There was no hesitancy in me as I mimicked her dancing, our hands on each others shoulders as she showed me how she danced. When she leaned into kiss me, there was nothing more natural than meeting her lips with mine. I was a couple inches taller than her and so had to lean down as she went up on bare feet, toes curling in the sand as I pulled her in tight enough I could feel her heart beat wildly in her chest. She tasted like something sweet with a hint of the ocean’s salt.

She sank back from me, a silent “wow” escaping her as her cheeks flooded with heat in the cool sea breeze. Her voice was breathy as she spoke. “Please tell me you’re single.”

“I am,” I said, knowing the term from television. Thank the gods.

Her hands on my shoulders slid down my sides to my waist, making me shiver in delight. I could taste something acridly sweet on her breath, a mild intoxicant many of the others around us were drinking. “Are you staying here?”

I shook my head but managed to stifle the laugh over the thought. “Not quite, I’m staying nearby. Why?”

My question seemed to startle her for a second and she slapped a hand to her forehead. “I’m sorry, we just met… I don’t even know your name. What am I doing?”

“Aw hell, I thought you were the one with a clue here because I’m following you,” I blurted out before I could catch myself. Always with the runaway mouth, that was me. “I’m kinda new at this.”

“At kissing?”

I couldn’t tell her who, no what, I was. I couldn’t risk being taken back. Even if those amber eyes made me want to tell her everything. But I would be honest where I could. “I grew up, um, in a tiny town. This is my first time out. So at all of this.”

The complex could be said to be a small town, the corporation more restrictive than any religion and my own father something so ancient it was given the designation “Elder One.” I was a recent escapee and had no interaction with anyone who wasn’t a scientist. Memory threatened to flare through me and I slammed it down with a deep exhale.

“I see,” the woman in my arms said with a soft expression. My admission seemed to put her at ease. “Let’s start from the beginning. I’m Veronica.”

“Seems a bit backwards after that kiss,” I responded, slightly bemused. “Nice to meet you Veronica.”

“What’s yo-,” she was interrupted by her phone letting out a sharp vibration and song I didn’t recognize. “That’s Mauricio- I have to answer. Its my work.”

She pulled away from me and darted out into the dark stretch of sand. I followed her enough to keep her in eyesight, wanting to watch her pace as she walked across the sands. She paused, one foot lifting as if she planned to dart into the night before letting out a whoop and jumping. She hung up shortly after that before running back and giving me a kiss that tasted of excitement.

“Good news?”

“Yes,” she- Veronica said, voice high with excitement and breathy again from the kiss. “That was my boss, we just to approval for the loan of Natural Geographic’s CritterCam Chase system. Some big name scientists wanted to use it too but we got it! We’ll be able to tag reef sharks and see where they go!”

“You’re a scientist?”

Her nod of affirmation had me springing back from her in sudden fear. A scientist? What were the fucking odds? I held myself still as I could, eyes wide and watching every movement she made, tendrils ready to spring out.

“Well, an ichthyologist actually,” she amended and took a step toward me. Her movements stopped when she saw me frozen a couple feet away. “I study sharks. Are you okay, I never got your name, did I? Are you ok?”

Sharks… she studied sharks, no genetics, not genetic engineering, not security, not notnotnotnot NOT A THREAT! My inner monologue screamed over her questions as I replayed what she said, searching for a lie, an untruth and finding none. Unlike so many, god so many, I’d heard before from women and men of science’s disciplines. My eyes darted from her face to the ocean and back. To an escape and not a threat.

“Sweet Virgin Mary, what has you so scared?”

Her question and sudden searching around for a danger she hadn’t noticed broke the cycle of that inner voice. A cold sweat had formed on my skin, chillier still for the sea breeze. I trailed off in a question, looking for the right word myself. “I’m sorry. You startled me?”

“I did? How?”

“I have a history with scientists,” I admitted, looking away from her. “Not good memories.”

“Oh, sweetie, I am so sorry,” she said with true sympathy. I wasn’t sure how I knew but I did. Maybe the say way I’d always known when the scientists were lying to me in the past. “I didn’t know. I’ve never worked with people, just marine life. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay,” I said and made myself step closer. I reached out a hand to her. It shook a bit with nervous energy. “You couldn’t have known. I had an unorthodox childhood. I’m away from it now and free, so its best left in the past.”

Veronica took my hand and laid kiss on my knuckles. “I’m still sorry for scaring you. I wouldn’t hurt you for the world.”

My tendrils shifted in my backpack with the urge to touch her. I had to leave before I did something stupid. Before something else startled me. But I couldn’t just go. “I need to get back to my pups but um, breakfast- yes, breakfast- what are you doing for it?”

“Eating in the café,” she said, confused herself for a second. The she caught onto my intent. “Oh- you want to meet me for breakfast in the Shoreside Café at around nine?”

“Sounds perfect,” amazing, spectacular, gonna get me in so much trouble, “that sounds like a good plan.”

She looked at her phone again and gave a yawn. “Sorry, I’m used to being up at dawn. If I’m going to be coherent at nine, I need to head to bed. Do you want me to walk you back to your hotel first?”

I couldn’t stop myself from running a hand along the side of her face, fingers lingering over cheeks, thumb brushing across her lips. I gave on fighting and kissed her. I still can’t say why I did it, it just seemed the right thing to do there on the beach, the moon and stars on their eternal dance across the sky. I pulled back with a sigh. “I’ll be okay, but I think your right about getting to bed.”

Maybe the cold water would cool me off but I doubted it.

Veronica’s hand had slid down to my waist and moved as if it wanted to go further down but she stopped it. She stepped back and brushed a lock of hair away as the wind picked up a bit. “Yeah, um good night then? See you in the morning.”

“In the morning, Veronica,” I agreed and started walking down the beach toward a cluster of hotels and time share condos. I’d seen the sign for it earlier. I pretended I didn’t hear her mutter something about my butt being cute but my cheeks flushed red anyway. I kept walking until I heard her footsteps hit the packed sand closer to the hotel’s beach party before wiggling out of my clothes on a dark stretch of rocky sand near the water. I shoved everything into the bag but the swimsuit that I kept on. After putting the entire backpack into the dry bag, I closed it up and went back into the water for the night. The water was a cool welcome home and the salt of the water reminded me of her kiss.

I found the pups safe where I had left them, near a cave I’d stashed my other bags or repurposed nets of gear and goods in. I slung my dry bag into the cave, latching the straps onto an anchor I’d dragged here for the purpose.

I fell asleep drifting in the cross current, a tendril over Helix with Star and Malcom floating close enough I felt their heart beats. The last image before sleep claimed me was Veronica saying she’d never hurt me- that rang as true but would it be?