I arched an eyebrow at her and gave her a half grin.
“I’m just that good,” I answered, winking at her.
“Oh, Daniel!” she exclaimed, her eyes darting down to my bicep. “You’re bleeding!”
I looked over to my arm and saw about a dozen scales imbedded in my skin. I quickly yanked them out and held the towel to my arm for a minute.
“It’s not deep,” I said. Raine had her hands over her mouth and looked like she wanted to puke. “Don’t you dare get sick on me!”
She nodded and swallowed hard.
“Besides,” I smiled up at her, opening my eyes wide, “I like a little pain and blood – it makes people think it was a lot harder than it really was.”
“You look so smug right now!” Raine laughed.
“Well, I know what’s coming next,” I said.
“What’s next?” she asked, her jovial tone dropping down a couple of notches.
“You get the best part of the fish.”
“I do?”
“Yep.” I sat down and handed her the light so she could point it down where I was working. I ditched the crappy little survival knife and reached across the raft to my jackknife instead. I split the fish open from the top and carefully cut around the vertebrae, paying special attention not to pierce the spinal column. “You might have to close your eyes and not think about it, but this is definitely the best part.”
Raine sat back on her heels, eyeing me warily now. She glanced as I pulled out the entire length of vertebrae with the intact spinal column.
“What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Well, if I were you,” I told her, “I would not ask any questions, close my eyes, and just do what I’m told. I figure you’re going to want all the gory details though, aren’t you?”
She nodded.
“You’re sure?” I took a deep breath and proceeded after another quick nod. “The spinal fluid is mostly water, and unlike the water in the rest of the tissues, there’s almost no salt in it. It’s the freshest water you can get out of the ocean, but you have to drink it now because it’s going to leak out quick. I don’t want it wasted.”
“You want me to…drink…” She couldn’t even finish the sentence.
“Sit back,” I said, nudging her with my shoulder. For once, she did what I said and dropped from her knees down to her ass. It made her chest bounce a little, which made me smile a little.
“What are you smiling at?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I answered, shaking my head to clear it. I was a sick fucker; I knew that. I was probably the only man in existence who could get horny from pretty much any physical activity. Fishing was no exception.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Just close your eyes and open your mouth.” I couldn’t help but smile more and raise my eyebrows at her. “When I tell you to suck, suck.”
“Oh, very funny,” she snapped back at me. “I’m not going to…”
“Don’t think,” I interrupted, tilting her head back a little with my finger under her chin. “Don’t taste. Just drink it down as fast as you can.”
“Why me?” she asked. “Why don’t you drink it?”
“You need it more than I do.”
I don’t know how she managed to do it, really, but she closed her eyes and opened her mouth, and I cut through the spinal column and held it up to her lips.
“Suck hard,” I said, trying not to picture myself putting something else in her mouth. She did, grimacing at first, and I thought she might not finish it. “Don’t stop!”