Chapter One
ELIAS
OFF THE COAST OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Salt water glided across my skin like silk, its cool bite the ideal temperature for a long swim.
The April sun newly escaped from its winter purgatory shone bright, adding a touch of warmth to the Atlantic and creating perfection.
The hours I spent in the water slipped by, the movement of my body synchronized to the swell of the ocean.
Complete freedom. Life didn’t get much better.
Rhythmic splashing announced another swimmer closing fast. I slowed my pace and treaded water to allow him to catch up. Within moments, my cousin and best friend popped his head out of the waves. He flipped his dark hair out of his face and swam along next to me.
“Sorry I’m late.” Niko’s breath labored with exertion.
“Rough night last night?”
He lifted a shoulder out of the water and tilted his head to meet it. A total non-answer.
“You went home with someone again last night, didn’t you?” I taunted.
He glowered at me over a tight mouth.
Amusement stretched my smirk into a smile. This was going to be fun. “Let me guess…” I cleared my throat, ready to mock him for the millionth time about his hopeless romanticism. “You met an incredible woman. You had this instant connection you just had to explore.”
He looked away with a huff and squinted at the horizon.
Bingo.
“This is starting to become a habit, Niko. A bad habit.”
He turned back to throw daggers at me with his eyes, and I laughed at his ridiculous indignation. “You’re so predictable.”
“What do you want, E? I was having a great time. She’s a scientist and got to tellin’ me about her research. I was hungry, so—”
“So, you asked her to dinner and ended up talking all night.” The number of times I’d heard that same story... “You can’t keep doing this every time you sing.”
“Why not? What’s wrong with gettin’ to know someone?”
“Seriously?” I shook my head and blinked in disbelief.
He couldn’t possibly be that thick-skulled.
“Expectations, Niko. Expectations and drama.” I’d learned that lesson in my twenties—I was all set with clingy, territorial women trying to change my routine.
“You ready for a relationship with this woman? You think she’ll let you spend four hours a day swimming?
Late nights singing to audiences full of women with the same objective she had when she went out to dinner with you? ” I cocked an eyebrow.
“You’re a cynic.”
“I’m a realist.”
He scoffed.
“She’s not going to be happy when you don’t call her.” The words came out automatic and chiding, not the first time I’d voiced that particular warning.
As sirens, the last thing we needed was outright rejection, but a nonexistent audience came in a close second. Our song demanded an answer, and we were physically compelled to fill the adoration well or pay the price.
“Not sure how you plan on satisfying your compulsion in front of an audience full of scorned lovers,” I said.
Niko narrowed his eyes. “Maybe I will call her,” he clapped back, challenge thick in his voice.
I snorted. “No, you won’t. If you called every woman you sang to and then took out to dinner, we’d never swim again—you’d be too busy on the phone.”
He twisted his face into a sneer and shoved his hand into the water, sending a splash over my head.
I chuckled and flipped the hair out of my face.
At least when I sang to someone, I kept them at arm’s length—a few drinks, a little dancing, a lot of flirting.
And if I was lucky? If the situation was right?
Some no-strings-attached casual sex. But that was it. No dinner. No expectations. No regrets.
“Trying to find something more meaningful than a one-night stand isn’t gonna kill you, E. I swear, you have the emotional depth of a puddle.”
I gasped and smacked the back of my hand to my forehead. “You wound me.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Golf tournament’s this weekend,” he said after a beat. “Island’s gonna be crawlin’ with tourists.”
“Shit! I forgot. Right on.”
He nodded. “Shelter Cove’s gonna be packed tonight for open mic.”
“Hell yeah. I’m in.”
My siren’s compulsion stirred, imagining the audience, its thirst for attention a slow heat that crept through my insides urging me to unleash my voice. Our song created a deep and powerful pull, far stronger than our speaking voices, and I was all about big impact.
“Let’s get going,” I said, impatient to move. “I want to get a couple more hours in before we head back. I get cranky when I’m not in the water long enough.”
“You and me both, cuz.”
“I’ll race you to that shoal we found last week. Loser gets the winner’s front desk duty for a week.”
Niko didn’t stand a chance. I had a full night’s sleep and motivation—I despised desk shifts. Anything that took me away from the water was torture.
He flashed his wide, toothy grin, face bright with an excitement that matched my own. “You’re on.”
I plunged beneath the surface, dolphin-kicked as far as my breath could take me, and settled into my stroke. Flying through the ocean in harmony with the waves, my soul echoed the sights and sounds of its watery home.
Why would anyone risk this for a relationship?
What could one woman give me that the ocean and the allure of my voice didn’t already provide?
Especially when the odds of finding a woman who’d accept my nature and respect my need for independence were...
not in my favor. A creature like that was more mythical than a siren.