How could she not love him? How could she not give her heart to such a heart?
“You’re kind. Kindness is a strength, so you’re very strong. You’ll swim with me.”
“I’ll keep watch.”
“You said we had time before they come.”
“Yeah.”
“So you can swim.” She took his hands, drew him closer to the water. She would never use the siren’s song to lure him, but her eyes seduced. “It will help you sleep, too.”
“I don’t have any trunks.”
“You have the something else? Under your pants. If you’re shy.”
If that didn’t make him feel like an idiot, nothing would. “Yeah, I’ve got them.” He pulled a chain out of the compass, locked it around his neck before he pulled off his T-shirt.
Annika simply slithered out of the dress, stood naked in the silvered light.
“Blin! You could warn a guy.”
“What is that word? Blin?” she asked, and picked up the dress, tossed it over a rock.
“It’s . . .” Where did he look? Where did he look? Well, Jesus, he was a man. He looked at her. “Russian, something you say when you’re surprised.”
“I like be
ing blin.” She ran into the sea, vanished under the dark, frothing waves.
He’d just stay on shore—that was smarter, safer. But her head rose up, above the waves. “Come swim with me! It’s wonderful.”
He hoped it was cool, he decided as he pulled off his jeans, toed off his sneakers. He could use cool after that long hot look at her, pale and perfect gold in the moonlight.
He waded in, nearly to his waist, got a jolt when he felt something wrap around his legs. When she tugged—he realized quickly she’d coiled her tail around him—he went under.
He couldn’t resist stroking a hand over the sleek curl of it. Then she used it to propel him to the surface, rose up beside him.
“Now you’re wet all over.”
“You, too.”
She did a slow roll so that gorgeous, glimmering tail shimmered up into the light, slid under the surface again.
“We can swim as far as you like,” she told him. “I can bring you back to the land.” When he tapped the compass, she nodded. “Yes. You can bring us back, too.”
Facing him still, she glided away.
“Not for too long,” he reminded her, and kicked to keep pace.
She went under, then speared up to do a playful dive over him. Maybe he let her lead him out farther than he’d intended, but he had to rank swimming with a beautiful mermaid in the moonlight of the island of Capri top of his personal list.
“Hold your breath,” she told him, and taking his hands, pulled him under, then took him speeding through the dark water.
She pulled him up, into the night, into the air and moonlight, a foot away from the rock.
“Seriously cool.”
“It was fun?”