Adrian

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Four weeks ago, Victor was convicted of assault and attempted rape. He was sentenced to fifteen years in state prison with a $10,000 fine. Not nearly enough as far as I was concerned, but I knew there would never be an amount of jail time long enough for what I thought he deserved and I’d have to live with whatever the courts decided. These were the rules of the human world, and if my dragon and I were going to live in this world, we had to abide by their processes. A fact my dragon was slowly learning to deal with.

The last phase of the hotel was completed two weeks ago. There was a total of forty rooms, all decorated by Reese, of course, and we had thirty-nine of them booked for that first night. That left one available for us. I wasn’t about to let that first night go by without firsthand knowledge of the experience of sleeping underwater. I supposed maybe it wasn’t much different than being on a submarine. Well, maybe a bit more elegant.

The first night in the hotel went off without one single problem. Air flowed the way it was supposed to, and all the guests bragged about the rooms and how comfortable they were. Which Reese and I experienced firsthand. Lying with soft, pillowy down comforters and a feather soft bed, we found we didn’t sleep much at all.

I hired three French chefs all excited about cooking under the sea, and each night a delicious gourmet meal was prepared for the guests. A theater about the size of a modern cinema was built on the second level and each night a different band performed. We had famous musicians calling us, asking if they could play and they’d even do it for free, just for the experience. 

Six months had passed since that dreadful day Reese had been attacked by Victor. A pain grew in my chest realizing that it took such an atrocious act of violence for the dragon to reveal himself to Reese. It amazed me that something so wrong could turn into something so beautiful. The fact that she thought my dragon was beautiful was incredible. I loved how she enjoyed riding me bare bottom, which she did just about every morning now. We’d go for a flight and then come back and make love for another hour or so. Particularly mornings like this one.

Reese and I had just finished eating a big breakfast of pancakes and bacon, and we’d gone out earlier for a quick swim and flight, but I needed to be naked and wet with her again.

“Let’s go for a swim.” I grabbed her around the waist.

“I was just going to take a shower.” She gave me a sultry look. “Join me?”

“I would love to. But first I want to go for a swim. Come on. It’s Sunday. We don’t need to be anywhere. Come play with me?”

“Okay.” She tossed the towel she was wearing down on the bed, leaving her completely naked and I couldn’t wait to slide my dolphin skin against her.

She started swimming naked with me a couple of weeks ago. We’d been playing around in the private bay and she’d impulsively taken off her bikini. Of course, I always swam naked. From then on bathing suits had become unnecessary.

We’d been swimming together with me as my dolphin and her hanging on to me so often now it was getting easier to communicate with her. I’d make a certain nod, or a twist, or particular sound and somehow, she understood what it was I was trying to say. There was something I wanted to show her. I leapt a little into the air and dove in.

When I came back up, she nodded.

“Okay. Let’s go.” She understood that I needed her to hold her breath longer than normal, because we were going under, deeper than before.

She wrapped her arms around my dorsal fin and I dove down, taking us to a small patch of rocks I’d never taken her to before. Once down there, I motioned toward a small pile of stones where a closed oyster shell sat on top. I pointed my nose at it.

Eyebrows furrowed slightly, she picked up the shell and held it in her hand. She opened it and gasped. Her eyes sparkled as she picked up the diamond ring I’d placed inside the shell.

She smiled and pointed her finger up, and I turned so she could hold on to me as I took us both to the surface.

“Adrian!” she shouted as she treaded water, I danced backwards on my tail and cackled at her, asking her to marry me. I was sure she understood every word I’d said, but then she didn’t say anything. Was she going to say no? Was that why she was so quiet? Why would she say no? I thought what we had together was perfect, I thought she’d want to be with me forever. I watched as her arms flew out around her trying to tell me something, pointing under the water. I didn’t understand what she was doing so I slipped back under the water and shifted to my human form.

When I swam back up to the surface, I slid up the length of her, skimming my body against hers.

“I love you, Reese, and I need you more than I need to breathe. My dragon needs you, my dolphin needs you. With you, we aren’t three different creatures anymore. Because of you, we’ve become one. You made that happen. You made us whole, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please, will you marry me?”

“Adrian, I love you more than life. You’ve taught me so much about myself. When I’m with you, whether it’s with you as your dolphin, or your dragon, or you as a man, it’s the happiest time of my life. I wouldn’t want to live my life without you. So, yes, I’ll marry you.”

“You will?” I choked out, struggling to breathe.

“Yes.”

I pressed my mouth to hers, reveling in the softness of her lips. Our tongues tangled in a smooth, loving dance. When I broke the kiss, I gazed into her beautiful eyes and said, “I love you and I love your wet kisses.”

“You can shower me with your wet kisses anytime, babe.”

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Thank you for reading Wet Kisses, a Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance, by Susan Griscom, book 5 in the Sectorium series. If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on your favorite retail site. Please note, books 4 and 5 of the Sectorium series can be read as stand-alone novels without any spoilers to the first three books in the series.

The Sectorium Series begins with Ignite the Flame, book 1, Reflect the Flame, book 2, Tame the Flame, book 3 and A Gypsy’s Kiss, book 4.