Page 46 of Shark’s Rise

I yanked away and sat up. “Are you joking?” I retorted. “You really have to be joking, right? Because you really have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Please don’t get all worked up ag—”

“You haven’t been here, Sebastian. You have no concept of what this has been like for me. My business isn’t here. My family isn’t here. Despite that, I’ve tried it your way—but now this bullshit has run its course. I can’t use your reasons any longer. Do you see that?”

“Give me a few days. Can we just agree on that? A few days to get security around the house in place. I would feel so much better.”

“Three days,” I agreed but then added, “At the most.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Miss Gibson.” He kissed the end of my nose. “How do you feel? Do you think you could eat something? Broth? A smoothie?”

I thought about it for a moment while I snuggled back into the pillows. All of our…activities…were quickly catching up with me. “Maybe some toast?” But when he started to get up, I hung on for dear life. “You don’t have to get it. Dori gave me her cell number. I can just text her, and she will bring it.” I held up my phone to show him we didn’t have to leave the bed. “Please stay with me. Just a little bit longer.”

But the infernal man swung his legs over the edge to pull on his boxers and pants. “I’ll be back soon,” he promised. “I need to go talk to Elijah about the new plan. He’s got to make arrangements if we’re all going home.”

“All right. For that, I can excuse you.” I grinned, knowing I sounded like a full-blown queen, issuing orders to her loyal subjects.

“Well, thank you kindly, my lady.” He leaned over and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll send Dori in with your toast.”

He buttoned up his shirt and ran his fingers through his hair. The man was so damn gorgeous. It was still hard to believe he was mine. And now we were going to have a little boy running around with his good looks and charm. And between the two of us, one hell of a defiant attitude. I don’t know why I had such a strong premonition that it was a boy growing in my belly, but for some reason, I was almost positive it was.

“I hope our little boy has your dark hair, and not this…” I flipped the ends of my unruly mane up with a scowl.

“Little boy, huh? Are you sure about that? I think it may be a girl. And she’d be beautiful with that flaming red hair, just like you.”

“Well, we have a while to wait, so we can come up with a good wager to see who’s right.” I grinned, just thinking about all the exciting things that were in store. It wasn’t all going to be feeling like crap and worried about keeping food and water down.

“Hey, what would you think about bringing Dori back to LA with us? You seem to get along with her really well. You haven’t really bonded with any of the current staff at the Calabasas house the same way you seem to have with her.”

I thought about it but then frowned. “We can’t just ask her to uproot her life, Sebastian.”

“Well, it couldn’t hurt to ask. You never know. I mean really, Red, think about it. What does a place like this have to offer a young woman? She could live in the pool house if she doesn’t want to stay in the staff wing. Or until she can afford something of her own.”

I thought about how nice it had been to have Dori around. Her easygoing nature was so much more relaxed than the stuffy, formal staff Bas had around his house now. Other than Craig, I always felt like I was just “visiting” in their eyes. I probably served as their current wager topic. Everyone place your bets; how long until Mr. Shark tires of this one?

“I’ll ask her, and I’ll send her in with some toast. You rest. You gave me a workout.”

I smiled and watched him leave the room, feeling a glimmer of actual contentment for the first time in months.

Chapter Eight

Sebastian

Three days.

Seventy-two hours.

Forty-three percent of a week.

That was all I was given to get enough security into place for my comfort level with Abbigail’s homecoming.

Which, of course, wasn’t enough time—so saying I felt uneasy about the situation, even while guiding her out of the villa hand-in-hand with me, was the understatement of the century.

In the long run, there were a few factors that did help. Elijah had sweet-talked the whole security team from the Twentynine Palms property to transfer with us, so Abbi was reasonably at ease with them. A bonus: many of them already hailed from LA and knew the city well. On that end, details were transitioning as smoothly as could be expected.

Bonus number two: Dori agreed to come along too, as I suspected once I quoted the monetary incentive involved. Additionally, she had no family or other outlying commitments to keep her in the desert. The cheerful girl seemed excited about a change of lifestyle. She was happy to help Abbi pack everything up, and they were both ready to go when Joel pulled up with the car.

Dr. Landon gave the travel approval, saying the two days’ worth of IV fluids had been the perfect boost for Abbi’s hydration and energy levels. She asked Abbi to ensure her chosen provider contact her office for her clinical notes, and I watched Dori tap out a note on her own smart pad. When I pulled the young woman off to the side later to ask her what she was keeping on the pad, she told me she was just making a list of things that needed to be handled when we got to LA.