and beautiful before him.

  He lifted her with his free arm, bracing one knee on the bed and took her breast in his mouth.

  Ambrosia. He finally knew the meaning of the word and understood why it was the food of the gods.

  He flicked his tongue over the pebbled nipple and she swelled beneath his tongue and under his finger. She moved then, working herself against him, and Rod groaned. He wanted to surge into her and make her his.

  Slow. Long.

  He kept her rhythm, suckling in time to the movement, wanting to feel her fall apart in his arms before he found his own fulfillment.

  Valerie dropped her head back, arching even more fully into his mouth, pulling her feet onto the bed to open herself for his touch. Rod could smell her arousal and found himself breathing it in like the elixir of life.

  She was his life. Anything else was extraneous, but this moment, this woman—not Mer, not Human, not Hybrid—this woman was where and how he’d spend eternity.

  She whimpered when he slowed the pace, her hand finding his, working his fingers against her, pushing one inside. “Please,” she panted.