Once upon a time, on a rocky island with enchantment under the ocean ... Cadence Bell left the windswept Northern Isles and his parents’ inn for the theaters and royal masques and glitter of Londre, swearing he’d make his fortune as a playwright and poet, trading fish stew and rain for fame and adoration and a place at the Queen’s Court. Now his parents are gone and Cade’s inheritance brings him back home, where he’d never wanted to return. But magic lurks beneath the waves, a stray pearl might be a key to another world, and even the quiet local schoolteacher has secrets of his own. Jeremiah Carver never meant to hide secrets. But he promised to tell no one about the other world he’s seen, and he keeps his word. Even if that means concealing magic from Cadence Bell. Which is difficult, since Cade’s not only a dazzling literary success, but also the person Jeremiah’s loved from afar since their years-ago childhood. And he’s afraid he’s falling for Cade all over again now. When Cadence falls under the siren spell of the ocean’s magic, Jeremiah has to make a choice and return to a world he’s left behind once before to rescue his heart from the sea.

Cadence and the Pearl

The rain hummed. Jeremiah gasped and cried out and made very satisfactory sounds, moaning and begging. Cade did not touch his cock, and told him that if he came he’d do it from Cade’s cock inside him, getting fucked, coming all over himself.


Jeremiah whimpered and squirmed against him, arching up, trying to pleasure himself more. Cade’s fingers left prints on his hips, his thighs, his backside. Cade told him he was lovely that way, and it was true: he was, general genial calm utterly destroyed, reduced to wet eyes and flushed skin and pleading, wholly belonging to a lover. Cade fucked him harder, deeper, until Jeremiah cried out again, high and trembling, and his cock jerked and began to spill white-hot release across his quivering stomach.


Chapter 9