Read Swimming Without a Net for Free Online Page B

trying to climb into her ass. If she actually cared about her appearance, this could be—
    “Hey! You’re here!”
    And before she could say anything, or step out of reach, Dr. Thomas Pearson ran up to her and planted a kiss on her mouth.

Eight
    “Wh-what?” She dropped her bag. On her foot, unfortunately , but she was too amazed to reach for her throbbing toes. “What are you doing here?”
    “You kidding? Who do you think is paying for the resort?” Thomas spread his arms, indicating the deserted buildings and empty beach. “I promised Artur I’d clear out the resort so you guys could have your big meeting. Booked the whole place for a month and gave the staff paid time off. Bad news is, we have to do our own cooking.”
    “You know about the Pelagic?”
    Her fellow marine biologist laughed hard. “Yeah, is that a great name, or what?”
    “I don’t get it,” Jonas complained. “Stop talking in your secret marine biologist language, you geeks. But it’s nice to see you again, Dr. Moneybags.”
    “You, too, Jonas.” The two men shook hands. “You still seeing Barb?”
    “Ohhhh, yes!”
    “Don’t get him started,” Fred begged.
    She made a mighty effort to recover from her shock. As if the upcoming Pelagic wasn’t unnerving enough, as if the Grim Duo hadn’t been annoying, now here was Thomas, friendly as a puppy and ten times as cute. Her mouth actually burned from his kiss.
    She tried again. “What are you doing here?”
    He slung an arm around her and she shook him off. “You’ve only got yourself to blame,” he said cheerfully. “Artur tracked me down in England and invited me to the meeting. Apparently it’s bad form among mer-people to pursue a lady while fixing it so your rival can’t .”
    “What?” Fred was having a terrible time tracking the conversation.
    “Oh ho!” Jonas cried, and she was annoyed to see that her friend was having zero trouble tracking the conversation. “Artur won’t try to get Fred into bed unless you’re also trying?”
    “Basically.”
    “What?”
    Jonas cringed away from her, but Thomas, to his credit, stood his ground. “Who am I to argue with Undersea Folk tradition?”
    “I think I could take a crack at it,” Fred retorted.
    “Hey, it’s actually pretty civilized when you think about it.”
    “Too bad,” she grated, “no one ran it by me.”
    “Besides, you think I’d miss this chance? No way in hell!”
    “The chance to try to bone Fred?” Jonas asked, wiggling his blond brows. “Or to see a thousand topless mermaids?”
    “Whatever.” Thomas beamed. “It’s all good.”
    “I’m getting a migraine,” Fred muttered. “Which hut is mine?”
    “The one I’m sleeping in,” Thomas said hopefully.
    “Nice try. I’ll take that one.” And she marched toward number six.

Nine
    The insistent banging on her hut door woke Fred from an uneasy nap. In fact, at first the pounding incorporated itself into her dream.
    It was thirty years ago and she was trying to break into her mother’s house to warn her not not not to have sex with the merman she found on the beach. But no matter how hard she pounded, her mother didn’t heed, or even turn her head. Fred pounded harder—
    —and woke up.
    Her door was actually rattling on the hinges; whoever was outside was in a hell of a hurry to talk to her (or possibly to use her bathroom). She rolled off the bed and staggered to the door.
    “All right, hold your pee!” She yanked the door open and felt herself seized, lifted off her feet, and squeezed in a mighty bear hug.
    She punched the Prince of the Undersea Folk in his left eye, and he set her down. “Ah, my Rika. How nice to see you again.” He touched his eye, which was starting to swell. “As gracious as ever.”
    “That’s what you get, Grabby Pants.” She tried to sound grudging, but was quite pleased to see him again. And he looked wonderful, as always. Big. Vibrant. Hair and beard those unbelievable shades of red. Like King