At the edge of the wet sand, just out of reach of the most ambitious wave, we stop. Grabbing my hand, he pulls me to the water. “Let’s get on with this.” He closes the distance between us, making foot-size potholes with his stride.

“I can’t admire you, even from afar?” I can’t quite squeeze enough innocence in there to make it believable, to make it sound like I wasn’t thinking the same thing he was.Ĭlearing his throat, he nods. “Disappointing your grandfather is the last thing I want to do.”

“Don’t look at me like that, angelfish,” he says, his voice husky. Galen, barefoot in the sand, wearing an Armani tux. She could still enjoy them while she and Grom come to shore to-“ “She keeps picture frames at her house though. After all, I am eighteen years old, an adult, and can take care of myself. “And what will she do with pictures? There aren’t exactly picture frames in the Royal Caverns.” Mom’s decision to mate with Grom and live as his queen didn’t surprise me. “Your mother will want pictures,” he tells me. I’m just glad to see a smile on his face at all. His crooked smile almost melts me where I stand. Leaning over, I shake my head like a wet dog, dispelling the magic of hairspray. But she would also want us to stay in our designer clothes. Rachel would want us to enjoy ourselves.” I pull the thousand-or-so bobby pins from my hair and toss them in the sand. When he starts unraveling his tie, I throw out my hand.

“Absolutely.” I unstrap the four-hundred-dollar silver heels and spike them into the sand. “You’re sure you want to do this,” Galen says, eyeing me like I’ve grown a tiara of snakes on my head. 'That makes it about fifty times harder to leave, I think.” 'Maybe I shouldn't have done that,' he says. When he pulls away I feel drunk and excited and nervous and filled with a craving that I'm not sure can ever be satisfied. This kiss holds promises of things to come. This is our first kiss after he announced that he wanted me for his mate. I wouldn't want an audience for this kiss, either, especially if the audience included my mother. And I see why he didn't want an audience for this kiss. 'I'm doing something that is none of anyone else's business.' Then he jerks me up against him and crushes his mouth on mine. His legs are longer than mine so for every two of his strides I have to take three, which feels a lot like running. I know the routine and turn away so he can change, but it seems like no time before he hauls me onto the beach and drags me to the sand dunes in front of my house. “As soon as she releases me, Galen grabs my hand and I don't even have time to gasp before he snatches me to the surface and pulls me toward shore, only pausing to dislodge his pair of swimming trunks from under his favorite rock, where he had just moments before taken the time to hide them.

Of Triton by Anna Banks