Chapter 4

Yeah, fuck all.

As the gorgeous man stood frozen on the spot, quite out of the blue, Nina paused for a moment then threw her head back and laughed. “Oh shit, dude! Ding-dong, Esther’s people calling!”

And then Marty began to laugh as well, her chuckle hearty and rich to Esther’s ears. She slapped Nina on the back and nodded. “Oh my God! I bet you twenty and a pint of blood, you’re right! I can’t wait to hear this one!” she said on a sputter before she collapsed against Nina in a fit of hysterical laughing.

Esther looked helplessly to Wanda, the only sane one of the bunch because she was currently the only one not laughing. “Wanda?”

Until she was.

She doubled over and laughed, too, eloquently, of course—and all this while Esther and Tucker stared at them and then at each other, perplexed.

“Well, don’t just stand there, dude. Get the fuck in here before your mermaid mama catches a cold,” Nina instructed, her nostrils flaring.

The man looked at her, a question in his eyes, but Nina broke from laughing to say, “I know you’re a merdude. I can smell you, man.” She pointed to her nose then resumed laughing.

Tucker took two long strides, his thick thighs bulging beneath his jeans, placing himself by the kitchen’s peninsula as he openly gawked at Esther, who’d suddenly become very aware the only thing between her and total upper-body nudity was her hair.

“What the hell…?” he muttered.

She hauled the blanket up over her chest and gave Tucker a sheepish glance. “Um, g’day, mate?”

And that made the women laugh all over again—laugh until tears fell from Marty’s and Wanda’s eyes and Nina dry heaved.

But Tucker didn’t laugh. He didn’t even smirk.

He ran a hand through his chocolate-brown hair and began to approach her, then clearly thought twice because he took a step backward. “You’re Esther Sanchez, yes? Gomez Sanchez’s niece?”

She nodded numbly, unclear why he seemed vaguely familiar. He was incredibly good-looking in a rough, edgy kind of way, but everything before tonight was a total blur at this point. She was having a hard time remembering anything before she’d inherited a tail.

But she answered with caution. “I am. Actually, it’s Esther Williams Sanchez. Who are you, and why are you here?”

“As in—”

She held up a hand to stop him. “Yes,” she snapped “As in the synchronized swimmer, okay? Now, who are you?”

His strong jaw twitched. “We met briefly at your uncle’s funeral the other day.”

Huh. She frowned. Why couldn’t she remember that? Certainly a man like this stood out in a crowd, and there hadn’t even been a crowd at her uncle’s funeral.

“And?”

“And I have some questions for you.”

The lingering laughter in the air evaporated instantly as Nina strode up to Tucker and eyeballed him with clear irritation. “Hold the fuck up, mate,” she sneered. “You have some questions for her? For her? That’s a joke, right? Correct me if I’m wrong, but you did this to her, didn’t you?”

Tucker’s nod was curt, but he didn’t back down. Instead, he stared right back at Nina. “I think it was in fact me. So, to answer your question, yes.”

“Then slow your roll and use your fucking words, pal. Apologetic words. Like, oops, I’m sorry I turned you into Tina The Tuna. My apologies. How can I fix this?”

Inhaling deeply, Tucker held up an enormously wide hand. “Allow me to begin again. I’m Tucker Pearson, and I met you at your uncle’s funeral. We brushed up against one another, and…”

“And?” Nina prodded, crossing her arms over her chest.

“And that’s how this happened,” he confessed.

Esther’s hair stood up on the back of her neck and arms. She didn’t remember brushing up against anyone. Especially not someone as good-looking as this man. “I don’t remember that at all, and believe me, you’re not hard on the eyes. I’d remember brushing up against you. You’re at least seven inches taller than me and the size of a bulldozer. How could I forget you?”

Crossing his arms—his big, bulging—with-muscles arms—over his chest, Tucker sighed. “I did brush against you when you were getting up to leave the pew in the church, at the service. I rose from my seat out of respect for a lady, and because I’m a rather large man, and the pews were crammed together quite tightly, you faltered, I righted you, we brushed against one another.”

Esther’s eyes went wide in disbelief. He’d only brushed up against her? But…she brushed up against people all the time. In a crowded elevator, a busy street. Would she turn everyone and everything she bumped up against into a mermaid?

“So, what happens if you actually touch me-touch me? Do I turn into the Loch Ness Monster?”

Now Tucker smirked. “No. You won’t turn into Nessie, but there’s a strong possibility you could turn into Willy, as in Free.”

“Hah!” Nina barked then rolled her eyes when Wanda hushed her with a frown. “What? It was fucking funny.”

But Marty wasn’t laughing anymore. She planted her hands on her hips and popped her lips. “Are you seriously telling me that all you did was brush up against Esther and she turned into a mermaid? Seriously?”

“I’m quite serious, Miss…?” He held out his tanned hand to Marty and smiled for the first time, and it was a doozy. All teeth and dimples and sexy-sexy.

“Marty. Marty Flaherty.” She put her hand in Tucker’s and lifted her chin, narrowing her gaze. “Explain the science behind this, please? I’m not sure I understand how brushing up against someone can turn them into a mermaid.”

Esther struggled to sit up in order to address Tucker in a manner that at least hinted at some sense of authority, but as she did, she slid to the floor, knocking the handspun candleholders on her coffee table to the floor.

Her tail reacted, flopping awkwardly with a thud, nearly wiping out Mooky and Marsha. “Oh!”

Mooky and Marsha scattered as though a bomb had gone off, but surprisingly, Tucker was the first to help her get back on the couch. “Allow me,” he offered when Nina reached down for her, stepping in front of Nina and scooping her up as though she were lighter than air.

And that was when she remembered brushing up against him at the church.

She’d been trying to get out of the pew to take an urgent phone call from work, a difficult, very high-profile divorce case she’d been mediating for almost two months, when she’d stumbled in her heels and fallen into him. She’d only looked up for a mere moment before she’d been looking back down at her phone.

But his scent, a slight whiff of something woodsy and fresh, had obviously stuck after their first encounter. She recognized it immediately now.

“I do remember that day,” she whispered as Tucker repositioned her back on the couch, tucking pillows around her to keep her upright. “How did something so small turn into this?”

Tucker eyed her as he straightened, his hard face not emoting a single expression. “Sometimes, when emotions are heightened, things happen.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, dude?” Nina asked, her face riddled with skepticism. “Things happen? Things? You better get explaining, buddy, because I have little time for this shit.”

But Tucker didn’t waver under Nina’s penetrating gaze. “It was a sad occasion. Sometimes when a merman—or mermaiden, for that matter—is at the height of a particular emotion, it plays with the chemistry of their bodies, and scales can pop out. Unlike mermaids, mermen also have bands of scales around their wrists. They’re meant to protect us in underwater battles—”

“You have underwater battles?” Esther gripped the blanket, that dark fear returning.

“No. Not in this day and age. Though, back in the day of the Vikings, I hear the wars were quite something. The point is, we’ve evolved, and they’re just a byproduct of who we are as mermaids now. But when they scratch someone…well, this is the result. I’m sure you must have noticed a small scratch on your wrist, Esther?”

He said it all so matter-of-factly, it almost made sense. But not quite. Though, as she looked at her wrist, she noted the faint scratch that had now begun to heal—one she thought she’d gotten from Marsha and had hardly paid any attention to at all.

“Okay, big guy, first things first. Where are my legs, and are they ever coming back? Because if they aren’t, you’re in for some lawsuit. A big, fat, ugly lawsuit.”

He conceded by nodding his head with amused eyes. “That’ll certainly be one for Judge Judy, won’t it?”

“Where are my legs?” she yelped, frustrated from sitting on the couch. Never mind the fact that she had to figure out, if she’d always be like this, what the hell she was going to do.

“They’ll return shortly, I promise you,” Tucker assured, as though they were talking about a dog that had gotten out of the yard. “Sometimes, as a first-time mermaid, it takes a bit longer to return to your human form.”

“Wait. So you’ve done this before?” Esther asked in disbelief. “You’ve turned other women into mermaids?”

Tucker shook his head. “No. But children are prone to this issue. When they become old enough to think about having a tail and fins, they begin to struggle until they learn otherwise.”

“And my hair? Because I gotta tell ya, there isn’t enough product in Walgreens to make this manageable.” Esther held up a thick, wavy lock and shook it at Tucker.

“That too. You’ll be good as new, shortly. It just takes time for your body to simmer down. The more you allow it to happen, the faster you’ll have your legs back.”

Well, humpf. Okay then. What to be angry over now? Oh, wait. Just the rest of her life spent as an effin’ mermaid! What would all the other little mermaids say when they learned she couldn’t swim? They’d make a mockery of her—and why wouldn’t they? What the hell kind of mermaid couldn’t swim?

Her anger began to swell, but she somehow managed to keep herself in check. “Good to know, Tucker.”

“You can just call me Tuck.”

“How generous of you,” Esther said, her tone rife with sarcasm “You can just call me Out For Blood. Now, about how I’m supposed to live like this… Can you change it? Fix it? Make it go away? I can’t be a mermaid today. In fact, had I been given a choice, I’d have chosen unicorn for the obvious reasons, of course.”

For the first time, Tuck’s face went gravely serious, his hazel eyes clouding over. And he didn’t mince his words. “I cannot. You’re a mermaid for life.”

“Is that so, Tucker Pearson?”

“That is so, Esther Williams Sanchez.”

“Then you know what, Tuck?”

He cocked his beautiful head full of shiny chocolate hair. “What’s that?”

“I’m going to kill youuu!” she shouted, red-faced and wild-eyed as she made an awkward lunge for him.

* * * *

As Esther flopped to the ground with a thud that shook her small house, attempting to get at him by wiggling her way along the floor like some mermaid’s imitation of the worm, knocking over everything in her path, Tuck winced with remorse.

Thankful the women intervened, he tried not to panic.

But man, had he really fucked up.

He’d been so intent on getting a word with Esther about her uncle, he hadn’t been thinking clearly. Her uncle was the only tie he had to help him out of the dodgy mess he was in. Yet, when he’d seen her in all her mahogany-haired, olive-skinned, generously curved, crimson-lipped glory at her uncle’s funeral, he’d fumbled like a damn guppy at his first reef dance.

Quite literally, she’d stolen the breath from his bloody lungs, and he hadn’t been lying about heightened emotions. Indeed, his emotions had been heightened, but as much of a shit as it made him feel like, it hadn’t been sadness that had fueled his reaction.

It had been lust. Thick, murky, forbidden yet undeniable lust. She was a beautiful woman. A beautiful woman who, under normal circumstances, he’d have asked out without a moment’s hesitation.

But that wasn’t why he’d attended Gomez Sanchez’s funeral. He’d attended because he wanted answers, and he’d figured some of Gomez’s relatives would surely be there.

Little did he know, Gomez Sanchez only had one surviving relative, and he’d only been able to find out she existed due to the scientist’s obit in the paper. He’d had to do some digging and call in a favor or two to find out her name. At the time of the funeral, he didn’t even know the sexy woman he’d brushed up against was Gomez’s niece.

Also, he’d had no idea he’d actually scratched her with an errant scale until he’d seen her tonight.

As if it wasn’t bad enough, having been kicked out of his pod, now he’d turned a human into a mermaid.

The coral would surely fly if his father found out about this. But his sister would help.

Now, as the women restrained Esther and hauled her back up on the couch, he had to find a way to make this right while getting what he needed from her.

“Esther!” he said with force, taking note not to yell. “Please, calm down or your legs won’t return.”

But she struggled against the women, her deep-brown eyes flashing angry and hot. “You calm down, you Outback maniac! Look what you’ve done to me! How the hell am I supposed to live like this?”

He held up his hands and offered his best apologetic face. “I’ll help you, Esther. I promise I’ll help you if you’ll just calm down and allow me.”

The dark-haired woman, who’s name he hadn’t quite caught, cupped Esther’s jaw and made her focus on her face. “Dude, get it the fuck together and let us help you deal. Hear me? Suck it up and let’s figure this out. What’s happened to you isn’t the end of the world. If I can fucking adjust to never stuffing another damn Ring Ding in my mouth for all eternity because I have to drink blood, you can damn well swim around and be pretty. Don’t go off the rails now, kiddo.”

Drink blood? Did the dark-haired sheila say she drinks blood? What kind of madness was this?

Esther appeared calmed by the snarling vixen, as odd as that sounded—she didn’t even cringe about the mention of drinking blood. What she meant by that blood reference, he didn’t know. He didn’t want to know.

But Esther gripped Nina’s slim wrist. “You’ll stay until we do? Until we figure it out?” she asked, hearing her shaky words then hissing a breath of obvious aggravation. She appeared annoyed that her voice had faltered.

Nina stared back at her and nodded without hesitation. “Count on it.”

“Of course we’ll stay, Esther. Of course,” the pregnant woman assured in soft tones, easing her hold on her arm. “I told you that. This is what we do, honey. Now, please. Deep breaths, and let’s get your legs back, all right?”

Esther began inhaling while Tuck looked on, unsure what to do next. Obviously, he was a dipshit and he had to fix what he’d done. He just wasn’t sure how to go about that without upsetting her further.

And who in all of fuck were these women helping her? Her friends? And what did the pregnant one mean by this is what they do?

Knowing he needed to do something, Tuck kept his distance but sat on his haunches and gazed at Esther, even more beautiful in mermaid form than she was as a human. “Esther, I swear to you, on my life, I’ll help you join our community right here in Oyster Hollow. I’ll teach you everything you need to know to live your life here, right here in your cottage, and still live as a mermaid. If you’ll let me, that is. You can still do all the things you’ve always done. Work, play, whatever it is you’ve always done. I promise.”

Her wild-eyed gaze had softened now, her fists, once clenched into tight little balls, relaxed and her heavy breathing slowed. “Okay.”

He held out a hand to her, his hazel eyes sincere. “Shake on it?”

As she let him envelop her much smaller hand, as she watched him like a hawk, that swell of lust swarmed his body once more, and he had to yank his hand away to keep her from knowing he desired her. And she’d surely know, or learn to know that feeling, now that she was a mermaid. It was instinct, a natural reaction when you met someone you found attractive.

“Then let’s begin by getting your land legs back. You’ll learn to do this with ease as time passes, but for now, please close your eyes and take some deep breaths,” he instructed in his husky tone.

As she did what Tuck instructed, as she settled back into the cushions of her couch and breathed, her body began to melt and twist.

And just like that, her limbs were back—long, graceful, beautifully shaped.

Wow, were they ever back.

“Marty?” Nina called with her infamous cackle. “We need a bigger blanket!”