Page 141 of Cruel Tides

Still, I was curious. “You’ve kept me waiting, so it better be a good one,” I teased, my lips curling.

The strokes of his tail slowed as he hummed a deep note, setting us drifting above the reef.

“I have an ability passed down through my father’s blood,” he said carefully. With a solemn expression, his hand loosened its grip like he might let go altogether, and I felt a wave of unease. “It often scares those around me.”

An ability?

“Like how I can see in the dark?” I asked, barely realizing we’d stopped moving.

His chest filled slowly. “Although it’s frightening, it’s a part of who I am. Do you remember when I tried to teach you to swim?”

“Yes,” I whispered, my throat feeling tight at the memory. I’d barely known him then. The Barren that had placed a hand on my neck seemed as good as a stranger to me now.

I looked into his eyes, desperately searching for a glimmer of the reassurance he’d shown me earlier, but there was nothing. Only sadness.

“Remember how you realized I’d seen into your thoughts?” A look of anguish settled over him. “That is my gift,” he whispered, his eyes averting. “Or maybe, my curse.”

I felt the force of his heart thudding against his chest as I tried to process his words.

My head swarmed with more thoughts than even a seasoned mind reader could pull apart. “You… know my thoughts?” I whispered, and Barren’s wince told me it was true.

His mouth hung open a moment, as if he were collecting the right words to say. “If I cared to listen, yes,” he said finally, and my heart sank.

I barely believed it—Barren could read minds?

And Leander knew. He had to, with the way he always started to mention how Barren had a knack for reading people before quickly changing the topic. Why hadn’t he told me? Was it their friendship?

This whole time, had Barren really known these silly thoughts I had whenever he held me in his arm?

Was he listeningnow?

The moment was tense, heavy with unspoken words. Barren’s eyes fixed on mine. It was as if we both knew something was about to happen, something inevitable.

He hesitated for a moment before he spoke, his voice low and strained. “Claira, I…” he trailed off, a mix of emotions flickering in his eyes.

“You what?” I rasped.

“I didn’t want… you to look at me like this,” he said, his desperation clear in the broken tone of his voice.

“Likethis?Like what, Barren? Confused? Shocked?”

“Afraid,” he said gruffly, his face crumbling as if he were coming apart inside. “You’re afraid of me.”

Afraid of him?

I stared up at him in disbelief, my mind suddenly clear.

“I’m not afraid of you, Barren! It’s just—I’membarrassed.” I resisted the urge to hide my face against his brace. “You knew what I was trying to do when—when I…”

Poseidon help me. Barren must have known what I’d set out to do when I’d put the bikini on for him. How I’d planned to straddle him in the hot tub—back when I thought there would be a hot tub—and tell him that his voice called to me.

Nausea hit. It wasn’t my fault his dick was so big that I couldn’t help but think about it when it had brushed against me. Did he know how intimidated I’d felt, yet oddly curious if I’d be able to take it?

“Oh, no—I can’t control it. Why would my mind gothere?” I groaned, pressing my forehead to the leather spanning his chest. “Please tell me you’re not in there now.Please, Barren. I might die if you are.”

Without saying a word, Barren’s tail coiled, encircling me in a full body embrace I wasn’t ready for. When I looked up, an odd smile had broken through his previously solemn expression.

Poseidon’s balls—he’d heard all of it. Barren was aware of every dirty thought I’d had about his titan cock.

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