Castlebury approached to offer a clipboard displaying an inventory of our recent arrivals. My eyes nearly bulged when I read the rest. An aquarium on the mainland had gone out of business, sending several hundred pounds of rock and a few dozen delicate sea creatures to us.
“Bubble anemone? Lionfish?”
“Oh, yes. They arrived as well today. It was a rather large shipment of animals. Such a shame the aquarium is no longer in business.”
“The time stamp on this list says you received it at noon, Victor. Noon!”
“It slipped my mind. Certainly you understand.” His smile made him look like a shark. “At any rate, I expect this to be done prior to your exit from the complex this evening. Good day.”
“This isn’t fair! Victor, it’s the end of the day. I can’t do this.”
“Leave it until morning then if it troubles you so deeply. The animals will simply remain in their shipment bags until your arrival.”
My eyes skimmed the list and read the names of many exotic creatures, some hardy and others too delicate to be risked overnight. I swallowed and remained quiet, shaking with rage. He’d done this on purpose. He’d risked all of these animals to teach me a lesson.
A single telephone call to Teo would have fixed Castlebury — but I didn’t want to abuse my friendship with the dragon. We typically reserved Teo for when a situation reached critical mass. Missing a date with Dante fell shy of reaching nuclear event status, but just slightly in this case. I had plans to sweep him away to a stupidly expensive reservation I’d never manage to pull off again at the most lavish seaside grill on Teo’s island.
This is going to take hours. My eyes burned as I stared down at the intimidating list.
I worked hard and fast to initiate the time-consuming acclimation process for the most fragile new specimens. I was up to my elbows in saline water when Pam phoned me.
“Girl, where are you? I’m at your house with the shoes you wanted to borrow. Dante said you never came home.”
“Shit! I forgot to...” I sighed. With less than two hours before our dinner date, my chances of completing my impossible set of tasks had vanished.
“Forgot to what?”
A minute later, I’d given Pam the rundown on everything, and broken down into tears.
“That fucker. Girl, we’ll be right there. We’ll just clock back in to help you.”
I sniveled into the line and fumbled to tear a few Kleenex from a box on my desk. “I can’t let you do that, Pammie. You guys are done for the d—”
“See you soon.” The call ended.
Twenty minutes later when the doors opened, I hadn’t stopped sobbing into my tissues. I was so pissed, so irrationally and impossibly angry that the tears wouldn’t end.
“I told you guys, I can do this on my own.”
The scent of the open sea surrounded me with a pair of strong arms. I peeked up into Dante’s blue eyes. Pam and Julia stood behind him in the doorway, smiling at me.
“What are you doing here?”
“Pam told me what happened, so I came to help, too. I don’t know anything about the scientific side of ocean life, but if you instruct me, I’ll do it.”
With direction, Dante wasn’t a bad worker. I tried to offer him gloves for handling the live rock, but he waved them off and reached in with his bare hands. I chalked it up to male bravado until he whispered the secret to me: fish toxins and aquatic animal stings didn’t pose a danger to hippocampi. It was part of their magic, in and out of human form.
I let the girls giggle over his badassery and carried on with the tedious water samples on the holding tank. All parameters appeared to be in order, saving me the time I would spend buffering with chemicals.
“Aren’t your reservations at eight?” Julia whispered to me. “You have twenty-five minutes to spare.”
“Yeah.” I wasn’t dressed for a romantic dine-in. I looked down at my damp shirt and frowned, unable to ignore the fishy scent on my clothes.
“Go. We’ll finish up. Grab Dante and get out of here.”
I shook my head. “I can’t leave you guys here to fix Castlebury’s mistake. He did this to punish me, remember?”
“Technically we’re department supervisors and you’re the assistant manager, which means we’re your flunkies to boss at will,” Pam reminded me.
“Whenever Castlebury pulls shit like this, we all have to own it. Not only you. Being his assistant doesn’t make you his bitch,” Julia said.
I snuck a glance at my man. He learned quickly, running another aeration hose into one of our barrels designated for uncured live rock.
“Why am I putting rocks into a barrel?” he asked suddenly. “I don’t mind, but I’m curious.”
“If we didn’t take these steps, sediment and dying flora will pollute our marine environments.”
We giggled at his blank stare, then Julia broke it down into something he could understand. By the time we finished, Dante and I were long overdue for our reservations, our table was gone, and I didn’t feel sexy enough to pull off a last minute appeal for a spot in the restaurant.
So we went home instead. I soaked an hour in my clawfoot tub while Dante fetched dinner from Abuelo’s. We feasted on fish and salsa verde then he painted my toenails neon green as I sprawled lifelessly on the sofa. I kept my feet on his lap when he finished.
Dante idly plucked grapes from a bowl with one hand, while the strong fingers of the other caressed my silky thigh, giving me shivers. At least my leg wax wasn’t wasted. “Why do you look so glum, Alessa?”
“I wanted to have a romantic night with you,” I admitted. “Now I’m too exhausted to even put my mouth on your cock.”
“We are having a romantic night,” Dante reminded me with an uncertain grin. “And you can always save your energy for the morning. I won’t mind.”
I leaned forward to swat him. “You’re painfully good at painting toenails, but this was supposed to be a date out as a surprise for you. Instead, you’re only doing something else nice for me.”
“Eh,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Making you happy makes me happy. Want some more grapes?”
“All I’m missing is a naked man with a feathered fan.”
Dante chuckled and kissed my brow. “I can always ask Lycus to come up and assist. He’s quite taken with you and upset you’re without a sister.”
“Nope. I’m good, but I do have a cousin. One hottie hippocampus is all I need.”
And one hippocampus was the only one I wanted.
Chapter 9
~Alessa~
Mom was due to reach the island on a lazy Sunday afternoon and according to last week’s failed test, I still wasn’t pregnant. I didn’t know what to tell her about Dante yet, and I didn’t plan to give her all of the gritty details. Around noon, I woke up with him beside me, struck by the urge to clean my small home from top to bottom. Again.
I opened all the windows to let in the fresh ocean breeze then tackled the bathroom and living room before my lover sought me out, naked as usual as I preferred.
“Should we be married?” Dante asked. His question came out of the blue, startling me as I scrubbed the stove to prepare for my mother’s arrival and their inevitable introduction.
I arched a brow. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I want to know where your thoughts have gone. Normally when humans live together they’re married, aren’t they?”
“Not everyone.” He eased his body behind me, more affectionate than lusty, and wrapped his arm around my middle. The pressure of his chest to my back warmed me.
“Does it mean something to you?” he asked.
“Well...” I bit my lower lip. “My parents weren’t married when they had me, and that’s okay. When I was a kid, I used to wish things were different. All of my friends had two parents and their dad’s last name.”
“Ours will be a strange family. What will you tell people?”
It was a question I’d been asking myself for a whil
e. “Honestly? I have no idea. Before we... bonded, I thought I’d tell them all we decided it wasn’t working out and we were sharing custody.” I smoothed my fingers over his dark waves, brushing errant strands from his face. “So maybe I’ll tell everyone it’s none of their damned business.”
“Will your mother like me?”
“What’s not to like?”
“Everything,” he said with a grin.
Dante helped me tidy the rest of the house until the counters gleamed and the floors shined. The smell of citrus permeated my secondhand kitchen table, and he moved the sofa so I could vacuum beneath it.
If I didn’t clean house thoroughly, my mother would do it during her vacation, and at my age I was too old for her to tidy behind me.
“Where will I sleep now?”
“At your own place with your grandfather,” I teased.
Dante frowned. “I like sleeping beside you.”
“And I love it when you sleep beside me.” I kissed him then scurried away to pull on a pair of jean shorts beneath my t-shirt. “Okay, I’m gonna go down and pick her up. She and I have plans to eat at the hotel cafe for dinner so why don’t you come by tomorrow for lunch.”
“I have lessons booked all day. The group from Sweden.”
“Oh yeah. They’re coming to my afternoon performance. How about dinner after the show?”
“I’ll be there.”
Despite the big inconvenience of her decision to visit during the summer, my official time with Dante, I was glad to see Mom. I rushed into her arms and hugged her tight the moment I picked her out among the tourists disembarking from the ferry.
“You cut your hair!” Shock failed to sum up my feelings about her shoulder-length bob. Old photos of my mom revealed an incredible similarity in our appearances, as if I’d been taken and cloned directly from her. I had her red hair, my grandmother’s red hair, and my great-grandmother’s red hair — a family trait passed down each generation without fail.
“I wanted a change. Now, let me look at you.” Mom held me out at arm’s length. “You have such a lovely tan this year, but you’re looking slimmer than you used to.” Her lips pressed into a thin line. “Too slim.”
“Mom,” I groaned. “Believe me, I’m not starving myself.”
“Are they working you too much?”
Between Castlebury’s demands, the swim show, and my romping with Dante, time had become a valuable commodity. “No, nothing like that. I’m filling in for the mermaid program this season, is all,” I fibbed.
“I thought you didn’t do that anymore.”
“One of the girls had a death in the family so she took an extended leave of absence. The owner of the resort personally asked me, begged me really, to take her slot.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” My mom frowned at the news.
“Yeah, she’s missed. So I’ve been getting extra exercise.”
Mom sniffed. “Well, you’re beautiful the way you are.”
During the ferry ride to the resort we chatted about her recent promotion, gossiped over scandalous relatives, and eventually reached my house where Mom was eager to relax after a long flight. While she cozied on the couch, I fetched cold glasses of pineapple juice. When I turned, I saw her inspecting a bold, tropical print fabric beside her head. The kind of colors only Dante could pull off.
Shit! One of Dante’s shirts, much too large for me to reasonably wear, hung over the back of the sofa in plain view of my mother. She plucked it up before I could hurry over to stuff it behind a loveseat pillow.
“This doesn’t belong to you.” Mom turned her gray eyes to me. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
Whelp. Cat’s outta the bag now, I thought. “I do and you’ll be meeting him at dinner tomorrow. He’s busy with his grandfather this evening.”
“You never said anything. Does that mean it’s not serious or... it is serious?”
“You did just find his shirt. In my house. So...”
“Well, sit, spill it. What’s the boy’s name?”
“Dante.”
Mom’s eyes grew large. I giggled and tucked my chin, nodding. “Well. I’ll finally get to meet this elusive Dante.”
“Is that why you decided to pop up over during the summer this time?”
“Maybe,” Mom said mysteriously. When she smiled, her eyes crinkled and faint laugh lines creased her freckled face. I wanted to age as gracefully as her. “You always talk about him. So is this a recent thing?”
“Yeah, it’s a recent development. I think you’ll like him though.”
Despite Dante’s concerns, no reason existed for why my mother wouldn’t like him. I beamed proudly and showed her a photo of us together, taken only a week ago by Marcy at her son’s birthday party.
“He’s a handsome man,” Mom murmured in approval. “But is he good to you?”
“The best. Doesn’t let anyone disrespect me, cleans up after himself, and even cooks me breakfast in bed.” I left out the naked part.
On our way to dinner, Mom grilled me about my boyfriend, how long he’d been living with me, if he planned to remain a surf instructor all of his life, and whether or not I would ever move home. I power walked to the hostess and informed her of our reservation, abruptly ending the game of twenty questions.
Mom resumed it at the table.
“He looked Italian in your photograph. Is he Italian?”
“Yes and no...”
“Have you met his parents?” she asked, as the waitress arrived with the wine.
“His dad’s a difficult guy. They don’t get along, and his mom was murdered when he was a child.”
“Oh.” Mom frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
I raised my wine for a sip, needing it to make it through Mom’s questioning.
“Are you being safe?”
Wine went down the wrong hole, choking me. “Mom!” I sputtered. Coughing into a napkin with tears in my eyes, I struggled to clear my airway. “What kind of question is that?”
“A good one,” she replied, appearing very stern.
Technically, we were practicing safe sex. We were a mated, monogamous couple, the very equivalent of marriage in the paranormal community. And while making a baby was a normal, acceptable activity for married couples, I became reluctant to express our intentions to my mother. I directed the conversation to another topic instead. “Mom, did you really come all of this way to quiz me like we’re on Jeopardy?”
“Well, no... I’m sorry. I rarely see you, you never visit home, and I never know what’s going on in your life anymore.”
Leaving sex with my boyfriend behind, I told mom about my work at the aquatics department, my recovered sea turtle Kai, and I promised to show her photos I took while snorkeling off the owner’s personal island.
“I love snorkeling,” she sighed. “How is the view here?”
“Magnificent. If I ask Teo, I’m sure he’ll let me and Dante bring you back.” A smile tugged the corners of my lips. “Didn’t you tell me how much you wanted to learn to skimboard one day? He’s amazing at it.”
Mom pursed her lips thoughtfully. I didn’t need to read her mind to know she thought time learning to skimboard was a chance to examine my man.
Later, after dinner, the two of us settled on the sofa together beneath a blanket to watch a movie. The long flight had exhausted her, and my hectic schedule wore me thin. My mother’s hugs were the best comfort after a hellish week. When her head drooped, I sent her off to my bed and remained on the sofa.
I awakened in the morning to the smell of fresh bread in the oven. Mom always arrived with expectations of feeding me well, so I kept a mix of fresh ingredients and frozen dough.
“Okay, I have a day planner and a resort schedule right here for you. I can’t stay long, because I told my department manager I’d be there to oversee cleaning the tanks today and then we have a show this afternoon.”
“They are working you too much,” she accused.
“Well...” I
poured myself a cup of milk while my mother sipped her coffee. “It’s getting me out of student loan debt and it’s only for a summer.”
“You should have attended college at home.”
“I wanted to spend the time with Daddy, you know that.”
Mom’s expression softened. “You are right. Pay me no mind, Alessa. I worry about you missing the best years of your adulthood.”
Like you once did? I wondered. Did my existence lead you to feel robbed of a full life?
“Mom, I live rent-free on a resort. I swim with dolphins. My boss pays me to play with turtles.”
“All right. All right. You have a dream job, I only wish it was closer to home is all.”
“I’ll come home during the winter break, Mom, I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to it.”
I chugged my milk and scurried into the bedroom to collect clothes for the day. In passing, I kissed the top of her head. “I am fine, so don’t worry about me.”
She may have believed me if I didn’t puke promptly after stepping out of the shower. Most of it hit the toilet bowl.
“Baby, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Mom. I think the milk went bad. Dante doesn’t drink it and it takes forever for me to use up a gallon.”
I washed the sour taste from my mouth and emerged. Mom wasted no time; she touched my brow and felt my lymph nodes, reminding me of when I was a child claiming to be too ill for school.
“You don’t feel warm. Does it hurt anywhere?”
“It was probably something I ate last night.” I smiled wearily.
My mother remained unconvinced by my thread-thin excuse. “I ate the exact same thing as you and I’m fine.”
“Just a bug then, Mom.” The flimsy explanation fell through when I bolted for the toilet again.
“Alessa, honey, have you had your period this month?”
“Er...”
“Maybe you should take a pregnancy test.”
“Mom!”
“Look, sweetie, I’m not judging. I’m just pointing out a possibility. Do you want me to run up to the store and grab you one?”
“No, that’s all right. I have a box.”
My mother arched a brow but didn’t say anything. A lie came to mind, but I kept my mouth shut. I hated fibbing to her. Once I’d shut her out of the bathroom, I endured the longest sixty second wait of my life. To be dramatic, I prayed to every god I could recall by name, from the god of Christianity to Zeus and the sea god Poseidon. I tried not to leave anyone out, an equal-opportunity wish maker.
Making Waves (Mythological Lovers) Page 9