Page 144 of Cruel Tides

“Barren,” I groaned back, a sharp throb shooting through my head at the movement. That’s right—I’d asked him a question that had caught him so off guard he ended up fumbling me into the underside of his bungalow.Ouch.

I blinked rapidly, my vision clearing to reveal Barren’s panicked eyes gazing down at me. Water weighed heavily on his curly hair, dripping down his face and shoulders in unrelenting streams. His lips parted, his face etched with sorrow, as if he’d thought he’d been clutching to a corpse.

But I wasn’t a corpse—clearly. I was alive and well, except for this numbing coldness and the painful throb in my head.

Still, he hovered above me, muscles tense, holding me securely within the stream of water. Why was it sofreaking cold?

“You’re quite strong,” I mumbled, my tongue sluggish and my head still buzzing from the impact.

My comment only seemed to darken Barren’s expression further. “I—” His lips pressed shut, pain and regret showing all over his face.

“Where are we?” I asked, my eyes extra rolly as I surveyed around us.

“I had to wake you.”

Wake me?I stared straight up, focusing on the showerhead looming above us.

Hold on—was this Barren’s shower stall?

I winced, noticing how his brace was flattened against the stall’s wall. As suspected, his shoulders didn’t fit. Still, he’d somehow managed to cram both of us inside it—mostly. But with the way he’d pulled the curtain back, water rushed over his back and shoulders, spilling onto the bathroom floor.

And goodness, there was a lot of water.

“How long… how long was I out?” The tender lump on the top of my head stung as soon as I touched it. I withdrew my hand, bracing for the sight of blood, and sighed, relieved to find my fingers were clean. “At least it’s not serious.”

Muscles ticked in Barren’s jaw as he stared down at me, and I realized then that if it weren’t for his arm holding me, I’d be laid out on the bottom of the stall in a tangled heap of limbs.

His hand cradled the back of my neck, and it wasn’t a terrible sensation. In fact, it was kind of perfect.Safe.

I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation while I felt out the crown of my head some more.

But then Barren’s arm jerked, jostling me back and forth. “No,” he asserted, loud enough to shock my eyes open. “No sleep.”

I gawked up at him, only to find terror darkening his eyes.

“I’m not trying tosleep. I’m trying to figure out what…” My voice trailed. I knew exactly what had happened. I’d asked him an important question, and in doing so, accidentally short-circuited his brain. Or something.

Did that mean my voicehadcalled to him? Despite the cold, that thought had warmth spreading through me. “Did you carry me here from the water?”

I stared down at my legs, confirming that they were, in fact, legs. Oh no.They werebarelegs.And not just mine.

The sound of my pounding heart drowned out all else as I took in Barren’s muscled legs, thick as tree trunks, braced on either side of me. Not to mention the—well, let’s call it a banana leaf—dangling between them.

Whoa.

“I hurt you.” Unaware of my revelation, Barren’s words fell like a hushed confession. “I—” He started to speak, but his voice caught, and I looked up to see him struggling to compose himself. His searching gaze made it clear he was grappling with the words he needed to say.

Maybe it was the way my body was heating or Barren’s close proximity, but already the ache in my head was beginning to ease. “I know,” I whispered, pulling my arms around his neck to let him know I understood. “You didn’t mean to.”

As if in a daze, he murmured softly, “It was not my intention.”

I straightened my feet beneath me, but Barren’s grip tightened as if he feared I might fall. “It’s okay. I’m fine now, really.” I patted the back of his shoulders, hoping he’d realize I could hold my own weight. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been knocked out.”

In fact, it seemed to be a new trend for me. An unexpected consequence of hanging around mermen.

Barren’s eyebrows dipped. “One concussion is too many.”

“Concussion?” I snorted, tapping at the lump on my head. “Can merfolk even get concussions? As long as my head can handle the pressure of deep-sea diving, I’m pretty sure I can survive a tiny bump.”

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