Page 63 of Music of the Ocean

Saxby yawned. He was kind of tired.

“Let us return to our chambers,” Indigo said.

Saxby nodded, following Indigo through a series of winding corridors that grew increasingly familiar, then turned into a passage Saxby recognized as leading to Indigo’s quarters.

Chapter Twenty – Indigo

INDIGO MOVED across the chamber to the sleeping alcove, the gentle current catching the fringe of his hair and sending it drifting around his head. He glanced back at Saxby, holding out a hand in invitation.

Saxby didn’t hesitate to take Indigo’s hand.

The mesh platform shifted under Indigo’s weight as he lowered himself onto it. The mesh adjusted as Indigo and Saxby settled onto it. He shifted closer and rested his chin on Saxby’s shoulder.

For a minute, neither of them spoke. They listened to the muffled vibrations of the city through the walls, the distant thrum of a current, the subtle shifting of the coral structure as it grew.

The water in the alcove was faintly tinged with the scent of sea-salt caramelized over a flame. It was Indigo’s desire. Although, he doubted Saxby recognized that scent yet.

The room dissolved into a lingering twilight, the colors on the walls melting into midnight blue and deep violet.

Indigo hesitated, then slowly leaned closer, more of his tentacles drifting toward Saxby. One circled Saxby’s waist, repositioning him onto his back and anchoring him, while another skimmed along the exposed skin of Saxby’s neck, the touch gentle but deliberate.

All the touches, all the kisses, they had led to this moment, but Indigo wouldn’t push if Saxby wasn’t ready to be intimate.

A shiver ran the length of Saxby’s spine, and he didn’t say no.

Encouraged, Indigo’s tentacles shifted as they both restrained and cradled Saxby. Indigo drifted forward and pressed his lips to Saxby’s.

The gesture was tentative. Indigo waited to see if Saxby would recoil or freeze. But Saxby did none of those things. Instead, he exhaled a soft, involuntary sound against Indigo’s mouth and kissed him back.

Desire flooded Indigo’s body. The tentacle around Saxby’s waist tightened in a slow, possessive spiral, drawing him closer. The tips of Indigo’s fingers hovered over Saxby’s jaw, hesitant only for a fraction of a second before they cupped his cheek gently.

There was a current running between them, and not just temperature and water pressure. It made Indigo’s skin tingle in a thousand different places at once.

Indigo arched his body instinctively, pressing closer as they kissed. His world narrowed to the taste of Saxby’s mouth and the cadence of his breath. The water between them carried Saxby’s scent—something sharp and salty—along with his sea-salt caramelized. Indigo wanted to bask in it forever.

The kiss deepened, becoming a battle of lips and teeth and tongue.

Saxby tasted faintly of the meal they’d shared. But underneath that was something warmer and harder to categorize. Something that felt less like flavor and more like want given form.

But there was also a softness to their kiss that surprised Indigo. Not sweetness exactly, but the absence of bitterness. It was the taste of someone who was not afraid.

Then, Saxby sucked on Indigo’s tongue, and he understood for the first time why his kind had always described desire as a form of hunger. The kiss pulled at something in Indigo’s chest.

Indigo’s hand drifted from Saxby’s cheek to the small of Saxby’s back. He splayed his fingers there, spanning the ridges of muscle and bone. His other hand tunneled through Saxby’s hair, the fine strands catching on the pads of Indigo’s fingers. He reveled in the sensation.

Each time Saxby yielded or pressed back, Indigo’s confidence grew. He let his tentacles roam farther, gliding down the line of Saxby’s spine and resting at the top of his ass.

The gesture drew a tiny, surprised gasp from Saxby, and Indigo sucked in the sound, greedy for every vibration.

When Saxby responded hungrily to that touch, a low growl reverberated through Indigo’s body as his hand fisted in Saxby’s hair and pulled his head back.

“Indigo,” Saxby whispered. “Oh gods, Indigo.”

Indigo pressed his lips against Saxby’s neck. “You like that.”

“I do, yeah. I want this. Want you. I’m not afraid,” Saxby whispered. “You don’t have to be so easy with me.”

Indigo’s hand that was fisted in Saxby’s hair tightened as he pulled Saxby into another ravishing kiss.