Remy groans and laughs, turning to face me. Something about the scene, how relaxed it is, how close he's standing, makes me giddy. I lean into him, pressing my face into his chest. Prickles of awareness flow through my body. Gah.
He laughs against my hair, and then kisses my forehead. Oh, mercy. Forehead kisses make me melt. There's something both sweet and sexy about them. And the fact that he did it in front of his family and friends… yikes.
ELEVEN
Remy
"Remy, look at the spring. My goodness, it's beautiful right now. It's so blue."
We're in my truck and I'm bringing Leilani home following an afternoon of working on the interior of her bar. When I'd arrived, my sister and my brothers' girlfriends had all been there, and somehow, they'd invited Leilani into their posse. Or coven. Or whatever it is.
Which, like everything else involving her, was adorable. I'm glad Nat took my advice to visit her, and I'm doubly pleased that she brought Lauren, Kate, and Isabella. As much as I enjoy being with Leilani, I know she's yearning for girlfriends. She's talked about how much she misses her friends at the mermaid park.
My sister's no mermaid — she's more like a bull shark in a china shop — but she knows everyone in town and is a fierce friend. She'll be good for Leilani.
"See how the water sparkles, Remy?"
I glance out the side window of my truck, and yeah, the spring is particularly blue and glittery today. Its beauty is nothing compared to the woman sitting in my truck, though.
My gaze slides over to the passenger seat where Leilani is sitting.
"Let's go swim. Please? Doesn't the water look perfect for a swim?"
"Just like that, you want to swim? I thought I was taking you home." I grin.
She shrugs. "I like being spontaneous. Don't you?"
"Of course. Spontaneity is my middle name." Not literally, of course, but I'm also not kidding about that; it's one of the main reasons why I haven't settled down with any one woman. Once I'm tied down, that'll mean routine. Set times for meals. No nighttime fishing, no last-minute camping trips in the Everglades with my buddies, no spur-of-the-moment swim days.
I like my freedom. What can I say?
"I've got my bikini on underneath my clothes, so I don't even need to stop home first."
Leilani and a bikini? Record scratch noise.
That's the only encouragement I need to pull into the parking lot at Paradise Springs. I'd swim in a mud puddle if it meant watching her strip down to next to nothing.
"Wait, should we get your bathing suit, Remy?" She looks at me with concern.
"You're not the only one prepared, beautiful." I reach into the back of my truck, where I have a duffel bag full of towels, swim trunks and extra T-shirts. "A fisherman's always prepared.."
With a little laugh, she kicks off her sandals right in my truck, climbs out, and dashes across the parking lot, down the sand path to the spring's edge. I'm laughing, as I quickly change into my swim trunks. Then I run to keep up with her.
When we hit the sand, about ten feet from the water, she stops and rips off her T-shirt. She's like a sea goddess in that pink bikini.
Since my shorts do double duty as swim trunks, all I have to do is pull off my shirt and kick off my flip-flops. By the time I do that, she's already barreling toward the water, her long, wavyhair flying in the wind. A huge grin is plastered on her face and she's calling my name, telling me to follow her.
I watch as she dashes into the spring. She clearly is in her element here. When she's about thigh-deep, she dives. For a half-second, I'd swear the water around her brightens, like the spring's glad to see her. Then I blink and it's just sun on the surface again. Trick of the light. Same trick of the light I saw the first time I laid eyes on her.
As for me, I casually walk in, not wanting to seem too eager. I do a slow dog paddle to where she's treading water.
"You're an incredible swimmer. How old were you when you started?" The water's not too deep here, shallow enough that I can stand. But since she's so short, it would be just a bit over her head.
She swims a little closer to me, making only the smallest, most contained movements to stay afloat. "My mom got me in the pool when I was about a year old. She was on the swim team in high school and wanted me to learn water safety and all that. I've always loved the water. First, I was on a synchronized swim team at the Y, and then on my high school swim team. Plus, growing up near the mermaid park meant that I saw them from the time I was little. I always wanted to be a mermaid."
"As far as I'm concerned, you are a mermaid."
She grins and dips underwater, then darts around me in a half circle and pops up behind me.