Page 25 of Riding the Tide

“Are you sure you wouldn’t want to look around and see if you can find something already built?”

“Absolutely not. While I understand Blair needs an aboveground dwelling, I still need to be close to the ocean.”

Brett nodded. “I can see that. There is property attached to the resort—”

“Is Nisha’s bungalow built on that?”

“No, he’s on the other side of the island, remember?”

“Oh. I didn’t know maybe if you owned property over there.” Marcus sighed. This was turning out to be a lot harder than he thought. “Did Nisha buy that land?”

“Quite a bit of it actually, and it was a long time ago. If you’re serious about this, why don’t you ask him if he’ll sell you part of that land?”

“You think he’d do that?”

“I have no idea, which is why I said you need to ask him. It’s isolated and close to the water, but you’d still be close to the two of them. I don’t think taking Blair out to the middle of nowhere with no humans around is going to go well. Humans are, for the most part, social animals.”

“I see.”

Brett paused then cleared his throat. “Can I ask you something?”

“Please do.”

“What are you going to use for money?”

“Don’t worry about that.” Marcus shrugged nonchalantly. “There’s been more than one ship sunk off the coast of Africa I’ve scavenged. I can afford the house and land.”

Brett’s mouth fell open. “Lord, are you talking about—”

“Gold coins. I assume you can help me sell those, or whatever, to get money for them?”

Brett whistled. “Aren’t you full of surprises today? Yes, I can help with that.”

“Good.”

Brett glanced at his watch. “In a couple hours it’s going be time for your date. Do you have everything you need?”

“Yes. Nisha and Kannon helped me. I’m going to go over there to get ready.”

“Okay then, it’s getting late.” Brett stood. “You might want to head on over there.”

“Thank you. Seriously, thank you for everything.”

Brett patted Marcus on the back as he escorted him to his private elevator. “Glad to help. Have fun tonight.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

BLAIROPENEDhiseyesand blinked. Staring up at the ceiling, he yawned. Lying out by the pool sapped him more than he thought. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he sat up. Man, he’d slept hard. He glanced out the window of his room at the ocean. The first glimpse of the water snapped him awake… water.

Ocean.

Shit.

And somewhere out there was a merman who considered him his mate. If that didn’t get the old blood pumping, he didn’t know what would. He sat in bed staring out at the beautiful blue water replaying yet again everything Brett told him. He found Marcus endlessly fascinating, and there was no doubt he was attracted. Very much so.

But…

Yeah, but. From what Brett told him, this was no fling. No vacation spent fucking a hot guy. According to Brett, Marcus considered him his mate. And after listening to what Brett explained a mate was, Blair didn’t know what to do.

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