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“You mean to tell me you’ve done this before?” I raked both hands through my hair, raining ocean. “Fucking hell, Neri.”
“Of course.” She shrugged. “That’s how the sharks know to find us.”
“What?” I laughed under my breath. “That’s insane. They’re an apex predator. They don’t seek out human company, just like we don’t—”
“They’re not violent, Aslan. They’re mostly gentle and super intelligent.” Linking her hands, she murmured, “There’s a woman who’s been diving with sharks her entire life. She noticed so many had hooks that one day, she decided to remove one. After the initial shock wore off for the shark, it came back for pets and to say thank you. Without fail, that shark always turns up whenever she dives, visiting her and showing its gratitude, and...it also told others what she did. Just like the ones I’ve helped have told others on this reef.”
I paced in front of her, my mind racing. “I don’t believe this. I thought—”
“Sharks seek out remora fish to eat the parasites off their skin. This is the same thing. Is it so hard to believe that they know the sound of the boats that help them? That they’ll come for help, knowing we’ll give it?”
I stopped pacing, glowering at her. “How many hooks have you removed?”
She grinned. “Only twenty-two so far but the other woman, Cristina Zenato, has removed over three hundred.”
“Twenty-two—” My voice caught. “Twenty-two times you’ve put your hands in a monster’s mouth.” Stalking into her, I grabbed her wrists and looked at her hands. Such delicate, fragile hands. “You expect me to believe that your parents allow you to do that? That they don’t dress you in chainmail and forbid you from going near a shark?”
“It was Mum who helped me with the first one,” Neri whispered, her ice-blue eyes darkening. “I’m fine, Aslan. I know you were worried, and I probably should’ve waited until you were back onboard before doing it, but...I wanted to share it with you.” Her voice turned husky. “Having you dive with me...I never thought that would happen. I know I didn’t really give you an option to say no this morning but...I want to tell you how much it meant to me. To share that world with you. The world where I most belong. To show you that your family is safe down there, amongst all that magic and colour.”
“Neri, I—”
The air suddenly crackled around us. My heart beat thickly.
It was a mistake to touch her while my rage flowed. I shouldn’t have grabbed her when all instincts screamed to protect her...from herself.
Having her sway toward me. Having her eyes scream an invitation. My anger quickly exploded into lust.
Pulling her into me, I pressed her hands against my bare stomach. My wet black boxer-briefs clung to my cock, revealing how hard I was, how fucking desperate I’d become to prove to myself that she was okay. She wasn’t hurt. She wasn’t gone.
“You have no idea what you do to me, askim.”
Her fingers flexed against my belly as her gaze locked on my straining erection. “Oh, I think I have some idea.”
“No.” I shook my head, my heart swimming with black desire. “You don’t.”
Her gaze lingered on my mouth.
She sucked in a thin breath.
Electricity flared painfully between us.
“Show me then,” she whispered.
I stiffened. I did my best to let go of her wrists. “Not here. Not with the tourists so close and so soon after last night.”
“Last night was our wedding.”
“You were also rape—”
“Don’t,” she seethed. “Don’t ever utter that word again. Nothing happened to me last night apart from the most incredible thing.” Stepping into me, she coiled her arms around my waist, pressing her belly against my hardness.
I flinched and sucked in a groan. “Nerida...I’m warning you. I’m not in the right headspace to be gentle. You’ve infuriated me by putting yourself in harm’s way. You made me watch while you put your hand inside a horror show of teeth. You pushed me overboard for fuck’s sake—”
“So take that anger out on me. Show me how I made you feel.”
“Neri...don’t push me.”
“Aslan, give in.”
“Not today—”
“Yes, today.” Her hand wriggled between us and wrapped around my cock.
“Shit.” I buckled over, fisting her wrist again, trying to stop her but traitorously pressing her palm harder against me. “You drive me insane.”
“Show me.”
“I can’t. I refuse to hurt you.”
“You won’t hurt me.”
“In my current state, I can’t guarantee that.”
She trembled and bit her bottom lip. “Don’t you see what that does to me, Aslan? If you touched me, you’d know how wet I am.”
A stream of Turkish curses escaped me as my cock rippled with need. Her fingers stroked me up and down, my hold on her wrist not stopping her in the slightest.
This was torture.
Mental and physical torture.
I’d snap soon.
And when I did, I’d terrify her and prove just how much I was holding back last night. Just how much being inside her made all the dark and dangerous parts of me come out to play. I might strive to be better than what I was born to be. I might choose kindness over cruelty, but when it came to her...I forgot who I was supposed to be. I forgot all my promises. I forgot everything good and kind and became everything bad and nasty.
