“Uh-huh.” I kissed along his neck, inhaling his rich, heady scent even underwater.

“You just attacked me because...?”

“I couldn’t help it.”

He chuckled. “Was it the scales?”

“Definitely the scales.” I raked my hands through his hair, making him shiver and his cock throb inside me. “It’s everything, Sully. You, this, our life together. I’m so, so lucky. And I needed you. Needed to know this is real even while we swim in myth.”

“You’ll always have me.” His smile fell as seriousness lashed around us. “No matter if we’re in Euphoria, our islands, a damn yacht, or even death. You have me.”

I rocked my hips. “You’re making me need you again.”

He smirked. “You’re insatiable.”

“I’m married to you, what did you expect? I live with the sexiest, smartest, most wonderful scientist in the world.”

Kissing the tip of my nose, he murmured, “And I live with a beautiful, bold, brilliantly horny wife who likes to play with me.”

“Take me again.” I licked his bottom lip, sucking it into my mouth and biting teasingly. “Show me how much you love me.”

“Fuck, you’re perfect.” He pushed up from the bottom and let the water cradle both of us as he lay on his back. My knees hit the sand as I straddled him.

His eyes turned into heart-breaking blue as he ran his hands over my breasts, up my scaled throat, and dove into my cloud of water-logged hair. “Having you on me, being inside you—that’s my ultimate fantasy, Jinx. You make all my dreams come true.”

Pressing my fingernails into his sculpted chest, I rocked over him. “Let’s never leave.”

He pulled me down, bending me in half until our mouths connected as deeply as our bodies. His tongue entered my mouth as he thrust up, fucking me even while I fucked him. “I think this hallucination will become a favourite of ours.” Letting me go, he pushed me until I sat on top of him again.

His face etched with lust and his eyes blazed with possession as his hands trailed over every inch of my shimmering skin. “Seeing you like this? Wild and free, scaled and sexy...I could live at the bottom of the sea with you forever.”

It was my turn to fold forward and kiss him.

I kissed him as he rolled me onto my back and pinned me to the sand.

He kissed me as he took me.

And the whole ocean heard me scream as he made me his.

Chapter Thirteen

I STOOD NURSING MY coffee, arms on the polished railing, and eyes locked on the dawn spreading pinks and mandarins across the horizon.

Sipping the caffeine, I froze as the first sighting of Tahiti appeared. The unmistakable haze of land, followed by the shimmer of tropical wilderness. Unlike my untouched islands where only those I chose and employed lived within the sanctuary of fronds and beaches, French Polynesia was heavily populated.

The main island of Pape’ete housed over twenty-five thousand people, while the other islands for wealthy tourists on Mo’orea and Bora Bora were so commercial that all their natural beauty was gone.

Sure, they still had waterfalls and manta rays and stunning over-water bungalows, but the wildness had gone. The beauty of no interference from humans had long since faded beneath their commercialism.

Eleanor appeared beside me just as a pod of dolphins splashed from the deep and frolicked in our wake. She smiled, tucking her hair behind her ears and looking highly fuckable in her black mini skirt and peach shirt. She wore more clothes than she had in days, ready to be professional as the owner and CEO of Rapture.

I’d also attempted to be somewhat presentable, trading my board shorts for jeans and a grey polo.

Looking down and watching the silver sleek mammals, she murmured, “They’re dancing.”

“Or lazy.”

“Lazy?” She took my coffee cup and helped herself to a sip.

“They’re using the boat’s inertia to swim.”

“I call that ingenious, not lazy.” She passed my cup back. “And if Cal hears you call Calypso a boat again, he’ll throw you overboard.”

I chuckled. “He and Jess have definitely taken to life on the high seas.”

“They have.” She put her elbows on the railing, staring at the ever-lightening sky. “Perhaps instead of building them an island villa, we’ll just buy them a yacht for their zoo of children. It could end up like Noah’s ark, but instead of animals, it’s just kids.”

“Ha, ha.” I placed the empty coffee cup onto the passing tray of one of the discreet staff. “Kids need earth. They need to run on a beach and climb a tree. Jump off a waterfall every now and again.”

“City kids don’t even get that.”

“Yeah, and look how they turn out.” I shuddered. “Humans who don’t have access to nature are the entire reason they’re all a bunch of fuckwits.”

Eleanor snickered. “Still don’t censor your true thoughts, I see.”

“Not when it comes to mankind, I don’t.” I pinched her ass. “I’m getting tetchy just knowing we’re about to dock and be surrounded by them. And angry divorcees, no less.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m glad we’re saving their marriages, but it doesn’t mean I want to come face-to-face with their problems.”

“You won’t. Sophie has emailed and said she’ll meet us at the pier. She’s already inspected Thimble and said it’s outstanding, so that’s one task we don’t need to complete. Then all we need to do is go over a few of her proposed ideas, inspect the two new Euphoria playrooms, and then we can leave.”

“Fine.” I huffed, grabbing a lock of her hair as strands of chocolate fire caught the rising sun. “But you owe me.”

“I owe you what precisely?” Her smile slipped into sensual. Ever since our time beneath the sea in her fantasy almost two weeks ago, we’d been insatiable. Something deeper had sprung between us. Something that I couldn’t explain but brought us evermore closer.

The past two weeks—working in the mornings thanks to the impressive internet connection and commerce facilities, having lunch with Eleanor, Cal, Jess, Pika, and Skittles on the deck before taking a swim in the pool, and then retiring to a comfy cabin where we could be as loud and as frisky as we liked—had been an experience I wouldn’t forget.

Elder Prest was right.

I could easily be converted to nautical life...if I didn’t love my islands so much. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t homesick to rush back. I had my two parrots, two friends, and wonderful wife. And even when the weather turned grey and rain pummelled the ship, we enjoyed a movie night in the fully equipped theatre, played drinking card games in the library, and even learned how to play the piano thanks to YouTube and a few tipsy video lessons.

We hadn’t needed to pull into a harbour to restock for fuel or food. We hadn’t seen another living soul apart from the odd albatross, whale, and yacht staff. It was exactly the way I liked it, and Jinx was right.

It was the only way to travel from here on out.

No fucking way would I get on a plane again. I didn’t care if it took me a month to get to a board meeting in the USA. By sailing there, I could take everything that was important to me and keep everyone safe at the same time.