QT: Gilded Waters

9: Petrichor

Fingers softly brushing her black hair off her smooth cheek makes Deidre stir. It was probably Mother again, telling her to get up and go out, attract the best mate possible in the open seas with her beauty.

Mother, let me sleep.

Her mouth moves, not letting any sound out. The ocean sounded a little different today. There was no whales singing as they passed by in their pond, no clacking of the clams living by the coral. Not even the clicking of the dolphins, carrying the latest interesting rock or piece of coral they'd found. Deidre's lips curve into a sweet smile.

The dolphins had a special place in her heart.  They were her best playmates, coming to her every morning to play.

The warm touch traces around the sides of her face, then down her neck, making her smile in her sleep. The dolphins seemed to understand her need to go out and see the world.

Soft touches trailing down her back, over the ridges of her spine, make her sigh.

It was probably a mischievous fish.

But then something wet slicks over the small of her back.

Okay, that was no fish Deidre knew.

Mmmm.

Turning over and stretching her arms high above her head, Deidre blinks her eyes open confused. Two gazes clash, the sweet mermaid meeting eyes directly with the man who'd tormented her all night.

"Good morning, Ru Shi" His golden eyes curve into soft crescents, reminding Deidre of the moon that glimmered over the rippling waters of the dark ocean.

BANG!

Before Deidre can even think, her body responds, kicking Shen square in the chest off the bed. 

With a wordless gasp, she sits up, crawling to the edge of the large bed and poking her head over the side. Her cheeks felt hot in embarrassment.

What had she done last night!

What had she done with him!

She didn't even know her body could do that- that stuff that they'd done last night. 

Fighting against the urge to hide her face in the silken covers, she peeks over to make sure the man was alright.

At least he was clothed.

Pulling the silk bedsheets to cover her body like a toga, Deidre sniffs at the man that foolishly grins back up at her from the floor.

"Don't worry, Ru Shi, I can take a beating."

Huffing, Deidre puffs her cheeks in disapproval.

SHE wasn't the one waking someone up by licking their back! It was only a natural response, part of her flight-or-fight instincts!

She bares her teeth at him, hissing softly, to show Shen she wasn't scared.

Which only makes Shen's grin soften, his eyes melting with her appearance reflected back to her within them.

Reaching up as if he were clasping the stars in his palm, he strokes her cheek and tucks a loose strand of dark hair behind her ear.

"And I do appreciate a strong woman"

Pulling back, Deidre watches her hair slip through his fingers like silk.

What did he mean? Did Shen have other women? Had he done the intimate things he'd done to her.... with them too?

A emptiness spills out of her heart cold and dead like a trapped pool of ocean water. 

Maybe it was time to go back to the sea. But how, with her fish tail was gone? Pulling back the red bedsheets displays a row of seashell-pink tipped toes, wiggling as she wills them to move.