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Fun of a Lifetime 39
HARRY SWAM BACK AND FORTH ALONG THE WALKWAY outside Ceto’s Bahamian Palace, waiting for her guards to announce him. They’d probably shove a mouth guard in his jaw, too. The mother of all sea monsters was ob-sessive about her security. Like he’d try to take a bite out of her. The gods might have stipulated what she could and couldn’t do with her goddess powers, but some magic was stronger than none, and since he was a mere mortal, he wasn’t about to test her. He didn’t have a death wish. What he did have was a hyper sense of justice. Sharks had been getting a bad rap ever since that ridiculous Human propaganda thirty-some selinos ago, giving all sharks a bad name, not just the Great Whites. He’d lost a lot of family members over the selinos to the hysteria Humans had created. The annoyingly ironic thing was that Great Whites were rather bite-happy. Stupid idiots. Couldn’t tell a sea lion from a Human… Now all sharks were paying the price. Fine, then. Let the Greats make their own a
Fun of a Lifetime 41
ANGEL DRAGGED HERSELF ONTO THE BEACH OF THE LAST deserted cay before Bermuda and plopped her tail in the sand. Forget heading home. She wasn’t up for it. Physi-cally, mentally, emotionally. All she’d wanted was to prove to her brother that she had what it took to do the job. And look what her life had turned into… Yeah, she’d proved something all right. She’d proved that she was so unqualified to do the job it was laugh-able, and worse than that, that she didn’t know as much about Humans as she thought she did. Great. Her degree, her thesis, her life’s work… all of it wasted. If Logan was too hardheaded to give her a chance to explain, well, then, no wonder the planet was in the shape it was in. Stubborn, prejudiced… Oh who was she kidding? She missed him like Hades. Last night had been per-fect… Until she’d gotten out of that bed. He’d wanted her; he cared about her. He’d said he was falling for her. They could have had something to-gether. But she’d blown it. A tear fell on
Fun of a Lifetime 42
COME TO PAPA! A.C.’S PRIZED TEETH GROUND AGAINST EACH other in anticipation—and this time he didn’t give a fly-ing fuck that a few broke off. Breakfast was about to be served. “AAAnngggeeelll!” Of course the pup had to be yelling underwater. A.C. wanted to clean out his ears. Too bad they were on the dorsal side of his head and he couldn’t reach them. Hades. Didn’t the pup have anything else to say? Another tone he could use? If only he could surge in and grab him, but A.C. was still a few yards too far out, and the water was becoming too shallow for him to be able to function properly. And if there was one thing a Hammerhead liked to do, it was function properly. He was a veritable killing machine created by the gods. He hadn’t missed any prey yet. Except that Mer… Yeah. Much as he hated to admit it, the fact that Angel had gotten away did count as a miss. Couldn’t have that. He had a 100 percent EVA. Earned Victim Average. He’d put a lot of effort into it. A.C. strummed his
Fun of a Lifetime 43
LOGAN WOKE UP WITH A HELL OF A HANGOVER. AND he hadn’t even been drinking—how was that for fucking sucks? No, it wasn’t a hangover. He was drained. Physically from one of the best nights of his life—before her reve-lation—and emotionally… from, well… The damn revelation itself. She was a mermaid. A mermaid. He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. He almost wished he’d touched her tail— No he didn’t. She was a mermaid, for chrissake. Mermaids were myths. Legends. Sirens. They lured ships onto rocks and sailors to their deaths by promis-ing nights of deadly delight. Which she’d proved in that damn kitchen. He knew something weird had been going on. He didn’t attack women. No matter how gorgeous they were. And yet, he’d slept with her. Was he out of his mind? He had to be. She had to have cast some spell over him to make him fall—oh, shit. Logan threw the covers off, one half of his brain call-ing him all sorts of idiot for even thinking what he w
Fun of a Lifetime 44
“NICE.” GINGER TSK-TSKED AS SHE WATCHED LOGAN FALL onto the sand, then she turned to stare at the brown liz-ard sunning himself on the guesthouse’s eave. “You re-ally performed a public service this time.” The lizard didn’t say a word. Ginger sighed. “You do know I can see you, right?” He still didn’t respond, but one of his eyes rolled her way. “Don’t you go rolling your eyes independently of each other at me.” She undulated her neck. “I call it like I see it. And you blew it, buddy. Big time.” The lizard turned even darker brown. That was such a neat ability, being able to change color. Too bad the only way she could do it was by giving up her favorite food in the world, shrimp. And even then, it took a while and she only turned white. White. Big flappin’ deal. Thank goodness Roger adored her in pink, but still… It’d be nice to change for a change. She took a step closer to the house. “Stewie, I really think—” “It’s Stewart.” The lizard turned green with indignation. Wonder
Fun of a Lifetime 45
LOGAN WAS GOING CRAZY. That had to be it. Michael’s disappearance had sent him sailing over the edge of the cliffs of insanity because he was standing on a beach, looking for a kidnapping mermaid. But what other choice did he have? The authorities would lock him up if he went to them with this story. He should have gone to them with Angel. A mermaid. Jesus Christ. Logan dropped his head, pinching the bridge of his nose, willing himself to focus. Recriminations could come later. Right now, he had to find Michael. So where did one begin to start looking for a mer-maid? Atlantis? “Hey there, good-looking.” A female voice, sultry and sexy, came from behind him. Logan looked over his shoulder. He didn’t have the time, nor the inclination, to fend off some woman’s advances. But there was no one there. Logan shook his head. He had to be hearing things. That went with Crazy, right? He turned back around and looked out to sea again, shielding his eyes with his hand, hoping against
Fun of a Lifetime 46
ANGEL DECIDED SHE WOULD JUST LIE ON THE BEACH ALL DAY. Right here, at the water’s edge. Listen to the waves, enjoy the tranquility, the solitude, and maybe then she could forget everything that had happened. “You’re kidding me, right? You’re taking a vacation?” So much for solitude. Who in Hades had found her here? She lifted her head—only to have it snap back when her hair got caught under her—just like it had when she and Logan— Maybe she’d cut her hair. She rolled to the side and yanked the soggy mess out with a grunt, holding up her hand to block the sunlight that bounced off the water and into her eyes, blinding her. “Zeus, Angel. What happened?” Not that she needed sight to recognize that voice. Mariana. Great. Just who she needed. “Nothing happened, Mariana.” Unless you called your life’s work going down the cosmic drain nothing. Angel wiggled herself back into the water just to prove she was fine. Maybe she could swim away fast enough so she wouldn’t have to answe
Fun of a Lifetime 47
Angel stopped swimming. That’s right. Logan had made his damning accusations, his pronouncement of how things would be, and she’d slunk back into the sea with a broken heart and a big ol’ pity party. What happened to her backbone? She used to have one. Angel grabbed the hair that was floating around her like sargassum in a hurricane, perfectly mirroring her mood, and draped it over her breasts and tied it in the back like a Human halter top, but not. She did used to have a backbone. And she wanted it back. “Hey, Ang.” Mariana dove into a somersault and headed back Angel’s way. “Let’s not go back to Atlantis just yet. A group of my friends are vacationing in the South Pacific right now. Let’s join them. A girls’ week-end. Or two. Relax, sun ourselves on a deserted beach, drink some fermented pineapple, have a grand ol’ time. We’ll just pretend this didn’t happen.” “Really? And what are you going to tell Rod when he wonders what took you so long to bring me back?” Mariana went for
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