Page 34 of Bewitched By the Siren (The Bewitching Hour #1)
Hali
I take off my headset and meet Brendan’s gaze through the window that separates us. He’s smiling so wide, I can’t stop the laughter that bubbles up my throat.
“Good job, Hali. That sounded great.”
“Thanks, Natasha,” I say into the microphone before setting my guitar on its stand and making my way out of the recording booth.
To say things have been crazy over the last several months would be an understatement.
After my performance at the Shrimp and Grits festival at the end of November, my life changed dramatically.
The recordings of my performance flooded the internet, and dozens of talent agents descended upon Circe Key, en masse. It was fucking nuts.
Thank God for Brendan, with his insider knowledge of the industry. He helped and guided me, leading me to sign with an agency that had no qualms about signing a contract that allowed me to do things my way.
I get to stay on the island with Mom, and the agency worked a deal with Natasha Monk for the use of her in-home studio to record my first album. She even offered to produce it for me, so here we are, making dreams I didn’t even realize I had come true.
And when it comes time to think about touring, I have the final say in when, where, and how many stops. Of course, those decisions are a ways off. We have to release the album first.
I clutch the shell pendant at my chest tightly as I exit the booth. Much like my performance at the festival, this album will feature my natural voice with no siren-magic enhancements.
“Everyone is going to love you,” Brendan murmurs before pulling me in for a tight hug.
He’s read my mind like he always seems to do, and I hug him back with all the ferocity I feel in my bones. When I try to pull back, he holds on tight and dips his head to press a firm kiss to my lips.
I catch his eye as he pulls back, and we just stand there smiling goofily at each other until I say, “I like you so much.”
He chuckles and kisses me again, then we pull apart to pack up our stuff so we can head home. Other than when Brendan told me he was falling for me when he returned to Circe Key, we haven’t really made any declarations of love. We’re taking things slow in that department.
But I can see the love in his eyes when he looks at me, and I’m sure he can see the same in mine.
I’ve started telling him I like him whenever the urge hits, and it always makes him smile at me like that.
Like he knows what I’m really saying even though I haven’t been quite ready to actually say the words.
“Come on,” he says, holding out a hand for me to take. “I told Grace we’d be back in time for dinner, and we’re going to be late if we don’t get on the road soon.”
I nod and take his hand, my chest filling with warmth the way it always does when Brendan talks about or interacts with my mom. He really cares about her, and she absolutely adores him. He’s slid right into our little family unit seamlessly, and I can’t stop smiling about it.
After we thank Natasha again and say our goodbyes, we head out to get on the road. Brendan turns on the radio, and we both sing along, his deep baritone complimenting my middling soprano.
“Would you ever consider recording a duet with me?” I ask, the idea popping into my head as the song we were singing winds down.
“What?” he blurts, looking at me with incredulous eyes before returning his gaze to the road. “No. No way.”
“Why not?” I ask, angling my body toward his.
“Because I’m a terrible singer?”
“You are not,” I argue.
“I am compared to you,” he says. “Your fans would revolt.”
“I don’t think so,” I say quietly, my vision blurring as the beginnings of a song idea pop into my head.
Grabbing my bag, I pull out my journal to jot the ideas down before I lose them. Brendan reaches down to lower the volume on the radio so I can concentrate, and the corners of my mouth turn up.
It’s the little things like this that make me love him so much.
And I do. Love him, that is. Even if I haven’t been ready to say the words aloud, I’ve been thinking them in my head ever since he came back from L.A.
But every time I have the urge to say it, I get all in my head about how it’s probably too soon.
That even though he admitted to having developed feelings for me after knowing me a week, he might not be ready to take the leap into love.
It’s stupid, I know. But the only person I’ve ever said those words to is my mother, so this is kind of a big deal to me. I want it to be right. I want it to be perfect.
“I love you.”
I inhale sharply and audibly as the words pop out of my mouth before I can stop them. Squeezing my eyes closed, I hold the breath and fight the urge to take them back. I sway forward and to the left as the car slows and pulls off the road.
“Hali,” Brendan says when I refuse to open my eyes. “Look at me. Please.”
Blowing out the breath I’ve been holding, I blink my eyes open and look at him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean––”
“Don’t say that. Please, don’t say you didn’t mean it,” he cuts in, his voice laced with desperation.
I shake my head. “I was going to say I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that. Like, out of nowhere.”
“Say it again.”
The words are breathless and fraught with tension. He reaches over to take my hand, holding on tightly while he awaits my response. My own heart pounds in my throat, and I have to swallow against the tightness there before I can speak.
“I love you, Brendan.”
Brendan
“Fuck,” I breathe, using our clasped hands to drag her closer.
I press my lips to hers, kissing her with all the love and devotion I’ve been trying to hold inside for the last few weeks. Driving my free hand into her hair, I grip it tightly and tilt her head. Her mouth falls open, and I drive my tongue inside, unable to get enough.
When I break off the kiss and pull back, my chest is heaving. I can’t catch my breath. Like a skydiver plummeting toward the earth, I’m drawn into Hali’s gravitational pull with no hope for release. No desire for release.
“I love you so much,” I say when I finally regain my voice. “ So fucking much.”
“You do?” she asks, her expression softening as her lips curl upward.
“I do,” I assure her. “I’ve been going crazy, waiting for you to be ready so I could say it. Now that you are, you better be prepared to hear it all the time.”
“I think I’m okay with that,” she says with a soft laugh.
“I love you,” I say.
“I love you,” she replies.
I kiss her again, and it goes on and on until I finally pull away with a deep sigh. “We should get going. Your mom will be waiting for us.”
She nods, and I lean in, pressing my forehead to hers as I say the words again. I press my lips to hers in a quick kiss before she can respond, then pull away with a tortured groan.
I could stay right here, kissing her forever.
I hold onto her hand as I pull the car back out onto the road, my thumb brushing over the soft skin of her knuckles. Hali leans back in her seat, a serene smile on her face as she stares through her window.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” she asks suddenly.
“A little,” I say. “But I’m more excited, than anything.”
“It’s going to be amazing,” she says, rolling her head in my direction.
Shortly after moving here, I started thinking about what I want to do with my time.
With my life. The money I made on the condo in Los Angeles will only stretch so far after buying the house here, and I had no desire to find a job with another talent agency, so Hali and I brainstormed, talking all night about the possibilities.
About what would make me happy and support me, financially.
I took a huge leap of faith, buying a food truck I found for sale in Savannah and spending the last few weeks overhauling the inside and painting the exterior. It’s like new, fully stocked with supplies and ingredients and ready to roll out.
And tomorrow, Triton Tacos will become a reality.
It’s crazy how much my life has changed.
A few months ago, I was living in Los Angeles, alone, and I had no idea just how miserable I was.
When I first stepped off that plane in Savannah, I couldn’t predict how quickly I’d come to love the Georgia coast and Circe Key.
I didn’t know the woman I’d come to see would crawl inside my chest and become the most important thing in my life within a few days.
And I didn’t know mermaids weren’t some ancient sailor’s myth. That they actually existed.
Hali and I have worked hard to navigate her dual nature. She takes salt baths every few days at home before coming to my place to spend the night with me. And when she needs to swim, I stand guard on the beach and help her dry her tail when she’s done.
Watching her phase back and forth is magical and awe-inspiring, but it’s kind of become par for the course. I still feel a little star struck when it happens, but hell, I feel that way most of the time around her. She’s just so…amazing.
“I love you,” I say, squeezing her hand.
“I love you, too,” she breathes on a happy sigh.
This adventure of ours is just getting started, and I can’t wait to see what we’ll do next. Because together, we can do anything .
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