Page 23 of Seduced By the Mermen
“Are they dense? Grayson said you could have swum out of there last night on your own.”
He shrugs and puts his leg up on the control dash.
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all. When did you become so uptight? You used to be the fun pod mate.”
I glance over at him.
“You were the only fun one. Besides me. And sometimes Alexei.” Zion adds his other foot to the dashboard. “I’m done with you being all tightly wound. I tell you, Blair is exactly what we need, and she needs us. We’ve got the right mix of males to make her life complete. Get her back to who she was before her damn ex messed with her self-esteem.”
“How long were you there?”
“Twelve hours, maybe a little more.”
“That’s a lot to declare after twelve hours.”
“Maybe a little more,” he says.
“It’s... it’s enticing. We never thought we would have a shot at having a female again. I get it. You like her. But do you like her because she’s available, or do you like her because she’s a good fit for us?”
“Fuck.” Zion leans back. “You’re not wrong. At first, I thought the same as you. Am I attracted to Blair because she’s available?” He shoots me his normal Zion grin. “And yeah, I’m not going to lie. She’s available, and I was attracted to her. So were you, if I remember correctly.”
I pull back on the throttle and slow. The Tinom dome’s on our right. I maneuver around the back of their old dome to look at the progress of the construction. I’m not getting out of the Huber, not today. I’ve got a full day scheduled later in the week to do a full inspection.
“You’re not going to answer me?” Zion’s toes are pressed against the glass.
“What do you want me to say? I’m fucking glad you got to spend time with her. But I’m not getting my hopes up. Not again.”
“This isn’t like Gweneth. She wanted to play house. Try things out. She was still a podlet, and most of us were old enough to know better. She didn’t want a premade pod. She had a twisted sense of what we were and who she could be with us. So don’t go thinking that Blair is the same as her. She’s nothing like her. She doesn’t even fully understand what it’s like to be with more than one male yet.”
“And you think she’s going to wake up in her human bed and think fuck, what I need is more dick? Like, a lot more. And middle-aged males who are all stuck in their ways?”
“Yeah, you’re just a tidal current today, aren’t you? I never said let’s ask her to move in and start this thing tomorrow. Fuck no. We’ve got baggage?—”
“We’ve got rocks big enough to sink a military sub.”
“Let me finish. She’s got things from her past to get over too. But I can see it.” He waves his hand in the air. “Together, we can?—”
“She’s not going to fix us.” I clench my jaw.
“No, she’s not going to fix us, and we’re not going to magically fix her. But together, we can be better. And that’s a place to start.”
“How have I not noticed you shitting out rainbows like a blue whale’s spout?”
“You used to shit rainbows too,” Zion says.
“That was a damn long time ago.” I hover near the back of the construction site. I’m trying my best to shut the whole Blair thing out of my head and focus on the things I want to examine more. Like are they building the back arch with the depth the structural architect and I told them to? Or at least the way the project plan says to do it? It’s not easy to see from this vantage point. Or with the thoughts of her lovely blue eyes popping into my brain.
“You got the Tinom contract?” Zion growls and waves his hand in front of my face. And Blair’s scent of lavender and musk wafts off him.
I close my eyes. I’m not unaffected by the thought of her. The opposite, if anything. I dreamed of her last night. Damn. I’ve dreamed of her every night. I shake it off. “I told you about the Tinom contract. It’s why I’ve been holed up in my study.”
“No, you didn’t.” Zion drops his feet from the console and turns to the glass. “The whole project is yours?”
“Yes, I remember telling you. And...” It might have been Delmar and Forrest I told. I’m not sure. We’re all so rarely home at the same time anymore. “Damn, guess I didn’t. Yeah, I got the contract for the Tinom extension. And the Koralli utility dome too.” Designing the main hall of the new Maelstrom building was a game changer for my career.
“You beat out a Koralli architect?”
