Page 102 of Shark’s Pride

“Abbigail.” I tilted my head, wordlessly begging her to be serious.

“Sebastian.”

“Goddammit!” I threw both my hands toward the ceiling. “Is that what you really think of me, then? That I could kill another man?”

Her gaze flashed emerald-green fire. “Do not with the righteous indignation, Sebastian Shark. Not with me! I know you’re a ruthless man—but not for all the worst reasons. I know you would do whatever you had to do to protect the people you love, for one thing. And to ensure the success of the empire you’ve built, for another.”

I shoved out a breath through gritted teeth. Those were both true statements, so arguing with her over them was pointless. Didn’t stop an iota of my fury and frustration, which stemmed from the fact that we were having the conversation in the first place.

“If I were the kind of guy who just killed his enemies to make life easier, Blake would’ve been six feet under a long time ago.”

“I know,” she murmured before I was done with the snarl.

“No,” I bit back. “I’m not sure you do.”

“Sebastian—”

“We’re not continuing this conversation.” I pivoted and made my way to the door. “Not here, on this important day. But not at home tonight either.” I said it all with finality and meant it. “No more of this bullshit, Abbigail.”

I reached for the doorknob. She shoved in between me and the portal, her hands already planted on her hips. “This bullshit?” she challenged, borrowing my gritted seethe.

I clenched my jaw. “I believe I made myself clear.”

“Are you saying this as my master now?” She glared at me with a fire in her eyes I’d never seen before. “And so it’s just like that?” She leaned in and narrowed her gaze, a lioness in lavender, all but showing her locked teeth again. “You say how it is, and that’s the end of it? Regardless of how I feel about it?”

I decided to ignore the master jab completely. It would only prolong this debacle, and I was trying to defuse it, believe it or not. “When the subject is whether I’ve really taken a human life and whether you’d really believe a truthful answer from me? Then yeah, that’s it.”

“You know I’d believe you,” she volleyed. “But you also know that it wouldn’t change a single thing about what I feel for you. About how deeply I love you and how thoroughly I’m committed to you.”

I let a huge breath rush from me. But even that, along with dropping my head back and trying to drill an escape route through the ceiling with my gaze, didn’t loosen the barbed wire ball in my belly—and my psyche.

“Sebastian?”

I realigned my head with my shoulders but still didn’t meet the probe of her deep greens. She wanted that visual lock. The ferocity of her energy practically dictated it to me. She wasn’t going to get it.

“We need to get back out and mingle, okay? People will think I’m fucking you in here.”

“Yeah, well, you’ll be lucky to do that in the next month at the rate you’re going.”

As she muttered it, she stomped back over and grabbed her clutch off the desk. Before I could process enough of what she’d said to even summon a rise of anger, she’d smacked the light switch, plunged the office into darkness, and left me behind to fumble after her. Though there were only two steps to the door, I managed to smack my shin on the end of a bookcase, ensuring everyone on her catering prep team got a fast lesson in my finest profanity skills. The woman, already two strappy-heeled strides ahead of me, didn’t even pause.

Her sprint forced me to speed up. I quickly caught her in the hallway between the prep area and the throughway to the construction site. As soon as I had her elbow secured, I spun her back around and pinned her against the wall.

I wasn’t brutal about the actions, though a great deal of my cock begged me to be. I was firm but smooth, directive but not domineering.

But when I tugged at her chin, there were unshed tears in her deep-green eyes.

Tears caused by me.

“Ah, Christ,” I whispered and pushed in closer to her. “Red…baby,” I begged into her ear. “I don’t want to fight with you. Please don’t cry.”

She looked up at me with new glints in her gaze. “My tears used to turn you on,” she said with biting challenge.

“Not when it’s because you’re sad. Never because of that.” I dipped my forehead to hers. This day was moving from hot mess to dumpster fire at frightening speed. “Please. Can we just get through the rest of this event and revisit the subject when we get home?”

“You just said we wouldn’t be discussing it when we get home…”

I pulled back and dropped my chin to my chest. “Okay, cut me some slack here.”