Hull suddenly grabbed her hand, catching Susannapletely off guard. "Whoa —what are you doing?" she blurted, startled.


    For some reason, watching him hold her hand, she felt like he was almost squeezing it a little too tightly.


    Hull gently rubbed her rough palm between his own. "You''ve gotten tanned. And your hands are all calloused."


    Susanna stared at him, speechless.


    Tanned? Rough?


    Those were basically the worst insults you could throw at a girl. "You... you "


    "If you keep training like this, your hands are going to be a mess.”


    Susanna''s face fell apart. Inside, she was screaming: A mess? Last night he couldn''t keep his hands off me, and now he wants to talk about my hands?


    Hull looked at her, deadpan. "Are you cursing me out in your head?"


    Susanna replied quickly, "No, of course not."


    She totally was. Hmph.


    Before she could say anything else, the food started arriving.


    There was fish chowder, creamy chicken casserole, seaweed sd, papaya yogurt, banana milkshake, and-wait-another papaya dish, and another...


    Susanna twitched an eyebrow.


    She looked over at Hull, barely able to hide her confusion. "Hull, do you have, like, a papaya obsession or something?"


    The whole table was covered in papaya dishes.


    Barnaby, sitting nearby, grinned. "Susie, it''s all for you. Big bro says you''re too bony."


    Ss, who''d been inspecting the chef''s choices, just about choked on his water. Seriously? After all the times he''d tried to exin things to Barnaby, the guy still hadn''t learned a thing. He was about ready to bolt out of the room.


    Susanna''s face went scarlet.


    She shot Hull a deadly look. Just one nce, and he could see the usation in her eyes. This guy was too much.


    He''d slept with her and now he was going around talking about her body?


    And even getting the whole crew in on it? "You-you''re unbelievable!"


    The realization hit her a momentte, but when it did, she was furious.


    She stood up, mmed her fork down on the te, huffed loudly, and stormed out of the dining room.


    Everyone else just sat there, stunned at how quickly she''d lost her temper.


    Hull shot Barnaby a cold re.


    Barnaby''s heart skipped a beat. "Big bro, did I... did I say something wrong?"


    His voice was shaky, obviously nervous.


    Ss facepalmed. God, did Barnaby seriously not know what he''d done?


    He was even worse than Finley. At least Finley''s mouth runs ahead of his brain- he might realizeter what he did wrong.


    But Barnaby? He never even notices.


    Hull stood up, shot Barnaby another icy look. "You didn''t say anything wrong. It''s my fault."


    Barnaby: "???"


    Before he could ask what that meant, Hull was already out the door, clearly going after Susanna.


    Left alone, Barnaby turned to Ss. "I... I really didn''t do anything wrong, right?" Ss just groaned.


    Barnaby pressed on, "Big bro said it was his fault. What did he do wrong?"


    Ss wanted to bang his head on the table. If he was undergoing a trial he''d rather lightning strike him down now than deal with Barnaby''s cluelessness for one more second.


    He patted Barnaby''s shoulder, his tone as sage as it was exasperated. "Finley''s out there in the Mojave, probably turning into beef jerky. Maybe you should join him and think things over."


    Barnaby''s eyes popped wide. “No way! I''m not going to the Mojave!"


    He didn''t even hesitate-no one wanted that godforsaken ce, least of all him.


    Susanna was crouched on the shore, tossing pebbles into the


    ocean. Most of them fell shoni with each miss she got more and


    annoyed.


    Hull found her there, sulking with her bottom lip stuck out.


    He sat down beside her. "Are you mad?"


    Susanna didn''t even look at him. "How would you feel if I went around telling everyone about your size?"


    Hull''s expression darkened instantly.