AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Samuel’s grin broadens. “Now, you should be afraid.”
* * *
“We come here every winter to watch the whales,” Eden says, standing on the sandy beach in front of their holiday house at Victor Harbor. They have built sandcastles with Rose for the past hour. It may be springtime, but Victor Harbor is south of Adelaide, and the wind is considerably colder.
“The sharks don’t bother them?” Samuel asks and wraps his arms over his chest, thankful for the sweater Eden suggested he pack. He feels the cold even more after living in the rainforest for almost a decade. His thoughts wander to the fact he has minimal fat on his frame, but he pushes it out of his mind.
“Does the ocean scare you?”
He wants to say no and be the man Eden knew in Ulara, only his anxiety has attributed to fearing things that normally wouldn’t concern him. “Everything in your sea has the potential to kill.” He knows as he did extensive research before boarding his flight.
Eden’s eyebrows arch above her beautiful eyes. “You find the ocean more of a threat than living in the jungle?”
“Hmm… sharks, bluebottles, blue-ringed octopus, box jellyfish, white stinging sea ferns, flower urchins, stonefish, and let’s not forget stingrays. Then if I avoid the ocean for safety sake, I’m met with some of the most poisonous snakes in the world… the redback spider, funnel web spider, crocodiles, cassowaries, which I’ve recently learned about, and…” he emphasizes, “… a sunburned country with one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.” He shakes his head. “I must have been delusional to leave the safety of the jungle.”
“The jungle is hardly safe, Samuel.”
Samuel widens his eyes. “Will you protect me?”
“Please, most of those creatures are on the East Coast or up north. I squish redback spiders all the time, and I never swim deep enough to be shark bait.”
“Shark bait,” he mumbles. “God, please don’t tell me you stomp redback spiders with your bare feet?”
“No. At least they’re not hairy like tarantulas, and we don’teatthem.” She cups his cheek with her hand. “You have nothing to fear.” She winks at him. “I’ve got your back.”
“I wish it to be true,” he murmurs.
She gives him a puzzled look.
How can he be honest with Eden when he’s not being truthful with himself?
“Come on, let’s go up and shower before dinner. I hope Rose goes to sleep early so you and I can have some fun.”
“Fun is why I came to Australia. The country of fun.”
Eden chuckles at his response.
They both take Rose’s hands and give her a chance to walk aided before he scoops her up in his arms.
“Dad-da.” She taps his chin, and he pretends to bite her fingers. Rose giggles, and the sound warms his heart.
“How long have you been searching for poisonous animals on the internet?” she whispers.
“Too long,” he mutters. “I was looking for something to amuse myself while you were at work.”
“You surprise me, considering how fearless you were in Ulara.” Samuel gives her a sideways glance, and her face drops. “Sorry. I know you’re not yourself since...”
“I’m orientating myself to the surroundings as I did in the rainforest. And I’ll need to treat patients if they’re bitten by one of the hundred thousand killer creatures lurking,” he adds quickly.
“So, you’re being proactive in your research.”
“Right.”
Eden jumps in front of him before he can respond. “Tonight, I’ll remind you why you’re here.”
* * *
Eden gently closes the door to where Rose sleeps. A quiet click is the only noise he hears. Closing the magazine where he was blindly flipping pages, he moves so Eden can sit beside him on the couch. Only she straddles him, her mouth covers his, and the kiss escalates quickly. “Let’s take this to the bedroom,” she murmurs against his lips.
