Page 97 of Cruel Tides

“Notyou,” Leander growled out before I could sit.

When I swung back around, he was already pulling Claira onto his lap.

… Oh. That was my bad, I supposed.

When he had her knees settled across him, his voice roughened into a deep tone I could never imitate. “You don’t mind if we share you, do you, beautiful?” He nuzzled her neck, nostrils flaring as he breathed deep, inhaling the scent of her hair. I found my fists tightening at my sides.

This… didn’t feel like sharing.

Just when I thought they’d forgotten me altogether, Leander whispered my name into her hair. “Kaius told me you taught him about foreplay.” His lips brushed over her ear in a kiss before he pulled away, smirking. “Will you show me?”

Claira’s eyes drifted up to me. She was still in a daze from the attention Leander was giving her. Moisture coated her lips, and maybe it was the blush rapidly flaring over her face or the mention of foreplay, but I felt an awkward pull in the front of my pants.

As I shifted on my feet, trying to get comfortable, a question swirled in Claira’s eyes. “You told him about the time we spent together?” The crack in her voice was like a physical blow to my heart.

“W-we couldn’t sleep,” I explained, my words stumbling. “And I—well, um…”

Had I done something wrong? I hadn’t thought I needed to keep it a secret. We were all mates, right? And although I didn’t know any of the details between her and Leander, it seemed natural that all of us should know what happened between each other.

“Yeah,” I said finally, my shoulders slumping in defeat. “I told him. I didn’t think it mattered if he knew, because, well, we’re supposed to be a team, aren’t we?”

“A team?” Claira’s eyes glazed with confusion. Had she thought she would keep all her relationships with us separated?

“He’s right,” Leander cut in, his voice heavy with emotion as he held her even closer. “I thought I didn’t want to know, at first. But now I can’t stop fucking thinking about it.” A barely restrained growl came from the back of his throat. “What you did, how you looked. I want to see it. I want you to show me.”

Claira choked on a gasp, her hands coming up to the sides of her face. “See it?Like, right now?”

Leander hooked the rope of her woven hair with a finger and pressed his lips against it. “Yes. Right now,” he murmured. Then, releasing the long weave, he helped her stand.

My heart all but stopped. I stood there, paralyzed, as he led her right up to me.

“Show me,” he commanded softly, his eyes glinting in anticipation as he looked between us.

Claira must have been as nervous as I was, because she stumbled forward, catching herself on my chest. Gray eyes met mine with an adorable mixture of guilt and confusion as her hands pressed against me for support.

“Just so we’re clear,” she said, her panicked gaze flicking to Leander, searching for his approval, “you want us to show you exactly what we did?”

Leander’s savage half-lidded eyes followed my every twitch of movement as he stepped back, crossing his arms over his bare chest. “Everything.”

“Well… Okay.” With that, Claira’s attention shifted to my not-so-bare chest. Her eyes lingered on the line of buttons, and my stomach twisted. Unlike Leander, I wasn’t used to going around with my chest and back uncovered. Especially not in front of others. Sure, I’d tried to loosen up, but my father had taught us at a young age that our torsos were meant to be covered. Unlike the sharks that our tails shared similarities with, we were civilized. The proud merfolk of the Pacific Kingdom.

And even though Leander and Barren hadn’t reacted to seeing me naked, I didn’t expect fan-tailed mers to understand my kingdom’s customs. It was well recorded that fan-tailed mers looked down on my kind. They had even gone so far as to compare us to mindless sharks.

But Claira didn’t hold any of those prejudices. No, with the way her lips parted as she toyed with one of my buttons—not undoing it, but flicking her fingers against it like she was imagining what was underneath—she enjoyed seeing me bare.

“What do you think?” There was a touch of shy humor in her voice. Her rosy lips spread into a slow smile. “Up for some foreplay?”

“Yes,” I blew out immediately. I was too mesmerized by each teasing movement of her slender fingers to deny her anything she wanted of me.

In all honesty, I hadn’t been able to let go of the time we’d spent together after I’d awoken from my injury. It pervaded my thoughts, ever present, and even as our journey continued, I’d found myself wondering if that moment would forever be imprinted in my mind.

Now that I had a chance to return to that bliss again, how could I say no?

“I love foreplay,” I said airily, my voice sounding a hundred leagues away as the adrenaline built. When Claira hesitated over her next move, I undid the top button for her, and my fingers trembled as I dropped to undo the next.

As much as I loved this, it was bizarre. I’d expected Leander to be the first to share an intimate moment with her, leaving me to watch as they worked themselves up to a state of blissful relaxation.

Never would I have imagined thatIwould be first.

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