CHAPTER 25
She was looking forward to it, more perhaps than she cared to admit.
When she left him to wind the lighthouse gears once more, she told him she’d see him in the morning because she had to sleep.
He seemed to understand, albeit reluctantly, but she imagined that was more because he looked like he wanted to kiss her again, rather than not understanding the need for sleep.
But now that she was actually lying down, sleep seemed so far she half debated going out again. But blasted reason told her it was better to at least try, that sleep would at some point claim her.
She could still practically feel his lips against hers, and she squealed in delight, kicking her legs into the air in unabated joy now that she was alone.
Why did that kiss feel so good? No, why did it make her so happy?
She wasn’t sure she had ever been so happy in her life.
It was like she was floating, like her soul was sailing high above the trees.
He liked her too. And not just like friends but like the stories she had read. Like happily ever afters. Maybe that made sense: a mermaid belonged in a fairy tale. But, by God, what luck that she was in one too.
She laughed. No, that wasn’t quite right.
In fact, for a fairy tale, everything was reversed.
He was as stunning as a lily while she had pants that had seen their better day, calluses that belonged on a man, and hair that she had long since given up on taming—though that, at least, was purely logical; no one could tame hair subjected to the wind on this island.
Meanwhile, his long, white hair always hung down to his back, as perfect and seemingly tangle free as the most beautiful of ladies in town. Yes, they were definitely not a fairy tale.
Which made this even better. This wasn’t a story. It was real! And tomorrow she would swim with a mermaid!
She squealed and kicked in delight again. Life could not get any better.