Page 75 of Shark’s Pride

A smile lifted my lips, despite my hit of nostalgia for the glory of the changing trees back home. My mom had always said peoples’ lives were like the seasons. They changed. Things within them transformed. Grew. Matured. But while they altered on the surface, the important stuff stayed the same underneath. That felt like a good descriptor of where I was right now. Changing seasons. And the more I thought about it, the more I was perfectly fine with the idea.

Once inside the enormous front door, I looked around for Sebastian. While I’d been sure I’d beat him here, it was clear he had actually proved good to his word and left the office early. His presence was practically a touchable force on the air. I breathed in, savoring the lingering notes of his cedarwood cologne along with the fresh orchids that graced the middle of the foyer table.

He usually lounged back by the pool if he was home, but I couldn’t bring myself to walk out to the lawn and deck by myself. Not yet.

It was a relief to find him just beyond the open sliders that made up most of the far wall, bustling around in the outdoor kitchen area. He was mixing a pitcher of sangria and blending his soft humming with the quiet twilight air.

Correction. He was humming most of the tune, which sounded like Sam Smith’s most recent release, though I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure. He only knew part of the lyrics. The parts he didn’t know, he hummed.

He was so damn cute—and so unspeakably beautiful.

And yes, that was the only term that perfectly fit him in this moment. I really couldn’t speak. I almost cried. After holding up through the bizarre turns of last night as well as every damn pressure of today without a drop rolling down my cheeks, this sight would be my breaking point. This man. The soft spell of his voice. The perfect strength of his presence.

The sublime joy of knowing he was mine.

Especially when he turned a little and noticed me standing there. A brilliant smile breached the sensual angles of his lips, and his eyes lit up in cobalt glory. That was a good thing, since I’d likely have fixated on the rest of him otherwise. Black track pants hung low on his toned hips, giving me a wonderful eyeful of the muscled vee leading to his groin.

“Hey, Red.”

“Hey there,” I somehow managed to blurt. Damn, he was glorious. My fingers ached to explore his body.

He grinned with cocky confidence, watching me closely. Could he read my lustful thoughts that easily? After rounding the bar and coming to where I stood, he grabbed my hips and pulled me tight against him.

“Welcome home.” He kissed me without any other words getting in the way. He mastered my mouth in seconds, his tongue seeking and taunting, tangling and twisting with mine. I instantly wished there weren’t any clothes between us. His sure movements spiked my blood and raced my heart. He kneaded the soft flesh at my waist, dipping just beneath the waistband of my pants, as though he just needed a small rub of my warm skin beneath his fingertips. And the way it instantly pebbled for him in return.

“My God,” I whispered when we separated, touching my lips to ensure they were still intact. “That’s the way I want to be welcomed home every single day.”

“Deal.”

He moved in again and planted a kiss beneath my ear. I moaned and gripped the bulges of his shoulders. God, they felt nice—but as he nipped my earlobe, my grip slipped to his defined forearms. Okay, so those felt even better.

His muscles flexed under my greedy clutch as he murmured, “Can I pour you a drink?”

I schooled my grin long enough to answer, “Yes, please.” I didn’t hide the journey of my gaze down to his swollen crotch while he poured me a tall glass of the wine he’d just mixed up.

“Guess I should’ve asked if you like sangria first,” he said while handing me the punch-filled glass.

“I’ve learned I like pretty much everything you do, Mr. Shark.”

“And that was definitely the right answer, Ms. Gibson.”

I interrupted our exchange of smirks to take a sip of the beverage. “Oh, this is fantastic.” I took a more enthusiastic drink but not just because of how delicious the wine was. “How was the rest of your day?”

“Much the same,” he answered while pulling a plate of skewered meat from the refrigerator. “And yours? How did the delivery go?”

I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t. Because he’d taken the meat and walked out to the grill with it. The grill…located between here and the pool. Which, technically, wasn’t a pool right now.

“Abbigail?” As soon as Bas’s voice registered for me again, I knew it wasn’t his first iteration. “Talk to me. You okay?”

I set down my drink, realizing I was close to dropping the whole thing. “B-Bas?” I pointed to the water. Well, lack of it. “What’s going on?”

With a tight expression, he covered the meat. “Yeah. About that…”

“About that?” I laughed—or intended to, at least. But this maniacal sound escaped instead. “The water’s been completely drained?” I ended with a stunned gape. The pebble-bottomed crater looked unnatural in the middle of the backyard’s landscaped perfection.

Sebastian pulled in a long breath. Released a longer one. “So maybe we should do this now.”

“Do…what?”