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Technically, this was their first date. It was her chance to be with Rafe without anyone else getting in the way. Faith wouldn’t be there to call her corny and Thane wouldn’t be there to tell her it was time to go home. Hopefully Kane wouldn’t be there to piss her off. She only wanted to be alone with her boy. One boy and one girl.
After climbing out of the water at a dark and deserted area, Kalina stepped naked onto the sand and spread her arms free, feeling the cool breeze against her tits. Lifting them to dry her under boob, she smiled and thought of how warm she’d feel once she reached Rafe’s arms. Magic filled the air, unseen wizardry, as if a whimsical spell had been whipped up only for her. She felt light on her feet, like the giddiness in her chest and stomach might cause her to lift off and fly. She closed her eyes and imagined God tossing a fistful of pixie dust all over her.
“I can fly,” she said to herself.
She felt silly talking to herself out loud like that, but it made the moment better. It made it more real. Not an ounce of negativity flowed through her as she dressed herself, slipped her feet into the flat sandals she’d brought along, the only sexy footwear she could find that would easily flatten down to the size of a baggy full of clothes and fit in her mouth, and shook her hair to release any leftover sea water. She smiled and pulled her hair into a ponytail. When she finally made her way toward Tilly’s, she didn’t walk, and she didn’t jog. Her feet seemed to dance along to an invisible beat.
Back on the island, the others would be busy welcoming Sylvia, Penny’s friend. Kalina was bummed that she wasn’t going to be there for that but spending time with Rafe was a lot more important. This wasn’t something she could easily pass up. Sure, she could have offered for him to stay on the island too, but that would have meant sharing his attention when she hadn’t even had any of it herself.
Okay, calm yourself, Kalina. You’re on a date with a boy. Chill. Act like you’ve done this a million times.
Faith’s parting advice had been to fuck him and get it over with, that way the nerves would dissipate, and they’d be like all the other couples out there navigating the dating scene. “Nobody holds back on the sex anymore,” Faith had said. “Not in the day of Tinder and all these other dating apps. You go to church to find a girl to marry. You go to a bar to find one to fuck. Tilly’s is a bar.”
Her words had nagged at her all night. Technically, she hadn’t met Rafe in a bar. They’d met outside a bar at a bonfire party. And Tilly’s was not only a bar, but a pretty good restaurant too. And she would gladly take Rafe to church if she could find one that would cater to her people, meaning people with fins, ones like her who were constantly hunted. Underwater was a lot like the post-apocalyptic worlds she’
d seen in movies over the past few years. It was a free for all. The wild west where only one side had guns: the human side. She wasn’t sure if the human God accepted her kind. Some said they were descendants of demons. Too much love and happiness flowed through her veins for that to be true. That much she was sure of.
When she walked into Tilly’s, she felt like all eyes were on her, like she’d walked late into a party and the DJ had scratched the record as she’d passed. Yet, only one set of eyes settled on her and those eyes belonged to a beach bum who spent his nights drinking at Tilly’s and his days offering to wash people’s cars down by the water. His name was Roy and Kalina had turned the man down so many times that he no longer tried. She gave him a wave to be courteous, which he returned, and then she moved through the bar until she found Rafe. He sat with his face buried in his hands. He looked sad.
No. No sadness tonight. None of that.
For a moment, she studied him, loving the way his dirty blond hair was tidier than that of most of the surfers she’d met. Many of them on the Queensland beaches seemed like they never bothered to shower at all. Rafe wasn’t like that. He was rough, he was boyish, but he still knew how to take care of himself. Maybe it had something to do with working his day job alongside Kane. She didn’t imagine the older man would care much for a dirty employee. As she watched him, her eyes settled on a few strands of hair that had fallen down over the fingers he had pressed against his temples. She wanted to smooth them back for him, so his face wouldn’t be covered at all.
“Okay,” Kalina said as she sat down, causing Rafe to flinch. “I need to hurry because I know your girlfriend must have just gone into the bathroom. I’ve been checking you out from across the bar, and I think you’re totally sexy and couldn’t leave with my friends without letting you now.”
“Huh?” he said with a smile. “Oh…are we role playing now?”
“You’re ruining it,” she said.
“Uh…yeah, she’ll be back any minute,” he said.
He leaned closer, grabbed her hands on top of the table and whispered, “To be honest, I was checking you out too.”
“Were you now?” she asked, letting her face inch closer to his.
He moved a few inches himself until they were within easy kissing distance. Kalina crept closer still, making sure he could feel her breath on his lips.
“Your friends might be watching,” Rafe said, and each syllable tickled her bottom lip.
“Your girlfriend might be watching,” she said.
“In that case,” he said, leaning all the way forward, going in for the kiss.
She pulled away from him, leaving his lips floating in mid-air. He was going to have to work harder for that kiss. He wouldn’t think much of her at all if she gave in that easily. He grinned and lightly slapped the table. He’d almost had her, but not quite.
“You don’t even have a girlfriend, do you?” she asked. “You were only trying to get in my pants.”
He laughed and threw his hands up in the air.
“You caught me, busted me red handed,” he said. “I have a boyfriend.”
“Oh, come on,” she said. “So, you’re telling me I have zero chance?”
“Zero,” he said.
“We’ll have to see about that,” she teased as she reached under the table and gave his thigh a squeeze.
“You’re certainly in a good mood tonight,” he said.
