Starfish

32.2

Ardus rolled to his back with a satisfied sigh. "Outstanding."

"Yeah..." Nina barely moved when his enormous hand slipped from his chest and landed on her stomach, his skin warm and dry. She lolled for a while, hazy and still throbbing from trying to keep up with him. He doesn't do anything like an old man. She tried to imagine what he might have been like at her age, then decided it wasn't worth worrying about. Rolling her head to the side Nina watched the Dreen rest on his back, his eyes closed and his pores glowing softly blue and white. Someone would have to get quite close to see the fine lines around his eyes and mouth, and at his height good luck with that. Scaled to a human lifespan, he was practically her age if not just a bit older. Nina considered what it would be like to age with him, his body renewed and hers just beginning to hit its stride. 

His head rolled towards hers, stunning blue eyes opening and the corner of his mouth turning up. "Lost in thought?"

"Mm-hmm," Nina turned and curled around his arm, threading her hand into his. The webbing between his fingers was warm and leathery, his palm swallowing her hand whole. "Just drifting. I hope this lasts."

"The evening or this relationship?"

"Both."

Ardus nodded. "As do I. It is a bit of a surprise, a Dreen and a human, but so far it appears to be working."

"We're still in the honeymoon stage," Nina ran the fingers of her free hand up his arm, over the solid swells of his bicep and forearm. "Plenty of time to drive each other nuts. Sooner or later we'll get tired of each other."

"You greatly underestimate my patience." Ardus grinned and Nina giggled.

"Good, because you're going to need it with me."

"I know. Working with you has been an exercise in patience as well as self-control."

Nina smiled at that. "I could tell. How long did it take you to figure it out?"

"Hmm?"

"When did you figure out what was going on?"

"Ah..." Falling quiet, Ardus seemed to turn it over in his mind. Nina watched, making a bet with herself as to when exactly it had clicked with him. "Well," the Dreen began, "I think the attraction began long before I realized what was happening – perhaps as early as the first day we met. As I have said before, your eyes caught my attention long before anything else." For a few moments Nina held his gaze, wondering if he still saw Timam in her or if he'd begun to separate the two. Still, the first day? Damn, big guy falls fast doesn't he? She curled her fingers in his hand. "Right, because you thought something else was wrong."

Ardus nodded. "I did. I was convinced that there was something physically wrong with me, but my physician could find nothing unusual. I think it was about the time the sand-skimmer bit you that I began to suspect that it was more than professional responsibility that kept drawing me towards you." He paused, his large hand returning Nina's squeeze. "I was absolutely certain I was attracted to you before our research trip; in fact I was concerned that I would not be able to control myself once we were alone. You kept giving me Omi's Necklace and I kept ignoring it, thinking you did not know what you were doing. I did not want a misunderstanding to ruin my project, and I did not want a scandal to damage our careers."

"I would've slept with you on the beach," Nina assured him, moving closer to his side. "I was trying to get you to make a move by wearing that swimsuit."

"I know that now, and I was tearing myself apart at the time for my cowardice."

"You weren't a coward, you were scared. That's normal."

"I was a hypocrite, speaking of evolving while hiding behind my own fears."

"Like you said, it takes practice. And you weren't ready, so I hardly think you're a hypocrite. And I was coming on pretty strong," Nina winced, thinking about the sunscreen and the tiny pink bikini and how Ardus's eyes had nearly burst from his head. "Sorry if I scared you."

"It was not you I was afraid of," Ardus rolled towards her, gathering her up and pressing her to his chest. He spoke into her hair, his breath warm. "I was afraid of losing control and harming you. I would not have done so intentionally, but I did not know then how resilient you are." His huge body curled around hers, his legs drawn up enough to create a little nest for her. "If I had known then, perhaps I would not have been so reserved."

"I would've been okay with that. Hey, maybe we can go back sometime, do it all over again, like a reenactment. One night we'll do what you wanted, one night we'll do what I thought was going to happen."

Arching his neck, Ardus peered down at her with a quizzical look. "What did you think was going to happen?"

"Well, I left my cabin door unlocked every night, I was sort of hoping you'd come knocking. I was going crazy thinking about you, and I was starting to think I was paddling up the wrong stream when you didn't show up."

"And if I had?"

"I would've answered the door completely naked and dragged your big, dumb, blue butt inside and made you sleep with me!"

Ardus laughed, squeezing her in his arms and nuzzling the top of her head. "Had I known I would have done just that. It certainly would have been better than working out my frustrations by hand."

"Sea gods, aren't we a couple of idiots?" Nina snickered, watching his pores turn pink at his admission. "We could have been doing this months ago!"

"We can make up for lost time now, if you like." The mischief was back in his eyes, as well as a purple tinge to his pores and a deep thrumming in his chest. 

Nina smirked, sensing another romp. "Sure, big guy, if you're not too tired."

The tide swept them back out to sea, and Nina fell asleep among the stars.