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She needed to get to the reception before it was too late and was about to give up and just wear the infernal thing when the storage room door opened and someone with a mop came out. It was too dark to make out exactly which of the stagehands it was, but Jayna called out anyway.
“Roxie is that you?”
The figure with the mop froze. After a moment they began moving slowly away from her and she groaned in exasperation. “You with the mop, whoever you are, I need your help. Please?”
The figure hesitated, then walked towards her. When he got close enough, the maintenance light from the staging area revealed a concerned-looking stagehand. He wore the standard gray Realms of Neptune tech uniform, had a thick shock of jet-black hair, and a face so handsome it made her catch her breath. He must’ve been new because she would have remembered meeting someone who looked like that.
“What’s your name?” she said, putting on the smile she used when interacting with hesitant children during Swim with the Mermaids events.
The new guy fidgeted with the mop and refused to meet Jayna’s eyes. “Uh, Sid.”
“Hello, Sid. I’m Jayna, and I need your help with my merbreather.” She turned her back towards him and motioned him closer. “Come on.”
“You need help with what?” Even with his brow furrowed in confusion, his face was attractive, and Jayna couldn’t help but notice how the uniform shirt stretched tightly across his well-defined chest.
“My top. I need you to help me take it off.”
The confusion on Sid’s face was quickly replaced by something closer to panic. “I’m not sure if I…”
“Oh, please,” Jayna said, amused at his sudden discomfort. “If you’re going to work with mermaids, you’ll be doing this a lot. Now, come on. I just need you to undo the two latches in the middle.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Sid finally set the mop down and closed the distance between them. He undid the latches on the back quickly. She probably could have removed the top herself now that it was unfastened, but it would certainly be easier with help. She turned around and said, “Now, grab the loops on the arms and pull.”
Sid grabbed the ring on each armband and pulled before she had a chance to brace herself. She lurched forward, and their bodies crashed together.
The shock on his face told her the move hadn’t been intentional. He quickly backed away from her, but not before she noticed just how firm his chest was beneath the tight uniform shirt. There was an intensity and intelligence in his dark brown eyes at odds with the uncertain hesitancy she had seen to this point.
Jayna caught her breath. Sid’s close proximity had affected her far more than it should have. “Let me get my balance before you pull.” She braced her feet and said, “Try again.”
Sid hesitated for a moment before taking hold of the rings on the arm of her merbreather again. This time his pull was strong but steady, and Jayna shrugged her arms out of the apparatus as her entire top pulled away with a squelch.
Sid averted his eyes, took a step backward, and stumbled on his mop. She had to keep herself from laughing at the relief on his face when he realized that mermaids were not in fact naked under their seashells, though she did find it refreshing that he didn’t gawk at her tight mer-pants and tiny strapless top.
“I need to shower and change. Do you know what to do with these?” She held the merbreather out to him, and then pointed at the tail parts still hanging by the edge of the pool. She hesitated to leave her gear with someone so obviously inexperienced, but she had to get to the reception and smooth things over with the new owner while she still had a job.
He opened his mouth to say something, but then apparently changed his mind. He took the merbreather and said, “No. It’s my first day.” She raised an eyebrow in surprise, and he quickly added, “But there are tutorials, right? I’m sure I can figure it out.”
Sid was obviously hiding something, but Jayna’s creep detector wasn’t sounding the alarm, so she decided not to press him. “Well, this will be good practice. The tail and merbreather both need to be cleaned up and packed away. You do know how to use the tutorial, right?”
“Yes,” he said quickly. “I’ve used them many times.”
“Good. I should only be a few minutes. I’ll help you finish if you’re not done, then you can walk with me to the reception.”
Chapter 5
Sid turned back from the tutorial just in time to catch one last glimpse of Jayna as she disappeared into the changing room. Unlike most performers he had met, she was somehow even more beautiful up close and in person than she had been in the show.
And they had definitely gotten up close. The memory of her pressed against him set his heart racing. If she weren’t an employee at one of his companies, he would be very interested in getting to know her better.
But Sid had learned the hard way that having a relationship with an employee was a recipe for disaster, and it was a mistake he would never make again.
He felt a tiny bit of guilt at having kept his identity from her, but she was the one who had jumped to the conclusion that he was a stagehand. He simply hadn’t corrected her misconception.
Still, he would need to properly introduce himself as soon as she finished changing.
Sid turned his attention to cleaning the merbreather. It was a fascinating blend of technology and fashion. What appeared to be bust-enhancing scale armor was actually a high-tech rebreather, and the thick gold necklace was a breathing tube hidden in plain sight.
As he cleaned and sanitized the merbreather, Sid realized the past fifteen minutes had given him insights into park operations that were as valuable as anything he had learned during an entire day of meetings and tours.
