STORY EXCERPT

By lunchtime, the weather had deteriorated outside. The outer rain bands were already hitting them in Sarasota. Violent gusts of wind battered palm trees in the Nadels’ backyard. When Jim Cantore began his live broadcast from the public beach at the south end of Manasota Key, Sean silently wondered if his parents would have a house to return to.

Or if he and Emery would, for that matter.

Emery and Sean were sitting in the kitchen at the breakfast table later that afternoon when Sean tried to take his mind off the storm by ribbing Emery. “I guess you were right.”

“Huh? About what?”

“Denby. I don’t have any reason to be jealous of him.”

A confused smile quirked Emery’s lips. “Of course you don’t, babe. But you’re bringing that up…why?”

“Well, I just think it’s funny, that’s all.”

“What’s funny? I’m not tracking.”

“That maybe Denby will end up being part of the family anyway.”

Emery blinked. “Say again?”

“Oh, the way he’s been cozying up to Laura. Looks like maybe she has the hots for—”

He couldn’t finish, because almost faster than he could follow the movement, Emery shot out of his chair and bolted into the living room. Before Sean could even get through the doorway, Emery had grabbed Denby by the front of his shirt and was bodily dragging him into the den.

Sean managed to scoot through the door and into the den before Emery slammed it shut, locked it behind him, and rounded on Denby.

“Dude, you stay the fuck away from my sister!”

Denby looked shocked. “What?”

Outside, Laura beat on the door. “Emery! You let me in right this minute!”

Emery ignored his sister outside the door. He advanced on Denby, who cowered away from him toward the other side of the den. He jabbed a finger in Denby’s face. “You stay. The fuck. Away. From Laura. Understand me?”

“What the hell is your problem, man?” Denby said, his hands in front of him warding Emery back.

Emery shoved him, hard. Sean tried to pull Emery back, but the larger man simply shrugged him off. He lowered his voice. “You know what the hell my problem is. You’re not going to turn my sister into a fucking beard for you and ruin her life.”

“Fuck off, asshole.”

Laura was now joined by Emery’s mom and dad on the other side of the door, beating on it and yelling for Emery to unlock and open it.

Emery got in Denby’s face. “No, I’m not going to fuck off. You want to sucker some poor woman into a sham, fine, but it’s not going to be my little sister!”

“Oh, now I see what your problem is,” Denby said with a sneer. “You’re jealous.”

Emery shoved him again and sent him tumbling backward over the sleeper sofa.

That finally spurred Sean to action. He raced over to the door and unlocked it, throwing it open. Laura, Joseph, and Brad spilled in, followed by Louise and Reese. Laura immediately tried to put herself between the two men, but Louise and Sean pulled her back while Brad and Joseph tried to get between the men and pull them apart.

“Emery,” Laura shouted. “Leave him alone!”

“Stay out of this, Laura. It doesn’t concern you.”

“You’re damn right it does! You have no right to dictate who I can and can’t date. I’m not a little kid.”

“Yes, I do,” he roared. “I not only have the right, but the obligation, when I know for a fact this guy is gay!”

Sean started to scan the room in the hopes that his parents hadn’t made it to the doorway, but no such luck. There they stood, their heads poked into the doorway, eyes wide as they watched the fracas.

“What?” Laura said as her struggles against Louise and Sean ceased. “How can you possibly know that? Some sort of gaydar? Quit trying to run my life!”

“No, I know because I’ve fucked him before, and he’s fucked me. So did Erik and two other guys. You’ve missed the last six full moon swims, but ask anyone who was at some of the others and they’ll tell you. Why do you think he’s going after you? He knows you don’t know about that and no one has the choads to tell you this dolphin’s queer but your queer brother.”

The room fell silent. Everyone froze at the sound of Helen Morita clearing her throat in the doorway. “Would anyone like me to make some soup?”

“For Christ’s sake, Helen, they’re not sick,” Sam scolded. “They don’t need soup. They need a referee. And what the hell is a ‘full moon swim’? And what do you mean by ‘this dolphin’?”

Sean wasn’t sure exactly how many, but at least four other people besides him and Emery and Louise Nadel audibly said, “Fuck.”

ADULT EXCERPT

“How are hunts different from the full moon swims again?” What Sean still didn’t know about dolphin shifters and their protocols and history would fill a few dozen sets of encyclopedias. All he needed to know was that he loved Emery. It didn’t hurt that both sets of parents had come to accept the men were a committed, devoted long-term couple.

Although Sean’s parents, of course, didn’t know about the special abilities of Emery and his family.

“Full moon swims are strictly for fun and play,” Emery explained. “Especially if any of the human mates come along, or if there are inexperienced younglings with the group. Or to welcome new members into the pod. We stick to the shallows and stay out of open water. The hunts are just that, and can happen at any time, although less frequently than the full moon swims. We go out in open water, find schools of fish, and we hunt. People try to come in for those.”

“Why?”

Emery shrugged, a motion that set Sean’s heart racing and his cock throbbing. “It’s more fun to hunt with a pod, for one thing. Safety in numbers. It’s a bonding experience. Teamwork. And the single younglings are sometimes hoping to impress each other if they’re old enough to start looking for a mate.”

A sudden spike of jealousy swirled through Sean’s gut. “What kind of bonding?” He didn’t like feeling jealous. Like pouting, he considered it beneath him. And he certainly trusted Emery. Emery had never given him a reason not to trust him. Sean didn’t understand how that ugly green monster had snuck in.

Emery leaned in and nipped Sean’s neck. “Not sexual. Not for me, at least. Not anymore. Sometimes the younglings might fool around a little during breaks in the hunt.” He arched an eyebrow at Sean. “Those of us with mates, however, don’t screw around. Well, unless it’s our mate we’re screwing around with.” He hooked an arm around Sean’s waist and nibbled on the side of his neck again. “Don’t worry. I only have eyes for you, mister.”

The jealousy he’d felt fled as quickly as it had arrived. Sean wanted to shut down the engine and jump Emery’s bones right there in the middle of Lemon Bay. Unfortunately, with shore less than fifty yards away, they might have witnesses. His cock tented his swim trunks even more. “Good. You can show me when we anchor up.”

Less than an hour later they were out in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Sean was glad to see his favorite near-shore fishing spot, an artificial reef, lay unoccupied. They threw the anchor. Emery shucked his trunks and dove into the water, smoothly gliding below the surface.

Dolphin Emery reappeared a moment later. “Come on in,” he silently said to Sean with their mental connection. “The water’s fine.” He took off around the boat again, launching himself completely out of the water before disappearing beneath the surface.

Sean laughed as he watched Emery playing in the water for a few minutes. Emery would rocket straight out of the water before diving under again. Sean dropped his swim trunks to the deck and did a cannonball into the water. When he broke the surface, Emery had shifted back to human form.

“Lube?” Emery asked with an amused smile.

“Argh.” Sean swam back to the boat to lube himself up.

Emery treaded water near the engine. “I know you’re eager to get laid, babe, but damn.”

Sean stuck his tongue out at him as he worked lube into his ass. Emery wore a delicious, playful smile. “Are you complaining that I’m eager to have you fuck me?”

Emery shook his head. “That’s not what I said. I think it’s cute.”

Sean finished and jumped into the water again. While they frequently screwed around in their pool—and even more frequently in their bed—they didn’t often have a chance to do it in open water. Sean loved the feeling of the warm Gulf waters swirling around them and being naked under the sun. Not to mention it meant Emery had a chance to freely swim and move his shifted dolphin body in ways the limited size of their pool couldn’t allow.

Emery embraced him as Sean wrapped his arms and legs around him. Sean wasn’t the only one hard. The head of Emery’s stiff cock bumped between his ass cheeks.

“You gonna poke me or play around all afternoon?” Sean joked.

Emery slid his cock home, hard and deep, bottoming out, making Sean moan and his cock jump. He’d never measured Emery’s cock but it had to be at least twelve inches, and thick. It never failed to roll Sean’s eyes back in his head.

“How’s that?” Emery asked.

Sean laid his head against Emery’s shoulder. “Oh, fuck yeah, baby. Just like that.”

Sean closed his eyes and moaned again, loudly, as Emery grabbed Sean’s hips and started fucking him. Like this, Emery’s cock pressed right against Sean’s gland, every movement threatening to send Sean over the edge.

On his back, Emery slowly swam lazy circles around the anchored boat, fucking Sean and cradling him against his body. Sean frantically tried to get enough traction against his own cock rubbing between their bodies. “Dammit, that feels sooo good,” he moaned.

“It’s supposed to feel good, babe,” Emery replied. “Otherwise, we’re not doing it right.”

“You’re doing it more than just right.” After several minutes of their sexy aquatic fucking, Sean grew frantic. “Jeez, I want to come!”

“Bounce up and down on me. Work that sweet ass of yours on my cock.”