Unable to contain my excitement, I pull out my phone and FaceTime Heather. She answers on the second ring, her face lighting up as she sees my grin.
“Well? How is it?” she asks eagerly.
“It’s perfect, Heather. Absolutely perfect. Let me show you around!”
I walk through the houseboat, showing Heather every nook and cranny, both of us oohing and aahing over the charming details. Finally, I step out onto the deck, turning to show her the Adirondack chairs I’d admired earlier.
Suddenly, Heather’s eyes widen, and she asks in a breathless voice, “And who is that?”
I turn, following her gaze, and see a handsome man standing on the deck of the houseboat next door. He’s tall and athletic looking, with a strong jaw, piercing blue eyes, and sun-bleached blond hair. At the sound of Heather’s voice, he looks over, our eyes meeting briefly before he quickly disappears inside his houseboat.
“Oops,” Heather giggles. “I didn’t mean to scare him away. He looked hot. You should go introduce yourself.”
I shake my head, feeling a mix of amusement and embarrassment. “I don’t know. He didn’t look too pleased to see me. I can’t decide if he was shy, embarrassed by your words, or just not friendly.”
“Well, you’ve got two weeks to figure it out,” Heather says with a mischievous grin. “Who knows? Maybe he’ll be your spring fling.”
I roll my eyes but can’t help glancing back at the neighboring houseboat. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I came here to relax and find inspiration, not to chase after mysterious neighbors.”
“Puhlease. You can do both,” Heather says with an arched eyebrow.
“Even if I wanted to, I didn’t exactly come prepared for that kind of… adventure,” I admit, feeling my cheeks warm. “And in a town this small, a trip to the store for condoms might as well be a public announcement. Everyone would know what I was up to.”
There’s a pause, and then Heather’s voice comes through the phone, practically dripping with glee. “Oh, honey, don’t you worry about that. I snuck some into your luggage.”
“You what?!” I exclaim, my voice rising to a pitch I didn’t know it could reach.
“You can thank me later,” Heather says, sounding too pleased with herself. “I tucked them into that little front pocket of your suitcase. You know, just in case.”
I’m momentarily speechless, torn between mortification and grudging appreciation for my friend’s foresight. “Heather, I swear…”
“What?” she asks innocently. “I’m just looking out for you. Better safe than sorry, right?”
I lose it when she waggles her eyebrows suggestively at me, and I start cackling like a hyena. Despite my embarrassment, I can’t help but be grateful for Heather’s… unique brand of friendship.
“You’re impossible,” I say once I’ve caught my breath.
“You love me,” Heather retorts, and I can’t argue.
As I say goodnight to Heather and settle into my new temporary home, I can’t help but wonder about the blond stranger. Despite my words to Heather, I hope I’ll see him again. There is something intriguing about him – and not just because he was hot.
CHAPTER 4
Levi
Irock back on my heels, both anticipation and annoyance coursing through me. The harbormaster’s building stands sentinel behind me, its weathered shingles and faded gray paint familiar as an old friend.
I tilt my head back, squinting against the morning sun. The sky is a perfect, cloudless blue, promising a beautiful day on the water. A light breeze carries on the salt-tinged air, just enough to create a gentle chop on the waves without being too rough for a novice. It’s the type of day that usually fills me with contentment, but anticipation has me fidgeting. These perfect conditions are wasting away while I wait for my intriguing companion to arrive. I glance at my watch once more, fighting back a sigh.
I balked when Koko first approached me about being a tour guide for her new travel program. Me, a tour guide? Calling me reserved and standoffish would be an understatement. Isn’t being a people person practically written in the job description?
My other concern was tourists in a town full of magical beings. When I asked Koko about it, she explained that her powers protect the town’s secrets – anyone who isn’t a mystical creature or an official resident here can’t see the magic happening around them. I had snorted at that, thinking of some of our more eccentric denizens. Sure, tourists might not see Martha’s seal form when she’s checking her oyster beds or notice when a shifted werewolf is walking down the street, but some behaviors are hard to explain. Like Conall’s tendency to growl when angry or how the selkie children play tag by diving off the docks and emerging halfway across the harbor in mere minutes. Still, Koko assured me her magic would handle it – tourists would simply see what they expected to see, writing off any oddities as small-town quirkiness.
I still tried to protest that I wasn’t right for the job, but Koko, with her unwavering faith, insisted I’d be perfect. Her confidence was a relentless tide, gradually eroding my reservations until I found myself agreeing to give it a try.
Now, here I stand, feeling as out of place as a rowboat in a regatta. Despite everyone in Lublin Harbor being welcoming, I’ve felt like an outsider since the first day I arrived. After my experience with my people, I’ve never been able to let my guard down completely. Even though everyone has been kind, I’ve kept to myself, much like I did in the kraken kingdom. It’s easier that way, safer. My true form is intimidating and often makes others wary and uncomfortable. The locals have tried to include me in their gatherings, festivals, and daily life, but I always stick to the edges, more comfortable observing than participating. The irony isn’t lost on me that I’m as isolated here as I was in my old home.
The thing is, I’m far more at home with the quiet of the sea than I am with small talk. The prospect of entertaining a stranger for hours makes my stomach roll like a ship in a storm. And the mysterious woman I glimpsed yesterday? Her strikingpresence isn’t helping matters. If anything, her beauty is making it worse. I’m going to screw this up.
