Free Jacob's Ladder (String of Fate) by Bianca D'Arc

she was a strong swimmer. She might not be the diver he had worked to become, but she was at home in the water. She swam over to him and splashed him playfully.
    “Jake!” Her low tone was chastising, but filled with humor at the same time. “Don’t ever scare me like that again. I didn’t know you were part fish.”
    “Well, now you do.” He swam around her, teasing her as she turned to keep him in sight. “I worked very hard to learn how to dive, and I enjoy a chance to show off in front of my girl now and again. You don’t begrudge me that, surely? Don’t shifter males show off for their mates?”
    “Not by scaring them. Not if they want to keep their bits in the proper places.” She reached out and dug her fingernails—which were just a tiny bit sharper and a lot stronger than they would be on a human woman—into his shoulders. Her leg slid between his and he had to suppress a growl.
    “I like my bits exactly where they are,” he replied to her teasing, both verbal and physical. The cold, ocean water made not one bit of difference when he had Ria in his arms. She turned him on like a lightning bolt.
    “Mmm.” She rubbed closer, sliding against his body, heating the water in their vicinity. He wouldn’t be surprised to see steam rising around them. “I do too.”
    “Come now, children,” Edvard’s voice cut through the pre-dawn ocean stillness. The selkie—in human form—had come up behind them silently. “I thought we were going to swim, not cuddle.”
    Ria sighed loudly. “Okay. How about a lap around the yacht?”
    Edvard looked at Ria doubtfully, then moved to assess Jake. “Do you think you can both handle that?”
    Ria shrugged as Jake nodded. “If I get tired, I’ll depend on one of you to fish me out,” Ria joked, clearly not ashamed to admit that she might not be able to keep up with a selkie in the ocean.
    Jake had a little more pride, but he would’ve admitted it if the trek around the huge ship was going to be a problem. He knew he could make it and between him and Edvard—and all the shifters in the water around them—they would keep an eye on Ria.
    Jake met Edvard’s gaze over Ria’s head, nodding once more. “We’ll go slow. A nice, leisurely morning exercise swim,” Jake said, knowing by the challenging light in Ria’s eyes that she wasn’t going to do any such thing.
    She turned and splashed away. The race was on.
     
    Ria loved the cool water and the vastness of the ocean. It was refreshing after being cooped up inside for the past day. She was used to moving and stretching her legs. Activity was second nature to a shifter and she had been idle too long.
    She didn’t usually get much chance to swim—especially not in the ocean—so she enjoyed setting as fast a pace as she could manage around the big yacht. She had expected Edvard to keep pace with her easily, but Jake surprised her not only with his stamina, but his speed. He was a better swimmer than she was, hands down. Her human mate was full of surprises.
    When they lapped the boat and came back to the low platform where she had entered the water, she made for the ladder, winded. Jake wasn’t even breathing hard. And of course, Edvard waited only until she climbed out to do a spectacular backwards leap away, diving under the water and staying down so long, she lost track of him as she collected a robe and toweled her hair.
    “I wonder if they have a dryer on this tub?” Jake asked, struggling out of his wet jeans at her side. He had put on the big robe that had been waiting for him. There were several of the big, fluffy garments hanging ready for people to hop out of the ocean.
    “I suspect there’s every comfort of home on this vessel,” she replied, bending to help him by grabbing the end of one leg of his jeans as he hopped, struggling with the wet fabric.
    As they moved to one side of the wide platform, a seal bounded out of the ocean next to them, transforming as it went, into a man. A sleekly