Page 66 of Cursed Waters

My eyes darted between the driver and passenger seats. I knew Laverne had the hots for Barren, but damn, did she have her work cut out for her.Poor girl. Barren was as fortified as a warship—and not just his body, but his lips, too. It just seemed like it would make a relationship between them difficult. Oh, and they were also different species. But both of them mainly communicated with me in a series of grunts and grumbles, so at least they had that in common.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” At least with Kai out of the car, I finally had room to breathe. “So, what are you gonna do now?” I asked, setting the bag of clothes in the open seat next to me.

“Hm, wander around, make some friends?” He rubbed his hands together as he thought, which looked kind of endearing until his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth like he was really wracking his brain. Then he paused, and his lips pulled into a bright smile. “Checkers! I’ve gotta get good enough to beat you next time, don’t I?”

Oh no—anything but checkers. I laughed nervously. “It might be hard finding someone else around here who knows how to play.”

“Don’t worry.” Kai pulled away from my window, his grin still going strong. He thumped the side of the car, and the engine revved. “I’ll catch up with you guys later! You be good, Laverne. Claira will tell me if you’re not.” Kai waved as the car U-turned. “Don’t have too much fun without me!”

With Kai gone, it wasn’t long before silence filled the car. Which definitely wasn’t awkward at all.My hands went to fiddle with the handle of my shopping bag when I caught a movement in the passenger visor.

I looked up to find a black eye fixed on me. Uh, that probably wasn’t good.I moved my head to the left and to the right, but Laverne’s enormous eye tracked me through the mirror with a concentration that made me uneasy. Her focus was so intense that the lashes lining her round eye had nearly flattened against the mirror.

Presenting my hands, I tried shaking them in the universal “you win” signal to calm her down. The dark eye didn’t even blink. Well, okay. I tried sporting my best “I’m not interested in stealing your man” look next, and her eyelids shrank down to the size of a pinhead.A low warning rumbled out from the depths of her long neck.Crap.

With the way she was glaring now, there was a distinct possibility I’d just unknowingly thrown down a gauntlet. Things would have been so much easier if she’d communicate with me.

Then hot breath steamed the mirror, and she turned away with an abrupt snort. Her head bobbed side to side in excitement, and I followed the line of her snout out to the ocean outside.

We’d driven up to an inlet, and before the engine cut, Laverne had already freed herself from her seat belt. Her head danced to a beat I couldn’t hear, and when Barren turned the key, she wasted no time opening the passenger door with a flick of her snout.

“ART, ART, ART,” Laverne chanted, her flippers kicking up a cloud of sand that had blown over the parking lot. She headed straight for the shore.

Something in my chest tightened, and for a moment, I felt like I finally understood her. Laverne was homesick.The pier back at the warehouse might have given her access to the ocean, but the long stretch of sand here looked perfect for a sea lion to play around in.

Barren’s door opened, and I began working my way down my mental checklist. First, I needed to change—that was obvious. Second, no matter what happened in the water, I couldn’t let Barren touch me. Laverne would be fine, though, so maybe her tagging along wasn’t so bad. She wouldn’t let me drown if I needed her help, would she?

I shook the idea from my head. Probably best not test it.

The car leaned as Barren stood out of it, and I could hear his back pop as he unfolded to full height. His chest expanded as he took a deep breath of ocean air. “Better get changed.”

That was the only warning I got before he started unbuckling the strap over his chest. A second later, the heavy buckle rattled as he dropped the entire strip of leather into the driver’s seat. Giant fingers went for the buttons of his dress shirt, and I forced my eyes away. It was a small mercy that Barren was too tall to see into the car. My face burned as he shrugged his shirt off with a breathy grunt, his neck popping from the movement.

Then his hand landed on the belt around his waist, and I decided it was time to worry about getting myself ready. I dove into my shopping bag for my new wrap. Snapping the tag off, I fixed it around my hips and knotted it snug around my waist. Then I doubled the knot. And tripled it.

I wasn’t like Leander. I actually cared about my ass hanging out for everyone to see. The twin dimples sitting high on Leander’s backside came to mind, and I hummed lightly, thinking about how cute they’d looked peeking over the weave of the net he’d pulled around his waist.

I pulled my pants down while lingering on the memory and took my panties down next. Folding them into the center of my pants, I placed them safely next to my bag. With any luck, I’d be able to keep this set for longer than a day. A pair of dress pants dropped onto Barren’s seat, folded neatly along its pleats, and I took a quick breath.

Unzipping my jacket, I gave myself a silent pep talk.Okay, okay.Get out there, Claira, but no looking, no staring. No matter what happens, eyes on the ocean!

Ready to head out, I went for the door. The wind outside wasfreaking cold, and my arms drew around me like a shield, the tank top over my bikini top doing little to keep me warm. Water crashed along the shore in the distance, and I caught sight of Laverne gliding along the barrel of a wave. When the wave finally crashed, barely a moment passed before her head popped up in a new one.

Sand worked its way in my new flip-flops as I walked through the parking lot. The retail workers in Brightleaf probably thought I was crazy, rummaging through their summer clearance items on a day like today, but oh well. At least no one was around to see us here. Just me, Laverne, and—

Barren’s footsteps came up behind me from around the car, and I sucked in a breath.Eyes on the ocean, Claira.

Still, a question I’d been wondering about all day prickled at the back of my mind.Mermen did actually know about underwear, didn’t they? Bras and panties were the one thing I wouldn’t let Kai watch me pick out, and I hadn’t felt comfortable asking him then. But Barren had picked out a bathing suit for me, so even if he didn’t know about underwear, he’d at least have some swim trunks on, right?

My thoughts trailed as I watched Laverne do a corkscrew out of a wave. After shaking off water, she started down the shore, her long neck joggling excited circles as she darted back toward us through the sand.

The energy in her movements was so joyful, like she finally felt free. My chest warmed, thinking about how great it was that she could go back to acting like a sea lion for a while. Kai had taken her so far from her natural habitat, even putting her up in a hotel room. The way she was running over to us was just so adorable, and I bent down to greet her, a part of me hoping that one day she’d let me scratch at the whiskers under her chin the way Kai liked to do.

Laverne came straight to me, and my heart fluttered. I’d thought for sure she’d pass me over for Barren. My arms opened up for her arrival just as her jaw dropped, releasing a colossal spray of salt water that soaked me from my head to my flip-flops.

“Fu—” I couldn’t even get the curse out.

Pop.

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