across the length of the pool, and then, she rolled on her back while he disappeared.
He surfaced next to her with a lily flower between his teeth. He placed it gently on her abdomen, and then, he disappeared again.
He returned with a sparkling red rock and returned again with a fresh sapling of brilliant green.
She was running out of space to hold things, so she paddled to the edge of the pool and placed the objects carefully on the rock, keeping the lily flower to nibble on. It was a lovely treat.
Augusta looked around, her whiskers twitching as she tried to find her prospective mate. He was close; she could feel him with her inner senses rather than eyes or ears.
She twisted around and dove, looking for him under the water when he swam past her and grabbed her, pulling her to the surface.
He rolled them together for a few minutes before releasing her, nudging her back to the shore.
Once on the shore, he shifted to human and beckoned her to do the same.
She shifted and blinked at him, crouching down. “What now?”
He smiled and stood, nude and magnificent. “Come with me.”
She followed him, curious. She could smell the trail that he had left in the woods. What had he been doing?
He pulled her around the stony outcropping and into a small clearing. In the centre of the clearing was a bed made of newly cut and assembled branches, covered with thick boughs and the bouquet of flowers that she had been given.
It was a bed fit for a fairy queen.
“Randal, this is amazing.”
He blushed. “It’s what I do. The tree cutting is instinct and the building, well, that is another set of instincts.”
She stepped forward and examined the bed. It had been lashed together with bark twisted into ropes. “You had to shift to finish this.”
He stepped up to her and placed his hands on her hips. “Some things you need hands for.”
She shivered wildly as his hands moved around her torso, skimming up to cup her breasts and working her nipples to aching peaks. Augusta leaned back, her head touching his chest as she let him do what he wanted. He seemed to know what he was doing, and she had no complaints.
Her skin throbbed and her sex got wet as his hands stroked down between her thighs and he began to nuzzle at her neck. She was all in for the nuzzling; next to cuddling, it was her otter’s favourite sexual pastime.
She moaned when he parted her sex and slid his fingers inside. Her hot, wet reception must have given him the go sign, because he lifted her in his arms and settled her on the newly made bed.
Augusta reached out for him and beckoned him to come to her.
“Oh, thank the fur.” He groaned and covered her.
Her smile was lost when he kissed her and she felt him fitting his body to hers. The flared head parted her folds, and she arched when he thrust into her in one sudden move.
He whispered, “Sorry.”
She laughed, low and throaty. “It’s fine, just deliver on the build-up. This bed is going to waste.”
“Yes, dearling.” He nibbled at her neck and began to slowly thrust into her and retreat just as deliberately.
It was a slow coupling; Augusta moved against him, the crushed greenery and flowers under them added a wild, heady fragrance to the musk they were generating. The clearing was getting a workout.
Sex in the dappled sunlight was decadent, and having Randal as the only moving block between her and sunburn was purely exquisite. He rocked, she moaned. She circled her hips against him, he grunted. All too soon, they were surging against each other, and when she warbled her release, he hissed, “Thank the fur,” before he bucked and held himself against her.
He shuddered in her arms and stilled, holding himself above her to keep from crushing her. She made a face; she wanted to feel his weight on her.
Randal looked like he was having trouble returning to himself. She stroked his cheek lightly. “Are you all right?”
“It feels like I just found the other half of myself.”
“And