Page 78 of Shark’s Pride

“Someone’s been here, Abbigail. Twice now. There’s a damn good chance they know you live here now too. That means that if someone is trying to hurt me, they’ll try to twist the dagger in more by hurting you. It’s the oldest trick in the book.”

His next actions were surreal. Any other day, any other surrounding circumstance, it would have looked like something else was about to happen. Every girl’s dream come true…

Sebastian dropped to one knee in front of where I sat. He took a deep, fortifying breath and reached for my hands, gripping them so tightly in his own, I winced. Whatever he was about to say was going to be intense.

“Will you consider taking time off from Abstract so I can ensure your safety?”

I jerked my hands away and retracted my head equally as abruptly. “Be serious…”

“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.”

“Then you know how serious I am, as well. I’m a business owner and operator, Sebastian. I don’t have the luxury of a sick day, let alone an undefined sabbatical waiting for your ‘all clear’ decree.” The last of it sounded bratty, if not outright insolent, but I felt backed into a corner. “I know you’re feeling out of control right now, Bas, but putting me in a gilded cage isn’t going to solve the bigger issue here.” I stroked his cheek to try to soften the blow of my rejection.

“Is that what you really think?” He moved in tighter, taking up every inch of my personal space and making it even harder to breathe…to think. “That I’m using this as some kind of a control move?”

I moved my head to the side, deliberately avoiding his beauty. “There’s not a lot about this situation you can control right now,” I said softly. “And maybe you’re using my ‘safety’ as a way to rectify that.” Before his answering growl could get too far, I rushed on. “These bastards have come onto your property twice—and those are the times that you know of. In broad daylight, I might add. It would seem it’s not safe here either.”

“I wasn’t planning on you staying here.”

I snapped my sights back up to him. Correction. My total glare. “Excuse me?”

“Calm down, baby. I’m not talking about Siberia.”

I widened my gape. He actually started grinning, as if giving the idea more consideration.

“You don’t get to consider anything.” I jolted back to my feet and stalked back toward the pergola. “Do you get that? You don’t get to move me around like a pawn on a chessboard, Sebastian.” I folded my arms and hunched my shoulders. “Not now. Not ever.”

“I will if it means keeping you safe.”

Cradling my face in my hands, I muttered loud enough for him to hear, “You’re crazy.”

“I’m in love with you.”

I kept my face covered with my hands while his words sank in. One beat. Two. At last, I spun back around. Lifted my face clear of my fingers. “What did you just say?”

He was waiting for me—so ready with his sapphire eyes. The intensity of the hue matched the emotion in his voice. The combination of the two nearly took me to my knees.

“I’m in love with you. I will do whatever I have to do to ensure you are safe, even if that means tying you down somewhere with guards posted outside or handcuffing you to my own body. If it means knowing where you are all day and night, so help me God, I will do it. Until I find out who is trying to fuck with me, I will not lose you as collateral damage.” He had covered the distance between us so the last words were said with his two large hands on either side of my face.

I opened my mouth. Snapped it shut. When I finally summoned speech again, all I could manage was one utterance.

“S-Sebastian.”

“Do you understand me?”

“But…but there has to be a more reasonable way.”

“Do you understand me, Abbigail?”

All I could do was shake my head in disbelief. How had my seemingly simple life turned into this? I squeezed my eyes shut, trying desperately to organize my thoughts while keeping the tears that were coming hard and fast from spilling out and down my cheeks.

Fail. Big, fat, emotional fail.

Each time I thought I knew what to say to get through to him, I’d pull up short when I met his fixed cobalt stare.

“Do you understand me, Abbigail?”

“Yes,” I finally croaked. “It’s becoming quite clear.”