“But you have the same sort of equipment?”
“Close enough. More decorative. Ridges. Different colors.” Mercer reaches for an apricot and sends a log of chevre tumbling into the pistachios.
“Sounds beautiful.”
“I always hoped my partner would think so. Kraken females are very similar to human females. I believe the angles are a little different.”
“Nothing patient people couldn’t figure out.”
“Exactly. Um. I’m not... I’m not as hungry as I expected. Would you like quiche, Madelyn? It’s mushroom and spinach.”
“I think I could use a swim first. Before we eat. Isn’t that safer?”
“Probably. You can change in the locker rooms.” Mercer slips off his shirt as he straightens up.
Holy Hercules. The muscles. The shoulders. I stare so hard my eyes cross, and I think I hear my lady bits kicking into overdrive after three years in premature retirement.
“Okay,” I squeak, grab my bag, and bolt.
Madelyn is trying to kill me. She has abandoned her more modest shorts and top for a black one-piece with mesh cut-outs on the side. I can see little lines where her hips meet her belly, and only a thin triangle of fabric separates her most intimate pieces from my gaze. My touch. My tongue.
“I love it,” I say as soon as she is near enough.
“It’s a few years old.”
“Wear it more often. Please.”
Madelyn blushes, and she sparkles when she’s happy. “You actually like it?”
“I’m trying very hard to be the sort of calm, patient person you want,” I grit out, “and this makes it almost impossible.”
“You don’t have to oversell it.”
“Oversell? Ha! How would you like to see the most gorgeous woman in the world wearing almost nothing? Hm? And what if she were the woman you were falling for, too? Temptress.” I take her wrist and haul her along to the water’s edge, tentacles lashing, occasionally smacking into her foot.
“We shouldn’t go out too deep,” Madelyn cautions as she tries to keep up. “My cell phone is in my bag by the picnic. I want to be able to hear it in case they call with an emergency.”
“We don’t need to go out too deep.” I’m glad the beach and lake itself are fairly deserted. Most people are enjoying some date night activities on a Friday night in the summer. Some people are playing volleyball in the distance. Some boats are far out in the lake, looking like toy boats from our vantage point. “Want to swim to those trees by the edge?” I suggest.
We do, and when we’re in the shadowy recesses where the water is cooler, less warmed by the sun, Madelyn shivers.
I instinctively open my arms and pull her to my side, rubbing her skin. “Is it too cold?”
“No, it’s wonderful. Refreshing. I forgot to say thank you for arranging this. It’s been a long time since I had time without Zack. Don’t get me wrong, I love him, but it’s nice. And I haven’t used my non-mom brain in so long. I probably don’t know how to have a decent adult conversation anymore,” she chuckles, a grim smile on her lips.
“Yes, you do. Besides, if you want to talk about Zack or plans for the birthday party, I’m in favor of that. I have off Sunday, so I can come over and help decorate. I’m surprisingly good at reaching tall places to hang the streamers and balloons. If you want to go for a moreavant-gardestyle of cake decorating, Zack and I can handle that. Oh, and I never did find out—what in the world is yellow cake actually flavored with?”
Madelyn has to think for a second. “Vanilla, honestly.”
“Why isn’t it just called vanilla cake then?” Humans are so perplexing.
“Because it’s yellow.”
“But you don’t call chocolate cake brown cake. The color isn’t the flavor. No one calls strawberry cake pink cake, do they? Wait, do they?”
“Humans are weird, okay?” Madelyn laughs in exasperation, hands flinging out.
Water catches me in the face and makes me splutter as it drips down my nose, and some of the lake ends up in my mouth. I don’t mind that one little bit, but Madelyn gasps like she’s thrown a punch.
