Page 17 of Shark’s Pride

She took a turn at the heavy sigh. “Come on, Abs. Just say what you’re thinking.”

“I wish I knew. Honestly. He was out of the country for a long time, and his schedule’s been jam-packed catching up ever since. Also, judging from the blueprints and artist renderings on the conference table, they’re preparing to break ground on the Edge soon.”

“So he’s really going to build it?”

“Looks like it,” I confirmed. “And as strongly as I’ve been tempted to stop and gawk—because the artist renderings look stunning—all I’ve had time for is just stopping and dropping the food.”

This wasn’t normal for me, being emotionally exposed for so many days on end. I wanted all my walls back, and I wanted them now. Not likely with where my mind instantly went, recalling every “stop and drop” I’d made to Bas this week. Fleeting or not and implied “space” or not, I remembered every damn one of those moments. The way his intense stare raked my body. The need clearly painted across his sculpted face. The white-hot energy crackling on the air while I was in the room. It was all branded into me, searing my memory like a lighthouse’s flash across a stormy night sea. So brilliant but desperate. So urgent, yet so perfect.

I’d never been happier about hearing Rio clear her throat. “Well, I know you don’t want my two cents right now…”

“You’re right,” I returned, turning and reaching for her hands. “I need at least a dollar’s worth at this point, Rio.”

She gave my fingers a solid squeeze. “Can I really just shoot straight with you?”

I squeezed back. “Please.”

“For starters…” She dipped a quick nod. “I can tell you’re scared about what’s going on.”

“Scared?” My punctuating pssshhh didn’t cause her to flinch by a millimeter.

“But I don’t think you’re being honest about what’s causing the fear itself,” she insisted.

I responded by repeating, in a harsher croak, “I wouldn’t say I’m…”

She tilted her head harshly. “You wanted the whole dollar. Has Shark tried calling you this week? Or tried texting?”

A tight frown. That so wasn’t the question I expected. “No.”

“All right. Has he made any other attempts to contact you, aside from acknowledging the lunch deliveries?”

Only those lighthouse looks in the office…that felt impossible to describe, even to her.

“No,” I bit out, though more to myself than her.

“And has he come here at all? Camped out on your doorstep for one second?”

I sent over a new scowl. “No, damn it.”

She tick-tocked her head from shoulder to shoulder. “Then from my seat in the bleachers here, this is a boy who decided he liked a girl and then took the time to learn about what she liked and enjoyed. Then the boy used that information to please the girl.”

“You’re making it all sound so simple. So why do I still feel so confused? Like I don’t know which way is up?”

Rio pushed to her feet and circled around to stand face-to-face with me. “Abbi.” She sighed, tears in her eyes. “Be young. Be carefree. Dance in the clouds. Be happy. Stop overthinking everything like a sixty-five-year-old man.”

I groaned while I stood and dropped my head in my hands. “I just didn’t expect falling in love to be such a confusing mess.” I quickly shot my gaze up to meet hers. “Or whatever. You know what I mean!” I dropped my head again, not wanting to see whatever look was coming after my slip.

“Ahhh.” She stroked my hair. “I see now. You thought all these feelings were going to be neat and tidy.”

“They’re not going to be?” I jerked my head up, slanting a challenging smirk. “I mean, they’re mine, right? There should be boundaries. Definitions. I need the damn boundaries, Rio. Does that make sense?”

At once, the woman kicked into full gentle mama mode, swaddling me in a tight hug. “We all know your fondness for boundaries, baby,” she soothed. “Maybe that’s why it made sense that you picked Sebastian for your first time.”

I burrowed my snuffle into her shoulder. “What…does that mean?”

“His walls meant you could keep yours up and they’d go unnoticed. You got to have the fireworks and then leave before the gunpowder sweep-up.”

“Damn,” I finally blurted. “So busted.”