“Then I guess we’ll talk later,” Penn told her.

“No. I need to talk now.”

“Well, I’m busy now.” Penn finally lifted her head to glare at her. “So it will have to wait, won’t it?”

“No.” Gemma shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere unless you go with me.”

Thea sighed loudly. “Penn, just go talk to her. We won’t get any rest until you do.”

“If I’m going, we’re all going.” Penn cast a look to Thea, who scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Fine. I guess we’re done here, then.” Thea closed her book and shoved it roughly into her beach bag. “Come on, Lexi, let’s pack up.”

“What?” Lexi looked confused. “Aren’t we coming back?” When Thea started to get up, she waved her hand. “No, we’ll come back. Somebody can just watch our stuff.” She turned to the older man, who was now sitting next to her. “Will you be a sweetheart and watch our stuff until we return? We shouldn’t be gone that long.”

“Yeah, sure, no problem.” He smiled eagerly at Lexi and nodded.

“Thank you.” Lexi returned his smile, then stood up and brushed sand off her legs. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Penn and Thea got up more slowly than Lexi, and Penn led the way off the beach. Half a dozen guys said hello to them as they walked away, but only Lexi responded. Gemma, who garnered some male attention of her own, wasn’t used to quite this much ogling, and she found that she didn’t enjoy it.

They went to a rocky area that jutted out into the bay, not quite to the cypress trees, but far enough to be out of sight of the crowd on the beach.

As soon as they got there, Thea slipped off her bikini bottom and waded out into the water. From where she stood, Gemma couldn’t see her legs turn into a tail, but she knew it had happened just the same.

“Shall we go for a swim?” Lexi suggested, slipping down her own bikini bottom.

“No, I don’t want to swim,” Gemma lied. “I just want to talk.”

Lexi’s bikini bottom was just below her hips, and she paused, looking from Gemma to Penn. Penn only stared at Gemma for a minute, debating what she planned to do.

“You go ahead and swim,” Penn told Lexi without looking at her. “I’ll stay here and talk with Gemma.”

“Okay.” Lexi sounded hesitant, but she took off her bikini bottom and went into the water. Within moments she’d disappeared out in the bay, swimming with Thea.

Gemma watched from the corner of her eye but tried not stare. It was hard to be this close to the ocean and not swim. The waves lapping against the rocks were like music, singing to her.