by Kelly Said
The insinuation, along with his touch, super-heated the skin on her face. If water hit her, she’d likely send up a cloud of steam. “No. I found it, actually.”
“And a found necklace makes you blush?” His eyes widened. “Violently, too. I doubt that.”
Her chin came up. “Well, I did. Right around here.” She stiffened as he rolled the shell over. Would he glimpse the world she did as she slept?
“Looks like you could see inside someone’s soul through there.”
When she tried to comment, a horse cough preceded her words. “See? Against those rocks …” She pointed. “I found—”
“Way to change the subject.” He dropped the shell. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“I’m not making it up.” When he peered at her from the corner of his eye, she realized he’d been teasing all along. “Oh you!” She shoved his arm.
He fell over laughing. “Just so you know, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn you have an admirer, Tessa Morgan.”
“Whatever.” She pulled a thread from her sleeve.
Cam brought her chin up with his finger. “It’s very good to see you, Tess.”
She swallowed as his gaze intensified. “It’s good to see you, too.”
The red sun melted into the ocean like sealing wax. Wind gusted around them, driving stinging sand into exposed skin. “Well. It was really great to see you, Cam, and you look great. I mean happy. Great.” Shut up! “I mean, it’s getting late. I suppose I’d better get back, see about getting some dinner.” She pushed off to stand, wishing she’d worn pants to cover her pitiful leg.
“Oh, okay.” His voice took on a deflated tone as he rose alongside her.
He made her feel ten years old again. She kicked at a rock with her toe. “You said ‘we’ before, so I guess you’ve got someone to meet as well, right?”
“Yeah.” His hand brushed the hair from his eyes. “No. I mean no,” he said, too quickly.
She lifted a brow and suppressed the nervous laughter building in her lungs. “Well, which is it? You could come along … eat with me if you want.”
“Yes, I’m here with some people, but they’ll be fine on their own.” His voice grew louder as he angled his head toward the ocean with his answer.
Ookay. She let a small smile play on her lips. “Remember the way?”
“Definitely.”
As they walked along in silence, Cam leaned over and bumped her shoulder with his, just like he used to.
Caught off guard, Tessa’s head whipped up only to see him smirk in her direction. She walked a step or two further and bumped him back.
• • •
Breakfast, lunch and dinner came and went, and every morning, Tessa was thrilled to find Cam still asleep on the couch or sipping coffee on her front porch. For four days, they walked the shore, visited their old haunts, talking and laughing about old times as though they’d never been apart.
“Strange how I thought I had life all figured out,” Tessa had confessed as they sat on the beach one evening. “My father’s dream of my becoming a physical therapist was all but tied up with a bow. When my parents died, I fell apart. I’m not sure of anything anymore. I came back here—to the place I’d been happiest—to try and make sense of everything.”
Cam had listened without judgment, comforted her as she wept. “You’re going to be all right, Tessa Morgan.” He’d brushed back her hair, kissing her cheek. “I promise you.”
Tessa wanted to believe him even as she sat in her favorite spot on the ancient yard swing. Cam slept peacefully next to her, his head resting on her lap just like the old days, when he couldn’t make it to the end of a late movie. He’d slump against her, snoring away until she woke him. Afraid to move, she sat like a stone, puzzling over their evening as she watched the tussling waves.
Sometimes, when he looked at her, she held her breath. Before her was the Cam she’d always known, protective, funny, the best friend she’d ever had, but he was different, too. She’d witnessed a new, sexy, smoldering intensity in his gaze repeatedly over the last few days.
Every night, in her dreams, she met him in the secret city. No sea god came to condemn or disturb their play, and though she never saw another living soul, she was strangely aware of others lurking nearby. Locked in the arms of her ghostly lover, she clung to him as he kissed her breathless, only to wake in her own bed.
In one more day, the real Cam would leave, and sooner or later, she would board a plane for Arkansas, grow up, and get back to the life she’d planned with her parents. All summer fantasies would melt away.
A creak from the screen next door announced Maggie’s arrival outside. She glanced toward the sleeping form on Tessa’s lap and held a finger to her lips. “I’m happy for you dear,” she shout-whispered. “We’ll chat later.”
“Oh, Maggie, no. It’s not like that, we’re just friends.”
With a grin as big as a crescent moon, she waved and retreated inside.
Cam stretched, twisting awake. He shifted to face her, but kept his head in her lap. Rubbing his eyes with the back of his fingers reminded Tessa of his nine-year-old self. “Sorry.” He smiled. “You make a good pillow. Now, what’s this you’re telling Maggie? Are we just friends?”
Tessa’s eyes widened as Cam sat up on the swing. Are we? Dream versus reality Cam had become so intertwined, she was having trouble separating the two. The man sitting with her had been her closest childhood friend. Casual flirting didn’t begin to describe the hot make-out sessions she’d been engaging in nightly with the fish king’s son. The passion was amazing, but she didn’t really know that version.
Was the imaginary Cam bleeding over into the real one?
Cameron inched closer until his chest met her arm. Her breath caught. He hooked a finger under her chin, forcing her gaze up. “Look at me, Tessa.”
She swallowed, seeking his gorgeous green eyes, and locked on. The edges crinkled with his smile, and his patient manner eased her frazzled nerves. “I know a lot more about you than you think I do.”
As he shifted against the bench, his head descended until his lips met hers. His arms wrapped around her, encasing her in warmth and safety. She gave herself up to him the way she had in her dreams, hands wandering up his chest. He leaned in harder, his tongue exploring hers. She met his growing passion. Denial out the window, her mouth conveyed years of long suppressed desire.
When he lifted his head, the gleam in his eye made her bite her lip. “You told Maggie we’re just friends, but I don’t think we are.” He grinned. “I care about your happiness, and I know you care for me, too.”
Conflicting thoughts warred in her mind. He lived in California. What of her home in Arkansas, school, the grief she couldn’t overcome? She wasn’t whole anymore, had nothing of herself to offer anyone else. “I do, but … my situation’s complicated.”
Hoisting himself from the bench, he left the seat rocking in his wake. He pivoted and held out a hand. “Will you walk with me? I need to explain some things, and we only have until dawn.”
“Well, that’s creepy and kind of ominous sounding, Cam.” She laughed at her own joke, but he didn’t crack a smile. She cleared her throat, taking his outstretched hand and following meekly as he led her down the shoreline. She tripped, and his arm came around her back in support.
“So.” He stared straight ahead.
“So.”
“When I said I knew you, I meant, I know about your dreams. At night. In the ocean. With me.”
Tessa stopped dead.
Cameron’s arm slipped from her waist to her hand. He squeezed so hard she forced herself not to flinch.
Sure she’d misunderstood, she blinked and said, “Wait. What do you mean? You know about me … um, my … ?” She peered up at the man by her side.
He glanced down and back. “I do.”
What does he mean? Had she been talking in her sleep again? Two people can’t share the same dream, can they? She rubbed her neck with tremblin
g hands. Divided between two men and, as ridiculous as it sounded, two worlds. This is all in my head, right? Her skin burned as a headache wrapped its tentacles around her skull.
Cam faced her. Fingers clamped down on her shoulders, holding her at arm’s length. “Time is short, Tessa. You know I’ve got to go. My father set the parameters of my visit. I can’t change them. So I must tell you the truth as it’s long overdue.”
Okay. She swallowed. Stay calm, maybe it’s not that bad.
“I know you visit the Merrow under the sea at night. I know all about what goes on, what you do there.”
Nope, it’s bad. It’s worse. “Uh.” She bit her cheek. His knowing of her romps with his look-a-like was embarrassing beyond measure.
He led her to the place where rock met sea and sat cross-legged, pulling her down with him. She shivered more from nerves than cold, but he wrapped his arms around her and spoke into her hair. “I need to explain,” he said.
Tessa closed her eyes, drinking in the sound of his voice.
“What would you say if I told you that I understand about the guy you dance with because he’s … well, he’s me?”
Her eyes flew open as air rushed from her lungs. She pushed at his chest. “It’s just a dream.” Muscles bulged as his arms tightened about her, preventing any attempt at escape.
“It’s not a dream. At sixteen, my sisters pointed out what I hadn’t wanted to face. I was in love with you, always had been. The bond you shared with your family rivaled the tie I have with mine. I was young and not yet ready to forsake my people. Since I couldn’t explain, I left.” His forehead lowered against hers. “I thought it best to disappear from your life. I tried, but never forgot you, couldn’t stay away. During the summers, I waited here with my sisters, watching you from the water.”
His sisters. She thought back to the ghostly women’s laughter, the splashing she’d heard on the shore a few days before.
“I guessed if the lights came on at the bungalow, you were close. I don’t know what was harder, seeing you from a distance or wondering what happened when your folks started coming alone. I assumed you were off somewhere, living your life. You don’t know how thoughts of you finding another, human man, haunted me.”
Tessa stared at the choppy water. This can’t be happening. Whitecaps disguised as sea fairies riding white stallions galloped across the water’s surface. She put a hand to her mouth, doubting her senses for the hundredth time.
“When I met up with Maggie, she told me about your parents, and I grieved for your loss.” His fingers sought her cheek, and he tilted her face to meet his. “More sorry than I can say. I’d never have wished that for you, but I came to you, secretly, just like I always have, but this time to …” He smiled. “Well, to seduce you, and to prove my worth. Let me offer you a home with me, safety, and all my love. I’ll gladly leave the sea if it means a life with you.”
“I’m—I’m not sure I understand.” She tucked her hair behind an ear. “Say I’m not crazy or dreaming. I’m human, and you’re …” She lowered her voice. “Well, how could we, uh, how would I …” She threw up her hands. “You’re, like, some kind of gift from the gods, and I’m just me.”
“Not the gods. God himself. We are not another species, Tessa. We’re another race, created as any other. Like you. Did you think humans were His only accomplishment?”
The fact she had never thought about it didn’t seem as important as the string of reasons why they couldn’t be together. “If every word you’ve said is true, your father hates me. He—”
“He doesn’t hate you. He just doesn’t understand. If I renounce my commitment to the sea, I’ll come ashore permanently. We can marry. All you have to do is choose me. I need you. I want you with me.”
She shook her head as he spoke. No way would she separate him from his family, not when she knew how precious a gift they were. A tear slipped from her eye. “You don’t know what you’re saying. The sacrifices you’d be making. I don’t believe you’ve—”
Cam gripped both her shoulders and dragged her forward, his mouth claiming hers. Strong arms slid around her back, crushing her against his chest, his lips reminding her of the passion they’d shared in the twilight hours.
When he raised his head, he left her gasping for breath, pulse racing. “Believe me now?” His smile rained over her, obviously pleased at the effect his kisses had on her.
A splash drew her attention. A hundred yards out, seawater sprayed the sky as if a whale had jumped from the sea. Instead, Cam’s father floated waist high in the water, sullen and terrible as a dark omen. A burning chill ran down Tessa’s back as though her spine suffered from frostbite.
“It’s time,” Cam said.
She shuddered, but he held her quiet and calm.
“Others of my kind have made the same decision. My father knows I’ll leave my world for yours—if you’ll have me. His timeline is an attempt to force my hand. The choice is irrevocable.” He glanced toward his father.
“I have no family, and you do.” The fact their bond would cost the man his son explained the sea king’s continued glare. Understanding what it was to lose a loved one, she could never inflict that pain on anyone else.
A muscle in Cam’s jaw flexed. “I’ve chosen you. All that’s left is for you to choose me. Say yes.”
Her body trembled in uncontrollable waves. Hesitation gripped her. Cam’s brow furrowed as she wrestled free of him.
“No.” He shook his head, eyes black with intensity. “Tessa, no.”
“Forgive me. You need your family, and I’m not going to be the one to sever that tie.” Later, he’d understand she was right, even thank her.
“Don’t do this. The window is closing.” He patted the air with his hands as he spoke. “This is a lot to absorb, but don’t be afraid. You’ll be with me. Like in our dreams, we’ll be together.”
She took a step away from him, and another. “I’m sorry. I can’t.” Tessa spoke to the blackness welling around her heart.
“I promise I’ll make you happy.”
“Oh, Cam. It’s not that—”
“Son.” Speech loud as a thunderclap, the merman’s voice boomed through his conch. “We cannot delay.” Cam’s father glided toward the shallows. The purple glow in his conch matched the one shining at her breast. The shell pulsed and faded as he spoke. “As she has declared, so be it.”
Roiling ocean water churned as the conch blared. Taking shape as a giant hand, frothing waves left the sea and encircled Cameron’s waist. He hurled himself against the force of the water, straining toward her. “You’re not alone, Tess. You can’t find your place in this world because we belong together. Trust me. Let me join you!”
Her eyes stung, hands fisted. She pressed her lips shut as her body stood rigid and determined.
Water consumed him, up to his shoulders, yet he fought against it. Other sea folk appeared above sea level, arms outstretched. Hundreds of Cam’s people, each radiant in their own luminescent glow.
Tessa bit the inside of her mouth until the salt-iron taste of blood flowed. Her future happiness, trapped in an iron fist of water, was edging away, and it was her choice. She fought the urge both to chase after him and to run. Torn between love, grief, and fear, her soul threatened to wrench itself apart.
In her peripheral vision, Maggie’s image loomed on the shore near her. Seemingly unaffected by the mer-people around them, she smiled, raised a hand as if in farewell. “Wait a little longer and see if time doesn’t fix everything.” Had the old girl known about them all along?
Maggie’s presence defined Tessa’s past and suggested a future.
Tears streaming from her eyes, she faced Cam once again. The pleading in his face pierced her heart. “I’m sorry Cameron,” she shouted above the water’s roar. “Forgive me!” Oh God, oh, God. The same pain of losing her parents sent a fresh wave over her soul. “If only I could have come with you …”
Cameron’s eyes widened. “Oh, Tessa!” Th
e waves that held him loosened their hold. “I never dreamt you’d be willing to give up your life on land for me. Would you? Would you come with me instead?”
Would she? What did she have but dreams made by others and no one to share them with? “If I go with you, can I return?”
Cam glanced at his father over his shoulder and back to her. “Yes, but never permanently, as you do now.”
Heart pounding with thoughts of the unknown, indecision engulfed her. “Go home to them, Cam.”
He fought against the waning strength of his barrier to embrace her and buried his face in her hair. “And you’ll come?”
She held her breath. How could she decide, in a moment, to leave all she’d ever known? She nodded a hesitant agreement, her aim to get him to return to his family, knowing she deceived him if she lost faith in the end and didn’t follow.
“Commit to the sea,” she whispered. “Do it now, please.”
Cameron squared his shoulders as he faced the murky tide. She glanced over at the king, heavy lines of concern fading at her words. Like something from a Sci-fi film, the titan in the water bowed in her direction, in thanks, or at least acknowledgement.
The man she loved spoke in a tongue she did not understand. The volume intensified as the wind carried his pledge away. With a speech that forever bound him to his people, Tessa exhaled her relief.
The Merrow King lifted the great conch above his head. The shell glowed with an ethereal light that spread to encompass the entire beach.
When Cam finished his oath, one arm took her waist as the other pointed to the surf. “Look.” She followed the trajectory of his arm. Below the waterline, hundreds of tiny lights wavered in the ocean depths, growing brighter, more distinct with each passing moment. “My people come to greet you, Tessa.” He smiled. His hand sought her side until his fingers found and threaded hers. “Now it’s your turn.”
She paused. Life on land or Cam? What was she waiting for?
A sudden flash of light ripped him from her.
No! The reality of living without Cam removed any lingering doubts. She heaved a deep breath. “I ask to join the Merrow. That is my heart’s desire!”
