Hey Guys!

Ready for this new chapter? :-) I had fun writing this, hope you guys enjoy reading it!

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Diving Lessons

Matt worked quietly in his office a while and asked me to work on the couch there to keep him company which I did. He was catching up on all the paperwork that had piled up while he'd been gone the past two weeks since Thorne was apparently absolutely useless for that stuff.

Then by late afternoon Dev and Mitch showed up and the four of us headed out to Sharkfell Island and then beyond it so that Matt could give all of us a joined deep diving lesson. Though Mitch chose to mostly sit it out while he sunned in the boat.

I was scared to get into the water at first, feeling oddly out of my element and I tried to hide that by fussing over the injury on Matt's chest. "You shouldn't get it wet, what if it gets infected? Going diving was a bad idea!" We were all sitting on the beach and Dev and Matt were in the process of stripping down to their shorts before they waded in for the change.

Matt rolled his eyes, "That only counts for non merfolk." Dev laughed, "Yeah Dani, we were made for the water, it's not gonna kill us." I scowled at them, "I'm certain that if you get dirt into that slash it will still inflame, fast healing or not. Just because you can breath underwater doesn't mean you're immune to all the shit in it!"

By then however I think Matt had caught on that I wasn't really making an issue over him getting hurt more but that I was actually scared to go in. He waded out of the surf and gestured at Dev to go ahead while he dried himself up with practiced ease. When he reached me he pulled me to my feet and lifted my head by the chin so I couldn't avoid his eyes. "What's going on darling? Is it the water? You worried about going in?"

"Is that really stupid?" I asked him and he immediately shook his head. "Of course not baby, it's really understandable but it's not going to help you. You can't avoid the water forever, eventually the need to swim will get too strong. Better you do it now, with all of us here right?" He was holding my face so gently in his big hands and looking at me so tenderly with his near black eyes that I felt some of my fear drain away. Matt would look after me and besides, I wasn't helpless was I?

I now had a shiny knife in a holster strapped to my arm. It was a temporary one Thorne had dropped by sometime today on Matt's request. Matt had told me he'd already ordered one especially for me but that would take a week to be made by this mate he had from his navy days who was really good at crafting water suited blades.

"I think it's not that I'm afraid someone will hurt me or something. It's just that I nearly drowned twice last night... It's like the water turned against me too and I'm not feeling very trusting." I hated that my voice actually quivered a little and I could see that it did something to Matt to hear me speak in such a timid voice. He got this really intense look on his face and then he pulled me into his body for a real hug, tucking my face against his chest and brushing kisses over my forehead and in my hair.

"I understand, I came close to drowning once or twice myself you know. It was hard to get back in the surf afterward. You're being really brave by just being here. I hadn't even realized you were having a problem with it until just now." His voice was husky as he spoke and his hands so nice and warm as they stroked over the bare skin of my back.

"I'll be with you every step of the way okay? I'm never going to leave your side." They way he said that, it sounded like he meant it in a much deeper way than just today in the water. Which was a stupid thought to have when it concerned something the guy I'd accused of having commitment issues said.

"Okay, I'll do it," I told him. Feeling a little braver I pulled away from him and that's when I caught Dev and Mitch staring at us with these Cheshire grins on their faces. Mitch draped over the edge of the boat, Dev bobbing in his merman form next to him in the water. "What are you guys looking at?" Matt demanded suspiciously.

"Oh you two just look so cute together is all..." Mitch grinned and Dev nodded his head in agreement. I wasn't sure if I wanted to protest that or not and because I hesitated I caught Matt casting me a sidelong glance, start to grin and then he drawled: "Of course we are." Before I even had an inclination of what he was going to do he lifted me in the air and started wading into the water.

"Put me down!" I told him and I caught a flash of a devilish grin. "As you wish!" He threw me in an arc through the air, straight into the water and when I came spluttering up the change slithered through me and I found myself a mermaid.

Laughing Matt was already bending over me to untie the sarong I'd been wearing and pulling it off me. I struggled a moment and then gave up and started laughing myself. "You are an ass Matt McLaren!" He kept on grinning at me, "Better close your eyes now if you don't want to get flashed darling." He didn't wait until I had and started pulling off his shorts so he could change himself.

I caught a good look at the trail of hair leading lower and the base of his cock before I closed my eyes and with a splash submerged. I was fighting the heat crawling up my cheeks and struggling to forget what I'd just caught a flash off and then Matt was suddenly underwater with me. His face alight with laughter as he caught the mortification on mine. When I looked I could see Dev howling with laughter as he hung from the edge of the boat and Mitch chortling with glee.

After that I was of course sufficiently distracted as to not worry about the upcoming dive; which was probably precisely why Matt had done it. It wasn't as if I minded having seen what I had, it was just the damned nerve of the guy to do that and right where Mitch and Dev could see too. Had it just been me and him I might have laughed it off, might have kept on looking. With the guys there it was like being caught red handed.

The diving techniques were much more simple in principle than I'd expected, teaching me to look for the natural flow of things and using my ability to control water as a mermaid. They were much harder to master though and it was frustrating when it took Dev all of ten minutes to get the hang of it while I was still feeling lost and struggling for control.

When we were on our way back in the boat Matt told me he thought I'd done really well and I could tell from his expression that he actually meant it, he wasn't just saying that to make me feel better. "The hell I did," I told him and he grinned and shook his head. "I thought you might not see it that way darling." Then his expression sobered while he followed my line of sight towards his brother. "Dev's been controlling water since he was born, you've fallen into this barely a month ago. Don't be so hard on yourself."

I thought he was right about that so I tried, telling myself not to consider it a personal failure that I'd only managed to find my way up on my own once before Matt had called it a day. Then when we neared the Marina I got nervous for a different reason. I'd gone home with Matt, fully with the intention of sleeping at his place and purely for the fact that I didn't want to go back on that towards my dad I'd have to go through with it. But what were the sleeping arrangements going to be? Had my coming with him given Matt he impression I was now on board with sleeping with him? Did I want to?

There had been various moments where it had become clear to me that Dev and Mitch and even Thorne were now thinking Matt and I would actually work together. Though Thorne had told me I had to let Matt make the first move again. In all of that where did I stand? Was I truly willing to take a risk on him? Especially now? After what I'd been through the past days? How big was the risk anyway? Matt had been there for me every step of the way when I really needed someone, that wasn't like a commitment shy guy was it?

Matt noticed how lost in thought I was over dinner, which we shared with just the two of us at a table in the bar. Reaching out a big hand he folded it around one of mine which I'd left lying on the table and was sort of just staring at. "You okay there darling?" he asked seriously and when I just shrugged and nodded he quirked a single eyebrow. "Seem a little lost in thought, care to share?"

When I just sort of shrugged again he frowned more instead of the grin I'd expected from him. "Are you worried about tonight? About whether or not I understood what you needed from me when you came here this morning?" He was rarely this serious, so the fact that he was now drove home that he had either thought about it himself or picked up on my nerves.

"Because I'll sleep on the couch again if that's what you want, I don't mind," he squeezed my hand gently to let me know he meant it before at last grinning. "Of course I would never say no if you did want to share my bed." When I rolled my eyes and fought my own answering smile he seemed relieved.

In the end I told him that I'd rather sleep alone though that felt kind of like a lie. He didn't ask why, just said that was fine and got a blanket and pillow to make up a bed on the couch in the office. Then he suggested we watch a movie together and though I knew I shouldn't let him be this familiar with me if I didn't want to give him any ideas, I let him pull me into his side so we were cuddled together while we watched.

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Almost there people, the talk is coming up! I swear it! ;-)

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Much love,

Robin