Charlotte
Page 25
Charlotte couldn’t believe it when he nodded at her in dismissal. “Excuse me.”
He turned and went down to the serious-sounding woman. She gestured gracefully toward the sea, their voices murmuring as they stood close. After all that incredibly bad behavior, he just accepted Isabella like a favored . . . lover. The tropical heat now felt like a bursting corona around her head.
“No!” Charlotte shouted. “Excuse me!” She stomped in a circle and did an exaggerated imitation of an old comic. “Excuuuuusemeeeee!” She jumped up and down. “Excuse me!”
Ivor and Isabella stared at her, both with mouths hanging ajar.
She pointed at him. “I was almost ready to forgive you, you stupidhead!”
An alarm wound up out of nowhere. It was hugely deafening, gaining pitch and volume like the old fire station near Gram’s house. From all across the beach, people splashed out of the water, leaped from their towels, and bolted toward the dock. Isabella turned and ran, too.
Ivor bounded toward Charlotte, grabbed her wrist despite her batting at him, and dragged her down the soft incline. “Isabella was telling me of a radio report she heard at the snack stand. The mermaids have returned.”
The alarm was so loud she could hardly think. “Mermaids cause panic?”
“Caribbean mermaids are the cruelest in the world,” he shouted. “They particularly hate men.”
The grass was sharp against her shins. “Aren’t we safe on land?”
“Mermaids are shapeshifters, Charlotte. If we stay, they’ll capture us.”
They were running flat out, stride matching stride. The sand burned her feet, and the sun beat down with blinding white light. The siren wailed, niggling at her to remember something important. Strangely, she felt more exasperated than terrified, as if she’d handled running from mermaids before. Her boobs bounced every which way. She tried holding them down, but they still hurt. “So why are we on their island?” she gasped out.
He grinned at her. “Because it’s pretty and they travel for months at a time.” He wasn’t out of breath at all. “It’s not like we’re going to stay away from every speck of paradise just because of a little danger. There’s not that many of them.”
Pointing breathlessly, she watched in horror as the big glass-bottom tour boat roared from the end of the dock, overloaded with people.
Ivor swore in a tumble of three languages. “Decide! Sea-Doos or a Sunfish?”
Charlotte stared, stricken, at the handful of vehicles bobbing along the dock. Even as they slowed to a jog, others clambered into them. The Sunfish was a tiny sailboat, but it was bigger and had two lovely yellow life jackets sitting on it. The Sea-Doo was a big, loud motorcycle for the water. People had been playing on them nonstop. It might not have much gas. She had no idea how to work either of them, but surely Ivor would be in control.
Which should they jump to, a jet ski or a sailboat?
ENDING CHECKLIST
✦ Red Ending
✦ Orange Ending
✦ Pink Ending
✦ White Ending
✦ Silver Ending
✦ Gray Ending
✦ Black Ending
✦ Indigo Ending
✦ Purple Ending
✦ Gold Ending
✦ Diamond Ending
✦ Choice Index
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mima has published over fifteen erotic romances. Her worlds include fantasy, space opera, paranormal, and futuristic. Titles that have won EPIC and RWA awares are In Service and Within Reach: A Bonded Fantasy. Becoming an author has sent her over the moon, but she’s still a wife, reader, gardener, and cat pillow in rural New York as well. Connect with her at mimawithin.com. And be sure to look for the other Dare to Decide adventures.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Mima
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First Pocket Star Books ebook edition January 2014
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ISBN 978-1-4767-4970-9