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She bit then released her lower lip and shook her head. “No, I’m probably just over-reacting but…he started following me a few miles back. I didn’t think anything about it, but he kept getting closer and closer to me. I moved, so he could pass, but he didn’t. He just stayed right behind me. No matter if I slowed down or sped up, he kept pace with me. Like my shadow. He didn’t say anything, but every time I looked over my shoulder, he watched me in a way that made me feel…afraid.” Her voice grew thin with dread as she whispered, “I think he liked that I was scared of him.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
“And tell them what? A guy was jogging too close to me?” She knotted her hands together in her lap so hard her knuckles turned white and her shoulders hunched inward. “Plus, the battery in my phone is dead. I forgot to charge it, as usual. Sometimes I can be so stupid. If I had been more careful, none of this would have happened.”
I hated the defeated slump to her shoulders and how hard she was being on herself. “Hey, it’s no big deal. I forget to charge my phone all the time. My best friend says I subconsciously do it on purpose, so I won’t have to talk to people. It’s not the end of the world.”
Her pale cheeks flushed. She took in a deep, shaky breath as she gave me an embarrassed grimace. “I’m sorry, I’m probably overreacting. I have…issues with an ex-boyfriend that have made me a little paranoid. God, that makes me sound even more crazy. Look, it was probably nothing. I’m sorry. And, again, thank you for playing along. I was about to go into a store and see if he followed me, but nothing was open and then I saw you. And you’re so big and scary looking, I knew that if I made it to you, I’d be safe…” Her cheeks flushed an even deeper red, all the way up to her ears. “I’m trying to say that you look like the kind of guy who could keep anyone safe. There’s just this…feeling about you.” Her breathing started to pick up again and she mumbled as she said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said—”
I placed my much bigger hand atop her small ones, stilling her worrying fingers. I needed her to calm down, to help her deal with the adrenaline crash that was no doubt scrambling her brain. Some people got into dangerous situations and were fine afterward; some people got into dangerous situations and their body would dump enormous amounts of adrenaline into their system, causing a type of shock. During my years with the police, I’d dealt with many people who’d survived a trauma and became adept at talking them down.
In my most soothing voice, the one that made the submissives at Club Wicked swoon, I said, “Easy. I’ve got you. You’re safe now. What’s your name?”
My deep, calm voice had its intended effect, and she took a deep breath before saying, “Nora.”
“Nora,” I said back, memorizing it. “My name’s Tyler. Nice to meet you.”
She gave a shaky laugh, but some of the tremors that had been running through her eased. I gave her back a good rub, trying not to notice the delicate, but strong feminine muscles of her back. I was more concerned about the way her heart still pounded fast. I could feel it thumping against my hand. Her trembling started again, and she made a soft—so soft it was almost lost in the crash of the waves—whimper that broke my heart.
I needed to distract her, so I said, “Wanna see my shark bite?”
She blinked at me with watery eyes once, then twice, like a baby owl before saying, “What?”
“Back when I was seventeen, I was surfing out in Hawaii with my dad. It was fantastic, best surfing of my life, right up until a shark decided to try to take a chunk out of my thigh.”
Instantly, her gaze went down to my legs as she said, “Oh my gracious, are you okay?”
I pulled up the still wet edge of my board shorts, revealing my upper thigh to her with its tiny, maybe five-inch circumference, bite. “See, right there.”
Leaning closer, her hair fell over her shoulder as she examined where I pointed, the scent of her making my dick twitch as I willed the fucker to stand down.
“That’s a shark bite?” she asked, her light brown brows lifted high in disbelief, creating wrinkles on her forehead.
“I didn’t say I was bit by an adult shark,” I said with a grin, pulling my shorts back over my thigh.
Her hands flew to her mouth as she began to giggle. “You got bit by a baby shark.”
