Page 2 of Seduced By the Mermen
“This is Alexei.” Forrest steps to the side, and Alexei steps up.
I put out my hand, but he bows. He’s my age, I think. It’s so hard to tell with attractive people. They age differently. Then again, he’s a merman, so that probably changes things a lot too.
“It’s a privilege to be one of the first to welcome you to our home,” Alexei says, taking my hand. He holds it more than shakes it. But when he lets go and I pull my hand back, this time I’m a little less awkward. “This is Zion.” He motions to the male next to him. He’s tall too
“Blair. I’m honored,” Zion says. His deep voice sends a chill through me. “This is Grayson.” The male next to Zion inclines his head at me. He’s younger than me, but not by much.
Grayson puts his hand on the shoulder of the man next to him. He’s got dirty blond hair. He looks like that actor, Chris what’s-his-name, but without the beard. “I’m Clark. I can see where Annabelle Portsmouth gets her beauty from.” He takes my hand and kisses it.
And now I’m looking around like I’m being pranked. Both commanders had a guard protecting us on the sub. Commander Laughlin had a long talk with us about how we couldn’t date anyone on the sub. His mouth tripped over the word “date” like he’d never used it before. No one touched us. Oh, there was some very bad flirting with Marlee, but she’s never been able to figure out when a guy likes her. Not unless the man were to point at her and say, “I like you.” Even then, I have my doubts. And since we’ve been on the run, she hasn’t gone on very many dates. What would be the point, she always says.
Clark steps to the side, and a male with dark black hair and amber eyes takes his place. “I’m Delmar.” His eyes crinkle at the sides when he smiles at me. He’s much less subtle about checking me out. No, he all but asks me to spin.
Alexei shoves an elbow into Delmar’s side. I’m guessing their mate wouldn’t want them to be so obvious to a human.
“Six mates—you must have a very happy pod.” I almost sound like I know what I’m talking about. Still six, that’s a lot of male. I gaze over all of them. It’s alota lot of male.
Forrest clears his throat. “There are seven of us... but we lost our mermaid eight years ago.”
“Oh.” I’m gawking at them now, from Forrest over to Delmar. “Seven mates?”
“Yes,” Forrest says. “I realize this is forward for a human, and you’ve only just arrived here moments ago”—he takes my hand again—“but we’d like to date you.”
The thumping in my ears is back.
“When you’re ready, of course,” Alexei adds.
“I know this is a lot, but we’ve heard a lot about you, and we’d hate for?—”
Clark cuts Delmar off with another elbow to the side. “What he means is we want you to know our intentions.”
“We want to court you,” Forrest says.
“Wow, ah . . . I . . .”
“You’re rushing things, Forrest. Also, no one says ‘court’ anymore.” Delmar turns to me. “He means date. No pressure. Let you get to know us.”
I’m forty-one, and I’ve been on exactly zero dates. At seventeen, I got pregnant behind a shack at a bonfire after a football game. That was as close to a date as my ex ever took me on. “Date, like all of you at the same time?”
“Yes,” Forrest says at the same time Delmar says, “No.”
Forrest scowls. “What I mean to say is, eventually, yes. But we can take it slow.”
Clark smiles at me, and his light brown hair glistens in the low light. “I think that’s enough for today. Give Blair some room to swim.”
Broderick takes a step up next to me. The Mason pod inches backward. “Blair, these are Annabelle’s mates: Nico, Holter, Eros, and Castor.” Four handsome males rip their eyes away from Marlee and Annabelle on the gangplank. I’m trying to focus, but my insides are shaking.
The light-brown-haired one, Castor, shakes my hand. “We’re really glad to have you here. I’m sorry for everything that happened.”
“I . . . I’m thankful. It was terrifying. Being whisked away into a . . .” I pause.
“Helio,” Nico fills in for me.
“Yes, a helio. But the idea of whatever those criminals were going to do with my daughter was worse. And after a few days, I understood that we were going to be okay.” I’m not going to tell them how scared Marlee and I were during those few days. Not now, at least. This is Annabelle’s new home. It was hard to believe when she got word to us. But I’ve never been so relieved. I look up over Nico’s head and gasp. “This place is massive, or maybe it just feels that way after being on submarines for so long.” The room behind the receiving line goes on and on like a giant airplane hangar. You could fit five dairy barns in here. There are rows and rows of seats and a balcony. It’s like we’re on stage. “Wow.”
“When there are official docking ceremonies, all ten domes send dignitaries. Family of each member of the crew attend,” Castor says.
“And you canceled that because we were on board. Oh no. Won’t the crew be upset?” I ask Broderick.
