Page 44 of Poseidon's Island Flower

Keola nodded, agreeing, his face pale.

Cory was unable to shake his head in disbelief, instead he sputtered in confusion.

“And you, Keola, will give the deed to the restaurant and the land to Naia. She is now the owner. You will no longer have a hand over a people that wish to continue their traditions.”

Keola went to speak but Zeus’s lightening crossed the sky. It tingled through his fingers and gave a sharp zap to the side of Keola’s neck.

Keola groaned, falling to the floor.

“I barely touched him,” Zeus mouthed and covered his smile. “So wimpy.”

“I understand!” he wailed. “I’ll get the paperwork done tomorrow at the office. Just please, don’t kill me!”

“Please don’t urinate,” I groaned. “It stinks.”

Zeus chuckled, pulling my arm away from Cory. He slid to the floor, the orb of water drenching to him and the surrounding surfaces.

“We’ll be watching. Don’t disappoint us,” Zeus said.

Before Zeus willed us back to our hotel room, I kicked Cory in the balls. A low blow on my part, but I wanted to make sure he didn’t get an erection and think about what was mine.

Chapter Fifteen

Lani

Secretlythankingtheuniversefor the opportunity, I spent the next several days with Cy. He didn’t sound surprised when I called him and said I was going to be off work for a while, which I could find suspicious, but he also didn’t show as much emotion as other people.

Most of our time was spent at the beach outside my home. It was quieter there. A few of the tourists and I got to spend most of my time ogling his slim and muscular body and that perfect Adonis belt. The ridiculous flowered trunks did nothing for him, but his bare chest with sprigs of dark hair certainly did.

Almost made me forget the merman.

Nah, still remember that guy.

My poor tentacle dick.

On top of getting to look at the eye candy, the waves were the best I’d seen in a long time. The sets were perfect, each wave seemed tailored to me and how I liked to ride—smooth and rolling. I could ride my board forever the way the current strode so beautifully.

Cy didn't know how to surf in the beginning, but after an afternoon of practicing, it was apparent he was used to the ocean and understood the currents and how to feel the pull of the ocean. He even taught me a few things I didn’t even know such as how the moon worked alongside the tides but went further in depth into how it all truly worked. It wasn’t just the moon, but the stars, and the turn of the earth.

I was fascinated with everything he taught me and how passionate he was when he would swim deep down to the bottom of the ocean and pull up amazing starfish I had never seen before. I’d spent plenty of time researching creatures of the sea, but he continued to show me more than a silly text book.

While the waves were perfect in the afternoon for surfing, we spent our mornings free diving—a sport I’d been nervous to take on.

The thought of billions, trillions of pounds of water sitting over my head, especially after my near-death experience, was scary. But when Cy took my hand and told me it would be okay, I believed him.

I blindly put my faith in a stranger, who had come to my rescue once before. I supposed I could do it all again.

Every rational fear I had about diving deep into the depths of the ocean was gone when I was near him. He was more confident here than he was on land. His body knifed through the ocean like he was part fish or siren. How the flick of his body could turn him so quickly amazed me. I couldn’t even see him swim behind me to grab me by my waist and push me further into the deep. He was free with unbridled passion as he showed me a world he was comfortable in and the most beautiful sea life.

And all these animals were right here in front of my home the entire time.

Now the sun was setting, a week of vacation gone. It was the best vacation I could have ever asked for. Cy was becoming touchy. He grabbed my hand without resignation, and he made sure to pull me along if I couldn’t keep up with him. Which was often. The power he had in the ocean was unfathomable.

Now we laid on a shared beach blanket with our basket full of sandwiches and fruit I’d packed this morning. Even with my muscles aching, the smell of the salt water and the sound of the waves kept me alive at the end of each day.

“This has been amazing,” I told Cy, shaking my head. “I can’t believe all the sea life I’ve seen. I mean, I’ve seen more in the time with you than I have ever seen in all my years by the ocean. How do you know where to look?”

Cy's shoulders rose and fell in a half-hearted shrug, and a playful smile tugged at the corners of his lips. His social cues had drastically improved, it was becoming second nature to him and much easier for me to read him. I could even tell he liked me by the way he looked at me and took in my body appreciatively. Whether he knew his body language told me so, I wasn’t sure.

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