Page 7 of The Tides Between Us

Hey, it’s Declan.

She glanced up at me with a smile playing on her lips as she raised an eyebrow.

Giana

Obviously.

A chuckle rumbled in my chest. My lips parted and my gaze dropped down to my phone as I texted her back. It was different, standing here having a conversation like this, but there was a strange sense of intimacy to it. It was almost as if I could sense her sarcasm and personality through her words while reading her facial expressions.

Declan

This is Giana, right?

She pursed her lips, her nostrils flaring as she rolled her eyes and bit back her grin. She shook her head at me. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she studied me.

Giana

You could have called.

I stared at her as I typed the words back to her and hit Send.

Declan

But then I wouldn’t have been able to talk to you. And I wouldn’t have gotten your number.

I watched her expression change and a pink tint spread across her cheeks as she kept her eyes trained on the screen in front of her. Her body was rigid and her chest rose quickly. She quickly recovered after she blinked a few times. She looked up at me and typed her response.

Giana

Don’t save my number, Declan.

A smirk played on my lips and our gazes collided. I simply shook my head at her.

Declan

I make no promises, princess. I might need to check in on Pop-Tart more than you expect. Speaking of, how is she doing?

Giana stared at me for a moment, almost as if I had left her speechless. She quickly snapped out of it and a smile formed on her lips.

Giana

Come with me and I’ll show you.

CHAPTERFOUR

GIANA

What the hell are you doing, Giana?

I had no business taking Declan back to see Pop-Tart, but here I was, leading the way through the facility until we got to the room with the recovery pools. I truly didn’t expect him to show up again. Sure, he had said he would check in on her, but I really didn’t think he would. And maybe that was a way of protecting myself since I was already distracted by his golden-colored eyes and the way they probed mine.

We only had three turtles that were in the recovery area right now and each of them were being quarantined so they were spaced out. I led Declan to the farthest pool in the room and stopped just outside of it as I motioned to Pop-Tart, where she was resting along the bottom.

I turned to look at Declan, studying his side profile as he was looking down at the turtle. He was perfectly sculpted, chiseled to perfection by the ocean gods. He was like a statue from Atlantis that was handcrafted, not a single piece out of place.

Tearing my eyes away from his face, I began to type out a message on my phone to explain her condition and what we were expecting.

Giana

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