Page 67 of Cruel Tides

Then I realized—Leander wasn’t ashamed of me.

I could almost hear the whir of Danny’s gears turning as she tried to work that one out. Then her lips parted, softening as she whispered, “You’re European?”

“Hey, Red,” Shaun said, turning me away from the others. Now that he was no longer the biggest and most intimidating, he seemed nervous. Smaller. And it made me wonder why I’d ever let him intimidate me at all.

I narrowed my eyes at him, wanting to slap him across the face for touching me without my permission.

Laverne would have done it. Hell, she would have done it the second he dared to approach her.

My hand flexed open, my fingers straightening as my eyes worked out the exact freckles on his cheek to aim for when his gaze swept down to my mouth, and he licked his lips.

“Maybewecould be friends.” It was a soft suggestion. My spine straightened with absolute revulsion as he started massaging one of my shoulders. “If you ever want to meet up at the docks…” His tongue slid a line over his top lip. “I know you’ve always wanted a taste of this.”

I was speechless. After what he’d done, all the tormenting and teasing, was he really coming on to me right now?

I couldn’t help it—I laughed. Right in his face.

“A taste of what? Ofyou?” I suppressed a gag. “Yeah, sorry—I’m allergic to shrimp,” I said, dismissing him with a hand. I tried to shrug out from under Shaun’s arm, but he wasn’t letting up.

“Wait,” he said, and irritation lined his forehead in a way that made me wonder if he wasn’t used to rejection. “But you’ve always?—”

“Uh-lergic?” Leander pushed in front of us, ignoring Danny, who was quick to follow behind him. The ice in his eyes was sharp as he watched all the places Shaun’s arm was touching me. Like maybe he wanted to rip that arm off.

“Yeah, it’s when your face and mouth swell up, and it gets really hard to breathe,” I said, and Leander’s eyebrows snapped together, his shoulders stiffening.

“Why wasn’t I informed about this? You should have told me.” Panic raced across every one of Leander’s features. “You’re allergic to shrimp?”

The more intense concern that flared in his eyes, the harder it became for me to keep the misunderstanding going.

I held up a hand. “It was a joke, Lee. Calm down. I’m not allergic to shrimp.” He didn’t look any less worried, so I threw a thumb over at Shaun. “I’m only allergic tohisshrimp.”

He must have understood my meaning because the tight concern in Leander’s mouth split into a deadly grin. “Oh,” he said, glaring at Shaun like he was already a corpse. “I see.”

Leander cracked a fist, then pointed a stiff finger at where Shaun’s arm rested on me. “Because this—himtouchingyou. I don’t fucking like it.”

He paused to flex his jaw, perhaps giving Shaun a moment to remove his arm. Naturally, Shaun was too dense to realize the threat standing right in front of him—the possessive prince hiding under Leander’s pretty boy face. “But now that I know you’re allergic to his shrimp”—He grabbed hold of Shaun’s shoulder, and the puff of air that rattled out of that boy’s mouth as he hunched forward, his arm popping right off me, was pure bliss to my ears—“I’m going to fuckingcrush it.”

Initially, I thought the scream had come from Danny, but no. A pathetic noise slithered from Shaun’s gross throat as he crumpled to the floor, Leander’s crushing hand on his shoulder helping him down.

Although I would have loved to see Shaun’s manhood crushed, I said, “Please don’t crush his shrimp, Lee.”

Leander bent down, hovering over him with a scorpionfish’s cold fury. “Don’t ever touch my mate again.”

“Whoa!” Danny said, her knees buckling. With her eyes on Leander’s backside as he bent forward, it was easy to guess what she saw. And I did not likethatone bit.

“Come on, Lee.” Now that I was free from Shaun, I grabbed Leander’s arm, but he wasn’t ready to release his unfortunate prey. He crushed Shaun’s shoulder again, making him cry out.

Nervous that Mr. Brownlow would come out to investigate the commotion, I yanked on Leander again. “I’d like to actually buy the clothes before we get kicked out.”

I glanced around for Keith, but he was long gone. Ugh—great. What were the chances he would call the police on us?

“Wait, don’t leave,” Danny said when I finally pried Leander off Shaun. “How long are you in town?”

Ignoring Danny, Leander turned his attention to me, drawing an arm around my waist. “This is why I didn’t want you going alone,” he said, then he planted a possessive kiss on my forehead.

My molars ground. “It’s fine. I handled it.” Yeah, not really—but at least I got to experience the satisfaction of rejecting Shaun.

My gaze fell on Danny, her fists held straight at her sides. The jealousy in her eyes was unmistakable.

---