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)
And Shay was right next to him.
Tall. Broad shoulders. Dark blonde hair and blue eyes that looked trimmed with ice. The guy could walk any runway, plus he’d been a D1 quarterback. The athleticism still emanated from him. Two of the ladies were in their fifties, and the other three were in their forties, but I swear one didn’t look like she should be in a bar.
She was also dancing like a zombie trussed up as a puppet.
It was hilarious and infectious, and soon I was dancing the same. Kennedy bowled over in laughter before she’d go back to a slow grinding motion, and shooting looks at her husband behind her.
I understood.
I knew Caden would be hot for me whenever, and looking at him now, his head was inclined towards Shay as he was speaking, his eyes were firmly on my ass. I gave it a few bounces, and his gaze lifted to mine, surprised.
A slow grin spread over his face, knowing and piercing.
Oh yeah. We’d be hopping on the bed later tonight.
Abruptly the music cut out, and a voice boomed over a microphone. “Ladies and ladies! Gentlemen, too. Are you ready for the extravaganza tonight? It’s going to be amazing. It’s going to be outstanding. It’s going to be life changing! Are. You. Readyyyyyyy for Miss Mermaid Kailaniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii?”
The dance techno came back on, but it was heavier, louder, more rocketing through the bar.
Another burst of dry ice filled the bar and a woosh. A startled sound came from the other corner of the room, and inside the aquarium was a mermaid.
She was swimming around, dipping, doing rolls. She was doing a whole performance, swimming up, disappearing and then diving back down. Dark pink hair. Rosy cheeks. Dark eyes. Pink eyeliner and a shimmering pink lipstick. She was wearing some kind of velvet bikini top. It could have been because it was in water, but somehow it looked like a deep red velvet, matching her rosy cheeks. And her fin was made of shimmering scales that matched her hair, her lips, and her dark red top. As she continued to flip around the water, which ran the entire length of the other side of the bar, her tail was like a cascade of every color between red and pink, all the different variations.
She was breathtaking.
Then, suddenly, the music cut out and a clip of old school cheers that sounded like they’d been recorded from a basketball game came on. The spotlight swung back to the stage and there were more mermaids there, but they were sitting on chairs and each held a pair of pom poms, the colors all matching their shimmering tails.
They performed a whole cheer along with the music before the spotlight turned off. The music changed again. Slow. Intense. And it was building, like earlier. Building. Going slow until the spotlight came back on, and it began flashing in rhythm with the music, highlighting different spots through the whole bar. The aquarium, as the mermaid held her own set of pom poms. Back to the stage, the cheerleader mermaids swished their pom poms around in an intricate motion. To the back corner and a new performer was there, but this one was on stilts and standing all the way up into the top corner, half bent over the bar. He looked like a character out of a Tim Burton movie. Then, to the far corner and another person was on stilts over there. As the music sped up, the spotlight matched it, going around and around the room until it was at a dizzying speed, until the very end when the lights flooded the room and all of them began doing a dance in unison.
Hands came to my hips and slid around to the front. The excitement was swirling inside me, but at feeling Caden behind me, I drew in a steadying breath and leaned back, always knowing he’d be a place of shelter for me. I tipped my head up and found him already looking down at me. His eyes were watchful, taking me in as I was taking in the show. He lifted a hand, his finger coming to my bottom lip and as the show continued around us, he dipped, his mouth finding mine.
Another place, another night, I’d be turned around and clambering up in a heartbeat. The ache was there, but I just opened my mouth, his tongue slipped in and I savored the moment. Warm sunlight. That’s what he was giving me. We kept kissing for another beat before there was a change in the music. Caden lifted his head, and I glimpsed Kennedy and Shay making out in the corner, her front against his as he was leaning back against the wall by our table. His hands slid into the pockets of her jeans, her arms wound around his neck, but the voice came back over the microphone, drawing my attention to the stage.