Chapter 7
Terri
“Thanks for helping out with the Mermaid Lagoon Races this year.”
I smile at the mayor. “Of course. The money we raise is for children without families.”
Her face softens. Lana knows my history. How I arrived on the island after my mother died. How strongly I feel about ensuring kids don’t grow up being shuffled from house to house with a garbage bag as their luggage.
She pats my hand. “Still. I appreciate you taking the time. It must be busy at the resort with all those young strapping men to cater to.” She waggles her eyebrows.
I giggle. Lana is a die-hard flirt. “I thought the third husband was sticking.”
She sighs. “Ronald is wonderful, but I can always look.”
Looking is all I’ll be doing as well. I’m not risking my job over some football player. No matter how deep blue his eyes are. Or how much I want to lick the dimple on his cheek. Or how much I know those broad shoulders are strong enough to lift me up and—
Lana’s squeal cuts through my thoughts. “I need to know what that face means.”
Mermaids save me. Mayor Lana is the biggest gossipmonger on Smuggler’s Hideaway. The entire island will be debating which Steel City Seal I’m sexing up before the end of the day.
I open my mouth to set her straight but snap it shut again. Denying involvement with a football player will convince her of the exact opposite.
I tap my clipboard instead. “We need to get the mermaid tail booth set up and they’re not finished raking the bottom of the lagoon yet.”
“Terri!” May waves to get my attention. Speaking of the lagoon bottom.
“Sorry. Duty calls.” I rush off with my fingers crossed Lana will forget all about whatever face I was making.
“What’s up, May?” I have to shout since she’s in the middle of the lagoon on a paddleboard. I’m surprised she’s not on a surfboard since she’s the surfing instructor at the Hideaway Haven Resort and lives for the waves.
Her hand dips into the water and pulls out a sparkly bikini top. “What do you think? Trash or treasure?”
My nose wrinkles. It’s a used bikini top. Easy answer. “Trash.”
“Yes!”
She jumps up and down on the paddleboard. If she were me, she’d fall off and be splashing around in the water. But she’s May, the incredible surfer who can balance one legged on pretty much any surface. Trust me. I’ve seen her balance one legged on a barstool while drinking shots of moonshine.
She sticks her tongue out at the old smugglers across the lagoon. “Told you it wasn’t treasure!”
The old smugglers never help out with the actual cleaning of the lagoon. But they always show up to ensure any treasure found in the lake doesn’t get thrown away.
I still say the mannequin leg should’ve been dumped. But no. It’s in a display case at Barnacles those twin sisters of hers won’t let anything bad happen to her.”
“What about you? Who’s going to make sure nothing bad happens to you?”
Her nose wrinkles. “Why would anything bad happen to me? I’m not the one in an arrangement with an NFL player.”
I raise an eyebrow. “You aren’t?”
Brock Porter, a fullback on the Seals team, has a son, Jace, she’s been teaching to surf. She’s also spending a lot of time with Jace out of the water. With his dad around.
“This is your fault,” she mumbles before splashing me.
“Splashing me doesn’t change the truth,” I holler as I hurry away.
I scan the area as I make my way to the mermaid tail booth. There’s no trash to be seen. Good. Picnic tables are scattered around the lagoon for spectators. Good. Food and drink vendors are set up and ready to start selling. Good.
My lips purse when I notice the mermaid tails scattered on the ground. Siena is typing on her phone instead of sorting out the mermaid tails.
“How are participants supposed to choose their mermaid tail if they’re laying all over the ground and not organized by size? We can’t have a Mermaid Lagoon Race if the women aren’t wearing mermaid tails.”
Siena glances up from her phone. “Sorry. Emergency.”
Mother of moonshine. I can’t yell at her if she’s dealing with a legal emergency. She’s the island’s favorite defense attorney. I won’t be responsible for someone spending the weekend in jail.
“Fine. Go. I’ll find someone else to work at the booth.” I don’t know who, since all the smugglers who volunteered to help out today already have jobs, but I’ll figure it out. Maybe I can work the ticket booth and the mermaid tail booth at the same time?
“It’s not a legal emergency. My apartment is flooded.”
“Son of a bootlegger. I’m sorry, Siena. You can stay with me until it’s fixed.”
“It’s not my apartment. It’s my rental.”
“Where’s Corbin going to stay?”
Everyone knows Corbin Cox, a tight end for the Seals, rented her apartment for the summer. How could we not after they had a shouting match the day he arrived?
“I’ll figure it out.” She shoves her phone into her back pocket. “But not now. It’s time to raise some money for charity.”
“Do you need help?”
She shoos me away. “I’ve got this.”
I don’t believe her. Organizing the mermaid tails is a lot of work. I help her until my alarm chimes to let me know it’s time for the ticket booth to open.
When I reach the ticket booth, there’s already a line waiting. I check in the participants and accept entrance fees from spectators until the line is gone. I plop down in a chair and roll my neck.
I’m exhausted. I didn’t sleep well last night. And I’ve been here since dawn. At least I don’t have an event tonight. My assistant is handling it. But I’ve got a brunch tomorrow morning. I won’t be getting much sleep tonight.
A car door slams and I glance toward it. Nolan climbs out of a red sports car. There’s a man I wouldn’t mind missing sleep for.
I shove those thoughts away. He’s off limits.
That didn’t stop you last time.
I’m not thinking about last time. Not thinking about how hard his muscles felt. How good he tasted. How his hands felt on my body. How his tongue felt as he traced my skin. My nipples tingle.
He smirks as he approaches me. I want to roll my eyes at his cockiness. But cocky looks good on him.
“The entry fee is twenty dollars.”
His eyes widen. “Twenty dollars to watch women swim?”
“The women wear mermaid tails.”
“Will you be swimming?”
“Nope.”
“Too bad. I’d pay a lot of money to watch you swim in a mermaid tail and bikini top.”
I motion to the lagoon. “There are plenty of women in mermaid tails and bikini tops to watch.”
“But it’s you I want to watch.”
He smiles down at me and his dimple makes an appearance. A dimple I’ve tasted. A dimple I want to taste again.
But there will be no dimple tasting. Because Nolan Allen is off limits.
“Sorry. I’m working the ticket booth today. It’s twenty dollars.”
He digs a fifty-dollar bill out of his wallet. “I’ll give you fifty if you go out on a date with me.”
“Are you serious?”
He winks. And I lose control over my anger. It bursts out of me.
“I told you Hudson will fire me if I date you. But you don’t care. You’re some hotshot quarterback. You don’t care about anyone else but yourself.”
He scowls. “I’m not an asshole.”
“And yet you insist on asking me out when I told you I’d lose my job if we date. Classic asshole behavior if you ask me.”
“Shit. I…”
He trails off when a group of teenagers arrives.
“I don’t have time for this. I have a job to do. Please pay or get out of the way for the next customers.”
He hands me the fifty. All trace of flirting is gone from his face. “Keep the change.” He walks off without another word.
Good. It’s what I wanted. For him to stop flirting with me. For him to stop asking me out. But then why do I feel empty inside?