Page 45 of Shark’s Rise

Oh, but then I did.

From the moment he leaned forward and licked my neck, just under my ear. It was the perfect place; the one spot that aroused me more than any other spot on my body. Sebastian knew that, too.

When he added some fast but sharp bites to the effort, I was gone.

At once, every inch of my sex squeezed around his shaft. Then harder. Harder still.

Sebastian groaned low in his throat. “Yesss, baby, that’s it. Feels so…fucking…good.”

“Oh, God.” I kneaded the comforter like bread dough, focusing on the motion so I didn’t start bucking against him. “Oh…I’m going to…”

“Yeah, you are. Come on my cock, Abbigail. Fuck me, baby. Yes! Goddammit, just like that!” His stiffness jerked inside me. When he moaned again, he dug his fingers into my hips with bruise-inducing intensity. I didn’t care. All of them would be so damn worth it. So damn worth it. “Can you feel me, baby?” he husked in a voice spun of lusty shadows and dark desires. “Do you feel me coming so deep inside you?”

“I do, Bas,” I said with wonder. “I do. That’s amazing. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”

He backed out and thrust back in only an inch or two, milking the last bit of his climax. When he’d pulled out altogether, he tumbled onto the bed with an incredulous laugh. At once, he pulled me down beside him. We were a sweaty, sated bundle of limp limbs and colliding heartbeats, coming down from someplace higher than the summit of Everest. Kind of an odd metaphor, considering we were in the middle of the California Desert—and that I was barely capable of remembering my own name at the moment.

“That was…that was…”

“Hmmm. Yesss?” Bas teased. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

I stroked up and down the arm that was wrapped protectively around my middle. “Let’s just say that you never cease to amaze me.”

He laughed into the base of my neck, but not for long. “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice full of gentle concern. “That wasn’t too much? Or too rough?” Since he was lying behind me, I couldn’t see his expression, but I could picture it clearly in my mind. All the troubled frown lines…

“Bas, I’m pregnant, not injured,” I insisted. “I will let you know if something hurts or is uncomfortable, I promise.”

“I know you mean that. Thank you.”

I didn’t bother with returning the protocol. There were important things to discuss right now—first and foremost, securing his agreement about my return to LA. That was going to best be done face-to-face, so I turned over—but damn it, the IV tubing got tangled around something on the bed frame and yanked my arm back.

“Ugghh!” I groaned.

“Just hold on a sec,” Sebastian ordered. “Before you pull this out.”

His distraction with the tubing was my sickroom version of a golden egg. As he worked the line free, I went ahead and stated, “When these twenty-four hours are done, I’m going home with you.”

“So you’ve said.” Since he was leaning over me, it was easy to see the little pinches at the corners of his mouth.

“Good,” I said, lifting just high enough to kiss both of them. “It’s settled, then.”

The pinches snaked inward, and he compressed his lips tightly. “Do we have to start this again? So soon? I mean, I’d be happy to fuck the sass out of you again if you push me.”

“Oh.” I giggled. “Is that what that was?”

“Mmmm. Maybe? But in all seriousness, I’ve got a meeting downtown about some changes to the Edge’s parking garage layout. I have to go back tonight. And you, have to stay on that”—he motioned to the IV—“and also see Dr. Landon tomorrow afternoon. So you need to hold tight here for a few more days at least, baby.”

I flattened my own lips but waited for him to settle back against the pillow before I seethed with words again. “You remember that scenario about me hiking across Joshua Tree?”

He huffed. “Abbigail—”

“Once Dr. Landon takes this thing out of my arm, I’m leaving, Bas. Period.”

“All right, all right. Let’s not be ridiculous.”

I jumped my brows at him. “Because it wasn’t ridiculous to make me come out here in the first place?”

“A decision made in love, damn it—before fate even gave us this treasure.” He flattened his hand across my belly and pressed in until our faces were an inch apart. “Are you listening to what I’m saying to you, Abbigail? Because I’m listening to you. And I do understand all your reasons for wanting to go back to Los Angeles. I wish you’d look at things from my side, though. And I don’t think you’re even trying.”