“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I barely stopped in time to keep from bowling the guy over. I grabbed the handle of the shovel and yanked. He held on, his blue eyes raked over my body, and a sneer pulled at his mouth. Something in me screamed to hurt him, to make him leave, but instead I pulled with all my strength and wrestled the shovel away from him. I pulled so hard that I would have landed on my butt if Blake hadn’t caught my shoulder. Again, that warm feeling ran over my skin, but I didn’t have time to wonder about it.

“The stupid shit kept spitting water at me.” The worker leaned forward as if asking for trouble. I recognized him from the first day of orientation—Devin, I think.

“So you throw sand at it? And rocks? It’s a sea lion! Of course it spit water at you, you idiot!” I looked back at the animals to see them swimming happily in the lagoon water. “Why didn’t you just move out of their range?”

“It should have listened when I told it to stop.” Devin leaned back against the rope railing and crossed his arms over his chest. My entire body vibrated with disgust. There was this foul smell of something dead rotting in the sun and I could swear it was coming from him.

“It’s a sea lion. You were near its enclosure, doing something it didn’t understand.” My hands squeezed the handle so hard I could feel the wood digging into my skin. “Get out of here.”

“I can’t get out of here. The court says I have to stay.” Devin smirked. “You’re awfully upset about that stupid sea lion. Maybe if you spent time around real people, you wouldn’t care about animals so much. Or maybe you just prefer animals?” His eyebrows pulled up at his nasty innuendo.

“Go help the others lay pavers.” My jaw was clenched so tight I could barely get the words out. “Just get the hell out of my sight.”

“Sure, Meen-ah.” He drew my name out like it was an insult. “Whatever you say. Fish lover.” He mumbled the last word under his breath, but I heard it anyway.

“What’s wrong with you, man?” Blake stepped in front of me, the muscles in his back taut. “Stop being an ass and just do what you have to.”

“Watch yourself, Weathering.” Devin stood away from the fence, his chest puffed up. “I don’t take orders from you. You aren’t the only one with a rich daddy.”

“No. You take orders from her and her parents.” The amused look that had been on Blake’s face earlier had completely disappeared. Instead, he was wearing the aloof, irritated look I had seen the first day.

“And what? You’re going to be her enforcer?” Devin laughed. The sound was like razors along my skin. “You’re the safe guy. The one her daddy doesn’t care if she’s around. We heard him talking. You’re a joke.”

Blake moved before I could register that anything had happened. Devin stepped back, but Blake was right on him, sending the other guy to the ground with a hard shove. Devin fell back into the sand before scrambling to his feet.

Leaning close, Blake looked Devin in the eyes, his fists at his sides. “You’re here because you couldn’t get some girl to sleep with you, so you beat her up. I’m here because I put the captain of the soccer team in the hospital. Right now, you’re next on my list.” There was a low growl in his words that made my heartbeat pick up. “Get out of here before I decide to do more than throw rocks at your head.”

Devin’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say anything. Taking a step away from Blake, the boy looked at me and winked. Slowly he made his way up the trail, toward some of the other workers. I ground my teeth and glared at him as he walked. I was going to have a long talk with my dad. Not just about Devin, but about giving me a babysitter. Throwing the shovel down, I jumped the fence and waded out into the water.

“Harper! Ruth! Menolly!” I hollered the names of the sea lions and waited for them to answer. My connection was much stronger with the dolphins, but I could still feel and understand the other animals in the sanctuary.

The sound of splashing surprised me, and I turned around to see Blake wading out to where I was standing. His face was blank, but if I had to guess, he was still pissed. I didn’t blame him. Not only was he having to do community service, my dad had decided to make him watch out for me.

“Are they okay?” His voice rumbled across the water and I was immediately disappointed that he hadn’t asked about me. Taking a deep breath, I cursed myself mentally. I did not care if he was worried about me or not.

“Seems that way.” Harper bumped my leg and I kneeled down so that I could look him in the eye. “Did that jerk hurt you guys?” I ran my hand over his head before turning to check the two girls out.

“They seem okay to me.” Blake knelt down next to me. I was incredibly embarrassed that Dad thought I needed someone to watch out for me. And even more humiliated that I might have needed the watchdog.

“Yeah. They’re pretty tough.” I swallowed. “Look, I’m really sorry about—”

“You were pretty fierce—”

We looked at each other, both stopping midsentence. I felt a shaky smile pull at my lips, and he nodded at me to go on.

“I didn’t know Dad was trying to keep me away from those guys.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that.” Blake looked away from me, his eyes running over the water. “Your dad’s sneaky as hell.” He sounded more amused than anything else.

“I take it he didn’t tell you about the other guys either?” Ruth pushed at my hand, so I scratched above her eye.

“No. Just what he told you this morning.” Blake stood up and held his hand out to me. I only hesitated for a minute before letting him pull me up. That warm feeling seeped up my arm and ran down my body. He looked at our joined hands briefly before letting go. When his hand dropped down by his leg, I saw his fingers flex as if shaking off a weird sensation. “Guess he figured he would kill two birds with one stone.”

“About that. I don’t really need someone watching out for me. I’m not a wilting flower. Dad’s just…” I shrugged my shoulders. “He’s just my dad.”

“Protecting his daughter is part of the job description.” He looked down at me and his eyes darkened. “Of course, if he knew what I was thinking when I saw you in those shorts, he might have regretted his decision.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks and I fought the laser-beam lock his eyes seemed to hold on mine. I literally had no idea how to respond to that and the longer I stood there with my mouth hanging open, the stupider I felt.

“I’ll have to remember to wear something different tomorrow.”

“Meena, you’d look good in a trash bag. Changing into something else isn’t going to keep me from noticing that.” He took a step closer and I took a step back. It was the first time he’d said my name today and it made my knees weak. I hated that.

“Why are you here? Why did you beat up that kid from school?” The lights went out in Blake’s eyes and distance as vast as the ocean spread between us.

“He had it coming.”

Chapter Six

- Meena -

The rest of the week was spent in an uneasy truce. I’d catch Blake looking at me and he would catch me watching him. I couldn’t help it. I liked the way he moved, the way his muscles tightened, and how his hair would fall in his eyes. Everything about him made me feel unfocused and confused. If I wasn’t looking at him, I was thinking about him. That was completely the opposite of what I needed to be doing, and I hated that he seemed to have captured my mind.

It wasn’t that we didn’t get along. It was more like we got along too well and neither of us were comfortable with that. Not that I thought he was interested in anything with me that beyond a quick physical attraction, but I found myself interested in his thought process. There seemed to be so much going on back behind his warm brown eyes.

“Do you have any ideas for a new sign yet?” I picked up some of the rope we had pulled down from the old walkway and started coiling it up. We’d talked about it a few times but hadn’t really come to a clear solution.

“I was thinking maybe something with a mermaid tail. Maybe just the tail coming up out of the water?”

I dropped the rope and stood up straight. “What? Why?”

“I guess the name inspired me. And I think it would add a bit of whimsy.” Blake knelt down and fixed the rope I had dropped. He narrowed his eyes over his shoulder at me and I felt my heartbeat pick up. “You don’t like it?”

“No. I mean, I’m just surprised.” I shrugged and looked across the water. “It’s not up to me anyway. It’s up to my dad.”

“Water, animals, the name. It just all added up to mermaids for me.” I looked back at him and met his gaze. He stood up, not once breaking eye contact. “It’s a little bit because of you, I guess. The way the animals seem to accept you, the way you love this place.”

I swallowed convulsively. “Me? A mermaid?” The chuckle that escaped my mouth sounded sick and demented. Something flashed in his eyes and I wondered if I had offended him, or if he was just trying to figure me out. It was probably best if I had offended him. I didn’t need him to like me. The problem was that I was quickly realizing I wanted him to.

Ducking down, I picked up the rope and started to throw it over my shoulder. His hand caught mine and carefully pulled the heavy bundle from me. “Let me get that.”

“Oh. Thanks.” I slapped my hands together to knock off some of the sand. His loose hand reached out and caught my fingers. That warm tingling ran up my arm and down my spine. Turning my hand over, he ran his thumb over the chipped paint on my nails. My stomach dropped the moment I realized I had forgotten to repaint them this morning. The teal color of my nails peeked out from under the purple paint, clear as day. I tried to yank my hand back, but his fingers held tight.

“That’s an unusual color.” His eyebrows drew together. The warm feeling in the pit of my stomach warred with the anxiety I felt at having him see my real nails.

“Yeah. I’m always experimenting with nail polish.” I tried to pull my hand away again and, thankfully, he let go this time.

“You must really like that teal color. I’ve noticed you wear it a lot.” His eyes were intense and I noticed that he was looking at my toes, too.

“It changes. Sometimes it’s purple, yellow. I guess it’s just teal’s turn.” I curled my hands into fists and bit my lip. That warm feeling hadn’t faded as quickly this time and part of me wanted to touch him again, just to see if it would come back. I was starting to think that I hadn’t imagined the feeling after all. And that seriously worried me. Why on Earth would I feel something from touching Blake?

When we got back to the shed, the other workers were putting up their tools. I had talked to Dad briefly about Devin, but we hadn’t been able to really work out how to deal with him. The tall guy was leaning against the building, smoking a cigarette. I coughed and frowned at him.

“No smoking on the premises. There are signs everywhere.” I crossed my arms over my chest, well aware of his eyes resting there. “Or can you not read?”

He squished the end of his cigarette between his fingers and flung it out toward the pathway to my beach. “I just didn’t care.”

“Devin. You better start caring or I’m going to cancel your work order and you can do time.” Dad’s voice held none of his normal, happy hippy tone. “We don’t litter. Pick it up and put it in the trash.”

I had never really thought about it before, but Dad was tall, taller than even Devin. He worked outside doing lots of manual labor that kept him in shape. When you paired that with the serious tone, he was intimidating. Devin seemed to size him up for a minute before slowly going to pick up the cigarette butt. He walked to the trash can, held his hand above the opening, and dropped the cigarette into the hole. Without another word, he turned around and sauntered down the path toward the exit. He jerked his chin and several of the workers peeled off and followed him.

The ones that hadn’t left all nodded at Dad before making their way down to the bus. Dad shook his head once they were all on their way and the tension in his shoulders drained away.

“I’m going to call and find out why they were sent here.” Dad’s eyes flicked to Blake and then away. “Did you guys come up with anything today?” I knew my dad well enough to sense when he was changing the subject.

“Blake had an idea.” I busied myself in the shed, not wanting to let my expression give anything away. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Blake pick up a stick and sketch something in the sand. Dad grunted but didn’t say anything until Blake was finished.

“This is rough, but I think that works, too.” He didn’t say anything else. Just stood up and moved back so that Dad could get a better look. “Something loose that just suggests the theme.”

“That would be easy to translate onto promotional kits.” Dad’s voice was thoughtful, so I snuck a peek at him. He was rubbing his chin and his eyes were thoughtful. “What sent you in this direction?”

“Meena.” Blake’s voice was calm and nonchalant, but the memory of his fingers on mine made me blush.

“Meena?” I turned around and looked at Dad. I knew my cheeks were red, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

“When she’s swimming with the animals, she looks just like a mermaid should. Happy and peaceful. It goes with the name, too.” Blake tossed the stick back into the brush. “If you think it’s too whimsical I can come up with something else.”

“No. I like it.” Dad’s eyes focused on me and I wondered what he was thinking. There was something sad in his eyes I didn’t understand. “Can you make something a little more definite? If we get this nailed down soon, we can start production of the new sign and design some shirts for the staff.”

“Sure. Need me to do anything else before I leave?” Blake looked at Dad as if waiting for homework.

“Would you mind moving that cart with the bags of concrete? Looks like it’s going to rain tonight.” Dad pointed to where Devin had left a loaded wheelbarrow by the bird hut.

“No problem.” Blake’s eyes cut to me quickly before going back to my father.

“Thanks.”

I watched him walk away and was surprised that I was sad to see him go. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I liked being around him. Even though he was kind of a mysterious and frustrating.