She had a tail right now. She’d been so distracted from Artur’s top tank pawing that she’d completely—

Their eyes met across a crowded tank of fish. Thomas’s face was actually squashed up against the glass, “the better to see you with, my dear.” His hands were plastered flat. His breath fogged the pane.

Then he vanished.

She dropped the smelt, put her arms over her head, and with a powerful flick of her tail shot to the top of the tank. She thought, Right this minute he’s sprinting up the stairs. That’s three flights he’s got to go up. I can—

What? Haul her big white butt out of the tank, dry off, get into her clothes, and pretend it was some other green-haired mermaid in the NEA tank?

She grabbed the edge of the tank and flicked her tail, just as Thomas galloped into the observation room. He was breathing hard and his dark hair had tumbled into his eyes. He jerked his bangs back and clutched his collar, actually yanked at it until the top button flew off and exposed his throat. He gulped air and she thought, Good thing he wasn’t wearing a tie or he might have been strangled.

He pointed at her, his big dark eyes practically bulging from his head. “I knew it!” he practically screamed. “I knew you weren’t like all the others!”

“Dr. Pearson,” she began, but trailed off in mystification as he ran to her, lost his balance, actually slid on his knees until he was leaning against the top of the tank, and then he leaned over and kissed her spang on the mouth.

Okay. I guess it’s just going to be that kind of a day. The kind where men I’ve just met have this odd illness where they can’t keep their hands off me.

“Dr. Pearson,” she tried again, but “ffgggrrrll” is what came out, since he was still kissing her. And she was kissing him back, holding onto his shirt so she wouldn’t drop the rest of the way back into the tank. His lips were warm, almost hot, they were burning her, he was scorching her with his kisses, and she wasn’t minding. No, she wasn’t minding at all.

His hands on her shoulders were equally hot, making her think about rolling around under the sheets with him on a cold winter day, when the only way to stay warm was to snuggle with the guy in the bed with—

Weirdly, he was gone. Like he had teleported. Or been grabbed from behind and hauled away from her. But Pearson was a big guy. Who’d be strong enough to—

“Artur, don’t!”

She almost covered her eyes; it was going to be too awful. Pearson, looking astonished. Artur, red eyes slits of rage. Pearson, looking not exactly happy himself. She opened her mouth to yell—what? She had no idea.

Then Thomas whipped an elbow back, catching Artur in the throat. This loosened the giant redhead’s grip long enough for Fred to realize that Pearson was going to—yep, she knew that move from watching Jonas’s self-defense tournaments. Thomas grabbed Artur’s left arm and threw the guy over his shoulder, right into Main One.