Memories of Mermaids by RaeLynn Blue Page B

slide which connected the top tier and the bottom floor, Triton paused. Floating green strands slipped into view. He heard the short shouts and eager murmurs as a lean woman gently coursed into view, her large tail fin decorated in hues of bright verdant green. Around her neck, a belly-length shell necklace. Each thumb-length shell, in various shapes, bumped against her torso as she glided. She glanced up to the stairway.
    He peered at her. So much familiarity rushed him, he hiccupped. He knew this woman. The dream always went this way. He’d meet her here, at the top of this balcony.
    Antonia.
    “I was just on my way to wake you,” she said, a sharp frown ruining her otherwise perfect face. “The guards held me up, again. Several seahorses escaped and needed to be corralled.”
    Triton nodded as if he was listening, but in fact, he wasn’t. All of his attention had snagged at Antonia’s full mouth. He reached for her instinctively and it felt right.
    She giggled and playfully swatted his hands. “Not now, we’re late for breakfast. You hungry?”
    “Yes,” Triton confessed as the stunning mermaid swished out of his grasp again.
    Antonia’s long, glistening black hair had been braided into a series of small plaits. They waved in the sea’s currents. Her tapered waist blended into her ornately decorated scales and fin. The smooth brown tint to her skin screamed for the soft, slow glide of his tongue. Her breasts, free and unencumbered by clothes, bounced as she swam, perfect points of cinnamon surrounded by warm honey.
    No doubt she’d lured more than one sailor to his death by her captivating beauty.
    “Triton! Are you listening?” Antonia bopped him with her tail as she swam to meet him. With her eyebrows raised, she added, “You’ve seen my breasts before.”
    True. Despite the fact he couldn’t quite remember it.
    “Yes, but they never cease to impress.”
    She blushed and wagged a finger at him. “You think they’re all beautiful.”
    “Only yours.”
    No one wore clothes. Wet garments made swimming difficult and cumbersome. He was still a man—a breast man to boot. Thank the gods for small favors. And yeah, he was bare-chested himself. Still the fact didn’t make Antonia’s gorgeous orbs any less stimulating. Gods, he loved wrapping his lips around Antonia’s taut, tight nipples—loved how the hardened flesh felt as he flicked them with his tongue. Relished her squealing in pleasure.
    How do I know what she sounds like when pleasured?
    “You all right?” Antonia squeezed his hand.
    “I am confused. I feel like I know this place, but I’ve never been here. But I feel like you and I...”
    She seemed so happy, but around her eyes soft sadness leaked out.
    “You do know this place. It’s your home, and you’re my husband.”
    “Husband?”
    “Yes.” She swam down the slide, her warm mocha complexion perfect in the currents. Glancing over her shoulder, she waved at him to follow and slowed for Triton to catch up. He sighed and sailed down to her with dread piling into his stomach.
    * * * *
    “Yow!” Triton screamed.
    His eyes flapped open and the rush of air burned in his lungs as they struggled to breathe.
    The icy shower spray wrenched him back to the here and now and he hurriedly rinsed off and shot out of the shower. Gasping, his breathing ragged, he toweled off, scooped up his old smelly clothes and dumped them into the nearest clothes hamper.
    Waking visions, the same recurring daydream… Triton shook his head. Whatever hold he held on reality was slipping.
    Grabbing the sink’s porcelain edge, he tried to settle his breathing into something normal. The thing was he felt like he’d been underwater, swimming, and his body had physically reacted to it.
    This didn’t surprise him, but it did worry him.
    He glanced into the mirror.
    “What the hell…”
    A kelp-green streak interrupted the mass of his ebony hair. Before he went into the shower, he didn’t have any streaks, but