Chapter 2
TWO
Remy
Man, it’s funny how life works.
One minute, I'm on the platform at Paradise Springs with my brother, Tate, and his fiancée, Isabella.
It's Tuesday morning, the guava pastries from the bakery on Main Street are nearly gone, and I'm trying not to get cavities from the pure, extreme, too-saccharine sweetness Tate and Isabella are throwing off.
Ever since he met her, he's turned into a different guy.
Today, they've been smooching and groping each other nonstop, and I feel like a third wheel. Should've stayed home.
The next thing I know? It's as if I've been struck by lightning in a summer storm.
Because there's a mermaid in the water. An actual, real-deal mermaid, swimming like she's lived in this spring for all of eternity. When I first see her, I think I'm hallucinating. But no.
It's a mermaid. One with curves for days and long, dark hair that's billowing and floating all around her in the blue water. She's wearing one of those tails you can buy online, the kind that slip over the legs, hips, and stomach, with a wide bottom fin.
I know about these contraptions because my family does an annual mermaid party for kids at our family's resort, and I usually dress up as Poseidon. Little girls wear the mermaid outfits and romp in the resort's pool.
But the creature swimming in the water here isn't a little girl. She's all woman. An aquatic Aphrodite. Her whole outfit is shimmery and blue, a slightly darker hue than the water. There might be some green streaks in there, too. Whatever it is, it's not childish.
I lean on the platform railing, captivated.
It's like watching a professional ballet dancer or an Olympic athlete.
She's an amazing swimmer, powerful and graceful.
It doesn't even seem like she's using her arms a lot of the time, just undulating her body enough to move forward, turn, and somersault.
I feel like I'm in the presence of something magical, an experience made all the more incredible because we're at one of Florida's sacred springs and the water is so blue it almost hurts to look at. Maybe she's a mirage and only I can see her.
The way she's swimming, it's as if she's not even human.
Her spine seems hyper-flexible, she's flowing so fluidly.
She appears to be one with the current, her body writhing and bending as she skims the surface.
Occasionally she dips below, and that's pure poetry — the water is so gin-clear that I can see her hourglass figure shooting through the water.
For a half-second, I'd swear the water around her brightens. Then I blink, and it's just sun on the surface again. Trick of the light.
Then she surfaces, and my heart practically stops.
She's gorgeous. The kind of beauty that sinks ships, with eyes the color of the Florida sky. Tanned skin. This woman can't be real. She ducks back into the water.
I glance over at my brother and Isabella to see if they've noticed her, or if I've been out in the sun too long and I'm experiencing heat stroke.
Yeah, they're staring at her, too. We're all gaping at the water.
Then she pops above the surface and looks right at me. Holy moly. Yeah, she's totally my type.
Of course, my eyes do what eyes do. The bikini top is blue and looks like it's covered in glitter. I'd be embarrassed to be openly staring if I had any decency, but I don't. Plus, she’s dressed like a mermaid.
I lean forward to get a better look at her. Who is this woman? I've lived in Cypress Grove my entire life; it's not that big of a town. I would have remembered if I'd met a woman this pretty in a bar or at a party. There are a lot of tourists, though.
Had I met her on land, I'd have asked her out within thirty seconds. Possibly twenty.
I'm not known as the Playboy of Paradise Springs for nothing — though, between you and me, the title's gotten a little oversized for what my actual situation looks like these days. My lips curve upward into a grin.
"A real, live mermaid. Hey, beautiful! Where did you come from? I've been swimming in these waters my entire life and never caught a mermaid."
She blinks and smiles. Oh, baby. This is going to be good.
I lean further over the railing, enjoying the view I'm getting of her. Underwater, her blue outfit shimmers. What possessed a grown woman to put on a tail and swim in the Cypress Grove springs on a random Tuesday morning?
I'm about to ask her this — and warn her that the springs sometimes have alligators, hint, hint, so she'd better get that beautiful tail of hers up here onto the platform with me — when she opens her mouth.
"Who says you've caught me?" she asks, her voice throaty.
The game is on.
"I'd love to catch you," I say.
She beckons with her index finger, painted scarlet. "Come and try," she says, still smiling. Her eyes flit downward.
She's checking me out, just like I'm doing with her.
Now, I'm not as jacked as my twin brother Damien.
He's a beast, and spends God knows how many hours in the gym every day.
He's also a wildland firefighter out west — currently three months into the season, due back any day.
But I'm no slouch. I'm a champion bass fisherman, and I spend a lot of time on the water wrestling with fish, which means I'm tanned and pretty ripped.
According to what women have told me in the past, me and my hard abs are "a snack." That's a direct quote.
She's clearly checking me out, which is nice for the ego. Anyway, Tate and Isabella are six feet from me, so it's not like I'm making any real moves on Miss Mermaid right here and now. I've got to get her name and her number, though.
She's still grinning. Her eyes shimmer, and that's when I notice her skin also has a sheen to it. Like she's wearing sparkly body lotion that doesn't come off in the water or something.
"I love a challenge," I retort, loving the flirtation.
She floats a foot closer to the platform.
I straighten to my full height and square my shoulders, apparently intending to make some kind of impression on Miss Mermaid. I take one step forward as if I'm going to dive.
And slip on a wet patch, straight off the edge of the platform.
I tumble over the side and splash into the spring, six feet deep, right in front of her. For a split second, I'm worried that I'm going to fall on top of her and knock her out cold. But she's obviously nimble in the water, and I sense her body moving aside.
I allow my body to submerge in the cool spring, so I can have a beat of recovery from my stupidity.
Normally, I'm pretty suave around women — there's that Playboy of Paradise Springs thing again — but falling off a platform wasn't graceful at all. Especially for me, a Florida-born guy who's been around the water my whole life and who can (usually) execute a pretty decent dive.
But if I've learned anything about women over the years, it's that making them laugh goes a long way, more than any muscular chest or rock-hard abdominal muscles.
So, I'll play this off as a joke. Like I'd intended to be a buffoon.
I surface, sputtering, my hair plastered to my face. I push it back and look up. The mermaid is still laughing — a real laugh, full and unguarded, bouncing off the cypress trees. After a beat, I'm laughing too. Up on the platform, Tate and Isabella are doubled over.
I stand, rising to my full height. She's bobbing in the water and looks at me with those sky-blue eyes. Her lips part and time slows. We're now only about eight inches apart, and my laughter fades. Because the breath has been sucked from my lungs.
There's that summer lightning again. Only this time, it's like one of those intense storms that send bolts of pure fire down from the sky.
The kind of lightning strikes that incinerate trees and houses and people on golf courses.
The attraction between us has rendered me senseless.
I open my mouth, but I'm not entirely sure what to say.
You mermaid my day.
I think you're mer-mazing.
Can I please take you to dinner? Tonight? Tomorrow? Forever?
Yeah, none of those will work.
I've never been this instantly hooked on a woman before. Whatever this is, it's primal in a way I don't quite understand. Don't want to, either. I'm just going to ride it out and see where it takes me.
"Hey," I say softly, finally finding my voice and my nerve. "What's your name?"
The electricity crackles between us. I take in her long eyelashes, the freckles on the tops of her cheekbones, the perfect bow of her glossy upper lip.
Her wet hair is slicked back, hanging past her shoulders.
And I was right — there is a sheen to her skin.
I inhale sharply and detect notes of a coconut-based sunscreen.
She blasts me with a teasing grin, then turns and dives headfirst into the water. Her body slips below the surface, the blue mermaid outfit catching the sunlight. The tail is the last thing to go under, flicking upward like a dolphin's. Little drops of water land on my face.
And she swims away. My heart dissolves into the water.
I blink and wonder if I should go after her. But she's too fast, and within seconds, she's almost to the far bend of the spring. I look up at Tate and Isabella.
They're still cracking up.
"Did that just happen? Was that for real?" I ask.
Because I'm not sure what just happened. All I know is that for a few minutes, my world shifted off its axis, and I'm not certain if it will ever be the same.