The Accidental Mermaid (Accidentally Paranormal Series Book 16) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Excerpt

  The Accidental Mermaid

  Blurb

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Epilogue

  Preview another book by this author

  Note from Dakota

  eBooks by Dakota Cassidy

  Dakota recommends … Michelle Hoppe

  Excerpt

  Lightbulbs flashed and popped, and a roar of chatter erupted from a small crowd of reporters gathered at the edge of her tiny front porch. Tucker was the first one out the door, setting Esther behind him. “Get out of here now!” he roared into the howling wind.

  But another reporter, with slicked-back blond hair, jammed a microphone in Tucker’s face and asked, “Don’t you think it’s suspicious that you’re here at the home of Gomez Sanchez’s niece? The man responsible for killing one man and making countless others sick? Reports allege—”

  “Hey!” a hulking figure bellowed from the shadows, stepping into the light from the front porch, making everyone turn around. “Y’all might wanna move along here, now! You’re on private property—which means you better skedaddle ’fore I call the po-po.”

  As the enormous figure approached, pushing his way through the lot of vultures, Esther didn’t need an introduction. Nina had mentioned her demon friend Darnell was coming in case there was any trouble. He, according to her, was big and loveable and could help in Wanda’s stead. Wanda, who was hard to keep awake and not supposed to be on her feet.

  Yet, to see him for the first time was undoubtedly intimidating. He was bulky and crazy tall, his round face hard and angry, and he didn’t look at all loveable right now.

  As he made it past the small throng of people, he turned and held up his phone. “I’ma tell y’all one last time—get! Ain’t nobody here got nothin’ to say to you. Go on now,” he demanded, waving an arm in their faces, making everyone duck and gasp before he crossed his arms over his brick wall of a chest and waited for everyone to leave.

  As the crowd dispersed, frightened by a man as imposing as Darnell, he turned to Tucker and held out his granite slab of a hand. “I’m Darnell. Good to meet ya, man.”

  Tucker grabbed his hand and shook it hard. “Pleasure’s all mine.”

  And then, with a smile that transformed his entire face, making his eyes gleam, he spotted Esther, who was still in shock. “You,” he said, pointing a finger at her and wiggling it, “must be Esther. C’mon and give ol’ Darnell a hug.” He held out his bulky arms, his NY Giants shirt shifting to reveal his soft center.

  Yet, she was a little afraid. He was a demon and she was a good Catholic girl. And that was some crazy mixed-up dichotomy of religion.

  But Nina gave her a light shove from behind. “Don’t be a chicken-shit, Little Fish. He’s not that kind of demon, nitwit. Long story short, he escaped hell. He’s on the good side.”

  Oh, well then, you could never get enough hugs from a guy who looked like a big brown teddy bear with a wide smile and more chains around his neck than a set of tires in the winter who was on good’s side, could you?

  Esther went willingly into his embrace, finding it warm and reassuring, and it didn’t hurt that he smelled good, too. “I’m Esther. It’s nice to meet you.”

  He patted her shoulder with his thick hand and set her from him. “Look at you. A mermaid. Sweet! And you ain’t got nuthin’ to worry about anymore. I’m here now. I’ll keep you safe. Welcome to the family.”

  Suddenly shy, because there were so many of these people welcoming her into their fold with almost no questions asked, she choked up a little. “Thank you, Darnell. Please come in.”

  And as he did, and the ladies greeted him with hugs and kisses, and Carl, his smile beaming like a fluorescent bulb, thumped him on the back, Esther and Tucker stood and watched.

  “They’re like this bizarre family of misfits, huh? Wait, maybe the word isn’t bizarre. Maybe it’s more eclectic, but they all move in tandem, even if they yell a lot and Nina snarls. There’s real love there.”

  Tucker nodded, his eyes hinting at sadness as he put his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “She is good at snarling, isn’t she?”

  “She’s also good at pretending, and lifting, and a plethora of things I’ve heard about but haven’t witnessed. Except for those fangs. Jesus, those fangs.”

  Tucker leaned into her, her shoulder just touching the top of his muscled pecs. “Yeah… I hate to admit it, but I had no idea vampires were real, by the way. Or werewolves, or any of this, for that matter.”

  “Thought you guys had the market on the paranormal, didja? Kind of presumptuous, wouldn’t you say?” she teased, taking a step away from him because he was just too dang close and he looked and smelled too dang good.

  He scrubbed his jaw and shook his head in wonder. “I think I did. I mean, it’s not like we don’t communicate with the outside world, or surface people, as we call them, but this? This is really something else.”

  Esther nodded and smiled, but she felt a little empty inside, and maybe even a little jealous. Sure, she had friends—good friends—but they weren’t ride or die like these people were. Maybe their dire circumstances had called for such loyalty, but if what Marty said was true, they’d been together for almost ten years now when they didn’t have to be together.

  They chose to be together—which was pretty awesome.

  And watching them, seeing this interaction with Darnell, made her miss her parents and her grandparents more than ever. But when she looked up at Tucker, she realized how self-indulgent she was being. He’d been booted out of his family, for heaven’s sake.

  Reaching out, she touched his arm and willed her fingers not to test the bump of muscles by tracing them. “I’m sorry about what’s happening with your family right now.”

  He stared off into the kitchen, where Archibald hugged Darnell before giving him a plate full of pasta. “I am, too. I’m also sorry the press is hassling you. I don’t know who tipped them off or even how they’d link you to this mess, but—”

  Wanda, who was finally awake, though still quite sleepy-eyed, waddled toward them and held up her phone in Tucker’s face. “This is how they’ve managed to link Esther to you. The disgusting vultures.”

  Esther and Tucker read the headline from some site on the Internet.

  Ex-VP of H2O-Yo Woos Niece of Dead Scientist Responsible for Tainted Water Debacle.

  Attached to the article was a picture of she and Tucker sitting on the beach today, his arm around her. Thankfully it was after she’d gotten her legs back, but that someone was skulking around, taking pictures of her without her knowledge, scared the shit out of her.

  “I will kill whoever did this,” Tucker spat, pulling his phone from his pocket. “Wring their bloody necks!”

  Esther gulped, swallowing hard as she looked to Wanda, dread filling her stomach. “So now my uncle’s name is out there as the person responsible for the death of that man. Perfect.”

  The Accidental Mermaid

  Accidentally Paranormal, Book 16

  Dakota Cassidy

  Published 2017 by Book Boutiques.


  ISBN: 978-1-946363-76-3

  Copyright © 2017, Dakota Cassidy.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Book Boutiques.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, locales, or events is wholly coincidental. The names, characters, dialogue, and events in this book are from the author’s imagination and should not to be construed as real.

  Manufactured in the USA.

  Email [email protected] with questions, or inquiries about Book Boutiques.

  Blurb

  Esther Williams Sanchez is busy living her life like she’s always done. Spending time with her pets, working as a divorce mediator, and enjoying her newly renovated cottage on the beach.

  She’s also decided it’s high time to learn how to swim, to prepare for an upcoming cruise. It’s time to let go of a horrible past experience and take some lessons. So at thirty-two, Esther enrolls in the only class at the Y with a spot left. A Mommy and Me class—which seems quite tame, considering her oldest classmate aside from her is three-years-old.

  Learn to swim with a bunch of babies and toddlers? Easy-peasy, right? Er, no. As Esther leaves the pool after her very first lesson, she sprouts a magnificent tail and fins. Oh, and hair the color of a rainbow. Lots and lots of luscious hair.

  Lucky for her, the OOPS girls are on site, and as they set about finding out how this happened to Esther, they run into a hunky Australian merman named Tucker Pearson who happens to be the key to Esther’s problem. But Tucker has problems of his own, and they include being kicked out of his family’s bottled water company, booted from his pod, and accused of embezzling a million bucks.

  Oh, and killing someone… OOPS, here we go again!

  Author’s Note

  Darling, amazing readers,

  Thank you so much for grabbing another Accidental! Can you even believe it’s number sixteen? Me neither!

  Either way, I’m glad you’ve stuck around and I’m thrilled to finally bring you a mermaid. Over the course of almost ten years since this series debuted, many, many of you have suggested a mermaid as an accidental, but it took me a while before a story struck me enough that I had no choice but to finally write it.

  That said, as always, I’ve taken serious artistic license with mythology/folklore and made it my own, as I’m wont to do. Also, a note to any lovely residents of Staten Island: the locations where this adventure takes place are entirely fictional and created to suit my own story purposes—because I think we all know there are no mermaid pools in SI. Or are there? LOL!

  Anyway, I hope you’ll forgive my fast and loose geography/bodies of water and just roll with it—and as always, with me. I’m a native New Yorker, born and bred, and I’d never want to disrespect my people!

  Anyway, you guys are fantabulous, and I love that the girls and the accidental friendships they’ve made along the way have become as much your family as mine. With that, I so hope you’ll join me for The Accidental Unicorn (yes. You read that right!) in the summer of 2018, and Marty’s journey in later winter of 2018.

  Until then—Nina wanted me to tell you not to wear yellow. She says it’s not in your color wheel—even if you’re a mermaid. LOL!

  Love,

  Dakota XXOO

  Chapter 1

  “On the real?” the dark-haired, eerily pale woman—wearing a hoodie and a T-shirt that read “Not Today, Satan” with slim-fitting jeans—asked her very pregnant friend. Who, by the way, dressed like Grace Kelly and smelled like a luscious rose garden.

  “Yes, Nina. On the real.”

  “Like a tail, and scales, and one of those little beaded B-cup bras?”

  The pregnant woman sucked in her cheeks, her nostrils flaring. “No beaded bra, but definitely a tail. It’s quite beautiful, in fact. I mean, as tails and scales go.”

  “So lemme see, Wanda,” she insisted with a pleading tone that held a hint of strangely malicious glee. Her beautiful eyes gazed curiously as she peeked over her friend’s shoulder from the hallway leading off the changing rooms.

  But Wanda put five pale-polished nails to the woman’s shoulder and shook her head. “Only if you promise not to stare and make rude jokes.”

  “Don’t be a moron. Of course I’m gonna stare and make rude jokes, Wanda. She has a fucking tail, dude. She’s in the middle of a public pool floor, under the stairs to the diving board, no frickin’ less. Who wouldn’t stare at that shit?”

  “Nina…” the woman said with a warning tone, her high cheekbones turning a pretty pink.

  Wanda and Nina—both very nice, solid names. It’s always pleasant to have a name to attach to the people talking about you and your “predicament” as though you’re not even in the same room…while you’re on the floor…literally flopping around, looking for cover.

  Nina, holding an equally beautiful dark-haired little girl with curly hair and the cherubic face of an angel, wearing the sweetest purple tutu swimsuit with ballerinas on the chest, pushed her way past the pregnant Wanda at the entry to the pool. She looked down to the blue-tiled surface of the flooring where Esther Williams Sanchez lay.

  And then her mouth fell open.

  Immediately afterward, she clamped her mouth shut and her shoulders slumped in a pouty way. “Is this another wormhole, Wanda? Like Shamalot? I don’t wanna go back today. I have shit to do, and it always takes days for me to readjust to the time zones. It’s like fairytale jetlag, dude.”

  A woman with long, glistening blonde hair, styled similarly to a Kardashian’s, skidded into the pool area on a pair of burnt-orange heels so high, Esther thought surely she’d pitch headfirst into the pool. And then she thought what a shame that would be, because all that beautiful fake blonde hair would undoubtedly turn green if the pool’s chemicals were to touch it.

  “Ho-lee fucksticks!” the blonde shouted, her words echoing in the chlorine-scented air as she stopped just short of the tall dark-haired Goddess, who grabbed her by the arm to steady her and keep her from falling into the pool. “Is she a…?”

  Nina, obviously recuperated, said, “No, Marty. She’s not. This is all just a big fucking joke because that’s how we roll at Mommy and Me swim class. We prank each other all the time. Last week, we fucked with all the moms by telling them we found Nemo in the pool.”

  Marty rolled her sapphire-blue eyes and let out a ragged sigh, cupping the back of her neck and massaging it with her fingers. “Shut it with the sarcasm, Dark Overlord, and tell me what happened. I have a headache the size of your mouth and I’m tired. It was a long day at Bobbie-Sue.” Leaning over, she dropped a kiss on the baby’s forehead and smiled. “Did you find something awesome at swim class, Charlie Girl? Who’s Auntie Marty’s favorite genie princess?” she asked the baby.

  The baby answered with a squeal of joy, holding her arms out for her aunt to take her from her mother. Which Marty did, pressing kisses to the baby’s chubby fists, making her coo with delight. Then she looked at the women named Wanda. “Her tail is spectacular, don’t you think? And that hair! I’d kill a bitch to be in this kind of humidity and still have it fall all down my shoulders in those luscious rainbow curls.”

  Wanda eyed her tail and fins, the iridescent scales shimmering in a pale yellow and melting into shades of aqua and teal, and nodded. “It truly is magic.”

  “It’s fucking yellow,” Nina muttered.

  Marty smiled distractedly at Nina before her face became serious. “So, what do we have so far, girls? How the heck did this happen?”

  Esther squirmed uncomfortably. Well, she tried to squirm uncomfortably, but her tail (her tail!) made it almost impossible to move due to its heft and length. Also, if she moved the wrong way, her suddenly luxurious rainbow-colored hair would reveal her very naked breasts.

  Wanda, with the swollen belly, dre
ssed in a light blue maternity dress and conservative yet fashionable low heels, shook her head. “We don’t know. I tried to talk to her, but she clammed up.” Then she looked to Esther with her soft brown eyes, made up quite tastefully in pastel eyeshadow colors. “No pun intended, of course.”

  Clam up. Hah! Well, if nothing else, they had a sense of humor. Esther had a sense of humor, too. Which is one of the reasons why she’d agreed to take the Mommy and Me class for first-time swimmers—the only class they had available at the Y at this time of year, now that summer was over and fall classes had begun.

  She’d taken it at the urging of her friend Juanita, because Esther was thirty-two years old, couldn’t swim, and she was tired of hearing her friends tease her when they went to Mexico for impromptu vacations and she sat on the beach all alone due to her fear.

  Marty eyed Esther with a critical glance. “Any idea why a woman of her age is taking a class at Mommy and Me?” She paused and then gasped. “Wait! Is there a child involved here? Where’s the child? Oh, hell. Please tell me there’s not a baby in the mix, Wanda.”

  Wanda shook her head and picked invisible lint from Marty’s sharp beige suit before straightening her dark brown and rust scarf. “No children involved in the making of this…this…whatever this is. I mean, I know what this is, but you know what I mean. I did manage to get that much out of her before she stopped talking to me. So, I’m not sure why she’s at a Mommy and Me class.”

  Marty sighed, now massaging her forehead as she looked to Nina. “Did Big Mouth scare her? How many times have I told you when you find yourself in a position where someone is afraid, don’t make them more afraid, Nina?”

  The beautiful Nina pushed her hoodie from her head and flicked Marty’s arm, taking the baby back. “Shut your Botoxed lips, Blondie. I haven’t said jack shit. I was handing off Sam to Heath when all this went down. Speaking of, we better send him home with the kids so we can spend the next nine frillion hours of my life listening to the fish cry and carry on about how awful this is.”