The Mermaid and her King (11 page)

Chase

I take Skyla’s hand and lead her to the beach. Feeling her skin lights me up, but I’m trying to stay focused on the fact that she has a right to know the way I used to live. I’m hoping she’ll still want to be with me after, so I can fuck her very soon.

The waiting is torture, especially when she’s taunting me.
I feel as if Skyla’s my new drug, and I don’t know if I can handle that constant urge. Wanting to see her and touch her every day is about to drive me insane.

She has a right to know about Bud, too
, but there’s no way I can talk about him any time soon. I haven’t had to tell that story since I went into rehab right after he died.

“Um, Skyla, I feel like I should tell you some things about my past.”

She looks up at me and pulls a stray hair away from her face. Her expression shows curiosity but also concern. “OK.”

“I used to do a lot of bad th
ings … unhealthy things that hurt not only me but others around me.”

I feel her squeeze my hand tighter.
“Like what?”

“I was only fifteen when my mom died, and I took it really hard, so I st
arted drinking. By the time I was twenty, I was out of control with it, and it was hard to hide, so I started experimenting with drugs, thinking I could conceal that better.

“
First, it was pot. When my dad died a couple of years later, I needed something more to numb the pain. I also needed it to keep me going, so I could work. The alcohol and pot only made me depressed and lazy. A friend introduced me to cocaine, and it seemed like the perfect fix.

“
A drawback to being wealthy is that you can get drugs whenever you want them and not the cheap stuff, either. I was using heavily, but I went to rehab, and I’ve been clean close to a year now.

“
I’m fortunate in that my brain doesn’t seem to be wired for addiction the way it is for a lot of people. It was easier for me to stop than I expected. I’ll never let myself be that person again.” I wait for her to respond. I filled her head with enough garbage to process.

“Chase,
I hate to think of how hard life’s been for you since your parents died. I’m sorry you had to go through that all those years. To think you suffered and didn’t really live makes me sad for you.”

“You feel bad for me?”

“Yes. You’ve been through a lot. It’s great you got clean, and I don’t know why you think you’re a bad person. You made poor choices, but it started when you were young due to tragedy, and it just spiraled from there. You need to cut yourself some slack. Your strength is amazing.”

“I
’m not scaring you off?”

“No. Did you think I wouldn’t want anything to do with you
because of that?”

She seems genuinely surprised.

“Not entirely. In the beginning I thought so, but you’ve made me feel like I could tell you, so I was hoping you wouldn’t run away.”

“I have even more respect for you, Chase. At a
young age, you lost the people you love and depend on the most. You went to a dark place to take away the pain, but you found the strength to crawl your way out of the hole. That’s commendable.”

“I can’t tell you what it means to me that you’re not ups
et, but there’s something else I need to tell you that goes with it. Because of doing the drugs, I also slept with a lot of women.

“
I feel horrible about it now, but I can’t change the past. I want you to know that I always used protection, and I’m clean.”

“It’
s fine, Chase. No offense, but I assumed you’ve slept with a lot of women. You’re too good looking not to have women throwing themselves at you, especially those who are also greedy.”

Skyla stops walking and wraps her arms around me, hugging me tight. I can’t even comprehend how I can tell her all of that, and instead of her being angry and
leaving me, she tells me how sorry she is for what I went through. I don’t know how she can have more respect for me.

She’d probably feel different if
I told her the whole truth. Would she want to be near me if I told her that I supplied the drugs that killed my friend? I’m too selfish to find out right now. I can’t risk losing her. I hug her back and stroke her long hair, feeling so much relief that she’s at least sticking around for now.

S
he pulls away and gazes up at me. “I’m really relieved you’re not in some kind of mob or sex slave business.”

I grab her face and give her one deep kiss
. She giggles against my mouth, and I swear that sound is fucking adorable. “Skyla, you’re an angel. A very, very cute one.”

Skyla

That wasn’t so bad. I don’t know what I expected to hear, but he led me to believe it’d be worse. He really is brave. He doesn’t know it, but I believe it’s already too late for me to ever walk away from him.

After we go back in from
finishing our walk, Chase seems uncomfortable. I imagine he’s not sure if he should touch me again. He has to be aware that it’d be hard for us to stop.

I decide I should go to make things easier on the both of us. After all he told me, it doesn’t feel like the right night to end up in his bed.
I don’t want him to remember anything negative from the day we make love.

“I think I should go since
I have to work again tomorrow, but then I’m off for four days in a row.”

He smiles at me. “
I have to go into Waikiki tomorrow evening for a business dinner, but if you’ll spend some time with me those other days, I’d be a happy man.”

“You know what a busy s
ocial life I lead, but I’ll try to fit you in,” I say, kidding as we walk to the front door.

“I wouldn’t want to interfere with
Eric and Andy’s lunch delivery on Saturday.”

“
I might share with you, too if you’re nice and rub sunscreen on me again.” I wrap my arms around his waist and gaze up at him.

He smiles
. “That’s asking for a lot. You have no idea how hard that was on me.”

His hands run up into the back of my hair, his expression turning serious. He
brushes a few kisses on my lips. “My hands covered in lotion, gliding along your smooth skin that felt like silk,” he says barely above a whisper, his hot breath warming my skin once again.

My body starts trembling. His words dance along every one of my nerves, awakening them
to beckon for his touch. “Chase,” I whisper.

He bends down
a little, grazing his lips up my neck until they hover above my ear. “Then you were right between my legs. Pure. Fucking. Torture.”

One of his hands drop, and the next thing I fe
el is his fingertips on my thigh, trailing up under my sun dress, his mouth still lingering on my neck. The pulsing ache is back with a vengeance. His fingers move slowly along my inner thigh until they brush my panties and trail down my other thigh.

“Chase,” I whisper again. I don’t know why I’m saying his name. Do I want him to stop or keep
going? My body jerks when I feel his hand cupping my wet panties, his thumb rubbing circles on the outside of them. His mouth is back on my ear.

“
You’re really wet, angel. I think I should play nice and finish what I’ve started.”

His words draw a chill across my skin, and I feel my legs trying to go, my body still trembling. He moves his free hand to the nape of my neck and holds me while his
other hand taunts me through the wet silk of my panties. His fingers slowly slide inside of them and sink into me. I whimper before sucking in a gasp of air.

“Fuck, Skyla, you’re so
warm inside and tight around my fingers. He begins moving them in and out of my scorching flesh, crippling my control.

I’m helpless, dependent on his touch.
I think I’d die if he stopped now. My eyes are clenched shut, and my breathing’s labored as the pleasure builds and emanates, spreading like a wildfire. His thumb is circling my clit all while his fingers plunge into me repeatedly.

“Open your eyes, Skyla. I’m going to see
your face and those baby blues when you come for me.”

I slowly open them, feeling bashful. H
e’s staring at me with so much desire in his eyes. This is as much for him as it is for me. My lids are heavy as the pleasure seizes me, tipping me over the cusp, but I never look away from his hungry gaze.

“That’s
it. Come for me, Skyla. I’ve never seen anything as fucking beautiful as your face is right now.” Waves of stinging pleasure wash over me again and again, my body writhing against his commanding fingers. I realize he’s holding me up as I come down from my high, collapsing against his chest.

His fingers slide out of me, and I feel his hands under the back of my dress, clenching my ass. I’m sated and warm against his chest, wanting nothing more than to curl up with him in his bed. I feel his erection against me and realize how difficult this has to be for him.

I’m not sure if I should return the favor. He pulls back from me and leans down to capture my lips, his hands still on my ass, pushing it against his hard-on. He kisses me slowly and skillfully for a couple of minutes.

“I know this can’t be easy for you. Do you wan
t me to make you feel better?” I ask.

“Not tonight. You have no idea what you’ve already done for me. I’ll have that image in my head forever. I
didn’t mean for that to happen. I just couldn’t resist, and I wanted you to feel good.”

I smile up at him sheepi
shly. I’ve never experienced anything that sensual and intimate. I’ve had sex before, but those times don’t compare to this moment between us.

“Tha
nk you. That felt really good, and I’ll make it up to you soon. I—I better go.” Leaning up, I plant a soft kiss on his lips. “Thank you for a great evening.”

“
Thank you for being so understanding about my past. I care what you think about me, Skyla.”

“I think yo
u’re great, Chase. Goodnight.” I walk out the door, very thankful that I drove tonight. All my energy has been zapped, and my legs feel like Jell-O.

Chase

Througho
ut the night, I’m tormented from pleasure and pain as I continually see Skyla’s face when she came from my touch. If a woman didn’t get off while I was fucking her, then she was out of luck, but with Skyla, I could touch her all day long knowing I’m making her feel that damn good. This strong desire to take care of her and please her has taken over.

I wake up exhausted on Thursday, and
I’m disappointed I won’t see her. I want to do something nice for her since she didn’t run away after hearing about my past.

Aware of her love for the ocean
, and knowing she’s going to school for marine biology, I get an idea. After making a call to arrange things, I text Skyla to call me when she can. Soon after, my phone rings.

“Hello, angel.
”

“Hi,”
she says softly.

“Do you have plans tomorrow?”

“No. I was hoping to see you,” she replies.

“How early would you be willing to see me?”

I hear that cute giggle I love so much. “I guess it depends if you make it worth my while.”

“
You’re driving me crazy. Do you know that? I think it’s worth getting up early for this.” Now, I picture her lying underneath me in my bed, and I’m blaming her this time.

“OK, I
trust you.”

“I’ll pick you up at 5:30 in the morning. Wear a bathing suit and something warm over it.”

“Wow, that’s early, so this better be good.”

“I’ll make a deal with you. If you don’
t enjoy yourself during our outing, then I’ll make sure you do when we get back.” 

She’s silent for a few seconds.
“Um, it’s a deal. I’ll see you in the morning, Chase.”

Skyla

As I wait for Chase to pick me up
, I yawn several times. This is too early to be out of bed, but I have a strong feeling it’ll be worth it. I have on denim shorts and a grey sweatshirt over my hot pink bikini, and my hair is braided in a side fishtail.

I see him pull into the driveway
, and I swear my heart skips a beat. Just thinking about him gets me breathless. He’s smiling when I get into the car, and it still takes me by surprise since he seldom smiled the first couple of weeks I knew him.

“Good morning,
” he says.

“Good morning, Chase.”
I give him a peck on the cheek after I buckle up.

“
I was sure you’d be angry at me for getting you up this early, so it’s nice to see that smile on your face. Have any idea what we might be doing?”

“Um, I had one idea. I imagine you have a boat, so I wonder if we’re going out on it, but something tells me it isn’t that obvious.”

“We are going out on a boat, but it’s not mine. I do have my own, and I hope I get a chance to take you out on it.”

“I can’t wait to see what we’re doing
.” I feel butterflies in my stomach as we pull up near the docks and park. The only light I see are from a couple of boats that people are moving around on and the dock lights. We walk to one of the boats, and Chase tells me to wait while he goes to speak to someone. He has a discussion with an older gentleman and waves me over.

“Ron, this is Skyla. She has no idea what we’re doing here, so let me have a minute to make sure I’m not going to have to take he
r back home.”

“No problem,
” Ron says with a chuckle.

“Nice to meet you,” I say before he walks away.

Oh no. This doesn’t sound good. “Chase, what are we doing?” I’m sure he sees the anxiety wash over me.

“How do you feel
about sharks?”

“Um, I don’t want to be eaten by one, but otherwise
, I think they’re fascinating. Why?”

“If you’re OK with it,
we’re going to get into the cage that’s on the side of that boat and go under water to swim with the sharks. If you’re not comfortable with it, we don’t have to. I swear it won’t upset me. I know I’m springing this on you, but I thought with what you’re studying at college, you’d enjoy it.”

“That
sounds awesome. I’d love to.”

He grins and pulls
me into a hug, obviously pleased with my decision. I love the feel of his strong biceps wrapped around me.

“I had
a feeling you’d like the idea.”

I see several men
hard at work as they move around the boat. Chase helps me up the steps.

“Welcome on board. I’m glad you decided to give it a try. He said you’re a risk taker,” Ron says, laughing.

“He did, huh?” I glance to Chase. We sit down before he smiles and squeezes my leg.

“It’s true. You like to risk your safety,” he says with a shrug of his shoulders.

“You worry about me an awful lot.”

“I don’t want anything to happen to you, but I feel this
is a safe thing to do, unlike you walking alone in the dark on the beach.” He leans over and kisses my cheek. I don’t think he could be any cuter.

Ron walks back over to us.
“We’ll be riding out about three miles before we begin this morning, so I’m just going to go over all the safety precautions as we take off. Since it’s just the two of you, there isn’t any sense in me doing it over the intercom.”

A
fter Ron finishes giving us instructions, I pull my hands up into the sleeves of my sweatshirt, preparing myself for the chilly ride. Chase notices and picks up my legs, swiveling them up onto his lap. He wraps one arm around them while his other arm pulls me tight against him.

I haven’
t had a male look after me in a very long time. It’s comforting, so I lay my head against his shoulder and soak in his kindness and warm embrace as the salty, cool mist showers us.

Some time passes before Ron walks past us.
“We’ll be stopping in a minute. You must be a very special woman to get this boat to yourself.”

I glance to Chase. “What did he mean by that? Is there normally a lot of people on these tours?”

“Yes, but you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Chase, d
id you reserve this whole boat just for us?”

“Yes. I didn’t think I’d be able to last minute, but there wasn’t as many signed up for this one, so they managed to move
people to the later times.”

“That means you had to pay for eve
ryone. How many are normally on here?”

“Um, twenty or so. Don’t worry about how many, and I really wish I’d told him not to mention that
.” He seems a bit aggravated at Ron now.

“You had to have paid
at least a couple of grand for us to do this. Why? I would’ve been content on here with other people.”

“I know
, but you wouldn’t get as much time with the sharks as I think you deserve.” He smiles as he tucks hair behind my ear. “Also, the selfish me wants to be alone with you.”

“Thank you, but I don’t need
you to do things like this. It’s very sweet, but you can’t spend that kind of money on me. It isn’t right.” I look away from him. I’m embarrassed.

“I have it to spend, and I wanted to do something nice for you since you were so understanding about
my past. Actually, I’ll want to keep doing nice things for you because you’re so special.”

“
I’m very flattered and grateful, but you need to know that I’m probably the least high maintenance woman you’re going to meet. My family wasn’t wealthy, so I don’t have high expectations when it comes to having expensive things or doing expensive activities. I’m fairly easy to please.”

“I know
. All the more reason I want to do it, and all the more reason you deserve it. Please just enjoy yourself and not think about that, OK?”

His smile is gone.
He was so excited earlier, and now I’ve hurt his feelings. Although this is all too much, it was very sweet of him. I take his chin and turn his face toward me.

“Tha
nk you. I’m just overwhelmed that you did something so thoughtful. No one has ever treated me this way. You’re very sweet, Chase.” I lean over and bury my face against his neck, kissing it a few times. He squeezes my thigh a little harder.

“As good as that feels, Skyla, you need to stop. If you don’t
, I’m having them turn the boat around. There are things I want to do to you, and I can’t do them here.”

He has me aroused
now. I’m pretty certain of what he has in mind, but I want to hear him say it, so I whisper in his ear.

“What exactly d
o you want to do to me, Chase?”

He turns and locks his gaze
with mine. After a few seconds, he leans over and whispers back to me as he cups my face with his hand.

“
I find myself wanting to make love to you, which is a first for me. I want to do it gently and slowly, savoring every second of it, but after that … I plan to fuck you hard.”

My heart begins racing
. I feel my lip quivering, and the aching pulse returns between my thighs. I swallow hard before I conjure up the nerve to look into his eyes.

“I don’t think I’m going
to enjoy myself this morning.”

He lets go of my face and looks at me
with a worried expression.

“You told me
that if I don’t enjoy myself on this outing, then you’ll make sure I do when we get back. Now I have this unbearable ache between my legs that needs relief, so I need not to enjoy this.”

He
gives me a boyish grin. “It’s difficult for me, but I guess I could let you have both.”

Playfully, I push him away. “I’m so
sure it’d be difficult for you.” I roll my eyes. I have to do something to break some of this sexual tension, or I’m really not going to enjoy myself because sex is all I’m going to be able to think about, especially after what he did to me the other night.

“OK, back to the task at hand … what kind
of sharks are we going to see?”

“
They are mostly Galapagos and maybe sandbar.”

When we stop
, we get on our snorkel gear. Ron tells us that the water is around 650 feet deep where we’re at. I bravely step up and say that I want to be the first to climb down the ladder into the cage.

Once Chase is in
, we immediately see the sharks coming up below us. Some of them look to be as long as eight feet, and they circle around us, sometimes gliding right along the bars of the cage. I’m in awe over this experience. Blessed isn’t a strong enough word for how I feel to be a guest in this magical ocean with these marvelous creatures.

Chase comes up to me several times and wraps his arms around my waist. We smile and point like two kids at the zoo for the first
time. I feel as if Bud’s with me when I’m in or near the ocean. He became a part of it, and I know there’s no other way he would’ve wanted to die. I just wish it didn’t have to be so soon. He lit up the world, and the more Chase opens up to me, the more he reminds me of Daniel.

Since we were the only ones on the boat, we get in a few different times, taking a small break in between. I’m cold after we get out for good, so I put on my sweatshirt and curl up against Chase
again. He feels warm and safe, and for the first time in a long time, I feel full. The emptiness in my heart is gone.

We get into the Mercedes
, and I’m giving him what I’m sure is that big, goofy grin of mine. I lean over and kiss his cheek. “Thank you. That was unbelievable. I had a really great time.”

“You’re welcome. I had a great time, too.”

“To be that far out in the ocean and that close to the sharks gave me a little time to be a part of something so much larger than myself. I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but I’ve wanted to be a mermaid since I was a little girl. I’d be one very happy mermaid.”

Chase chuckles.

“I know it’s silly.”

“
No it’s not. I was just thinking of how damn sexy you’d be as a mermaid. It’s a sight I’d like to see. Of course, only if I can stay in the ocean with you.”

I feel a tug at my heart. Bud
called me Nixie. The legend is that Nixie’s a water dwelling spirit that appears in human form. When I was eight years old, Bud and I looked up mermaids on the internet. As soon as he stumbled upon the name, he started calling me that. Bud gave nicknames to everyone he knew.

“Hey, sexy mermaid
, you OK over there?”

I snap out of
my trance and glance to Chase.

“Ye
s, sorry.”

“If you don’t feel comfortable doing this
, then just tell me, but would you want to grab some things and get cleaned up at my house? As you know, I have awesome bathrooms. You can shower or soak in the Jacuzzi tub. I’m not ready to give you up.”

“I’d like that. I should get to enjoy them since I’m the one w
ho cleans them,” I say jokingly.

I grab some t
hings from my house, and we drive to Chase’s. My nerves are starting to get the best of me. I have no doubt we’ll be fooling around today, but how soon, and how far we go is the big question.