At the end of class, I hopped up on the side of the pool next to my mom and sister.

Holly shook her head. “I can’t believe you put on a tail. You are so lame.”

“Not a big deal. SEAL, merman, frogman, Triton. Same thing.”

My sister punched my arm. “You like Aria, don’t you?”

“What’s not to like? She’s beautiful and a champion.”

My mom gave me an approving grin. “Oh, Erik. You should ask her out on a proper date. She’s lovely. I worry about you on your deployments. It would be nice if you settled down and came home to a loving wife.”

There my mom went. A true romantic. She never recovered after my father passed away. But they had shown me the meaning of true love and made me hopeful that one day I would find that myself. Fuck the SEAL ninety-five percent divorce rate. When I got married, it would be forever. My mom used to tell me the most important decision I would ever make in my life wasn’t what job I would take, but who I would marry. I took her advice to heart.

Aria swam over to us, her smoking hot body glistening from the water. I wanted to rip off that bikini top with my teeth and suck on her nipples until she begged me to fuck her.

“Thank you all for coming. Holly, your arm movements are great.”

“Oh, thank you.” She bit her nails, and I could tell my sister was nervous. “I hate to ask you this but since you are in town, are you giving any lessons?”

“I didn’t have any planned, but I’d be happy to coach you. Would you like me to look at your routine?”

My sister’s eyes lit up. “Oh my god. You wouldn’t mind? I’d love that.”

I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Here was my moment. I normally didn’t hesitate when asking out a girl, and I certainly wasn’t afraid of being rejected in front of my family. I was a SEAL, for fuck’s sake, and wasn’t afraid of anything, but for some inexplicable reason this girl tied me up in knots. It was a feeling that was foreign to me.

“Can I take you out tonight? I’ll show you around Coronado.”

Aria’s eyes darted between me and my mom’s hopeful face. Her lip twisted probably since I had backed her into a corner.

“Sure. That sounds like fun.”

Score.

I felt a tinge of guilt asking her out in front of my family, knowing that she probably didn’t feel like she could say no, but I got what I’d come for.

A date with this beautiful, sexy woman.

“Great. I’ll pick you up here at five.”

“Okay. See you then. Holly, take off your tail and follow me.”

They both wiggled off their tails and without a backward glance, Aria swam out toward the middle of the pool with Holly following closely behind.

My mom also removed her tail and stood up. “Well, that was nice of her to work with Holly. She seems so sweet. And an Olympian—what a catch! Where are you going to take her? I could make reservations at Addison.”

Whoa, mom. Addison was the fanciest restaurant in town. I planned to spoil Aria, but a stuffy old-school restaurant wasn’t my scene. “I got this, Ma, but thanks.”

“I remember my first date with your father. I was so nervous. I must’ve tried on twenty dresses. But he brought me flowers, and we had the best night.”

Her eyes sparkled when she talked about my father. True love. I yearned for that. I’d done my fair share of womanizing since I’d been a SEAL. Hell, at Annapolis my yearbook said, “Erik was known for his love of fast cars and faster women.” But after this last deployment, I wanted to find a partner, someone to miss me when I was gone.

The few SEAL marriages I’d seen that worked all involved incredibly strong and independent women. Women who had goals and identities beyond being just a Team wife.

She dried off, put on a cover up, and sat on a lounge chair, watching Holly. I wrapped myself in my towel and changed out of my tail and put my board shorts back on.

I grabbed my keys and waved goodbye to my mom, my sister, and Aria. Aria waved back, and I jogged down the beach to work. I couldn’t wait for our date tonight.