A thread of frustration pulled tight in Austin. “I’m too tired,” he complained.
“I am not,” Tristan reassured. He guided Austin onto him fully and took Austin’s ass in both hands, squeezing and kneading with a delighted rumble loud enough to drown out his heartbeat. Austin’s knees sank into the soft mattress on either side of Tristan’s hips. Heat radiated from Tristan’s skin like a furnace. He was firmer than the mattress, all solid muscle.
Austin grumbled, “Wait.”
Tristan’s squeezing turned into gentle stroking, then just holding. Austin caught his breath, debating. His cock was hard and a little sore, but he’d used up his energy rubbing against Tristan.
“I’m not bothered anymore.”
He fell back asleep immediately.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“I was tired,” Austin snarked the moment he opened his eyes. Tristan was curled around him, warm breath tickling the back of his neck. At Austin’s annoyed words, Tristan propped himself up on an elbow and leaned in to study his face.
Austin’s grumpy look sharpened into a glower when he saw amusement in Tristan’s eyes.
“I was slow to offer assistance.” Tristan quickly ducked his head and kissed Austin’s bare shoulder. “That was my mistake. I thought you wanted to take care of yourself. I didn’t mean to leave you frustrated.”
The apology mollified Austin. And Tristan’s offer of assistance from the night before returned to him. The earnestness of his “please” echoed in Austin’s ears, well remembered even though he’d only been half awake. “Does it not annoy you?” Austin asked. “Touching me without me returning the favour? You gave me a blow job the other day. I gave out to you for having a big cock.”
“I greatly enjoyed bringing you pleasure in our nest, and I would have enjoyed getting to do so last night too if you’d been in the mood for me.”
Austin tilted his head back to read his face. Tristan’s expression was as unerringly genuine as his voice.
“Really, though? Because I wouldn’t like doing the same,” Austin said honestly.
Tristan considered that with a thoughtful look.
“What?” Austin pressed.
“I don’t know about that. You can be very…sweet.”
Austin scowled.
Tristan, apparently having predicted the reaction, had already bent to kiss the lines that formed between Austin’s brows as they appeared. “That does not mean you are not also very powerful,” Tristan added.
“I didn’t say it did, only that I’m not sweet at all! Maybe once a year, I’ll cast a sweet smile. But even that doesn’t really work. My eyes always look sharp, no matter how much I try to make them look soft instead.” Austin was horrifically aware that he was babbling, revealing a card he’d played against Tristan on numerous occasions now.
Tristan released a fond hum. “I believe I would dethrone Hal if you asked while casting me that smile.”
“I would never ask you to do something like that.”
Tristan rolled on top of Austin, bracketing his head between his forearms. His hair was free of its usual bun and hung down to frame his face in silky strands. His eyes were steady blue, and beautiful.
Tristan traced a delicate line across Austin’s cheekbone and temple. “It’s your intelligence you can’t hide. You use the word ‘sharp’, but I would describe your eyes when you look at me in such a way as ‘shining’—or if you prefer a more pointed word, ‘gleaming’.”
He stared into Austin’s eyes as he spoke, and Austin wondered what they looked like to him in that moment. Were they shining? Gleaming?
Austin thought of the blinding silver of his tail. The same shade as his eyes. “I didn’t realise my eyes were strange for a long time. Between the scientists and the guards, I had seen blue, green, hazel and brown…grey, too. Connor’s eyes are grey. My first day of classes, a teacher told me to take out my contacts. I had no idea what he was talking about.”
He framed Tristan’s face in his palms. “If I’d been born with the whites of my eyes dark like yours, I wonder whether they would have agreed to let me leave the lab at all?”
Austin wondered how he could shift to take on a tail, but something as small as the colour of his eyes hadn’t changed. Tristan couldn’t do halves. He was either one form or the other. But what did that mean, that Tristan’s eyes never changed? “You see far better than I do.”
“I do,” Tristan said. “And I think your eyes are very sensitive, for the sand to bother them like it did yesterday.”
At the remark, Austin studied the expanse of bare skin on display. Some evidence of yesterday’s violence remained in scrapes and reddened bumps, but for the most part, Tristan looked untarnished and untouchable. Austin tugged on his face, and Tristan leaned in to kiss him softly. Austin enjoyed his touch and warmth before he rolled over so that he sat on Tristan’s stomach, looking down at the merman, studying him even closer.
