“Okay, I get it. That kind of swim. Well, it should be late enough for it.”

“I don’t change the legs until I’m in the water and away from the shore.”

“All right. Ready?” he asked and took her hand.

“Oh, yes.”

She held tight as they flew.

CHAPTER SIX

With her hand still in Sawyer’s, Annika found herself on a little pebbled beach. Sheltered by rocks and cliff walls and lit by only the light of the waning moon, it struck her as both romantic and beautiful.

“Oh! This is so nice. It’s like closing the door to the room. Private.”

“I scouted around a little, in case you needed a spot.”

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 being 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?”

“E-ticket. Yes. Best fun ever.”

“You swim very well. You’re strong in the water, but still tire. We can sit on the rocks until you’re ready.”

She laid her hands on the rock, boosted up as smoothly as a gymnast, and smiled down at him as she squeezed water from her hair.

Maybe he was a little winded, he decided as he hoisted up beside her. Besides, if he sat beside her, he wouldn’t face those bare and beautiful breasts.

“So mermaids really do like sitting on rocks, watching the sea, the ships, the shore?”

“Yes. We’re of the water and the air. We need time in both to be happy. Humans can have the land, the air, the water. Long ago, there were some jealous of this who lured the men in ships to the rocks, or pulled them into the deep to drown. This is shameful. We take oaths never to harm our own or people of the land.”

“Like Riley’s pack takes an oath.”

“Yes.” She lifted her face to moon and stars. “I have a question.”

“Okay.”

“Why don’t you want to kiss me?”

“What?”

“Today you kissed me here.” She touched a finger to her forehead. “But this doesn’t count. I’m allowed to ask why you don’t want to kiss me.”

“We’re teammates.”

“Yes. Bran and Sasha are teammates. I don’t think that’s the why.”

“It’s part of the why,” he insisted. “And look, you haven’t been on—in . . . You haven’t been in this world very long. You’re still learning how things work.”

Her chin jutted up; her shoulders shot straight. “I know how kissing works! Have you stopped learning how things work? I think it’s never okay to stop learning.”

“Okay, that’s true. Even profound. But we’ve got a lot going on, and . . . priorities. And it’s like Sasha said once, there’s this purity to you, so I don’t want to change, you know, the balance of things.”