Page 34 of Whispers of the Deep
All she needed was for him to get close enough for her to put the translator on the back of his ear. It would do the rest. The neural link might not work with him. She had no idea what their anatomy even was, but she hoped that it would work. They were close enough to each other in species that it would make sense. At least, from the top up.
“I thought we could learn more words today,” she said, watching as he came even closer. It was so effortless for him to move in the lapping eddies of the pool. She could see his tail moving beneath him, guiding his body until he was almost right in front of her.
Her cheeks burned, as they always did. Though he was still a strange, mottled gray, and dark lines were painted onto his muscular body from shoulder to navel, there was still something about him that was... alluring.
It made her uncomfortable, and she didn’t know why.
“A little closer,” she said, frowning when he stopped an arm’s length away. This wouldn’t do.
She had to trick him, apparently. And there was only one way she could think of to do that.
He clearly wanted to learn her language, and she was going to give him that. If he would just swim a little closer. Mira pointed to her bicep, flexing it a little to get his attention on the limb. “Arm.”
Arges narrowed his eyes at her.
Right, so back to the original tactic. She flattened her hand against her chest and said, “Mira.” Then pointed to her arm again, flexing the muscle, and then saying, “Arm.”
He narrowed his eyes and moved maybe an inch closer. Curiosity always did kill the cat, so the saying went.
She moved throughout most of her features like he was a toddler. She pointed to her eyes, making them big and wide. Then pointed to her nose, flaring her nostrils in a way that made him rear back before chuckling. Ears, mouth, brows. But she didn’t mistake the flaring of his gills around his neck when she pointed to her mouth again and said, “Lips.”
She parted them, and he swam even closer. Just enough for her to finally get a good reach. She could lunge forward, but that wouldn’t work either. She was trying to get him to not kill her and lunging at him would certainly ruin that chance.
What she needed was for him to be lulled into submission. If the heat burning in his eyes was any indicator, she had to keep playing this game.
Which, surprisingly... she didn’t mind at all.
Mira licked her lips, watching that heat flare even hotter in his gaze. “You like that,” she whispered. It wasn’t a question, because she knew.
This could get out of hand if she let it. Although she had her doubts about how far it could even go between them. Still, maybe keeping his mind off those thoughts would be best.
She lifted her hand and exhaled on her palm. “Breath.”
That made him straighten.
She did it again, repeating the word and then freezing when he reached for her hand. Wet hands caught her own, but he was surprisingly warm. Those webs brushed against her fingers as he turned her hand over and made her spread them wide.
“No webs,” she said quietly, watching the top of his bent head as he turned her hand this way and that. “Just fingers.”
She spread them even wider, laughing quietly at his soft sound of amazement. He had seen her hands before! Many times, in fact. And yet this time, he seemed infinitely more interested in them.
Or perhaps, what they could do.
Biting her lip, she wondered what he thought of her body. In her opinion, he was still... passable. Strange to look at, but not so unusual that she couldn’t see past their differences. The sculpted planes of his face were infinitely beautiful, not to mention the muscles that ran throughout his entire torso. If he had been a human, she’d want to lick every drop of water out of those deep hollows.
No, she couldn’t let her mind drift down that lane of thinking. She was here to make him understand her, so she could tell him that she needed to get back home.
So she curled her fingers around his, lifting his hand to her mouth and exhaling on his palm. “Breath.”
His eyes were black, so she had no idea how they darkened even further, but she could almost taste his arousal in the air. They were locked together, trapped in each other’s gazes as she breathed against his palm. The webs between his fingers shook, vibrating with some emotion she was terrified to name.
But then he rotated his wrist, trapping her hand in his. Carefully, he drew her hand down his torso.
Heat made her cheeks burn and the tips of her ears ache. Was he... No, certainly not.
Was she going to let him?
Arges stopped her hands right below his ribs, and she ripped her gaze away from his when she felt air moving over her palms. Not just air, but it felt like someone was blowing on her fingers.
