Page 11 of Something Real with the Sea Monster (Kraken Cove #3)

ELEVEN

Jack

When Tegan goes back to Luke and Mia’s, I close the app gratefully and wonder again if I’m doing the wrong thing not telling her the whole truth about my situation. I just don’t think she’s ready to hear that she’s my fated mate. Not with the way things stand.

Especially when the guy she’s trying to get over was her last boss…

She needs more time to recover and more time to get to know me so she’ll realize I’m not like him. I think, for now, I’m best going along with her offer to help me find a girlfriend. I do feel bad every time I deliberately sabotage her attempts, though.

The next morning, Mrs. Wang, the Rotary Club president, comes past Inlet Views to give me flyers for the show this weekend. “Good morning, Lin. How are you? How are the preparations going?”

She sets the stack of flyers on the counter between us and gives me a red-lipped smile. “This year is even bigger than last year. We had to order more marquees and tables for all the new vendors.”

“That’s fantastic. We’re all booked out, and I was chatting to Mr. Nguyen over at Bella Vista, and he said everyone who has any type of accommodation is saying the same.”

Mrs. Wang nods. “Things are definitely picking up again. About time too. I know everyone’s been doing it tough post-COVID. Make sure you hand these out for me, won’t you?”

“Of course.”

“And tell your mom and dad I said hello.”

“Will do. Thanks, Lin. You have a lovely day.”

I smile to myself. It’s been ages since I’ve been to the show.

Might be a nice day out. Nostalgic. I can still remember when we were kids, my brothers and I would get really competitive over all the sideshow games.

It was always tightest between Luke and me.

Poor Noah was too little to compete with us, and the day usually ended with a tempter tantrum.

Until he grew a little and owned us both!

Still smiling, I grab my phone and send a text to Luke.

Jack: what are you and Mia up to this weekend? We should all head to the show tomorrow for a few hours. Mrs. Wang says it’s going to be a good one this year.

As an afterthought, I add : maybe Tegan would like to come too

Then I almost delete it. I’m being pretty obvious. Only it would be rude not to invite her. Just being polite. In the end, I leave it.

I’m ridiculously excited when Luke messages back a few hours later. Luke: sounds like a plan. Meet you there at midday? And Tegan says she’d love to

****

As we walk past the Pluck a Duck stall, Luke nudges me. “Shame Noah’s not here so we can’t beat him again for old times’ sake.”

I laugh. “Ah, I seem to remember him handing both of us our asses that last year.”

“No. I’ve got no memory of that. Couldn’t be.”

Tegan and Mia are walking in front of us, and Tegan turns to me and Luke. “Oh, you think you’re pretty good at this, huh? Better put your money where your mouth is.” Stepping up to the stall, she hands the vendor some cash. “Come on, Mia. You want to play too?”

Mia shakes her head. “I’ll only waste your money. I’m no good at these games.”

A moment later, the guy gives Tegan a pole with a hook on the end. “You get three tries. Good luck.” Then he swirls his hand through the water and the little plastic ducks splash around happily.

Tegan looks at the ducks for a minute. Then she lines up the pole and makes a swipe for the little matching hook screwed into the center of one duck. The duck tips and her hook slides free. She curses.

I laugh and can’t help laughing even harder when she shoots me a mock-angry look. “Oh you think you’re going to do so much better, don’t you?”

I shrug. “You still haven’t caught anything.”

With a huff, she turns back to the ducks, and this time she scoops one out of the water. When the vendor plucks it from her pole, he turns it over so we can read the message on the bottom. Zero points. “Bad luck. You’ve got one more try.”

The adorable way her mouth drops open in outrage is only beaten by the way she grips the pole and refocuses her attention. I love a girl who isn’t afraid to get a bit competitive. “Got you!” Tegan scoops a second duck from the water.

The vendor checks this one. “Five points.” He gestures to the bottom row of prizes hung on a panel of fencing behind him. “Pick your prize.”

Tegan rolls her eyes. “Let’s see how well you do.”

I manage fifteen points, landing all three ducks, and she slaps me playfully. “Show off. Come on. What else can we play? This place is like a blast from the past. Makes me think of going to the Easter Show with my nan.”

“Are you saying I remind you of your nan?”

Luke and Mia have wandered off hand in hand, distracted by a stall selling fresh donuts. So we’re alone, and I can’t say I mind it.

Tegan snorts. “You’re too hairy. Though in her eighties, my nan was rocking a bit of a beard. Nothing as good as yours.”

“Do you like my beard? I was thinking of shaving it off.”

“Oh don’t do that. I think it’s nice.”

I vow to myself then and there never to shave again.

Tegan walks toward an area that’s been gated off with padded fences and piled with padded mats, where a mechanical bull has been set up in the center. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to have a go at one of these.”

I laugh. “You’re on your own there. I know people here.”

“Awww, come on. Are you gonna let me beat you without even trying?”

“Yes! No contest here. You win. I’ll even pay for you to have two turns if you like.”

She grins and flicks her long hair behind her shoulder. “Be prepared to be amazed, then. I know I’m gonna be a natural. But I think you have to take me on the Ferris wheel afterward as compensation.”

My mouth falls open. The Ferris wheel? That would be fine, only I have a crippling fear of heights. I can’t even walk close to the cliffs at the back of the golf club. Rather than let her see my panic, I swallow and nod. “Sure. Go on. That bull is all yours.”

Nothing could have prepared me for watching Tegan ride that mechanical bull. I’d never even considered that a fair ride could be erotic before, but this one damn well is.

She slings a leg over the square body and grips the handle with one hand, glancing at me over her shoulder and lifting the other hand into the air.

The ride starts up, and almost instantly, I’m mesmerized. The bull tilts backward and forward, and Tegan’s hips rock in time with the motion. She really is a natural. Only in my head, it’s not a mechanical bull she’s riding, but something far more X-rated.

Oh christ. The ride speeds up, and Tegan lets out a whoop. Her hips are rocking rhythmically, and as the beast spins her around to face me and jerks her up and down, her tits bounce.

I have to hold the bottle of water I’m carrying in front of my crotch to hide the sudden erection I’m sporting, imagining her riding me like that. There has to be something wrong with me that this perfectly innocent—

Tegan shrieks as she loses her grip and tumbles to the padded mat, and I have to stop myself from vaulting over the fence to make sure not a hair on her head is out of place.

A completely irrational reaction. I do lean over the fence to make sure, though.

Her blonde hair spills out around her on the mat, and her huge grin is still stretched across her face.

She sits up, still laughing. “Oh my god. That was great. Sure you don’t want a go?”

I shake my head. “I think I’ve seen enough to know I’m in over my head.

” Isn’t that the truth? Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but that looked to me like a woman who needs a man who can keep up with her.

How the hell am I supposed to do that? Maybe I made a mistake waiting all this time for my fated mate.

And now I don’t have a hope in hell of satisfying her.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the Ferris wheel.” Tegan pokes my arm, jolting me out of one unpleasant train of thought right down another terrifying one.

“Ah, right. I didn’t forget. I just hoped you might.”

“Oh no.” She grabs my arm and tugs me along in the direction of the intimidatingly flimsy looking structure. “You’re not getting out of this so easy.”

The Ferris wheel must be about fifty meters tall, yet the metal bars are thin enough in places that I could easily wrap a fist around them. How’s something that weak supposed to hold up me and all the other people on board?

Tegan drags me over to the short, smiling lady selling tickets, and I reluctantly hand over the cash for two. “Is now a good time to mention I’m a little nervy of heights?” I mumble as we walk toward a bench seat.

She just laughs and strides straight to the seat, plonking herself down on one side like it’s fine and not a thin metal death trap.

I swallow.

I can’t make my legs take me the extra few steps to the seat. The ticket lady comes up beside me. “Just take a seat. Hurry up now. The next group is waiting.”

I look behind, and sure enough, Josh Davies is there with his two daughters, both dressed in adorable matching pink dresses and wearing cute blonde pigtails, grinning at me like we’re not about to die.

Josh gives me the country man’s nod of acknowledgment, and a little bit more of my pride dies inside me.

“Come on, Jack. What are you waiting for?” Tegan pats the seat beside her.

What am I supposed to do here? I can’t look like a coward in front of her. I straighten my back and take a deep, decisive breath in. Might as well savor it. It could be one of my last breaths after all. I take two quick steps forward and drop onto the seat.

I instantly regret it when the whole thing sways alarmingly.

I grip the armrest and seat until my knuckles are white.

The ticket lady yanks the bar over us and steps back, and all of a sudden the wheel turns and we’re halfway around the circle with our feet dangling in the air.

I try to breathe through it. Try to focus on Josh and his daughters climbing onto the seat at the bottom of the ride.

Tegan’s hand fits over mine where I’m gripping the seat between us. “Hey, you really weren’t kidding, were you?”

I laugh, and I’m sure it comes out more like a bark than actual laughter. “No. Not really. No.”

“Awww. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. Let me think of something to distract you.”

“I’m not sure—”

“I know. Want to know the weirdest place I’ve ever fucked someone?”

I make a choked sound as the wheel turns again and we’re at the very top of the circuit.

“Oh sorry. TMI?”

“No. Just… We’re really high up.”

She squeezes my hand. “OK, well there was one time in the bathroom at a club, but that hardly counts. Everyone’s done that once.”

“Uh huh.” I’m not really listening. All I can think about is how many seconds it would take to hit the ground if I fell off.

“I have made some questionable choices at work,” Tegan continues, “but I’m not sure I’m ready to tell that story yet. Oh! I know! Don’t judge me, OK, but there was one time in a graveyard.”

“A graveyard!” Despite the situation, we’re both laughing now.

“Don’t judge me, I said.” She giggles. “It wasn’t a funeral or anything like that.

It was this beautiful quiet spot I used to go sometimes on a break from work when I was at uni.

And, long story short, there was this guy I kept seeing there.

One day we got to talking and, um… well, I had just broken up with a boyfriend.

I sucked him off in the park overlooking all the graves.

I never learned his name and never saw him again after that. ”

I cough, trying to pick my jaw up off the ground meters below us. God damn. This woman! “I bet he still thinks about you every day.”

She sighs. “I doubt it.” It might be my imagination, but for a moment her jaw gets tight and she looks away, and I wonder if it bothers her.

It shouldn’t. She’s amazing and can do what she wants with her body, but I wonder if she’s ever been judged.

I’m just starting to feel comfortable when the ride actually starts, and my whole world starts spinning toward the ground.

“Hey, Jack?”

I glance at Tegan, who grabs the top of her shirt, yanking it down and flashing me her right breast, and suddenly the Ferris wheel is the last thing on my mind.

God, could she be any more perfect? Even the color of her nipples is the perfect shade of pink. Her breast is full and rounded and looks so tempting to squeeze.

She tugs her shirt back into place, but I’m still staring.

“Good distraction?”

I nod. “Yeah. Good distraction. What were you distracting me from again?”

She laughs. “I think it worked then.”

“Would it be very bad of me if I told you it didn’t in the hopes that you might do it again?”

“Ah! See… this is why we need to get you a date. Don’t worry, we’ll find someone you want to date. I know we will.”

I force a smile. I’ll never date again. I just need to find a way to tell Tegan why.