“Wait. So you’ve done this before?” Esther asked in disbelief. “You’ve turned other women into mermaids?”
Tucker shook his head. “No. But children are prone to this issue. When they become old enough to think about having a tail and fins, they begin to struggle until they learn otherwise.”
“And my hair? Because I gotta tell ya, there isn’t enough product in Walgreens to make this manageable.” Esther held up a thick, wavy lock and shook it at Tucker.
“That too. You’ll be good as new, shortly. It just takes time for your body to simmer down. The more you allow it to happen, the faster you’ll have your legs back.”
Well, humpf. Okay then. What to be angry over now? Oh, wait. Just the rest of her life spent as an effin’ mermaid! What would all the other little mermaids say when they learned she couldn’t swim? They’d make a mockery of her—and why wouldn’t they? What the hell kind of mermaid couldn’t swim?
Her anger began to swell, but she somehow managed to keep herself in check. “Good to know, Tucker.”
“You can just call me Tuck.”
“How generous of you,” Esther said, her tone rife with sarcasm “You can just call me Out For Blood. Now, about how I’m supposed to live like this… Can you change it? Fix it? Make it go away? I can’t be a mermaid today. In fact, had I been given a choice, I’d have chosen unicorn for the obvious reasons, of course.”
For the first time, Tuck’s face went gravely serious, his hazel eyes clouding over. And he didn’t mince his words. “I cannot. You’re a mermaid for life.”
“Is that so, Tucker Pearson?”
“That is so, Esther Williams Sanchez.”
“Then you know what, Tuck?”
He cocked his beautiful head full of shiny chocolate hair. “What’s that?”
“I’m going to kill youuu!” she shouted, red-faced and wild-eyed as she made an awkward lunge for him.
* * * *
As Esther flopped to the ground with a thud that shook her small house, attempting to get at him by wiggling her way along the floor like some mermaid’s imitation of the worm, knocking over everything in her path, Tuck winced with remorse.
Thankful the women intervened, he tried not to panic.
But man, had he really fucked up.
He’d been so intent on getting a word with Esther about her uncle, he hadn’t been thinking clearly. Her uncle was the only tie he had to help him out of the dodgy mess he was in. Yet, when he’d seen her in all her mahogany-haired, olive-skinned, generously curved, crimson-lipped glory at her uncle’s funeral, he’d fumbled like a damn guppy at his first reef dance.
Quite literally, she’d stolen the breath from his bloody lungs, and he hadn’t been lying about heightened emotions. Indeed, his emotions had been heightened, but as much of a shit as it made him feel like, it hadn’t been sadness that had fueled his reaction.
It had been lust. Thick, murky, forbidden yet undeniable lust. She was a beautiful woman. A beautiful woman who, under normal circumstances, he’d have asked out without a moment’s hesitation.
But that wasn’t why he’d attended Gomez Sanchez’s funeral. He’d attended because he wanted answers, and he’d figured some of Gomez’s relatives would surely be there.
Little did he know, Gomez Sanchez only had one surviving relative, and he’d only been able to find out she existed due to the scientist’s obit in the paper. He’d had to do some digging and call in a favor or two to find out her name. At the time of the funeral, he didn’t even know the sexy woman he’d brushed up against was Gomez’s niece.
Also, he’d had no idea he’d actually scratched her with an errant scale until he’d seen her tonight.
As if it wasn’t bad enough, having been kicked out of his pod, now he’d turned a human into a mermaid.
The coral would surely fly if his father found out about this. But his sister would help.
Now, as the women restrained Esther and hauled her back up on the couch, he had to find a way to make this right while getting what he needed from her.
“Esther!” he said with force, taking note not to yell. “Please, calm down or your legs won’t return.”
But she struggled against the women, her deep-brown eyes flashing angry and hot. “You calm down, you Outback maniac! Look what you’ve done to me! How the hell am I supposed to live like this?”
He held up his hands and offered his best apologetic face. “I’ll help you, Esther. I promise I’ll help you if you’ll just calm down and allow me.”
The dark-haired woman, who’s name he hadn’t quite caught, cupped Esther’s jaw and made her focus on her face. “Dude, get it the fuck together and let us help you deal. Hear me? Suck it up and let’s figure this out. What’s happened to you isn’t the end of the world. If I can fucking adjust to never stuffing another damn Ring Ding in my mouth for all eternity because I have to drink blood, you can damn well swim around and be pretty. Don’t go off the rails now, kiddo.”
Drink blood? Did the dark-haired sheila say she drinks blood? What kind of madness was this?
Esther appeared calmed by the snarling vixen, as odd as that sounded—she didn’t even cringe about the mention of drinking blood. What she meant by that blood reference, he didn’t know. He didn’t want to know.
But Esther gripped Nina’s slim wrist. “You’ll stay until we do? Until we figure it out?” she asked, hearing her shaky words then hissing a breath of obvious aggravation. She appeared annoyed that her voice had faltered.
Nina stared back at her and nodded without hesitation. “Count on it.”
“Of course we’ll stay, Esther. Of course,” the pregnant woman assured in soft tones, easing her hold on her arm. “I told you that. This is what we do, honey. Now, please. Deep breaths, and let’s get your legs back, all right?”
Esther began inhaling while Tuck looked on, unsure what to do next. Obviously, he was a dipshit and he had to fix what he’d done. He just wasn’t sure how to go about that without upsetting her further.
And who in all of fuck were these women helping her? Her friends? And what did the pregnant one mean by this is what they do?
Knowing he needed to do something, Tuck kept his distance but sat on his haunches and gazed at Esther, even more beautiful in mermaid form than she was as a human. “Esther, I swear to you, on my life, I’ll help you join our community right here in Oyster Hollow. I’ll teach you everything you need to know to live your life here, right here in your cottage, and still live as a mermaid. If you’ll let me, that is. You can still do all the things you’ve always done. Work, play, whatever it is you’ve always done. I promise.”
Her wild-eyed gaze had softened now, her fists, once clenched into tight little balls, relaxed and her heavy breathing slowed. “Okay.”
He held out a hand to her, his hazel eyes sincere. “Shake on it?”
As she let him envelop her much smaller hand, as she watched him like a hawk, that swell of lust swarmed his body once more, and he had to yank his hand away to keep her from knowing he desired her. And she’d surely know, or learn to know that feeling, now that she was a mermaid. It was instinct, a natural reaction when you met someone you found attractive.
“Then let’s begin by getting your land legs back. You’ll learn to do this with ease as time passes, but for now, please close your eyes and take some deep breaths,” he instructed in his husky tone.
As she did what Tuck instructed, as she settled back into the cushions of her couch and breathed, her body began to melt and twist.
And just like that, her limbs were back—long, graceful, beautifully shaped.
Wow, were they ever back.
“Marty?” Nina called with her infamous cackle. “We need a bigger blanket!”
Chapter 5
Esther’s heart crashed against her ribs as she pulled on some yoga pants and a ratty old NYU sweatshirt, trying to parse the day’s events without crying hysterically. One look in the antiqued white bathroom mirror, her luxurious rai
nbow locks now gone, replaced with her shoulder-length brown hair, her legs just the way she’d left them in the pool back at the Y, told her this was not some nightmare.
This was real. She really was a mermaid and there was a hot, gruff Australian guy in her living room who was a merman.
A merman.
As Nina said, this was some fucknuttery. She had a million questions, a million thoughts, but for right now, she was just happy not to be flopping around like some literal fish out of water. Her limbs were intact, and if she’d learned anything being a mediator, she’d learned to tackle one item at a time.
That meant food in her stomach, and a good Tucker Pearson interrogation—she needed answers. She’d think about the heightened-emotions thing and how Tucker had known her uncle later.
If Tucker had been her uncle’s friend, she’d like to know. Maybe he had some perspective on who he really had been.
Pulling her hair up into a messy bun, she reached for the tap—then realized she was too afraid to wash her hands. She almost felt like those rubber things you got in your cereal when you were a kid, and when you put them in water they expanded. She did not want to take a chance she’d expand again. So, she wiped them with a Wet-Nap and popped the bathroom door open, forcing herself to go back out into the kitchen, where Marty and Wanda were heating up some food for her, chatting the entire time like this was a dinner party rather than a paranormal crisis.
She had to trust that they were telling her the truth about this OOPS hotline they ran. Anyone could have a website with lots of glitter and a toll-free number. That didn’t mean they knew what they were talking about—or even what they were doing. But that website had some pretty wild tales, and instructions, and people to call if you needed paranormal help. So she’d gone with it.
She only knew that for the moment, these women were all she had, and after that crazy display in the living room earlier, where she’d sat terrified and awed at the same time, she’d rather have them here with this Tucker Pearson than not here at all.
If nothing else, they were clearly capable of taking care of themselves, and while Tuck was a big guy, these women were formidable foes, especially with Nina as their head-savage-in-charge-of-all-eviscerations.
That comforted her in a way that only a day ago it might have actually frightened her.
As words like vampires and pods and fins swirled around in her head, Esther let Marty sit her down at her small dining room and place a napkin in her lap.
Wanda scurried in with a bowl of steaming-hot soup and a sandwich and set it in front of her with a smile. “Eat. It’ll help. It always helps me,” she said on a tinkle of laughter, rubbing her belly.
Nina pulled out a chair next to her and cupped her chin in her hand as she peered at Esther. “So, I guess that’s not a tuna sandwich, huh? Would be considered like eating your friends?”
Marty and Wanda both gasped their dismay from the kitchen counter where they sat on stools. “Nina—too soon!” Marty chirped.
But Esther found herself chuckling as she took a bite of sandwich and waved it under Nina’s nose. “You know what, Nina?”
Nina’s eyes glittered as she cocked her head. “What’s that, Little Mermaid?”
“You’re fucking funny. Just thought you should know.”
“See, you bunch of sensitive fucking Nancys? Chicken of the Sea thinks I’m funny.”
As she took another bite of her sandwich—an egg salad, rich and creamy, served on soft, doughy bread—she eyed Nina. “So, you do this often?”
“Do what often?” she asked, scrolling her phone.
“Help damsels in distress.”
“We’ve helped a couple dudes, too. This accident shit happens more than you think.”
“Really? Like to who or what?”
Nina looked up from her phone and sighed. “Like demons and cougar-shifters and bear-shifters and the Goddess of Love, familiars and dragons, and a princess in a real-live fairytale.”
Sipping her soup, Esther digested that bit of information. Trying to keep her responses cool and levelheaded, because again, there was no denying what she’d seen in her living room. “But no mermaids yet?”
“Nope. To date, besides our dragon buddies, you’re the freakiest thing we’ve come across. Well, I dunno, maybe you tie with Jeannie our genie. That was fucked up and just as sparkly.”
Esther held her sandwich mid-air. “A genie? Like Barbra Eden, blink-your-eyes genie?”
Nina chuckled and nodded. “Just like that, only with evil djinn and shit. Also, I have a familiar named Calamity. She’s off in the realm, visiting her familiar friends for a week.”
“What’s a familiar?”
“A pain in the ass. A loveable one, but still a boil on my damn butt.”
Esther’s mouth sagged open, a question in her eyes.
“She’s a talking cat, who, when I was turned half witch, showed up to ‘guide me’ in the fucking witch world. She’s mine forever—except for this week, because she’s—”
“In another realm,” Esther repeated.
Nina nodded and grinned. “Exactly.”
“Do I want to ask what this realm is, or means, or even where it is?”
Her deadpan expression gave Esther a moment of pause. “You probably don’t.”
“So, this genie…” That fascinated her even more than vampires and dragons.
“What about her?”
“Pictures or it didn’t happen,” Esther taunted teasingly.
“I don’t have a pic of Jeannie on my phone, though I do have a kid because of her. But you wanna see a fucking baby-dragon?”
“Like a Game of Thrones dragon? Shut up!” Esther crowed, her eyes going wide when Nina showed her a picture of the most angelic little girl with wings, sitting next to a full-on dragon. “You could have Photoshopped those. I call bullshit.”
“Was what you saw earlier bullshit?”
Esther wrinkled her nose and rethought her words. “Okay, you win that round.”
Tucker, who’d stood quietly in the corner by the pantry while they chatted, scrolling his phone, cleared his throat, his face still quite serious. “Ladies? I hate to interfere in a good gab, but my sister will be here at any moment—”
Esther’s doorbell rang again, making Mooky bark, but Nina grabbed him, cradling him close, and held her palm up at Tucker. “You wait there, Sharkbait. I’ll answer the door.”
Tucker didn’t fight her on it. Instead, he swept his hand toward the door and backed off, leaning against the pantry and crossing his long legs at the ankles.
“Why is your sister coming here?” Esther asked, wiping her mouth and pushing away from the table to approach Tuck. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to meet another merperson right now.
His dark eyebrow rose as he tucked his phone in the back pocket of his tight jeans. “I thought it might be helpful to speak with an actual mermaid. As with human men and women, our differences can be vast. You’ll like her. Everyone likes her. She’s smart and tough. Look, I’m just doing what I promised. I thought Jessica might be able to help.”
“Are you in the market for a medal?” Esther quipped, smoothing her hair back, feeling self-conscious of her messy appearance.
If his sister looked anything like he did, she’d probably hit the gene pool lottery jackpot, too.
Tucker looked down at her, his eyes amused, but his sharp jaw twitched. “No. But I wouldn’t turn down a tiara.”
“Tuck?” a soft, lyrical voice called out as a sultry dark-haired woman, lovely and composed, walked into Esther’s entryway, arms hooked with a good-looking gentleman who had a very ugly black eye. She pulled a black fringed wrap from around her shoulders and put it over her forearm. “What’s going on?”
Tuck smiled at her with clear affection and held out an arm, crossing the room and pulling the tall, delicate woman close, planting a kiss on her sharp cheekbone. “Jessica? This is Esther Sanchez. A brand-new mermaid.”
Jessica blinked, t
hen she blinked again, looking from the beautifully dressed man to Tucker, her wide dark eyes fringed with thick lashes. “Sorry?” she responded in the same light Aussie accent as her brother.
“He said, Esther’s a mermaid and it’s all his fucking fault.” Nina held out her hand to a dazed Jessica, who took it with great hesitation. But Nina pumped her hand up and down anyway. “Nina Statleon, by the way. Nice to meet ya.”
Tucker held up a hand. “First, this is Chester Morning, Jessica’s boyfriend. He works in IT for my family’s company. Good to see you, man,” he said, bumping shoulders with him.
“Yeah, you too, buddy. This whole thing,” he spun a lean finger around in the air, “sucks. Sorry it’s happening to you.”
Tucker nodded. “What happened to the eye?” He pointed at Chester’s very blackened eye.
“Went a round with an underwater pier. Never saw it coming,” he joked charmingly.
“Hah!” Tucker laughed out loud, slapping his friend on the shoulder.
Pushing her short dark hair behind her ear, revealing a large silver hoop earring, Jessica looked to Tuck in confusion. “Stop bromancing and explain. I don’t understand. How can she be a brand-new mermaid…?”
Chester cleared his throat and rocked back on his heels, trying not to smirk at Tucker.
And that’s when a light bulb must have turned on in Jessica’s head. “Oh, Tuck…you didn’t? Did you? Say you didn’t! Without protection? With a human?”
“Oh, he fucking did, lady. Yes, he did,” Nina crowed, looking to Mooky and rubbing noses with him. “He did, didn’t he, Mook? He’s been a very bad boy.”
Feeling incredibly awkward around this woman, dressed in a slim red wrap dress and gleaming black heels with a statement necklace in silver, Esther wiped her palms on her yoga pants, feeling frumpy and disheveled. Still, she stepped closer, held out her hand and introduced herself.
“I’m Esther Williams Sanchez. The brand-spanking-new mermaid. It’s nice to meet you both.”
Chester saluted her with a smile, his handsome face bright and open as he clearly fought laughter.
The Accidental Mermaid (Accidentally Paranormal Series Book 16) Page 5
