Page 82 of Shark’s Edge

“Or not.” I scooted off the desk, caving to sudden restlessness. Besides, pacing prevented me from continuing to stupidly stare at the man.

At last, he broke the silence again. “I think what I’m trying to say here is . . . I’m sorry, Abbigail.” He punctuated it with a laugh, responding to my instant double take. “I know, I know; alert the press. Shark apologized twice in one week.” He glanced up at me through the ungodly thick fans of his lashes. “But I can’t help it. You come around, and I want to spill shit out. Tell you things. Things I don’t tell others.”

I stopped where I stood. Didn’t dare venture any closer to him, already knowing he’d turned his freaking magnet back on. Yeah, the crazy-powerful one with all its polarization set to attract all of mine. But I was too late. “Sebastian,” I rasped as he hooked his hands over my forearms and yanked me three steps closer. “Oh, dammit . . . ”

“I know.” He held me even tighter. “I know. You’re running behind, and—”

“No. No, that’s not . . . ”

And it really wasn’t. But how did I explain this? All of this freaking amazement he was drilling into me. This perfect magic . . .

“I’m not . . . ” Ready to let it go yet.

And how could I be blamed? My knees were melted butter. My ribs were a grill set on high, and my lungs were charbroiled bags of wonder.

And everything in my intimate core . . .

I wouldn’t go there. I couldn’t.

But there was no place else I craved to think about more. No place I needed him more . . .

“What I’m trying to say is, you need to know that I don’t have any special thing against virgins. I’m not hung up or triggered about them. There wasn’t any epiphany or heavenly message about the whole issue of you being a virgin.” He exhaled roughly. “Just, more than anything, I think it had to do with what happened to my sister.”

Since his magnet was clearly on full power now, I surrendered to a little more of its physical pull. I wrapped my fingers around both his biceps as he guided me in between his knees. “Is Cassiopeia a single mom?” I asked, genuinely curious. “I didn’t see any ‘dad’ type at Vela’s soccer game—except you, of course.”

He nodded. “I’ve been involved with that child since Pia’s pregnancy, which wasn’t at all easy. During those months, my knuckles went through a lot of walls—which didn’t help Pia’s state of mind, of course—but I was obsessed with the injustice that some asshole had fucked her and then left her like that.”

I winced. “The guy was her first?”

“And, according to my hopeless dreamer of a sister, her last,” he snarled. “The one and only man she’ll ever love, forever and ever, as long as butterflies dance and unicorns prance and ponies have sparkles in their manes.”

I smiled—who couldn’t after a sentence with ponies and sparkles?—but understood his bitterness. “No wonder you swore off virgins for yourself.”

“Without thinking twice. Until . . . ”

His unsteady huff was his interruption. He lowered his head and hunched in his body. The lean muscles beneath his power suit were coils of anything but power. I could feel every shred of tension through his clothes.

“Until what, Sebastian?”

I felt crappy about pushing him. Crappy but doing what was necessary. I needed to hear this answer. Yes, despite how I already knew it. Okay, I hoped I knew it. I needed to hear it . . . because I was damn sure he needed to say it. Out loud. Right now. With the building bustling around us and the city clamoring below, we needed to turn this office into a cathedral and our embrace into a confessional. Safe ground. Total absolution.

He got it too. As he looked back up, I saw the understanding across his carved face. Absorbed it from every facet of his struggling gaze. And heard it in every note of his ragged voice.

“Until you, Abbigail Gibson.”

A rush of breath left me. At the same time, he sucked one in. With the slide of my hands up over his chest, I recognized how my pulse matched his heartbeat. But our syncopation went beyond that. Like sun burning through mist, there was a new awareness between us. It was still tenuous and unclear but there all the same. Sizzling through the clouds. Lifting our facades. Our layers.

It thrilled me.

It terrified me.

A million words assaulted my mind, but I couldn’t say a damn thing. Nothing made sense. While everything made sense. He had the magnet turned up again—but for the first time, I realized that I possessed a magnet too. One that was drawing him just as hard.

“What do we do now?”

The words alone were unnerving new ground. I had no idea what his answer would be. A wave of strange relief washed in as he cupped the back of my neck to coax me closer and then tenderly bussed my forehead.

“I don’t know yet.”