Page 75 of Cruel Tides

“No smiling,” he said, his expression hidden behind his phone.

“No smiling?” I mumbled, my lips falling.Good luck getting a picture of Kai, I thought, and I sincerely hoped he’d taken the photo because it was hard to keep a straight face imagining how difficult that would be.

When he finally lowered his phone, he closed in on me, showing me the photo he’d taken. “That’s not bad,” I said, surprised by how well it turned out, considering I wasn’t even smiling. “It’s really good, actually.” Maybe his height gave him an edge? I’d heard that face photos were best taken from above.

His jaw tensed like he might have had something to say, but he flicked his thumb over the screen instead, bringing up a picture of Leander, stone-faced, standing in front of my fridge.

“Wow, that one, too,” I said, and he swiped again, this time to Kai. I muffled a laugh. “Oh, that’s unfortunate. Poor Kai.”

“I did my best,” Barren rumbled, suppressing a deep laugh.

“He kind of looks like he’s in pain,” I mused, and Barren snorted.

He went to put his phone to sleep when his thumb tapped the screen, swiping over to a picture of a cheesecake slice.

“Wait—” I said, leaning into the image. The dessert was beautifully plated, the creamy, caramel-drizzled slice resting on a delicate white dish. “Gosh, that looks delicious.” My stomach rumbled, and I turned to the stove, swiping some strips of bacon sitting out on a plate next to it.

“It was,” Barren admitted.

“Wait—you ate that?” I took another look at it. There was an ornate silver spoon sitting beside it, giving it a sophisticated look. “I thought it was from an online article or something. It looks staged, like a photographer took it.”

The color in his face deepened. “I made it.” He scrolled to another photo, then handed me his phone.

I took it hesitantly, not really sure if I should scroll through a guy’s pictures. There was no telling what I might discover, right? But Barren hovered beside me so intently, his dark eyes tentatively waiting for me to look.

“T-tell me when I should stop,” I said before turning down to the next photo. This one was of a lightly powdered cannoli, with chocolate chips meticulously spaced out over the creamy filling. Now I wasreallyhungry. Every time I scrolled, my eyes grew wider. If Barren had been eating all of these desserts, it was a miracle he didn’t have a gut. “You made these?” I asked, awestruck. “Took the photos, too?”

His chin dipped. “Mmh.”

“Wow.”

His body shifted uncomfortably. “Anything look good?” he asked. After clearing his throat, his voice came a little easier. “I can make it for you when we get to my place.”

My stomach rumbled, eager to accept his offer right away. “Are you kidding me? All of it looks fantastic,” I blurted while my mind backtracked. Wait—his place?

“It’s going to take a while to get our passports, won’t it?” If that were the case, maybe we were better off going back to the hotel to wait until we worked out our flight. That way, Dad and Gram wouldn’t have to keep paying to feed all of us.

He shrugged. “Not long. Our flight leaves tonight.”

“Tonight?” That certainly was sudden. But then again, Barren wasn’t likely employing legal means to acquire these passports.

I scratched at my neck, then picked up another piece of bacon. “I… guess I’d better start packing, then.”

Barren looked down at me, his eyes lingering on my lips for a moment too long as I chewed my bacon.

“I’ll give you a hand,” he replied, his voice low and rough. He slid his phone into his pocket. “If you need it.”

“Help me pack?” I turned the idea around in my head, then realized that would mean him going through my drawers with me. Yikes. They were definitely not up to Barren’s standards of neatness.

“Match your socks for you,” he offered, though his shoulders were stiff with nerves. “Your gray with your black, and your white with your tan.” His curls fell over his eyes as he looked down at me.

I burst out laughing, remembering when I’d told him I went through his luggage and changed all his socks around to annoy him. “Now I’m definitely not letting you help,” I said, taking a few steps backward out of the kitchen. “But maybe next time, okay?”

His lips gave the faintest hint of a smile as he nodded.

I turned around, wondering where Dad would have put the rest of the clothes from yesterday. Maybe I could get away with stashing the magical shell in my luggage. It couldn’t hurt to try, could it?

“Pack a swimsuit,” Barren’s voice called after me.

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