THERE WAS A NAKED WOMAN ON HIS BOAT.Logan Hardington shook his head and rubbed his eyes, but the picture didn’t change. Lady Godiva was sprawled over a pillow on his deck, a navy blue blanket draped over the bottom half of the curviest ass he’d seen in a long while.Long, blonde—almost yellow—loose curls tumbled over creamy shoulders all the way down to that blanket, the ends pooling in the dimples above her ass, some strands twirling along the visible portion of her cleft near the light blue markings of a faded bruise.Shapely legs, one slightly bent, only a shade or two darker than the fiberglass boat deck, trailed from beneath the blanket, one small foot flexing in the soft morning breeze. A hint of upturned nose peeked from beneath the blonde jumble, pink lips pursed in sleep, slender fingers disappearing beneath her cheek. He wondered what color her eyes were.And why she was naked. On his boat.Hungry gulls cawed overhead, but she didn’t stir. The wake from McKye’s charter
Everything was becoming a distant memory, fuzzy and out of focus, because the moment her skin met his, everything else faded to black. Fire, hot and long and needy, sped through his fingers to every extremity, zip-ping along his nerve endings like a match to gunpowder; the heavy thud of his heart blocking out the call of the birds and the sounds of the marina.Then she tugged on his hand to stand, and he had to steady himself so he wouldn’t fall on top of her—but man, did he want to. Especially when the blanket slid down her body to pool at her feet.“You’re naked,” slipped out. Since making that comment was better than falling on top of her, he wasn’t too upset.“I’m what?” Five-foot-nothing dipped her blonde head forward, the curls now caressing his wrist, one encircling his forearm, and Logan had to focus on his breathing. He’d never had such an intense reaction to a woman. Then again, he’d never seen a woman like this before in his life.Pink stained her cheeks when she glance
ANGEL COULDN’T BELIEVE HER GOOD LUCK. SHE’D HIT THEcrabpot!Then she saw Harry’s fin circling off the bow for the eighth time since she’d awoken and amended that. Luck had nothing to do with this; Hammerhead Harry did. And wouldn’t it tweak his big ol’ blockhead to know he could be helping her right into her dream job?Served the shark right. Try to eat her, would he? Keep her stranded on a boat? Ha. Angel couldn’t stop her grin. “Thank you very much for your offer, Logan. I’d love to stay.”“All right!” Michael bounced again—she couldn’t wait to try that when she was alone—but his father looked a little green around the gills.“Michael, I don’t think—” The little black box on Logan’s hip started playing music. He glanced at it and exhaled. “I need to take this call. We’ll discuss Angel staying with us when I’m done.”Long legs carried him fluidly off the boat and up the dock, one arm swinging, head held high as he spoke into the box.She had studied the way her brother Reel w
Logan Hardington was one fine-looking specimen— Human or Mer. Handsome face and warm, dark brown eyes below thick hair the color of a sea lion’s pelt after a few hours in the sun. The light dusting of hair on his chest was a shade darker. Broad, tanned shoulders ta-pered to a taut abdomen where his black shorts rode low on his hips above long, well-toned legs. His face and lean, muscled body looked as if they’d been carved by a master sculptor.Her sister, Mariana, who was a sculptor, would love to get her hands on him. Of course, Logan’s wife might have something to say about that.Here’s hoping the wife didn’t mind a houseguest.Logan climbed aboard, and Angel took mental notes of which muscles contracted, the angle his upper body assumed to counterbalance the forward momentum, how his arms moved… If only she had her tablets to mark down these observations. Damn Harry.“Hey, sport,” Logan said, “I’m sorry, but there’s a change in plans. No fishing today. I have to handle somethi
THE SEAGULLS WERE LAUGHING AT HER.Atop a lighting fixture at the end of the dock, the birds started making noise the minute Angel stepped off the rocking boat.They could cut her some slack. So she was a little un-steady. This was the first time she’d ever had legs, and disembarking a rocking boat wasn’t easy. Not to men-tion, she was still floating over the fact that she’d pulled it off. Logan was letting her stay. She had an excuse and an opportunity to test out her plans for the Coalition.Now she just needed to figure out how to pull off a disappearing act every other night to ensure the return of her tail so she could stay for more than a day or two. Much as she wanted to learn about Humans and get the directorship, she didn’t want to sacrifice her tail to do so, which is what would happen if she had legs for more than two consecutive sunsets.“How long have you had the boat, Logan?” She turned around as he climbed over the gunwale. “Do you use it often? Have you ever lived
Logan tilted his head to the side, studying her. “You want to prove something to them.”It wasn’t a question, but it was so right on the cur-rency that Angel grabbed it with both hands. “Right. They think I can’t do this, and if not for that damn shark, I could have proved them wrong in a tailfli—in a heartbeat.”All of which was true—if slightly skewed.Logan studied her another moment or two, his eyes narrowing, and Angel refused to remember how they’d darkened when he’d almost kissed her… or, rather, when she’d imagined he’d almost kissed her.Oh, Zeus. Let it go already. If she wanted to be taken seriously in the Mer scientific community, the last thing she needed was to swim down that stream about a Human. With The Council’s, and most of the Mer popu-lation’s, prejudice against all things Human, her obser-vations would be tossed aside as lovesick musings. She pulled her arm from his grasp—and ignored the sudden chill that raced over her skin.“Okay, Angel, I know all about n
MICHAEL CHATTED ALL THE WAY OFF THE DOCK AND BACK UPthe steps, with his father patiently responding, discuss-ing anything and everything. Who owned which boat in the marina, why Tony cussed so much when he didn’t think Michael could hear him, what they were going to have for dinner; the little boy never seemed to run out of questions to ask. It was both interesting and beneficial to listen to the two of them.Interesting because Angel had wondered what Human conversations were like beyond Beach-Speak, the only dialogue she’d ever observed in the wild, and benefi¬cial because it gave her something to focus on rather than that near-miss of a kiss and the fact that Logan Hardington was a man.“You can ride in the back with me,” Michael said when they approached the big, black vehicle. “Usually Rocky does, but he stayed home today. Rocky doesn’t like boats.”She’d have to thank Rocky, because she’d always wanted to ride in one of these. The purloined Jet Skis and other small watercra
“Blech.” Michael knocked his hat sideways. “Girl stuff.”“Girls like girl stuff, Michael,” his father said, straight-ening the hat. “Someday you’ll be glad about that.”“Nuh-uh. Girl stuff is yucky.”“Not if you’re a girl.” Angel reached in front of him for the perfect pair of purple shorts, a few shades darker than her amethyst tail, with delicate filigree like lace coral around the edges, then held them against the tops of her legs. “What to do you think of these?”Michael shrugged his shoulders, but Logan turned the most interesting shade of red and walked away without a word. An odd garbled sound, but no word. Was that some Human language she wasn’t familiar with?Michael just giggled. “Logan still doesn’t know you’re a mermaid, does he?”She shook her head. “No. And you have to remember not to say anything.”“I won’t. I promise. I always wanted my very own mermaid. I hope you get your tail back soon. I liked it.” She was going to have to remind him about that word, mermaid