Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
I covered her hand with mine. “When she’s ready to tell, she will. I bet Gage already knows.”
“Why do you think that?”
I shrugged, thinking back and remembered the small touches he gave her. How he touched her back, her elbow, held her hand, rubbed her when she was on his lap. “Just a feeling. He seemed protective, a bit.”
“Well, as long as he knows.”
And that was Kennedy being a good sister. I would’ve loved to have her as a sister.
The guys were ahead of us, but both Shay and Caden glanced back to check on us. I beamed at Caden, and he grinned back. It was getting that time where I was missing my husband. I liked, no, I loved spending time with great friends, but I could only go so long without having the hubby time.
Once we got to the beach, climbing through two giant boulders, Caden was there, waiting for me. He took my hand. It was almost rehearsed because without a second thought, Kennedy detached and reached for Shay, who was reaching back for her too.
We could hear the waves, and barely see them because the sun had just started to rise, but it was a beautiful sight. Gage was right, we had our own private beach–or no.
A shout of laughter rang out, just around the last boulder. Gage was already there and was frozen.
I rounded it, trying to see, but as soon as I did, Caden yanked me back.
“But–” His hand clamped over my mouth and I got why a second later, as I inched forward, but still hidden around the boulder, what I was seeing finally clicked into understanding it.
It was the mermaids from the show, from the bar, but they weren’t in costume this time. They were standing on the beach, with two legs. Okay. Yeah. Mermaids weren’t real. I got it, but it was fun to pretend for a night. Plus, the twerking. That was super fun too. A whole group was together, and yep… they were naked. A full skinny-dipping event. That’s what was going to happen.
I was looking for Gum, but he wasn’t with them.
They lined up, some were laughing. Some weren’t. Some were almost sullen, or bored. Then, the announcer guy joined and whoa, he was ripped. I must’ve made a sound, because Caden snorted a choked laugh in my ear. He was fully pressed over me, also looking. I looked, saw that Gage had been pulled back. I was hoping he was still hidden from their view. I mean, they were just skinny dipping, and it was a normal thing to do. Or maybe? I’d only skinny dipped with Caden and that led to something else really quick, and right on cue, a fresh, but yummy shiver wound through my body because as soon as we were alone, I’d be down for doing that again.
But back to the nude beach goers, we shouldn’t be spying.
I was starting to feel bad, and began to pull back when suddenly, as one being, they all started a mad dash into the ocean.
That was fun. I was smiling with them, but then–no. What? I gasped, because they went in and when they emerged from the waves, they dove back in but what flipped out after them wasn’t legs.
It was a tail. From all of them.
There were about twelve of them total, a total of twelve tails doing the whole mermaid flip that you see in the movies, and I was seeing it in real life.
What. The. Mermaids?
I was expecting them to come back, emerge, and they’d be carrying a fake mermaid tail with them. They’d be laughing about it because it was a prank, but no. They never emerged. After they did one or two tail flips, they were gone.
I had a feeling they’d emerge again for their next mermaid show in the bar.
I was light-headed, making a realization that I would’ve been squealing about if I were a little girl still. Mermaids were real. Holy–
“And they wanted me to find you, wipe your memories because of what I did last night.”
It was the couple from the bar, the guy and his girlfriend, who, man, she was so pretty. Her hair was swept up in a messy bun, with long tendrils flowing around her face. Wearing a sarong dress, she looked like something out of a fairytale. The guy, he could’ve been the villain.
Last night he came off as mildly irritated. This morning, he was smug and sporting a smirk.
“You can keep it moving.” Caden stepped in front of me.
“No need to get into something here.” Shay had done the same thing with Kennedy, who shot me a look, and I got it because oh my God, what was happening here?
“Kellan,” the girl murmured. “Don’t play with them. Just get it done and let’s have our beach day.”