Chapter Nine

M arina is a wild thing that drags her nails over my inner thighs as she sucks me dry, swallowing with a ravenous moan of satisfaction that I was sure only paid professionals on websites could pull off. She leaves me wheezing and wondering if I'll be able to keep up with her. She looks like she just downed a case of protein shakes, and I'm ready to pass out.

"You have to stop doing that," I wheeze.

"What?" Marina pulls herself up, climbing me like a prowling lynx as I collapse backward on the bed. She leans over me, naked, grinning, a gloating gleam in her eyes.

"Making me come before you. That's a no-no."

"Why?" Marina laughs, seeming genuinely puzzled. Before I can stop her, she brushes a kiss over my lips, and I try not to recoil. I'm a little squeamish about kissing a woman who just swallowed my cum—but Marina tastes like peanut butter and honey.

Like my favorite dessert that I never get these days. I pull her back, wondering if something's wrong with my brain. Her soft lips are like fluffy whipped peanut butter mousse, with the cloying hint of honeycomb on her tongue.

Must be love that makes her taste like home.

That thought jars me, and I let her go.

We do not fall in love in the space of two dates, lust-for-brains.

"Most men come before their women," Marina shrugs. "I know how to get myself off. And you'll be ready again in no time if I have my way."

"But some men don't wait, or they don't make sure you finish, and I think that makes them seem selfish. Then girls get mad. Then people cheat. I'm not about that."

Marina is silent.

"You and Gregor—"

"Never!" she bites off the word—and cross my heart, I see sparks fly from her eyes. "He was my only one, and I was his!"

"I believe you, I believe you. Sorry."

"Let's not ruin a day of pleasure with heavy talk," Marina flips her hair and moves her pale body off of mine, rolling on the sheets like some beautiful milk-white snake, all sinuous and curved. "Some women are unhelpful. I know how to make sure my man is ready for a second round."

Her man.

I'm about to do a little gloating myself, leaning back on the pillows, mouth open to tell her I like the new title—when she collapses onto her back with a breathy moan, her legs spread.

Long, slender fingers part her outer lips, showing me pink treasures inside.

I fall into a trance as she whispers, her fingers dipping inside. "I want you in me. Just like this. I love the feel of your thick cock when you slip inside my—"

"Pocket?" I suggest, my hand straying between my legs as I watch.

"When you slip into that tight little space, my secret... My guilty pleasure. Ohhh!"

"God," I whisper reverently as I watch her body arch off the bed. I know by the sounds she makes that she's penetrating herself there.

"It sucks on my fingers so hungrily. Like my mouth wraps around your cock."

"Yes, baby..." My fist pumps lazily, watching her spreading, showing—opening more than I've ever seen. My eyes narrow, and I can just make out tiny ripples in her flesh—pink on pink ripples that move and shimmer.

"And so many women don't understand how this hole works, how to guide their lovers to bring them pleasure here," Marina sighs and moves one arm under her back, pulling one leg to her chest as her fingers massage her perfect pink anus.

I know human bodies. Working in the medical field, you see a lot of imperfection. That's what strikes me just now—how perfect (but pale) Marina seems.

Humans don't look like her, so pristine, almost glowing—and yet... Here she is. In my bed. Moaning as her middle finger invades her ass and she fucks herself in both openings, a serene look of bliss on her face.

It worked. I'm hard as a rock and thinking about sliding between her cheeks, even though that's something I've never tried. "Pockets in there, too?" I ask.

Marina smiles, something sharklike in the tilt of her head as she rolls to her belly.

"Find out," she whispers.

I feel like that's a taboo act, one people try after they've been together for years to bring back the spice. "We don't have to do that."

There's a pout on her lips and persuasion in her voice. "But I like it."

Well. What kind of jerk will I be if I don't give my woman what she likes?

Yes, I said it. If I'm her man, then she can be my woman.

Marina wriggles her cheeks hypnotically and the tingle of proud possessiveness soars as I clamp my hand down on one cheek, kneading it.

"We need lube, I know that."

Marina rubs her pussy and I see her fingers come away slick and dripping. "You make me so wet, Kevin. Soaked. Slippery. Like the sea."

"My sweet mermaid," I grunt, not entirely rational as she plays with herself again.

"You should swim with me sometime before it gets too cold. Not the pool. The river. I'll show you what sort of mermaid I am." Marina laughs softly, and I suddenly understand what the books mean when they say someone has a throaty chuckle. It bubbles up from her insides, and I imagine a mermaid with little bubbles bursting from her lips as she laughs underwater.

In the books, it's always the villain or the temptress who has the deep, throaty chuckle. As I lay my chest to her back and slide my cock between her cheeks, I nip her ear and kiss her shoulder, whispering, "Are you sure you're not one of those sirens? Tempting me?"

She stills under me, then pushes back.

"They call this a starfish," she murmurs as I push past the puckered opening. "See if you can find out why."

Instantly, I know. Narrow rings grip me and a thousand tiny bumps stroke and squeeze closed on my cock, pulling me deep into Marina's tightest opening. I gasp, unable to move as sensation overwhelms me.

"Aim down. You will massage my ‘pocket' from the other side," Marina encourages. "Push into me, down into me, hard. If I'm the siren, tempting you to crash on the rocks, I deserve it. Harder! Deeper!"

"Nn-nn!" I protest, mouth clamping down on the back of her neck as I obey, fingers locking over hers as we curl the sheets into our pleasure-clenched fists. "The siren just wants company, baby. She needs a sailor who's looking for love. He'll give her whatever she wants because she likes it. Because he wants her to sing for him again."

"Her song is deadly." Ass rolls back, hips thrust up, trapping me in deeper, taking away my ability to speak for a second.

Finally, I can pant, "This isn't mythology—even if sometimes I swear you're magical."

The rings release and warm waves of fluttering friction caress my cock. I can move now, and I do, pounding into her as I press her into the mattress. Her moans and the wetness on my thighs tells me I'm doing something right.

I release her fingers and slide my hands under her chest to cup her breasts. We're flat to the bed, two slippery seals humping and rolling, little more than animals wrapped in a haze of forbidden pleasure. "You can come like this?" I demand.

"Yes. God, yes," her cry is stilted and broken. She turns her head to the side and looks up at me, breathless, cherry-wine lips parted in a pant.

I lay my lips to her ear to whisper. "Just like this? Hard and deep in your ass? Like this?"

"Please!"

"And when I get cleaned up, I get that pussy, too? Right, mermaid?"

"Siren. Rusalka," she whimpers, eyes closing.

"Rusalka?"

"They... They're from my culture. Deadly, dangerous sirens. Dark mermaids. Walk among men. Trap them."

I withdraw from Marina, leaving her whimper to become a keening wail. I force her over before colliding heavily with her, chest to chest, nose to nose as I slide past her leaking slit and split her tighter tunnel open again. I feel her belly heave and clench under mine, swallowing up her moans with a hungry kiss.

"You trap men?" My voice is low, challenging. For a second, I can't tell if I'm playing.

I don't think I am.

Marina opens her eyes, but they slide away from mine. A guilty flush covers her cheeks. No words. Just a tiny nod.

"Well. Jokes on you, baby. You caught me—but I wanted to end up in your net. How's that? Mermaid catches the man on her beautiful hooks ." I plunge in hard and this time I stay there, watching her come apart around me, thighs shaking, pelvis trembling against mine.

Marina digs her hands into my back, head thrown back and thrashing. A string of desperate Slavic-sounding words fill the air between us, but they turn into English. "Only because she was hungry. Lonely. So tired. So sad."

I know something is missing, some puzzle piece I don't get, but I don't care. Someone fucked up this girl, and I'm Mr. Fix-It. Always have been. "I was lonely, too," I comfort. "Hungry for something. Someone. Someone like you."

Marina nods, and her body caresses mine, pulling and kneading on my cock with her magical muscles.

There's that word again.

She looks into my eyes when I finally burst, filling her, trapped deep inside.

"Just like you," she mouths before she kisses me again.