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As he lay back on the beach and stared up at the sky, Thane wondered what his father and his grandfather and all his other ancestors would think about his newfound need to live peacefully with the humans. One of his ancestors, Malik, was known for eating everyone and everything. One story passed down through the generations told that he once ate a chest full of gold, and every pirate along the Canadian shores was out searching for him.
His people had been migrating for centuries, always searching for the next best place. Thane believed he’d found it on Shamrock Island, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Yet, he had to wonder what his father, Liam, would think of the man he’d become. And what would Malik the Great think? They’d each passed on the family name, and the family curse, on and on down the line until it had reached Thane. Now, he needed to find a mate, so he could do the same. He needed to secure the future of his name.
He hoped Geraldine Wilder was as good as she claimed to be.
“I never make a mistake,” she’d told him. “When I set someone up, it’s for life.”
He hoped she was serious because he had a boat to catch tomorrow and from what she’d told him, his lifelong mate would be somewhere on it.
Chapter 5
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Sylvia asked as she eyed the price list at the ticket counter.
“No kidding,” the squirrely guy behind the counter said. “That’s the price.”
His eyes remained on Sylvia’s tits, only leaving them long enough to check out Penny’s. He was a creep and Penny couldn’t help wondering what kind of animal he might shift into if he had the ability. Lizar
d she decided. He was definitely a lizard.
“You owe me big time for this one,” Sylvia said. “I passed up a date with that guy Mick too. Did you see the size of his muscles? He could have lifted me up and sat me down on his pole so hard…”
The ticket salesman’s eyes shot open wide like a horny teenager overhearing a conversation going on in the girls’ locker room.
“Don’t listen to her,” Penny said. “She’s always like this.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said.
“All I’m saying is for the price of this damn thing, you and I both better get laid tonight,” Sylvia continued to complain.
“Don’t worry,” Penny said. “I’ll buy your ticket.”
That calmed her friend down.
“Okay then,” Sylvia said. “I’ll get the next one. And by next one I mean I’ll buy you a drink at a bar because I damn sure ain’t paying for anything this pricey.”
With their tickets in hand, the two sassy and single women made their way toward the yacht, their high heels clip clopping against the wooden deck beneath their feet, as if they were two horses prancing into the party. Most of the men walking ahead of them wore dress shorts and loafers without socks. The women all seemed to wear dresses with slits up one side. Penny wondered if they were all tourists or if this was how the Australian locals got down on the weekends.
Once aboard the ship, Sylvia snatched two champagne flutes off a waiter’s tray and handed one to her bestie.
“So, what’s the plan?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Penny admitted. “I guess I’m supposed to wait and the guy will find me.”
“How does he even know what you look like?”
“Good question,” Penny said. “Maybe Gerri snapped a picture of me when I wasn’t looking? I don’t know.”
Slinking into Sylvia’s shadow as she did most of the time when they went out together, Penny surveyed the ship and tried to pick up on anyone who might possibly be watching her. It seemed nobody was paying her any attention. Most of the guys seemed to already be involved with someone and that didn’t seem to sit well with Sylvia.
“This is what your matchmaker had in mind?” she said. “Unless this is one of those swinger parties, I don’t see either of us getting anywhere anytime soon. These guys are all taken. It’s like you signed us up for a couple’s cruise.”
The motor roared to life and Penny couldn’t help thinking it was telling her friend to shut up and enjoy the ride. The sun shone down from above, but a canopy kept everyone in the shade, smooshed together in a way that suggested they start getting to know one another. This trip was meant for mingling, finding new friends, and as Sylvia had not so eloquently put it, it was meant to help people get laid.
This wasn’t a couples’ cruise. It might have seemed that way at first, but the music suggested different. Each song was a modern, laid back twist on a popular hit from sometime in the past. The super chill beachy vibe had everyone sipping drinks and sliding to someone new every minute or so, almost like high seas speed dating.
A black-haired beauty, with one dark red highlight which hung down at the corner of her eye, wore only a bathing suit top and silky white pants. She charmed two potential suitors, using her tits the way a flute player might mesmerize king cobras. The two men seemed fascinated with her. Penny looked down at her own top, which revealed some cleavage but covered way more than any bikini top would, and she wondered if she should have shown up in something more fitting for the occasion. The woman’s blue eyes locked on Penny’s, and the girl passed her a wink. Was she Russian? Swedish? The woman was absolutely stunning, and she understood why the men were so into her.
“I need what she has,” Penny said to Sylvia.
