Page 66 of Cruel Tides

I stayed silent, too upset to even breathe. Their laughter bled away, sounding distant, like an echo under the sea, as my body trembled with seething fury.

Get ahold of yourself, Claira. I forced down a breath. It was pointless to expend energy trying to be liked by those who were never going to like me, anyway. I just had to endure the ridicule, somehow make it to the shirt racks, and then leave—preferably after paying with Dad’s credit.

Though a life of thievery was looking more appealing every second.

I squared back up with Shaun and could feel his smugness radiating off him like a blight. He tapped the journal and offered his most charming smile—the one he used on Gram and me whenever we passed him at the docks. It might have fooled Gram, but it made me want to heave.

“You guys thought that was embarrassing? Just wait. I saved the best for last.”

Yeah… I’d been afraid of that.

The glint in his eyes as he turned back to my diary was nothing less than predatory. “Turns out Red’s a genuine freak.” He pulled the page close to continue reading, carefully enunciating every word. “Here it is. Red’s final resolution…” He paused for dramatic effect. “Maybego all the way with a human.”

A fresh wave of nausea hit.

In the words of Leander:Fuck.In fact, I could almost hear him say it.

Internally, I was screaming.What had possessed me to write that?

I’d thought being around mermen was the problem, but clearly, I’d been horny long before they came along.

Danny’s eyes went wide. “With ahuman?What, like you’ve been out there fucking aliens or something?”

Keith’s expression shifted abruptly as his gaze diverted, though before I could wonder what had distracted him, Shaun crept up behind me to drape his arm around my shoulder.

His voice softened as he leaned into my ear. “Well, I can help you with a couple of these, Red.” His brown eyes smoldered in a way that made me wish I had my steel-toes on so I could stomp them right back out.

His weight bore down on my shoulders, trapping me in place. “I tie a mean double fisherman’s knot,” he said in a soft, low rumble like a purr.

Shaun paused, no doubt waiting for his friends to laugh at his clever joke, but there was only silence. Or maybe they all were laughing, but my brain refused to acknowledge it.

Then a velvety smooth voice filled the air, and it was like a balm to my ears. “Go all the way with a human?” Leander said, passing between two racks.

“Leander?” I squeaked out, and he grinned. It took my eyes several seconds to adjust to his presence. His golden skin seemed to dim every color in his vicinity, making even the flashy patterned swim trunks pale in comparison.

One hand brushed back his damp hair as he came up to us, the flex of his arm showing off his bare chest in a way that reminded me he was anything but human. “Why settle for a mortal when you can have me?” he threw out with a smug smirk.

Only Leander could look so damned cocky while saying something so corny. Still, even though he’d ignored my instructions to stay at the beach, my heart seemed to sing with his arrival.

When Leander approached me, Danny gasped. He held a tattered, sand-encrusted shirt up at his waist with one hand, barely concealing him. My eyes narrowed on the long slit. Something had sliced right through it.

“Is that Kai’s shirt?” I blurted, remembering what his back fins did to shirts. Had he wrestled it off him just so he could follow me? Poor Kai.

Leander flashed another smirk. “He gave it to me willingly,” he said huskily, and my mouth tightened.

Yeah, I doubted that.

Danny started nudging me with an arm.The heck?

“Oh, hey, Claira. Introduce me to your friend,” she said with a nervous laugh. Between her and Shaun’s looming presence, I was feeling suffocated. Danny cast a look up at Leander, her eyelashes fanning out longer than a deer’s.

Keith scowled. “We have a dress code,” he snapped, his voice grating.

Danny sidestepped Keith to extend a dainty hand to Leander. “I don’t think we’ve met.” She laughed despite the fact that nothing remotely funny had happened and—nope—Keith was not happy with how she was acting. “Hi. I’m Daniella.” She blinked up at him. “And you are?”

Leander glanced down at her, then drew himself up, puffing out his chest with pride. “Claira’s mate.”

Heat flushed over my face. Even though it made me inwardly groan to hear him profess such a thing in front of humans, a part of me was thrilled to hear him say it. He hadn’t even hesitated.

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