Ocean's Touch (21 page)

After a few minutes, Alex spoke.

“Thirsty, anyone?”

Both Dylan and Meredith emitted throaty affirmations.

“Excellent. How about we have some refreshments—there’s still dessert, after all. And then I have a rather large shower upstairs that’s more than big enough for three.”

Meredith giggled as Alex drummed gently on her backside with his open hands.

“We can get cleaned up, and then we can go into my bedroom. Where I’m also lucky enough to have a very large bed.”

“Round two?” Meredith asked, nipping gently at Alex’s bearded chin.

“At least,” Dylan rumbled from beside them, where he was sprawled with his forearm over his eyes.

“Maybe even round three,” Alex said, grinning at her cheekily.

“Mmm,” Meredith said, snuggling down into Alex’s body. “I like how you play. Can I come over more often?”

“You’ll be lucky if I ever let you leave,” was Alex’s only response.

And Dylan let her feel that Alex meant every word.

Chapter Seventeen

Meredith awoke to the unfamiliar tickle of a beard at the nape of her neck, and the even more unfamiliar feeling that she wasn’t in her own bed. After a few seconds of confusion, she remembered.

I’m at Alex’s,
she thought.
And the facial hair belongs to him.

As did the arms that held her tightly. After making love for the last time last night, she’d taken a long, lingering shower with Alex. He’d bathed her gently, kissing her the whole time. Any buried doubts she may have had about their threesome were eradicated by his nurturing behavior. When they’d finished, Dylan had taken his turn in the shower. She and Alex had tumbled into bed and he’d wrapped himself around her as if she were a Faberge egg. That’s the last thing she remembered. But now she was wide awake, realizing that something else was wrong.

Where’s Dylan?
she thought, raising her head to look for him. He wasn’t in Alex’s huge bed, nor was he on any of the other sleepable surfaces in Alex’s room.

Carefully, so as not to wake Alex, Meredith crept out of bed. She dressed herself in the cozy, expensive bathrobe that hung on a hook by the bathroom, before easing open the bedroom door. She walked quietly downstairs, but Dylan was nowhere.

It was only then she realized where he’d gone.

With a heavy heart, Meredith went through one of the many glass doors exiting to Alex’s back yard. Like Meredith’s, Alex’s property backed up to the ocean, and his beach was only two or three lots down from hers.

Just as she’d known he’d be, Dylan was sitting on his sealskin, watching the waves. He was also entirely unglamoured—his iron-grey hair floating around him like a nimbus. Meredith walked up behind him, purposely making noise on the stones of the beach even though she doubted she could creep up on someone like him. When she was close enough, she placed her hands on Dylan’s shoulders.

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” she asked, although she already knew the truth.

“Aye, lass,” he said, looking up at her with those fierce black eyes. His inhuman face wore a gentle expression, but it still made her shiver. Nonetheless, he was her Dylan, even with those eyes. So she knelt behind and wrapped her arms around him.

“I’ll miss you,” she said, already feeling his loss even as she held him.

“And I’ll miss you,” he replied. “Although I’d like to visit, if you’ll have me.”

“Always,” she said. “I know the sea’s your home, but you’ll always have a place here on land, whenever you want it.”

Dylan bowed his head and she felt his lips on her forearm.

“Thank you,” he said. They sat like that for a few minutes, watching the sea, before Meredith’s legs protested her crouch and she stood, only to move to sit next to Dylan on his sealskin.

“It’s I who should thank you,” she said eventually. “You’ve changed my life.”

“No,” Dylan replied. “You changed your life. And you would have anyway, eventually, without my help.”

“I don’t know about that. I was so stuck.”

“Aye, you were. But you were open to me. I could never, and would never, have come to you like that if you weren’t ready.”

They fell silent as Meredith thought through Dylan’s words.

“The way I feel when I’m with you, like I can sense you, and sense Alex, that’ll go away, won’t it?” she asked.

“Aye,” he said. “That’s a gift of my people. It will leave when I do.”

Meredith frowned. “You didn’t…”

“Make you feel differently than you really did?”

Meredith shook her head. “No, I didn’t mean that. I know my feelings were my own. But Alex?” Her voice held a subtle throb of fear that made Dylan sad.

“After all we’ve done, all we’ve felt for each other, the three of us, you still doubt you deserve that man’s love?”

Meredith blushed, looking down at her feet.

“Oh, lass, you’re hopeless,” Dylan said, pulling her tight to his body. “He loves you for who you are, and he always has. Yes, things will be different when I leave. He’s a man used to keeping his emotions tight to his chest. But he wants you, and he’s ready for you, which is the most important thing. You’ll just have to be brave, and make him talk on some occasions. And accept his silence on others.”

Meredith snuggled against Dylan.

“Thank you. And I’m sorry for doubting your actions.”

“It’s not me you’re doubting, really. It’s yourself. So stop it,” Dylan said, using a mock-commanding voice that made Meredith giggle. Then she looked up at him, her eyes shining with tears.

“What will happen between us?” she asked.

Dylan knew she meant between herself and Alex.

“I’ve no idea, sweet girl. I know he cares for you, and you care for him. But life can’t be told like a story. You’ll have to be brave and love him, really love him. And never forget how you feel, right now, or how he made you feel last night. When you’re arguing about something important, something that feels like it’s everything, remember last night. That felt like everything too.” Meredith blushed, undoubtedly remembering all the everythings last night contained.

“But nothing is ever everything,” Dylan warned. “Things will happen—misunderstandings, grievances, hurts. And sometimes they’ll seem bigger than what’s good. But that’s only if you let them be”

“What about his parties? The women?”

Dylan chuckled.

“That’s going to be a conversation you two need to have. Your Alex will never be a boy scout, lass. But he wants you, and he knows things need to change in his own life to have you. Just be sure of what you want, and try to be sensitive to the life he’s led. And don’t forget our lovemaking,” Dylan warned. “Things aren’t always black and white, especially when it comes to desire and sex. There may be people with whom you can have what the three of us had last night, satisfying both your desires. Just be open, and keep talking, and try to be honest with yourself as well as with him.”

Meredith nodded at Dylan’s words, although she couldn’t help but smile as she mentally applied them to her own life.

“Teddy’s mother is going to be at constant risk of a heart attack if I really do take up with Alex.”

Dylan laughed. “Yes, well, sometimes even Dragons meet their match. And I don’t think you have to worry about
if
Alex takes up with you. I think the issue’s going to be whether he can keep up with you.”

Meredith laughed again, delightedly.

“I have become rather fierce,” she mused, blushing red at her own audacity. “Almost as fierce as you,” she said, raising her fingertips to touch Dylan’s beautifully fey face. Her selkie kissed her fingers lovingly. Then, suddenly, he was standing, pulling her robe off and his skin on before picking her up in his strong arms.

“I think it’s time for a swim,” he said, and then he was racing down the beach, holding her tight. Meredith squealed with joy, gasping as they hit the water hard. They swam for at least an hour, frolicking like the two gray seals they’d seen before. Eventually, as dawn was breaking, Dylan brought Meredith back to shore. His lips found hers in a gentle kiss before he pulled back to gaze deeply into her eyes.

“It’s time I took my leave,” he said. “The sea, she calls me. And you need to get back to your man.”

Meredith smiled, her feelings torn between happiness at knowing Alex was waiting for her and sadness that Dylan was leaving. She stood on tiptoe to wrap her arms around his neck.

“Thank you. For everything,” Meredith whispered, pouring into him her feelings of gratitude, affection, and the peace he’d help her discover within herself.

“Thank you, lass. You’ve made me remember why I love life,” Dylan said, before finding her lips for one last, lingering taste. Then he stepped away from her, swatting her gently on the behind. “Get you going,” he said. “You’ll get cold without me.”

She walked up the beach a few feet, to where her robe lay abandoned. Meredith put it on, and then turned back to Dylan.

“You will visit?” She asked again.

“Aye,” Dylan assured her, letting her feel his honesty. “And if I find you wearing a bloody turtleneck, it’s going in the fire.”

Laughing, Meredith pulled her robe tighter against her, to keep out the cold and her sadness.

“Then I’ll see you soon,” she said. “This isn’t good-bye.”

“It isn’t,” he agreed. “You’re a beautiful woman, Meredith. In heart and mind, as well as body. Never forget that. And if Alex ever does, we’ll be having a wee chat.”

With those words, Dylan straightened his shoulders, pulling his sealskin tighter around him. His dark eyes grew even larger and darker in his face as his second form crept up his body. Suddenly, there was no longer a man standing before her, but an impish looking seal. The creature nodded his head at her in the seal approximation of a wave, and then splashed through the shallows and into the sea.

Meredith watched Dylan go, her emotions a firestorm within her. When she could no longer see his sleek, muscular body in the water, she turned and walked up the beach. At first, her steps were heavy with sorrow, but they lightened as she walked.

By the time she’d crept back into Alex’s bedroom, she was smiling.

Hanging the robe back in its proper place, Meredith climbed into bed with Alex. She snuggled up to him as he cracked an eye open before gathering her close.

“You’re freezing. And wet. And salty,” he added, after kissing her neck experimentally. “What were you doing?”

“Swimming,” she replied. “I’ll explain it to you after we’ve had coffee.”

He frowned at her before looking around.

“How could you have gone swimming? And where’s Dylan?” Alex asked.

“He’s gone,” she said, a note of sadness creeping into her voice. “He had to go home.”

“Where’s home?” Alex asked, running his hand down Meredith’s side before trailing his fingers back up her front. His hand found her nipple and plucked gently as he licked her neck again, enjoying the taste of the sea on her skin.

“Later. We’ll talk about Dylan later,” was her only reply.

At least verbally—physically, she let her own hand drift down his stomach toward Alex’s hardening cock. He gasped as she took him in her still-cold hand, stroking him gently.

“I’d rather we concentrated on us now,” she said, remembering Dylan’s admonishment to be brave. Luckily, Alex was more than happy to oblige, and he seemed equally eager to concentrate on her. In fact, he might have even been more eager. After they’d kissed and touched and sighed and gasped and moaned in each other’s arms, Alex paused.

Looking down into Meredith’s flushed face, his hips tight against hers, his cock so close to where she wanted him, Meredith wasn’t necessarily in the mood for conversation. But Alex wanted to talk.

“I do love you, you know,” Alex told her, his voice halting. He knew how to give a woman an orgasm in minutes, but these were words he found utterly intimidating.

Meredith looked up at him and smiled.

“I know you do. And I love you too.” Then she wriggled her hips a bit closer to him, in a clear reminder that they were in the middle of something.

“I want to marry you,” Alex continued, oblivious to her hints. Meredith’s heart bloomed forth with a combination of happiness and exasperation.

“Make an honest woman of me?” she quipped, reaching down to take his hard length in her hand and rub him against her wetness. Alex gasped, dropping his head to her neck as pleasure racked his body.

“Only a little bit honest,” he replied, his voice hoarse. “Maybe not all that honest, in fact. But I do want to marry you.”

Meredith laughed, pulling Alex close against her with her arms, then wrapped her long legs around his hips to pull him inside her. They groaned together as his cock found home.

As they made love, Meredith remembered Dylan’s words. She remembered to cherish every second, filing these moments away for the future.

Meredith realized then just how lucky she was. Unlike poor Teddy, she had another chance at love. And so she kept Alex’s eyes locked with hers, letting all of her happiness in discovering him, her joy in that moment, and her fierce hopes for their future shine through her gaze.