Chapter 7

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T here was something good about being held by Flynn in the sea. It was here, rocked by the vast ocean depths, that he was his truest self. The self Mirren had been afraid to behold, yet had longed for all the same.

It had come to her that very morning, looking out across the waves. She was ready to speak to him. Needed to speak to him, even though it frightened her to think of what he might say, that he might resent her for breaking his trust. She had wanted him to be different from the men of the island with their predictable, settled lives, and different he certainly was. Flynn must have refused the necklace before because he was afraid. As scared as she was, even, that what they had was nothing but a fantasy which could not withstand the harsh gaze of reality.

If he is afraid to come to me as a human, I must go to Flynn the kelpie.

Now, in his arms once again, everything felt right and true and whole, so much so that she couldn't put it into words, and instead kissed him with everything she had. Mirren giggled against his mouth at the feel of him hard and smooth against her hip.

"I love you, Flynn." They were playful together, bright. She could be soft with him and safe, and he wouldn't try to file down her edges. She couldn't find words to explain this and gave up trying when his hands slid down her hips. He rested his head on her shoulder.

"I love you. I love you with all that I am. I want to show you and I can't do it here." Flynn pressed a soft kiss to her neck, sending shivers up her spine that had nothing to do with the cold water. "Please let me show you, Mirren."

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I f anyone saw them run naked up the beach, Mirren neither noticed nor cared. The secrecy of the little bothy enveloped them. There was no fire in the hearth; she didn't care about that, either. She pressed him down on the bed and lay atop him, his eyes flaring with a hunger that mirrored her own. She kissed his jaw, his neck, and finally, softly, the chain on his chest.

"I love you, Flynn." The words spilled from her with an urgency she could not deny.

He shuddered beneath her as she straddled him. He tried to roll her over, but she put a gentle hand to his chest.

"Wait. Will you let me do this for you?"

He nodded, and Mirren smiled. His eyes fell shut and a groan escaped Flynn's lips when she touched him with well-practiced strokes. Their breath mingled. She felt his heart beating faster to match her own, could see him climb and climb. He was completely under her command. She reveled in it. She wanted to share it.

"Come inside me," she whispered in his ear, and he gripped her hips as she enveloped him in one movement that drew a string of curses from her lover.

"You fit me so perfectly," she panted, remaining still, savoring the fullness of him, the hard, smooth weight of him inside her body. "Do you want this to last?"

Flynn grunted, his face contorting in agonized pleasure. "I don't know if I can."

She began rocking, but he stopped her roughly. "Wait. Please."

He felt so good inside her that stopping was the last thing she wanted, but Mirren did as he asked. She kept her hips still while kissing him deeply, lingering at his mouth while his hands trailed sensation across her skin. As long as she didn't move, he wouldn't find the place deep inside her that drove her over the edge. But her body ached to move.

"Do you still want to wait?" She pulled back and sat up slowly. The change in position was enough to drive a frenzied expression across Flynn's face. She laughed softly. "Haven't we waited long enough?"

"Do what you want," Flynn said roughly. "I'm yours. All of me." He reached up to brush his thumbs across her breasts, sending a jolt of pleasure deep into her core. Holding her ribcage, he repeated the motion with increasing pressure until Mirren couldn't help rocking against him, drawing him further in with each motion. She fell forward, bracing on either side of Flynn's head, and let him pull her hips. She was a frenzy of need, climbing her own pleasure with every thrust, watching him do the same. With the last of her quickly-receding faculties of speech, she administered all of her skills, whispering words that pulled him into the very depths of pleasure.

He strained against her, groaning her name, squeezing her hips so hard she might have bruises. Mirren didn't care, not when he reached an especially sensitive spot at the same time and sent her flying through a rapture of pleasure so sudden that she was nothing more than every pulsing, singing nerve in her body.

When at last she floated down to earth, Flynn's arms were tight around her, moving her gently so that she rested her head on his chest. They both laughed at his fumbling attempts to grasp hold of the blanket. When he managed to pull it over their warm, heavy bodies, Mirren sighed and snuggled closer.

"I don't think I can walk," he said. "I don't want to leave this bed. Or you."

Mirren smiled sleepily. "Neither do I. Oh, I do love you, Flynn."

Flynn's breath escaped in a short exhale, his cheek dimpling with an answering smile. "I meant what I said, too." His hand found hers and looped the chain across her fingers. "I want to be with you, as long as I live. Will you have me?"

Mirren, remembering his tears in the ocean, understood his need for reassurance.

She drew the silver horse charm to her lips and kissed it. Then she placed it back on Flynn's chest, stroking the dusting of hair. "I'll have you and keep you. All of you." Then for additional reassurance she kissed him, tenderly, deeply, pouring everything her words couldn't say into the kiss. I do believe I could ride him again , her inner voice said, and her drowsy body replied, just give me a few minutes and I will.

She propped herself up on an elbow, watching his face turn serious as he posed a question.

"Should we get married, truly? Have a real human ceremony and everything?"

"To tell the whole world we belong to each other? I believe we could." She wanted to do it now.

Not quite yet, said her body, we have things to do. Specifically, things to do with him. And she moved to lie across him again, to tease a smile from him, and to lose and find herself in the pleasure they created, wild and untamed as the sea and intimate as shared secrets in the night.

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THE END