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How crazy for her to hope the alien would arrive sooner than later? As though she had found a connection with Soulara.

The blip in the distance appeared again. This time a lot closer than it had been before. Only a few strokes out into the water. Autumn stiffened her back at a splashing that sounded too close.

What the hell was that?

She turned her head toward the sound.

“Autumn.”

Autumn knew that voice, and the way Soulara said her name sent a shiver up her back.

“Where did you come from?” Autumn felt stupid the moment the words left her mouth. Soulara lived in the sea. Where else would she come from?

But this was the first time they had met on the large stretch of beach and not in the small alcove Autumn thought of as their own.

“Are you okay?” Soulara drew closer to the shore, her eyes wide with concern, and her head tilted in just that way that made Autumn smile, no matter how her emotions roiled.

“Yes. I’m…” But the words trailed off as the waves drew back from Soulara’s body to reveal the skin turned scales at Soulara’s waist.

Autumn’s gaze followed the receding water. Her mouth hung open by the time she watched the flap of tail fins against wet sand.

“Autumn?” Soulara’s voice sounded so far away as Autumn continued to stare at the deep navy-blue tail, glistening with water drops.

“You’re…” Autumn finally looked up into Soulara’s beautiful blue eyes and her rounded face. “You’re a mermaid? Or…” Fear gripped Autumn’s heart like a fist. She’d only ever read about creatures like this in children’s books. “…a siren.”

She remembered the warnings. Had they been aliens this whole time? Is that why Autumn hadn’t been able to shake Soulara from her mind over the last few weeks. Was she magically indebted to a creature she hadn’t even known existed before now?

“What’s a siren?” Soulara asked as she stood.

“Legs,” Autumn whispered, instantly forgetting the question Soulara had asked.

“Yes.” Soulara laughed. “You’ve seen my legs before.”

Autumn blinked and gradually the words sunk in. She nodded. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry. I should have explained a bit more before I left the last time.” Soulara’s smile was bright, teasing almost. Was she enjoying Autumn’s shock?

“Are you a siren?” Autumn wished for the first time since that original meeting that she had a weapon on her. “Is that why I can’t stop thinking about you? Have you bewitched me?”

“You can’t stop thinking about me?” The shy grin that stretched across Soulara’s face was new, and oh wow, did Autumn want to lick the salty wet drops from those lips.

“Is any of this real?” Autumn hated hearing the vulnerability in her own words, but she had to know.

“Of course this is real.” Soulara was in her space, and while a part of Autumn’s mind screamed at her to be careful, her breath eased in her lungs. “I haven’t bewitched you, Autumn. Have you bewitched me?”

“Me?” The word vanished into the ocean breeze.

“Do you have magic?” Soulara trailed fingers over Autumn’s arm, the slow slide of Autumn to her doom.

“No.” Autumn chuckled. “I’m a boring human.”

“Oh, you’re not boring.” The chuckle was low and slow, and it coiled right between Autumn’s legs, setting her clit into a frenzy of tingles.

Heat kissed Autumn’s cheeks. “You haven’t bewitched me?”

“Not with any kind of magic.”

Soulara’s shyness clashed with her cockiness, and Autumn all but swooned at the beauty of contradictions wrapped in one mermaid’s body. Soulara gripped Autumn’s hand, bringing the knuckles to her lips for a gentle kiss. Autumn breathed out her arousal as it coiled even tighter.