Shark’s Rise: Shark’s Edge: Book Three

by ANGEL PAYNE

  “Look at me, baby.” He brushed a reverent kiss to my forehead. “You’re not dreaming.” To each eyelid. “I’m here.” Then the tip of my nose. “I’ve come to visit you. I’m here…”

  Dream Sebastian covered my mouth with his. Ohhh damn, his kiss was as good as my real man’s—especially when he coaxed my lips apart with his own, thrust his tongue inside, and hungrily swallowed my needy cry of passion.

  “Don’t be cruel,” I snarled once he released me. “I can’t take it anymore! Not today.”

  “Little Red,” he growled into my ear, just before nibbling the lobe. “Open your beautiful green eyes for me. Silly, silly, girl.”

  I chanced a peek—but just a quick one. If I were dreaming, I’d be able to sink right back into all the euphoria of him. All the sensual, beautiful glory of him…

  Yet there he was. Smiling down on me with the full force of his dazzling grin. Kissing me on one cheek, then up and over my nose to the other. Holy shit. It was really him. He was actually in my room at the safe house—in Godforsaken Twentynine Palms!

  He leaned up only far enough to frame my temples with his elegant fingers. He mellowed the grin to a smirk before whispering one word.

  “Hi.”

  One word—that was more than enough for me.

  Within seconds, sobs burst from every corner of my body and soul. I wrapped my entire body around him. I held on so tightly, neither one of us could inflate our lungs. The emotional breakdown wasn’t just because I missed him, although that was a large part of it. There were so many things represented by each tear from my eyes, each shudder down my body, each desperate inhalation and exhalation.

  “Hey. Heeeey. Baby, ssshhh.” He hitched up a little higher and looked at me thoroughly. “What’s all this?”

  I shook my head, hopefully communicating that I needed a second. Maybe more than one. All in all, it took several minutes to expunge all my pent-up emotions, but the purge was past necessary. So much shit had built up inside me over the past week. With Elijah being so terse with me, I couldn’t very well open up to him about all the scenarios I’d been creating in my mind. All the feelings that had been eating at my confidence, slowly eroding the foundation Bas and I had worked so hard to build.

  Finally, I sniffled—fine, it was more of a deep snot suction—causing Sebastian to let me go and dig into his pocket.

  “No,” I blurted when he offered me a handkerchief. “I’ll ruin it,” I croaked pathetically.

  “Goddammit. Take it, Abbigail. I want you to ruin it.” He thrust the linen square toward me again, inserting a gruff laugh. “I see your stubbornness is still in full force. Elijah wasn’t joking.”

  “Fuck Elijah!” I shouted. And meant it completely.

  “Wait. Tell me how you really feel.” He chuckled again.

  “I’m really beginning to hate him, you know?”

  Bas heaved out a sigh. “You don’t ‘hate’ him, baby.”

  “No; I’m pretty sure I hate him. When he’s not treating me like a child, he’s barking at me like a prisoner. He goes back and forth between the two, and I abhor them both. I’ve done nothing to deserve this!”

  Seemingly in one movement, he rolled over, pushed his back against the headboard, and pulled me onto his lap. His grinning lips disappeared into the loose hair around my shoulders. “God damn, I’ve missed the smell of you,” Sebastian growled lowly and nuzzled through my tresses to the skin of my neck. “The taste of you…”

  As he explored behind my ear with his warm, slick tongue, every corner of my pussy started tremoring…aching.

  “Basssss.” I tilted my head to give him better access to the length of my neck. This plan was so much better than getting pissed off about Elijah.

  “I need to be inside you, Abbigail.” In another graceful motion, he moved me from his lap and then stood from the bed. With his dark eyes fixed on me with predatory hunger, he began undressing. His pace was efficient and purposeful but still erotic as hell. Skillful fingers made light work of the buttons of his shirt and tab of his belt. His pants were gone in moments after that. Like always, he was simply taking care of details on his way to me. I never wanted him to change.

  “Undress. I need to see your bare cunt. Now. I haven’t been able to sleep at night without you by my side.” He palmed himself through his boxer briefs. “Without feeling you on my cock before we sleep.”

  He rubbed himself harder when I knelt up tall and slowly removed my top and bra. His nostrils flared with each breath he inhaled. His voice was a low vibration more than a sound. “I need to taste your pussy on my tongue, my lips,” he growled out. “To smell your perfect scent deep in my nose after I’ve had my face between your legs.”

  Holy shit, did the man know how to make up for lost time. And I was so damn grateful.

  I showed him so by sliding my hands down my torso. Then farther.

  His throat rippled. My heartbeat doubled.

  In one quick action, he scooped me off the bed and planted me on my feet before him.

  “Now you may continue undressing, Red.”

  After regaining my bearings, I hooked my thumbs into my panties. Began sliding them down, but then I halted. Totally on purpose.

  I smiled.

  Sebastian didn’t.

  He shot his black stare to mine. His wordless challenge was like the pull of the moon on my body’s helpless waves. I was speechless, completely transfixed with his body’s reaction to my playful seduction. The power he’d unknowingly handed me was heady.

  “You want me?” I whispered. “You want this?” I slid my palms inward and then dove one hand beneath my underwear’s thin waistband. I paused to lift my taunting gaze to his, then slid my middle finger between my folds.

  And moaned.

  Then again.

  “Abbigail.” His tone was husky and full of warning, but I was empowered by the lust in his gaze. “Pull your panties down to your thighs and leave them there.”

  In an effort to push him further, I hesitated to follow his dictate.

  “Do it!”

  I slid the skimpy fabric halfway down my legs like he ordered and looked at him again through half-lidded eyes.

  “Spread your legs as far as your little undies will allow. Yeah, Little Red. Just like that.” He continued to fist himself from balls to crown. “Farther, Abbi. Let me see more. Oh, fuck me, you’re hot…standing there like that.”

  I swallowed hard. “Hot? That’s a bit pot and kettle right now, Mr. Shark.”

  He jerked up one side of his full mouth, vaguely acknowledging my compliment. The bastard had the most perfect penis in the state and knew it, damn it. With equal insolence, he murmured, “Have you been touching yourself while we’ve been apart?”

  I dropped my gaze. I couldn’t look at him after that damn question. Nevertheless, I shook my head. I’d been too sad, too mad, or just not feeling well enough to be aroused. Until now, at least.

  Sebastian shifted his stance. He was leaning closer to me but still not close enough to touch. So maddening, yet so mesmerizing. But I was pretty sure he knew that too. The raw edge of his voice said as much.

  “In that case, I have a special project in mind for you, girl.”

  I gulped even harder. Now I really couldn’t speak.

  “Slide one of your fingers up into your cunt,” he issued. “Do it as if it’s turned into my cock.” As soon as the words were out, he jolted me by thudding down to both knees. As he dropped into the thick pile, he lined up his stare directly with my spread sex. With the hole where I worked my finger inside my trembling body.

  Bas reached for the fabric of my panties and yanked them to my knees then, growling with admiration.

  “Oh, fuck, yes,” he groaned. I was tempted to echo him, but he said then, “Look at you, Abbigail. So juicy and pink and tight. You need to see this too. Do it, baby. Lean forward. Come and look at what you’re doing to yourself.”

  “Oh.” I finally got it out while complying with his d
emand. “Oh…God.”

  “Such a good girl.” Bas sat back on his heels. His own self-pleasuring infused the air with erotic slicks that mingled with our heavy breaths. “Such a naughty, sexy girl. Keep finger-fucking yourself. And keep watching. Don’t look away. I want you to see every gorgeous thrust.”

  “Baaassss!” My wetness coated my fingers down my knuckles. For a second, I dared to lift my head and search his face. He was riveted to where my hand was buried inside my pussy. I’d never seen anything more stunning in my entire life.

  “Push another finger in,” he gritted out.

  “A…what?”

  “You heard me, Abbi. Do it.”

  “No. I—I don’t think I…”

  “Yes,” he demanded. “You can.”

  “Please, Sebastian. I want you to…” I stopped abruptly with his motion toward me. Still on his knees in front of me, he scooted closer until he was inches in front of me.

  “Keep your finger inside that tight pussy,” Bas demanded while yanking my panties down around my ankles and then tapped the one so I would step out, freeing my leg. “Good girl. Spread wider for me.”

  From my ankle, my ruthless lover scraped his fingernails up the inside of my leg and left a tingling trail of red scratch marks as he went. When his fist bumped mine, still buried in my wet heat, I made to move out of his way until he barked, “Stay there!”

  He ran his index finger through the slickness and brought it to his lips while meeting my fascinated stare. He sucked on his finger, tasting my arousal on his skin. I studied his lush mouth with open envy. Lust and need hit me in fresh waves. I moaned in shameless abandon. Holy shit, I needed some relief. Right freaking now.

  I started circling my thumb around my clit. Then even harder. The throbbing bud had become too much to ignore. My desire was too exigent to deny.

  “Stop.”

  “Wh-What?”

  “You heard me,” he spat. “I said stop.”

  “B-B-Bas!” I implored. “Come on! I’m desperate here. Please!”

  “We’ll get there, baby.”

  Bastard! He actually smirked when saying it. But the look, like everything else about this perfect reunion, was filled with sensual determination.

  So was what he did next.

  With his dark eyes fixed on my spread pussy, he slid his index finger up inside me. Yes, right alongside mine. Yes, as far as he could.

  “Holy shit.”

  I gasped and writhed. The added fullness was exquisite. And when I bent forward and looked this time, the erotic vision that waited was enough to make my legs weak.

  “Oh, my God. Oh, my God, Bas! It’s…it’s…”

  “What, Abbigail?” His voice was rich yet sharp, an aural version of expensive whiskey. “Tell me, girl.”

  I rocked my head back, unable to look anymore. I wanted to focus on the cataclysm of sensations taking over my sex. “Feels…so good…”

  “You’re so warm inside here. So tight and wet. Fuck, baby. My dick is so hard for you right now.”

  A spasm took over my whole body. “Ooohhhh,” I moaned.

  “Help me, baby,” Bas encouraged. “Help me finger-fuck you into the best orgasm you’ve ever had. Let’s make you come apart, Abbigail. Then I’m going to stuff you so full of my cock, you won’t be able to see straight.”

  “Sebastian! Stop! It’s happening so fast. I’m…I’m going to come!”

  “Yeah, you are, Red. All over our hands. Then you can taste yourself on my fingers.”

  He rammed his hand in harder, pushing mine along with his. Fuck! It felt so good. I’d never be able to masturbate on my own after this experience. The orgasm was building in my belly, a tidal wave of erotic ecstasy. My pores were flooded with heat. My mind was drowning in delirium.

  “I’m going to come. Bas, I’m going…I’m…I can’t…it’s too much…shit…Bas!” At my warning, he leaned in and sucked my clit between his lips, flicking his wicked tongue over the hard button. A beautiful black curtain descended over my senses. I stuttered for air as wave after wave of electrifying pulses surged through my limbs and across my chest. I swore I even felt my eyelashes tingle! My knees buckled, and I crumbled into Sebastian’s arms.

  He whisked me off my feet in an effortless move and onto the opulent bed where I’d cried myself to sleep night after night since I’d gotten here. When I finally opened my eyes, he was positioned between my legs and supporting himself on his forearms on either side of my head.

  “Hello, gorgeous.” He smiled, satisfied with a job well done.

  “My God. That was amazing.” My eyes grew heavy with contentment. My body was limp and lax, now relieved of all its pent-up tension from my lonely, restless nights.

  “I’m going to fuck you now, Abbigail.”

  “Hmmm. Please do, Mr. Shark.” I quickly added, before he had the chance to make the claim, “I know, I know; you’re not asking. Neither am I.”

  He dipped in, lingering his lips atop mine in a tender but torrid kiss. “Demanding red devil.”

  “But the one who’s all yours.” I grinned as I finished, just before tilting my hips to just the right angle. Sebastian groaned low while sliding deep into me, not having to use a hand to guide his shaft inside or wait for me to adjust. Our bodies simply knew one another’s that well and accommodated for what they wanted. What they needed.

  No. More than just our bodies.

  Our spirits. Our instincts. Our hearts. We were each other’s home. Each other’s safety. We fit together as though we were meant to be one. Because we were.

  “My God, woman. I could die here and be a happy man. You. Are. My. Salvation.” Each word was punctuated with a thrust of his pelvis. “I’m going to come inside you now, Abbigail.”

  “Bas…”

  “What?”

  His rejoinder was a croak of need, so clearly betraying how hard he was holding back, that I bit back my protest. Still, the smarter part of me knew I should stop him. But the wiser woman in me already staged a return argument. Every time he’d done this recently, we’d been rolling the dice. Even though I was taking my birth control pills religiously, they weren’t foolproof.

  But the foolish, fantastical girl in me held on to another idea. The sweet dream of carrying his child. I would love to grow and nurture a life that we’d created together. To build a family with this amazing man. A little boy with his dangerous features…or a little girl with my crazy red strands…

  But I didn’t tell him any of that. Instead, I showed him. I wrapped my legs tightly around his hips and held him close to me while he depleted himself deep within my channel. Sebastian buried his face in the crook of my neck and chanted my name over and over as he finished. It sounded like he was praying. I wanted him to be. I knew I truly was.

  Finally, he rolled to the side and then tucked me against him. Our breathing slowed in tandem. For the first time since I’d arrived, a real sense of calm settled into my heart. A real peace blanketed my soul. Both had been missing without this man nearby.

  Maybe that should’ve frightened me. I tried examining the sensations and seeing them as huge warning flares. I’d gotten way too close to him. Had let myself depend on him too much, too quickly. But the heart wanted what the heart wanted.

  And apparently mine wanted Sebastian Shark.

  And apparently I was done fighting that fact.

  The next morning, I awoke to an empty bed.

  The realization wasn’t reassuring. Not in the damn least.

  I’d slept in much later than usual, my exhaustion finally catching up with me. But my body ached in all the best ways, and my cheeks ached from my wide, ridiculous smiles.

  So all the physical evidence was here. Sebastian had been here with me. But for how long? And what if he had left already this morning?

  At once, I cast out the concept. He wouldn’t do that. The man was a bastard, but not a heartless one. Well, not most of the time.

  Quickly, I kicked off the sheets and surged to my fe
et. I was officially on a Shark hunt.

  I found the en suite bathroom empty, but the shower was freshly used. The air still carried his distinct bergamot scent. He was definitely up and about the day already, though I sensed he was still somewhere near.

  I breathed out with relief—but my new inhalation also brought my stomach’s normal morning pitch and roll. I gripped the counter’s edge, thinking I had some sort of Pavlovian reaction to this bathroom. Every time I went near the toilet, I seemed to have to drop down in front of it and empty my stomach—even when there was nothing in it to empty. Sometimes a splash of cool water from the sink helped. Not this morning. Swiftly, I made a new contribution into the toilet bowl.

  I sat on the floor for a few minutes before I chanced standing to brush my teeth and hair. I wasn’t in the mood to answer a list of questions from Bas or Elijah about not feeling well again, so I made sure the color returned to my face before I went out into the hall.

  At once, I heard voices in the kitchen. Elijah and—thank God—Sebastian. Their baritones were modulated a bit, giving away their animated discussion. A smile breached my lips as I followed the volume, though I attempted to tread lightly in hopes of catching part of their conversation.

  Of course, they noticed me and fell silent.

  “Good morning,” they said in unison.

  “And good morning to you too.” I chuckled while darting my gaze between them. “As you were, gentlemen. You don’t have to stop talking just because I walked into the room.”

  They stared as if I’d ordered them to go sit on a pair of cacti outside. But only for a second. “Would you like some coffee?” Elijah asked, as if my comment had never existed.

  “And you don’t have to be nice to me all of a sudden because Sebastian’s here.”

  Well, that got the man to react. “That’s not really fair, is it?” he stated evenly. “I’ve been nothing but kind to you since we’ve arrived.”

  I pushed past him to get a mug from the cupboard and then helped myself to a cup of tea instead. I wasn’t about to get into another argument with the man, especially after the fabulous mood I’d woken up in. But I couldn’t even enjoy that for two seconds, because I’d now reminded myself about being concerned about Bas’s schedule.