Affair on the Beach

Chapter 6

I looked at him like he’d asked me to, all wide-eyed and full of wonder. No, I didn’t just look. I narrowed my eyes and studied him like I would a statue at a museum. He stood still enough to be mistaken for a statue, one sculpted of some golden-blue precious metal. His eyes held a determination in them and something else, something I couldn’t quite make out. Anxiety maybe? Anticipation? Was he waiting for my reaction?

I let my fear ebb away as I raked my hungry gaze over his body, tracing the definition his muscles created. From where I stood, I could make out webbing between his fingers, possibly his toes too, but the sand was covering his feet pretty well for me to be sure.

“What’s covering your body?” I asked, unable to hold in my curiosity anymore. I ran through my knowledge of paranormal creatures and I hadn’t come across anything like Xavier Solomon. He lowered his arms to his sides and smiled that half-smile I was coming to like seeing on his face.

“Scales,” he said.

My eyebrow arched upward. “Scales?”

He nodded like a shy boy discovered doing something naughty.

In that moment, as he combed his webbed fingers through his dripping hair, he seemed almost adorable if it were not for his perfect physique and mouth-watering handsomeness. So, scales. They covered his entire body up to the base of his neck. What creature had scales all over its body? I crossed my arms and tapped my cheek. Treating him like a characters in a book helped me focus, regardless of the heat rising on my face from staring at him too long. I couldn’t help myself. Even in the dark, standing before me on the beach with scales all over his body, I still wanted to take a bite out of him. Nothing about him truly frightened me.

He wore the scales like a wetsuit, which could mean a myriad of creatures. Hmmm…

“Talk to me,” he said, breaking my concentration. “What are you thinking?”

I almost laughed at the anxiety in his tone. For such a confident man, whatever he was, he wore his emotions on his sleeve. I admired that. Most of the men I’d met would rather pretend they were all tough in order to maintain the perception of masculinity. I hated machismo in a guy. I didn’t find it attractive.

I decided I need to answer him before he broke. Poor thing was practically squirming in front of me. “I’m just running through my knowledge of paranormal creatures. You’re obviously not human.”

A bemused expression flitted through his symmetric facial features. God, he was gorgeous that way. My breath hitched. I clutched my arms closer to myself, feeling my insides melt into molten mush.

“You’re taking this better than I thought,” he finally said. He rubbed his chiselled chin, a day’s worth of stubble had grown in. “Wouldn’t someone like you faint, scream, or run by now?”

“Someone like me?” Insult pinched me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He must have heard the edge in my voice because he raised his hands. “No, don’t go to the negative place. I just meant humans usually fear the unknown and here you are studying me like I’m some science project.”

He had a point. The heroines in many of the paranormal novels in my collection usually freaked out. Not many of them took the news of the hero being something else—insert paranormal creature here—as calmly as I was feeling right then. But, of course, I needed to get some things off my chest.

“Are you going to eat me?” I asked matter-of-factly.

“What?” Both his eyebrows shot up in abject shock.

“You heard me.” I tilted my chin up, pinning him down with a hard gaze.

He shook his head, amusement replacing his surprise. “I guess you have the right to ask that question. And the answer is no, I don’t eat humans. I’m more of a seafood guy.” He smiled as if he was laughing at some inside joke.

I suppressed my urge to sigh in relief. I wasn’t foolish enough to take him at his word. Things could go downhill quicker than I could turn around and run. But since I was still alive, I decided to give Xavier Solomon, not exactly human, the benefit of the doubt. It would be unfortunate if I had to avoid him because he was some kind of creature who preferred humans on his plate and not anywhere else. The image of a bed flashed in my head and I blushed. Oh, God! I mentally shook my head. Here was Xavier Solomon revealing his supernatural secret and all I could think about was him and me in a bed. How freaky was I? I returned my focus on my list of safety concerns.

“Are you planning to use me as a sacrifice to appease whatever gods you worship?”

His jaw dropped. “What kind of books are you reading?”

“Just answer the question, Xavier Solomon.” I widened my stance, hoping to look more intimidating than I felt. He towered almost a foot over me, and with those long legs, he could easily outrun me. He was certainly athletic enough. Then I realized something that made my heart palpitate. I’d just spoken his name for the first time and it sounded good coming from my lips, like a lovely song. I liked saying his name. I liked it a lot. The effect of my saying his name wasn’t lost on him either. Wonder and pleasure filled his wide eyes.

“I like it when you say my name,” he said under his breath.

I refused to fidget right when we were having the longest conversation we’d had since we’d first met. “I like the way you say my name too.” I glanced at my toes, curling them in the sand. In my rush to burn my maxi dress, I’d forgotten to wear my flip flops. Why did my voice sound all shy?

“Tamara.”

I looked up and he was several steps away from me now. I gasped. How did he move so fast? If he reached out now, he would be able to touch me. A part of me screamed yet a part of me rejoiced.

“I like saying your name too,” he whispered, heat entering his blue eyes.

My mind when blank for about two seconds before all systems went online again. If there was such a thing as a mental flat line, my brain was clinically dead for the span it took to register the pleasure his words brought with them.

When I regained some of my mental faculties, I said, “Answer my question.”

He laughed; a deep, throaty sound that reached into my soul and wouldn’t let it go. “What? The sacrifice thing? I’m a businessman, Tamara, not a lunatic. Although there are some who see these two things as mutually exclusive.”

He did it again, say my name in the way he did that made my knees all shaky and weak.

“Are you going to …” I paused, my throat closing. I tried again. “Are you going to hurt me?”

The heat in his eyes gentled. He reached out and touched my cheek with the backs of his fingers. It was an innocent caress, but my body felt it as something more carnal. “I wouldn’t dream of hurting you, Tamara. Not as long as I lived.”

I backed away from his distracting touch. His words confused me. “But you don’t even know me. Why would you say that?”

As if I didn’t doubt him, he said, “Because I know myself. If you believe I will hurt you at any point then let me know and I will stop whatever it is I’m doing at the time. My only request is that you get to know me. Let me show you who I am.”

Then what he did at the bonfire came to mind. Unshed tears stung the backs of my eyes. “But you already did,” I said.

Remorse marred his gaze as he rubbed the back of his head the way Hudson did when he was agitated. “The bonfire.”

He won points for being perceptive, but not much. “You left me there hanging. You wouldn’t believe how embarrassing that was for me.”

“I’m sorry, Tamara.” He said this with his gaze on the sand at our feet.

“Say it when you’re looking at me.”

It took him a couple of seconds, but when he finally met my gaze, I saw his sincerity within those blue orbs. “I’m sorry for leaving you like that, Tamara. It was the first time I’d ever shown my scales in public with so many people around. I’m not sure who saw me. I usually have more control, but when it comes to you, I’m beginning to realize that I have very little control, like some horny teenager.”

A blush exploded on my face. Did he just compare himself to a horny teenager when it came to being with me?

“How the hell is that possible?” I said more than thought the question. It begged asking anyway.

Confusion marred his features. “What do you mean?”

I indicated his body with my hands. “Well, look at you. Forget the not human part, which I will get to the bottom of by the way, but you’re perfect. You are the kind of guy who could get any girl he wanted. Girls like Rony.”

He grimaced at the mention of her name. “I don’t like Rony.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I said, suddenly exasperated. “I mean I’m sure you could merely smile at any girl in the world and she would give you anything you asked for.”

“But I want to only smile at you.”

“I doubt that.”

“Why?”

How was it possible that his confusion made him look even hotter than he already was? Ah, the many faces of Xavier Solomon, and I was witness to them on the beach really late at night. Maybe it was the beer. Maybe I was already passed out on my bed and dreaming this conversation. It wasn’t entirely impossible. I pinched myself.

“Ow!” I blinked back tears.

Bemused, Xavier Solomon said, “Why’d you pinch yourself?”

“I’m just checking if I’m dreaming.” I reached my arm out to him. “Here, you pinch me. I’m not sure if it works if you pinch yourself.”

“I’m not going to pinch you, Tamara.”

“And why not?” I wiggled my arm in front of him.

“I meant what I said. I’m not going to hurt you, physically or otherwise. I already messed up once tonight, I’m not about to do it again.”

I lowered my arm. “See that’s what I don’t get.” I shook my head. “I’m going to sound really cliché here, and I’ve read it enough to know it’s really a cliché, but I might as well get it out of the way now: Why me? I mean, look at me.” This time I indicated my short, extra padding everywhere, pajama and extra-large T-shirt clad self. “I don’t exactly scream hot to you.”

In the span of a blink, Xavier Solomon pulled me flush against him. He grinned before he lowered his head so his lips could meet mine for the second time that night. He took his time. His kiss was slow and sweet, coaxing my lips to open and waiting patiently until I obliged. When I let his tongue in, he explored the inside of my mouth with a leisure I never thought possible, like he was making sure he visited every corner. I moaned at the exquisite pleasure of it. I held on to his arms for support, no longer trusting my legs to hold my weight. When he pulled away, he had the cockiest smile on his lips. I blinked up at him, trying my best to clear the haze being so near him seemed to always cause. If he didn’t have his arms around my waist, I was sure to sink into the sand and not get up until the sun rose.

“What’s not to like?” he asked. He stopped my response by tracing my lips with his fingertip. “You have the most kissable lips I’ve ever had the pleasure of kissing.” Then he moved his hand from my face down my neck. “From your lips, I want to kiss my way down to here.”

I suppressed a groan of frustration when his hand stopped at my shoulder. When did my breathing change? I was inhaling faster than I was when I first saw him on the beach. He pressed me against him so closely that the fabric of my shirt clung to the scales on his chest. I never thought scales could be erotic, but their roughness coaxed delicious goose bumps to rise all over my body.

He stared down at me, waiting, prompting me to ask, “What are you waiting for?”

“I’m waiting for you to give me permission,” he said. He leaned down and rubbed his lips against mine. The softest of touches.

I shivered, expecting him to plunge me into a kiss again. When he pulled away, I actually frowned up at him. “My permission for what?”

“To touch you.” His voice was so soft it reminded me of the most expensive bed sheets, the kind I could lie in all day. “Do you want me to touch you, Tamara?”

I felt all the muscles in my body grow limp. Oh, he could ask me for anything and I would give it to him so long as he kept saying my name over and over again. And to prove it, I nodded, never taking my eyes off his.

“Say it,” he urged.

“I …” I licked my lower lip. He broke eye contact, distracted by the tip of my tongue darting over my lower lip. Liking his distraction, I did it again. Heat filled his eyes before he bent down again and claimed my lips. I twisted my fingers in his hair in an effort to keep him in place. Mission accomplished. A kiss was a kiss was a kiss. And I revelled in it, growing bolder by the minute. I traced my tongue between his lower lip and teeth, causing him to inhale sharply. In my effort to get closer than I already was, I wriggled until my hip touched his growing erection. I leaned back to look up at him, my mouth creating a perfect O.

He had that sexy half-smile on his lips again. He seemed contrite at having proven his lack of control when it came to being around me. I liked it very much. I felt empowered by it. Liberated even.

“Touch me, Xavier Solomon. Touch me,” I said before taking his lower lip between my teeth.

I felt his growl all the way to my groin, causing a delicious pulse to start. He lowered me onto the sand and I let him, kissing me senseless as we went. He was going to get very little resistance from me. I was, quite frankly, beyond refusing him at this point. I lay on the sand with him and his lips on top of me and mine.

I was too busy matching him kiss for kiss that I didn’t realize right away that I was touching skin instead of scales.

“What?” I gasped out, splaying my hand on his pectoral muscle.

“I can retract the scales. I thought you’d appreciate skin to skin contact instead of the rough scales,” he said with a boyish grin.

Returning his grin with one of my own, I shrugged. “I don’t know...I kinda like the scales. They look beautiful on you. Although, I might not appreciate the…what would you call that? Scale burn?”

His laugh caused his chest to rub against mine. The friction reminded me I wasn’t wearing a bra. He sobered when he realized the same thing. My n*****s hardened at the contact. He touched my face and ran his palm down my neck to hover above my breast. He waited. I nodded and gasped when he cupped the mound in his large hand, kneading gently.

“Why wouldn’t I like this,” he said, emphasizing his words by squeezing my breast, causing me to arch my back off the sand. Then he moved his hand to my side to stay on my hip. I wasn’t breathing, the anticipation killing me inside.

“And this.” He resumed his hand’s exploration by touching my thigh. “All of these lush curves beneath my touch. So you ask, why you?” He arched one golden eyebrow at me. “I challenge that question by asking, why not you?”

There we were, lying on the beach, me fully clothed and he naked on top of me. Was I willing to go that far with him? Choking the question before it festered in my head, Xavier Solomon ground his hips on mine, rubbing his considerable erection against my groin. I lost any rational thought. Rony was right. Reading about it and experiencing it were two very different things.

“Don’t drift, Tamara. When you’re with me, I want your full attention,” he said.

He wanted my full attention? Well, his answering kiss did capture all of it in its slow, wet demand. If I didn’t know better, I would think he was worshiping my mouth. It certainly felt that way to me, and I knew deep inside that I wouldn’t want it any other way.

I scratched my nails down his muscled back and gripped his hips, wanting to keep him there with me forever. He chuckled when I captured his succulent bottom lip between my teeth again and sucked.

“Not tonight, Tamara,” he said.

“What?” I blinked up at his glorious face, not understanding what he meant.

“I’m not taking you tonight,” he clarified.

Disappointment twisted my stomach in knots. “And why not?”

To make his point, he rolled to his side and manifested his scales to cover his whole body again. “Because when I take you, it will not be while you’re half drunk.”

I pouted. “Well, that sucks.”

He smiled. “There’s that honesty I like about you so much.”

When my pout became a full on frown, he kissed me until my lips relaxed and I melted again.

“Don’t tempt me, Tamara. I have plans for what I want to do to you, and taking you here isn’t part of that,” he said after the kiss. “s*x on the beach gets sand everywhere. Not very comfortable. I personally avoid it.”

“A plan?” I asked, intrigued.

“Spend the day with me tomorrow.”

I was sorely tempted. The way he looked at me, all yummy and well-kissed, was enough to make me forget my obligations. “I have to help out at the Shack’s lunch shift. I can’t just abandon Hudson when he needs me.”

His brow furrowed. “I’m sure he can find someone else to fill in.”

“I am the one filling in, Xavier Solomon.” I slapped his shoulder playfully. It was amazing how comfortable I was getting around him after such an intense make-out session. The pulse between my legs made me ache though. I guess this was what they called frustration upon interruption. I wanted release, but I wasn’t so sure what exactly that entailed.

“Why do you call me by my full name?” His question distracted me away from what my body wanted, which was Xavier Solomon on top of me again.

I thought about it for a second. “It’s either that or the god. You pick.”

His answering laugh was nervous. “I would rather you called me by my first name. There’s nothing close to divine about me.”

I snorted. “Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately? That body is as close to godliness as I would call it. I’d worship it if you’d let me.”

“I’d rather worship yours.” The hunger in his eyes told the truth and I blushed.

“Why? When most guys would go for the size twos.”

He shook his wonderful head at me, causing a lock of hair to fall over his forehead. “I like my women with meat on their bones. Have you ever hugged a size two? Bony.”

I laughed not because of what he said but of the way he said it, with such horror, like he had experienced hugging someone thin on more than one occasion. Considering the line of business he was in, I didn’t think there would be a lot of hugging involved, but I guess the fishing business was more glamorous than it let on.

Seeing as we wouldn’t reach an understanding as to why me, I changed the topic. “What are you? I’d never read anything that comes close. And believe me, I’ve read quite a lot of books.”

“Oh? What do you read?”

My blush intensified. Might as well tell him since he was so forthcoming about not being human. When it came to secrets, his absolutely trumped mine.

“Romance novels,” I said. More like whispered. “Paranormal, historical, contemporary, you name it, I’ve read it. I can’t get enough of them.”

Expecting him to laugh at me, imagine my surprise when he didn’t. He regarded me seriously instead. “I’ve never read any romance novels before, although I do see my secretary reading them during her lunch breaks. What’s the allure?”

Ah, a question I could answer. “It’s the fantasy that for at least three hours the chance of someone handsome, rich, and great in bed will sweep you off your feet is possible.”

He considered my answer. “Last I heard I was as real as it gets.”

I pursed my lips at him. “That’s mighty confident of you, Xavier Solomon.”

He grimaced at my use of his full name. “I’m rich, I’m handsome, I haven’t had any complaints in the bed department, and I can most certainly sweep you off your feet.”

I didn’t know what was more unbelievable, that he spoke matter-of-factly or that he actually believed what he said. I tugged at my shirt. It must have ridden up my body during our brief interlude. Xavier Solomon might be right on three accounts, but sweeping me off me feet? Fat chance that was going to happen if he was this cocky about it. I may devour romance novels like I would go hungry for days, but it didn’t mean I subscribed to the fantasy that someone like him would take me in his oh so strong arms and profess his love. Like many guys, he had an agenda. I didn’t know what it was yet, but I was sure he had one.

I sat up and dusted sand off my arms. “I have to go, it’s getting late.”

He sat up with me. “Why all of a sudden? I thought we were having a conversation.”

“Yes, we were.” I bent my legs and pushed myself up. “Now, we’re not.”

The sand was too loose for me to avoid wobbling. Xavier Solomon was on his feet and tugging me up before I had a chance to fall on my ass again for the second time that night. Well, whatever he was, he was fast.

“Thank you,” I said, pulling up my pajama bottoms to a more respectable height.

He grabbed my arms and looked into my eyes, searching for something I was sure wasn’t there. “What happened? Seconds ago you were talking to me and now you’re closed off.”

I shrugged one shoulder. “I’m just tired. I’m probably still drunk …” Even if I didn’t really feel drunk anymore; but I left that part unsaid.

“Spend the day with me tomorrow,” he insisted, a hint of desperation in his tone.

“I have my shift at the Shack.”

“What time is your shift?”

It was clear he wasn’t going to let it go, so I rolled my eyes and said, “It starts at eleven.”

He visibly relaxed. “What time does it end?”

“Around three?”

“Okay.” He grinned, having made up his mind about something. “Come surfing with me tomorrow morning.”

My eyebrows came together. “I don’t know how to surf.”

He waved my statement away. “I’ll teach you. Great swells are coming in tomorrow. Perfect for tandem surfing.”

“Tandem?” My mouth opened. “As in—”

“You don’t think I’d let you surf on your own your first time, did you?” he interrupted my utter disbelief. “It’ll be fun, trust me.”

That was the thing. I didn’t think I could trust him. Not completely anyway. But his insistent manner broached no argument from me. Plus, surfing did sound like a fun way to start the day. So, instead of saying yes to trusting him, I said, “What time do you want me to meet you tomorrow?”

“Six?”

I groaned. “You’re not the one with five beers in your system, mister.”

He laughed his open laugh. “Alright, eight, but no later than that.”

“Okay. But you have to answer my question.”

“Which one is that?” He tilted his head to the side.

For his benefit, I repeated myself, “What are you?”

He smiled from ear to ear. “A merman.”