Page 10 of Seashells and Daiquiris

"I'd love to be harpooned by you."

I grab the shell and shove it in my purse, and his lips are trembling like he really is trying to stifle a laugh. "I want to be very clear," I say through my teeth, "that I am not thinking these things. Or if I am, just chalk it up to I write steamy romance. Please don’t be offended.”

Something flickers across his face like it’s real amusement. “I’m not offended, Freddie. For the record, the shell only says what's true. That's the whole point."

"The point of what? Humiliating me?"

"The point of finding my soulmate." He lets that word sit. Soulmate. Heavy and ridiculous.

I stare at him. This beautiful, heartless, literally heartless man, sitting in his bar telling me that the seashell I bought for the price of a latte contains his actual heart, and the shell thinks I’m his soulmate, and all I have to do is kiss him.

Well, first things first, I can’t believe him until I talk to Dove. But for now, I just want to get back to the cottage because being this close to him is doing something to me, especially with that drink. If I’m not wrong, he’s wearing some kind of cologne that I actually really like. “Well, that sounds fine. I can’t connect emotionally with anything anymore, so it probably definitely has the wrong person. Should I just come back here on the next full moon?”

“What do you mean you can't feel anything?"

"Not since—" I stop. I don't know why I almost told him about Tommy. About the work wife. About Biscuit and the blinking cursor and the quiet, brutal unfairness of it all. "Not in a while," I finish.

"I mean," Liam says, nodding to my purse, "it sounds like you're feeling something over there."

My hand smacks against him without thought as I fail at stifling a laugh, to which we both share a weak one together.

“Alright, sorry. I mean, it’s kind of funny what it’s saying.”

My grin spreads all the more. “I mean, I’d find it freaking hilarious if it wasn’t happening to me.”

“Yeah, I completely understand,” he says, his voice growing heavy. We sit in silence for a moment.

“So, back here?” I ask, tapping the table.

“Yeah, that’s probably best. I should get your number, too. Just in case.”

I throw him a look. “Is this all a trick to get my number?”

He flashes a grin at me that does actually make me think really bad things. “Oh, I don’t have to work that hard sweetheart. No, you’re just an unfortunate victim here of a sea witch. Which I am really sorry about.”

Liam pulls out his phone, which I notice doesn’t have a single crack on it, wrapped in a pretty plain dark gray case. I watch with a little too much mesmerization as his rather veiny hands flex with his fingers moving, opening up a message and then handing it to me. “Go ahead and put yours in.”

I take it and do just that, figuring Dove can help bring me back to reality here. No matter what, something is definitely up with this shell, especially since he really does seem to be the only other person who can hear it.

A little ding on my phone tells us that I got the message, and I glance up at him as we both awkwardly sit there. If there’s one thing the shell is right on, he is so damn good looking. “Anyway,” I say, shouldering my purse. “I should get going before the shell says anything else.”

He smiles at me then gives a small nod. “Sounds good, romance author.”

Well, now I’m blushing because he actually made me feel a little something, which the alcohol isn’t helping, and head right on out the door. Once I feel like I’m out of earshot of anything Liam could hear, I whip out my phone that has a screen protector with two cracks, encased in a lime green case, and immediately call Dove.

She picks up on the second ring. "Hey, babe! How's the⁠—"

"Dove. I need you to tell me everything you know about a man named Liam who works at The Riptide."

“Liam Dunmore? He’s a pretty harmless merman, Freddie. Well, not harmless by any means, but he’s not known to go on the offensive without reason.”

Merman, huh?

“That’s interesting,” the shell yells out. “Well, not as if I didn’t know that already.”

“What was that?” Dove asks.

“I bought a seashell from Odessa's shop apparently contains Liam’s heart,” I blurt out, catching her up to speed as quickly as possible. “And it won't stop screaming my inappropriate thoughts at him Or, well, I’m not even having them! But it’s my voice! And he just told me his ex is a sea witch who cursed him. And I need to know, on a scale of one to ten, how much of that is real. Because this is not the plot of any book I would write, because my editor would send it back with a note that says too much.”