“Of course, I do.” She sat down on the edge of the rock. Taking off her shoes, she put them on a dry spot before pulling off her stockings and folding them up and placing them alongside. “No wonder they tell stories about how you all lure sailors to their deaths.”
“It really isn’t that hard, you know.” One of the mermaids dove into the water from nearby, popping up closer to her, her white hair pooling in the water around her.
Peter, suddenly not the center of attention, frowned. “I was going to tell you a story from one of my adventures. I—” He broke off suddenly. “Wendy! What’re you doing?”
What she was doing, in fact, was taking off the nightgown.
“I don’t want to go back soaking wet, now do I?” Sidney pulled off the gown over her head. “And besides, Tinker Bell flits around butt-ass naked. And these fine ladies have their tits hanging out. You don’t seem to have a problem withthat,now do you?”
“But that’s—” Peter was now standing with his back to them. “That’s entirely different!”
“Why?” Sidney laughed as she jumped into the water with the mermaids, finding a rock to sit on up to her neck. The water was warm and perfect, and she hadn’t been to a Caribbean beach inages.“Boobs are boobs, buddy-boy.”
“And he never seems interested in them, anyway,” a voice next to her complained quietly.
One of the mermaids swam close to her, sliding up against her on the rock, the press of scales against her thigh feeling far less strange than she thought it would. It was the one that was all midnight blacksand starry-sky navy blues. She felt the mermaid’s hand slide over her stomach, gliding upwards, tentatively exploring, giving her every opportunity to slap it away.
She was very muchnotgoing to slap it away.
The mermaid tilted her head closer to Sidney’s, her dark eyes lidded and curious.
Sidney zeroed the distance between them, capturing the mermaid’s lips with her own, kissing her. She tasted like salt water. Fresh and crisp.
Yeah. There were definite upsides to this fictional world she’d been sucked into. And she’d just discovered another one of them.
Fingers under her chin pulled her away from the kiss. The first mermaid let out a whine of disappointment as Sidney followed the prompt, only to find herself being kissed by a second mermaid who seemed eager to discover what she was missing.
Hands were roaming her body. Squeezing. Kneading. Grasping her breasts and teasing her already hard nipples. Sidney moaned against the lips that were pressed against hers.
“Wendy!”
Peter’s jealous whining was the last thing she wanted to hear. She wrapped her arms around one of the mermaids, embracing her.
Stupid move.
She’d heard the legends.
She knew the myths.
Hands grasped her ankles and yanked her beneath the water. Immediately, she scrambled, desperately trying to break free. But they weremermaids.It was like trying to fight a shark or a dolphin in their natural habitat. She was a human. She had no business being underwater.
And there were six of them and one of her.
A second later and her back was pressed to the sandy bottom and she was staring up at the reflection of sunlight against the surface, high above. Two mermaids held her down, keeping her thrashing form pinned as the others descended.
Holding her breath as best she could, she kicked and fought as violently as she could. But her lungs were already burning. She had been making out when she’d been yanked under. It wasn’t like she had a chance to take a deep breath.
One of the mermaids was laughing at her.See?Her words carried underwater effortlessly.It’s so easy to lure sailors under. All it takes is a kiss.She leaned in and kissed Sidney again, slowly—sensually, like an embrace of love.
Give in, let it happen,the other one cooed.You’ll be like us. We’ll make you a mermaid like us. That’s what happens to the women we take. You won’t die, you’ll grow a tail. Won’t that be glorious?
She’d be a mermaid if she just let the water in. It’d be so easy to just…let herself drown…wouldn’t it?
The burning hurt so much.
They were probably lying.
They were definitely lying.
