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“Yeah, dead would suck.” I stand up, remove the condom, and pull my boxer briefs, followed by my jeans, up over my hips. I tie up the condom, then look around for somewhere to put it.

Della reaches for one of her bags and pulls out a packet of tissues. She hands me two. “Wrap it in that.”

I do as she says, then shove it in my pocket before offering her my hands. Taking most of her weight, I hoist her to stand. I steal another tissue from the packet and move to clean her up.

“I can do that,” she says, stepping out of reach.

“Della. I just fucked you outside by a swamp and you told me you want me to treat you as free use. Wiping you up after fucking is not a big deal. In fact, it’s intimate. I like it. I like looking after you.”

She sighs. “Really?”

“Babe. You have so much to learn about relationships.”

Della laughs at that. “Because you’re such an expert?”

I step back to her and run the tissue between her legs. “Never been attacked by a shark either, but I know you’re supposed to punch it in the nose.”

“Actually, the eyes and gills are considered more effective targets. The snout is sensitive, but attempting to strike it puts your hands unnecessarily close to the mouth.”

I stare at her for a heartbeat, before I tug up her clothes and button her waistband. “See? This is why we work. Between the two of us, that shark is fucked.”

Della looks at me and then bursts out laughing. And I love the happy sound. Which reminds me, I don’t want another second to pass by without me knowing how to get hold of her.

“Give me your phone. I want to put my number in it.”

“I’d like that.” Della reaches for her bag and rummages inside before unlocking it and handing it to me.

I add my name and number, then loop back and put a red heart after my name, you know, just as a reminder, in case she’s ever confused about what she’s coming to mean to me. Then, I send myself a quick message from her phone.

She smiles when I hand it back to her. “Your number is a palindrome.”

“A what-indrome?”

“A palindrome. It’s a word, or in this case, a series of numbers, that can be read the same way backward and forward. More specifically, it’s a palindromic number.”

“Huh. I just thought it was a cool pattern. Didn’t know it had a fancy word.” She slips her phone away. “Ready to gather some more samples or whatever else you were planning to do while you were here?”

“I suppose I should.” She shifts to pick up her bags.

“I suggest not from around here, though. Would hate any of my jizz to end up in your samples.”

She turns to face me. “What would you want to do, Sunny? When it comes to sex? With me.”

Della looks a little nervous, and my heart does that weird thing, like it wants to climb out of my chest and beat in hers. “I want to do everything you want to try, Indy. And I promise you, it’ll be enough.”

20

DELLA

“My dean threatened me to lock down my findings here,” I tell him as we walk, once we’re dressed again. I’m in a state of disbelief that I’m actually here and that Sunny is holding my hand.

“He did? Why?” Sunny looks at me in a way that makes me feel special. Like I have his full attention. And the full-attention thing is new. At best, I only had ten percent of my father’s attention. My siblings are too busy with their mega careers to give me their attention. And Lord knows that, half the time, my students are on their phones or flirting with someone sitting in their row.

“My college is in a financial mess. The maintenance costs for our old buildings are getting out of hand. The bursar turns down twice as many requests for new equipment as he accepts. And the dean got an offer from a developer to make a substantial donation if everyone, specifically me, agrees to not put any papers out that are critical of development.”

“Development here? Or development, in general?”

I sigh. “I asked but got a weird answer. Their name is Velaro Coastal Group, but they have a virtually nonexistent footprint. I need to spend time trying to figure out who they are. A quick search didn’t reveal much beyond news articles about some of their developments. And I’m too scared to go on the dark web. In fact, I wouldn’t even know how to get there. Do you literally type dark web into a browser and mosey on over there?”