Page 73 of Lowering His Guard

I scowl. I wanted to help her. I’ll take any excuse I can get to touch her.

“Let’s get Plank to my house before the Perchers chase us with tridents.”

“Tridents?” I ask as I switch on the engine and reverse out of our hiding spot.

“Exactly. Tridents. A Smuggler or a Percher in this case would never use an instrument as mundane as a pitchfork. Thus, a trident. Poseidon doesn’t have the exclusive rights to a trident.”

I massage the bridge of my nose before I remind her Poseidon and tridents are part of mythology. As are mermaids. It’s a waste of time explaining that to May. She’ll only argue with me.

“I’ll take you home.”

“You can drop me at the resort where Mer-Mini is waiting.”

I scowl at her. “I’m not leaving you alone with a stolen parrot.”

And I’m not ready to say goodbye to her. I want a little more time with her. I can’t have forever, but I can have tonight.

“Good point. The Perchers will probably be on the lookout for Mer-Mini. Your SUV is a good incognito vehicle. Especially since it’s black and resembles all the other SUVs of the Seals’ players.”

“I’ll drive you home.”

“Actually…”

I scowl when she trails off. “What?”

“The house you picked me up at when we went to the Mermaid Mystical Gardens was my parents’ place.”

My brow wrinkles. “You live with your parents?”

“Technically, I have a place in their backyard. But don’t worry. It has a separate entrance and the parking spot is in the alleyway. No one will realize you’re there.”

“Why do you live in your parents’ backyard?”

“When I returned home after I discovered my mom was sick, I didn’t have anywhere to live. I moved in with my parents but it didn’t work out. Mom needed uninterrupted sleep while recovering. Not ‘singing, blasting music, surfboards in the hallway, and friends dropping by at all hours of the night’. At least, that’s what Dad said. Before he built me a tiny home in the backyard.”

She points to an alley. “Turn here!”

I turn left. “Is this a road?”

She shrugs. “Road. Alley. Is there a difference?”

“There is when my SUV gets scratched up,” I grumble.

“You are obsessed with your SUV getting scratched up. I sense a story.”

There is no story. This SUV is – aside from my house – the most expensive purchase I’ve ever made. I take good care of my stuff so it’ll last. Being a millionaire is not an excuse to be careless.

“You can park here.”

I fit the SUV into the spot and park. I don’t bother asking May if I can come in. I’m making sure she’s safe at home before I return to the resort.

She jumps out of the car and bows to no one. I nearly smile at her antics. Her antics should drive me crazy. She has no control or discipline. But they don’t. They amuse me. Not much amuses me.

I grab Plank’s cage and follow her to the entrance.

“Tada!” She spins around with her arms spread wide because of course she does.

I scan the room. It doesn’t feel cramped and small the way I expected a tiny home to feel. One wall is floor-to-ceiling windows, which probably helps.