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“Holy shit,” she says, her hands running through her long hair. “I’m so glad you were here. I don’t know what happened to me out there.” She bites her bottom lip, eyebrows lifted, and looks out past the men, toward the water. Whatever is out there has a hold on her. As if, even knowing the ocean just tossed her to and fro, she would still return first chance she got.
She looks haunted, as she looks across the sea. Like she saw something, or felt something, that was bigger than she understood.
Eric drapes a large beach towel around her shoulders, and she takes hold of it, glancing up at him and letting her eyes offer a thank you.
“What’s your name?” he asks.
“Harlow,” she says in a soft whisper. She shivers and even though we’re in Hawaii, it’s nearly midnight and the night is cold. She’s chilled to the bone and I step toward her, wanting to warm her. I feel protective of Harlow in a way that doesn’t make sense for someone I’ve just met, but I look at the men around me, wanting to be sure no one moves too quickly, not wanting this woman to be jarred.
I clench my jaw, when the hell did I start thinking about other people? My mother would be proud if she were alive.
Though she would not be proud of the thoughts running through my mind right now.
Harlow is naked on this boat and we can hardly keep our eyes from wandering. She blinks slowly, taking us all in. And I notice Crew’s eyes narrow as he watches this woman. He knows a thing or two about being a long way from home. His life has been nothing but moving from one place to the next, never putting down roots.
And this woman somehow ended up ten miles from shore.
“You want to try and stand?” I ask, holding out my hand. She nods and lets me lift her to her feet.
I take off my button down and her eyes widen as she takes in my body. I swear to god she licks her lips.
“There you go, babe,” I say, handing it to her.
“Hey,” Crew says with a cocky grin. “Is that necessary?”
“Don’t want her to catch a cold,” I say, brushing off his comment.
“Thanks,” she says softly, dropping the towel and putting on the oversized shirt that hangs to her knees.
I try not to stare as her fingers move up the buttons, one by one.
“Were you out on a boat?” Eric asks.
She shakes her head.
“Were you with anyone else?” West asks. “Like, is there someone else out in the ocean?” He runs to the edge of the deck, looking overboard. For someone who usually has a joke, he seems terrified at the thought of someone else being lost at sea.
“I was alone. Swimming.”
I furrow my eyebrows. “You were swimming for ten miles, in the middle of the ocean, at night, alone? I know we’re a bunch of jackasses, but we aren’t that dumb. No one could swim that fa--”
She cuts him off, “I can. And I did.”
I scoff, and though I am drawn to her, have the desire to ravish her--the sensible side of my brain can’t believe this story. “Uh, okay.” I push my lips forward. “I’m just trying to understand how you ended up so far from home.”
At this, Harlow frowns. “That’s what I was trying to figure out, too.”
Instinctively, all four of us step closer and look at the woman before us. Her legs shimmer in the moonlight, but it’s more than that, it’s like green glitter has been pressed into her skin, and there’s a tattoo on her thigh that glows.
Her legs wobble as if she’s standing for the first time in her life. She nearly falls, and I reach out, catching her. Needing to touch her.
“Easy there, girl,” I say, with my hand on her back, her waist, and when she falls into me, her body presses against mine and a spark goes off.
This isn’t me. I am usually a distant asshole. No one would call me boyfriend material. I’ve never had a reason to commit.
But one touch from Harlow, and it’s like I’ve spent my entire life waiting for this moment.
Insane, sure, but it’s the goddamn truth. When I pull her against my chest, her body is frigid, icy cold, but there’s something heating us. I can feel it. The pulse of energy between her… between all of us … is strong.
Harlow is something else. How could she swim like that? Be out here, alone--yet alive?
She may not be exactly human, but damn, she looks all woman.
But it was her song that pulled us in. It was haunting and vicious. Impossible to escape. And it makes me want to do whatever she says. She has a hold on us all.
