Page 91 of Tempted By the Forbidden Mate

I text back,Belle didn’t like shopping when I took her last.

Tempt her by telling her Rockney has more sticks for the sharks.

I glare at my block and look down the hall. Am I really going to lie to her and tell her that Rockney has found more sticks? Because Chompers, well, lived up to his name and they’re down to one stick.

I’ve been writing my dossier now that I’m going to need a new job. I don’t have any family wealth to rely on, just years of not spending money. I’m not going to be living in a sea cave anytime soon, but I still need a source of income.

He’s not trying to be a blubber fish. I know it. In all the years of knowing Castor, yesterday was different.

Please. I want her to...

His message stops there, and I can’t figure out what he’s getting at. I’m not sure he knows either. He wants her to have a normal, perfect life. That’s never going to happen, because it doesn’t exist. And it’s going to take him more than one night in cheap clothes, eating in a backwater restaurant, to change his golden spoon ways. But he’s trying.

Unless I shouldn’t, Castor says.

I get where you’re coming from. But you’re right, this apartment isn’t going to entice any suitors who can protect Annabelle when . . .Fuck it.Nico’s not going to be here. I’ll do it.

All right then. There’s a furniture store and some outfitters. I’ll send you their locations.

I’ll try and make it her idea.Because I don’t want to lie to her.

Thank you.

This would be so much easier with any other mermaid.

If it were any other mermaid, you wouldn’t want to do it.

True. I stare at my last text to him and back to my résumé. Cook, emotional support brother, hero of Hestertåtten. It doesn’t say that exactly, more fish bones like: creative problem solver with limited supplies, able to manage difficult staff, willing to go the extra kilometer. Basically shit.

A noise catches my attention, and I realize I was so focused on my block I didn’t notice that Belle was not only up but sitting across from me in the only chair.

Her shoulders are hunched over a mug of coffee, her blue eyes staring at me. “There you are. What are you so focused on?”

“Nothing.” I drop my block on the sofa next to me, tossing it away like it’s some sort of puffed-up poison puffer fish.

She puts her coffee cup on the floor and flops between me and my block before I can reach under her divine ass. Belle tilts her back to me and grabs the still unlocked device.

I reach around her, pulling her closer to me. But she leans forward, reading. She flicks a look over her shoulder. “You’re looking for a job?”

“Yeah, I’ll have to resign when the ship goes back out. As it is right now, the acting commander, Nico’s first officer, hasn’t put me on the roster list. But that won’t last forever.”

“You don’t have to work.” She hands me the block back.

“Of course I do.”

“I’ve been told over and over again I’m rich. It was Nico’s money. Nico’s your brother. It comes from Richeal, your mother. It’s more yours than mine. If I don’t have to work, then you shouldn’t have to either.”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

She turns in my arms, placing her head on my shoulder. She’s quiet. Too quiet.

“Plus, I want to work.”

She glares up at me. Her face says it all. She wants to work too. There are mermaids who work. Diamont has a mermaid who’s a governor. There’s been a famous architect mermaid. But no, most mermaids enjoy being looked after. Taken care of.

“You want to work?” I hadn’t wanted to broach the subject. But if she wants to work, she’s not planning on escaping. If I—her mates—can make her happy enough, she won’t want to leave. She won’t put herself in danger in the open waters. Subject herself to being kidnapped by Vikings. Nico did all this to make a difference. It was a plan, but what he didn’t calculate was that full steam ahead could hurt Belle. I’m not willing to hurt her for the sake of the nation. I risked my life for the squadron, but now I would gratefully give everything for her. I’d sink the Veiled City for her happiness.

“I do.”

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