Goddess of the Sea (Goddess Summoning #1)(55)

CC leaned back against the merman, wrapping her arms around his. "I didn't know there was such beauty in the ocean. I never spent much time around it, and I didn't realize how incredible it could be." She turned fluidly in his arms. "You really are a wonderful teacher. Thank you for showing me."

"I cannot imagine you away from the water."

"It seems ridiculous now, but I used to be afraid of the water. As you may have noticed, I'm not even a very good swimmer."

"Then you did not know any of the mer-folk in your old world?" Dylan asked.

CC laughed. "There aren't any mermen or mermaids where I come from."

Dylan looked startled. "Are you certain?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure. They are considered mythological beings. People tell stories about them and draw pictures of them, but if they ever existed in my world they haven't been seen in more than a thousand years."

Dylan studied the woman in his arms with new eyes. He was struck by the realization that he loved a woman who was not simply a land creature, but from a strange world where none of his kind even existed. How could he hope to win her love in return? He knew she found him interesting and probably even exotic and appealing, but those were not emotions on which to base a lifetime of love—they were fleeting, transient and would vanish like mist with the rising sun of experience. He began to understand the despair that had destroyed his mother.

"I must seem very strange to you."

CC could hear the vulnerability in his voice and felt him pull away from her—not enough that she would be in danger of slipping under the surface, but the intimacy with which he had been holding her faltered, like he was suddenly afraid to be too close to her.

"Strange is not the word I would choose." She tightened her arms around him, so that he had to come back to her.

"Then what word would you choose?" Dylan asked, trying hard to keep his voice neutral and his tumultuous emotions controlled.

"Well, I don't think one word would do—I think I would have to use several." She kept one arm wrapped securely around his shoulder. With the other she let her hand trace a path down his face and over his chiseled cheekbone. "Beautiful," she said softly, moving her fingertips down the side of his neck and over the firm muscle of his shoulder. "Spectacular," she continued, stopping to caress his thick bicep before crossing over to his chest and continuing down. "Amazing." CC's hand moved over the side of his taut waist. When her fingers felt the flesh of his skin change from human to mer-being, she hesitated and her gaze shifted to his eyes. He was watching her intently, and his breathing had deepened.

"I have legs now and not a tail," CC said.

Her words made Dylan's lips curl up in a surprised ghost of a smile. "Yes, I did notice that," he said.

"Have you ever, uh, been with a human woman before?" she asked.

Now his surprise was complete. "No! I have never before known a human woman." He paused, trying to find the right words. "… in any way… What I mean is that I have not…"

CC nodded quickly. "So what you're telling me is that you've never been intimate with, or even known, a human woman, yet you don't seem to find me repulsive, even though right now my body is very definitely human."

"I could not find you repulsive," Dylan said as understanding lit his eyes. "Even though I have not known any other beings of your kind. " She had been worried about his acceptance. She truly desired him! In part of his mind he allowed himself to begin to believe that perhaps he wasn't destined to repeat his mother's tragedy. Relief flooded his body and the ghost of a smile became real.

"Then I don't think you should worry about me not having known any other mermen. That is unless you want me to start worrying about you thinking my legs are disgusting."

CC could feel Dylan's body relax, and she floated easily against him once more. One of his hands traveled down her back and past her waist. CC sucked in a surprised breath when it skimmed over her butt to caress the length of her thigh.

"Your legs are soft and warm." His voice was deeply seductive. "And I admit to wanting to touch them—very much."

"I want to touch you, too," CC said, letting her hand move purposefully down from his waist to skim over the unique texture of the rest of him. She looked into his eyes. "But I would like to see you, too. A little more clearly. Do you mind?" She hurried on as his brow furrowed. "I mean, you've seen me—all of me—very naked. Just a little while ago I was standing on the shore with not much on except a smile. But, well, I haven't really been able to see…" She nodded her head toward the water and what shimmered gold and orange beneath it, "you."

Dylan made a muffled noise in the back of his throat, but he shook his head, holding her gaze with his own.

"No, I do not mind," he said.

Looking around the ring of rock, Dylan searched until he found what he needed. With CC still in his embrace, he floated them across the turquoise pool to a smooth ledge that protruded about a foot above the water. CC eyed it. It was easily seven or eight feet long, curving gently along the inside of the rocky corral. It looked wide enough that two people could lie next to each other on it, especially if they were lying on their sides and didn't mind being very close.