Are you a merman?
Millionaire series is under contract for Galatea, so it can’t be posted for free on my wall. But I always write new stories. Feel free to check them. Maybe you will like it :)
All the best, Mira.
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This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
No part of this work may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transformed in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, or photocopying, without written permission from the author/ publisher.
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Chapter 1.
Time: The end of May. Thirteen years later
Place: Saint Stefano's island, Montenegro.
It was midnight. Splashes of obsidian Adriatic Sea followed Layla through stony, narrow alleys. Her heavy skirts mimicked the sound of the waves, and she could swear if she opened her mouth, her heart would drop before her feet.
They were here for two more days on the Saint Stefano peninsula. It was a second night. Tomorrow all the guests will come early. If she doesn’t do this now, there will be no other chance.
“Did anyone see you?”
Layla dropped the edge of the skirt she held firmly to walk faster.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” she scolded the petite woman she met two days ago after arriving here.
The whole island was a hotel, and her brother Tarik rented it for his and Sarah’s second exclusive wedding, which was a little delayed. But as he likes to say optimistically, better ever than never.
It was the last week of May, and here in the Adriatic Sea, that meant not-so-warm water or, for someone who bathed in the Persian Sea, damn cold water.
The temperature can't be higher than twenty degrees, but Layla never had the opportunity to swim at night. And she never will if she didn’t do it here and now, In Montenegro.
This year she promised herself to try new things, daring things, and this was one of those. Maybe it seemed insignificant to some, but it was a huge thing for her.
Especially because night water scared her to death.
She always imagined big fishes or sharks swimming around her, octopuses or mermaids pulling her down ... goosebumps erupted over her skin just from thinking of that.
“You got scared!”
Said the woman who waited for her, stepping out of her dress and walking into the water next to the big rock wall.
She wore a micro-bikini that parted her perfect moon-white buttocks and covered just a little more than her nipples in the front.
“If I didn’t figure out how modest you’re, I’d swim naked.” She winked at Layla, catching her curious stare.
A little perturbed by the woman's words, she looked at her one-piece swimsuit. Yesterday in Budva, she’d seen girls wearing less when walking beside the sea.
Layla mulled in her mind. If she wore a swimsuit, she would be wet all the way back to her room, and the night wasn’t warm. There was a cold wind that came in gusts.
The other woman was already in the water, splashing and laughing.
Layla slid thick suspenders off her arms and closed her eyes as the night air caught her bare breasts. She wasn’t skinny. Especially not after she turned thirty-three and gained more flesh in some places. Her belly was a little rounded and squishy. Not flat as a board.
She liked her body. It was a woman’s body in excellent shape, but not the athletic type. More of the type that prefers long walks in the evenings and easy swimming in the sea. Nothing too sweaty or challenging.
Trying the gravel shore with her bare feet, she winced. It was too rough compared to the fine powder sand she was used to. Layla limped clumsily into the water cursing every sharp pebble that scratched her soft skin.
“Come on, it’s great,” her new friend called out, and she rushed forward, giggling as her breasts bounced up and down. They were so jiggling that she had to press them with her hands to stop the flapping before she swung herself into the water.
“Son of a b*tch,” she screeched, though she rarely cursed. Certainly not this loud.
“What,” her new friend asked, “it’s warm for this time of year.''
Layla swam back and forth to regain life to her frozen limbs, then dove in. She knew she would get used to the water in a minute. Then she could let her naked body drift, relaxed, enjoying the peace, with only the moon above her face.
The woman beside her gets off her bikini,
''Good for you to come naked,'' she smiled at Layla, and they both went silent.
The night was dark and deep. The powerful sensation seeped into her bones while she drifted on the soft waves. Layla closed her eyes. A big smile stretched her rosy, shivering lips. She hummed quietly to chase her fears and started relaxing.
*
If Pavle knew what a first-class show he would have tonight, he would bring more cigars. But he was trying to quit smoking. So he came here to enjoy his special Cuban tompus and relax before bed.
That’s why he sat at the rock, secluded under ancient oak trees, watching Layla walking naked to the water as the day she was born.
Whenever she flinched from the rough rocky shore, and her flesh danced, Pavle took a big drag of smoke.
The moment when she started running, he coughed it all out, watching those jiggling beauties before she leaped into the water. Thank God she shrieked and giggled, and no one heard him between the splashing water.
He really didn't need this scene tonight. Now he would never look his friend in the eye again without thinking of his shy sister running naked, looking like a model on the front page of some man's magazine.
She was so serene and calm that almost everyone thought about her as a spinster, even though she was still young. Not older than thirty-five, maybe less, he wasn't sure.
Even as a young girl, she had mature energy that put up a big wall between her and the men. Or it was because she spent more time with cats and children than adults.
The other woman who came with her was a cook in a hotel. He knew she was a cook because he owned the hotel and she worked for him.
“I am done,” the blonde announced, getting out of the water and wrapping a towel around herself.
That was precisely the moment when Pavle decided to leave them alone unnoticed.
He cursed and returned to the rock he had been sitting on. He couldn’t leave Layla alone at night in these waters.
“Okay, I’ll stay a little longer. Don’t wait for me. Thanks for sharing this place.”
It was the only tiny spot to reach the water directly from the island.
If you wished to enjoy beaches, you had to cross the Tombolo to the mainland. It was dangerous swimming this close to the rocks.
This small cove was known only among the locals. It was dangerous for tourists and naive swimmers.
Calm waters could easily fool and pull even experienced strong men into the open sea. The gulfs and underwater currents were unpredictable and dangerous.
Not to mention that there were rocks around the island. If the waves pushed you against it, you could be seriously injured, no matter how good a swimmer you are.
Pavle cursed softly, got his sneakers off, and reconciled with his role tonight. Besides Snickers, he let his phone and electrical keys that didn't mix well with water and emptied his pockets.
It would be stupid to get those things wet.
The wind was rushing harder than he had predicted, even though he was familiar with the weather of this land as the back of his palm.
Nearing the water, he couldn’t resist admiring her bare white breasts floating above the night sea. It looked mesmerizing.
He saw the moment she felt the change in the water. Layla lowered her legs beneath her, rose from her floating position, and gazed into the vast open space.
A dark, high wave sneaked to her right side, and she turned and paddled toward shore. It was too late, the wave caught her before she reached solid ground, and the wood it dragged from the shore hit the back of her head.
Pavle was already in the water, regretting that he would be the one to pull her naked out of it.
After that, he would lose the chance to pretend that he never saw an apple-shaped birthmark on her butt.
The water was wilder with every passing minute, and it pulled her back and grazed her skin over the sharp rocks that covered the sea bottom.
Layla opened her mouth to scream, but the water rushed inside her throat choking her.
Something grabbed her under her arms, and she blinked, feeling wind and air again.
Still dazed by the blow to her head and the fear that almost paralyzed her, she saw the silhouette of a man rising from the foaming sea.
″Are you a merman?'' her trembling lips stammered.
“No, my lady, not a damn merman. A King Triton at your service.”
***
This is book 3 in the Millionaire series
BOOK1: Millionaire offer, you can find it on my page
BOOK2: The Generals offer, you can find it on my page
04.06. 2023 or 06.04.2023
