“Hey, don’t be afraid,” he said.
She screamed. She fucking screamed and she screamed loud.
“It’s me, Thane,” he said. “I snuck in to see you.”
The nurse burst through the door and he was barely able to sneak into the bathroom on time. From inside the bathroom, he saw the room light pop on.
“What is it?” the nurse asked.
“Nothing,” Penny said. “I…I thought I saw something outside the window. I think it’s the medication.”
“The medication?” she asked. “We didn’t give you anything that strong…yet.”
“It was that tree,” Penny said, pointing out the window. “It moved in the wind and I swear it looked like someone flying outside.”
“Good God,” the nurse said. “Calm down. And get some rest.”
As the nurse left the room, she mumbled the word, “Americans.”
Finally, once the light was off and the nurse was gone, Thane stepped out of the bathroom and made his way over to her. He squatted down next to the bed and took one of her hands in his.
“My God,” he said. “I was so worried about you. Tell me you’re okay.”
“You were worried about me?” she asked.
“Every damn second,” he said. “You’re all I’ve been able to think about.”
“Why did you leave me?” she asked. “Why did you leave me to talk to that woman?”
“It’s a long story. One I can tell you some other time. Right now, we have to get you out of here.”
“Get me out of here? Are you crazy?”
“Maybe a little,” he said. “I left you for only a second on that boat and look what happened. I can’t leave you alone in here. You’re stuck with me now. Gerri knew what she was talking about.”
“Gerri?”
“The woman who set us up on the date, remember?” he asked.
“Of course, I just…I’m sorry, my mind is a bit of a mess right now.”
He gripped her hand harder. He needed to make her see what he meant. Of course, she wouldn’t understand. To her, a man could either be a friend, a boyfriend, or a husband. To him, a relationship could be so much more, and it could happen so much more quickly. She was the one. She was the mate he’d been hoping for. But explaining that to her would seem absurd. In shark form, he would simply take her. He would bite her, hold her down, and he’d fuck her until she understood. But that was the beast side of him. Shark sex was violent. It was mean. It wasn’t what he wanted with her. She was his woman even if she didn’t know it yet. He decided to go for it.
“Do you remember much about what happened on the boat? In the water after?” he asked.
“Not a lot,” she said. “It happened too quickly.”
“Axel knocked you off the boat,” he told her.
“The blond guy?” she asked. “You know him?”
“The girl I was talking to, Evelyn?” he started. “She planned it to hurt me. She knew I was already attached to you.”
“Attached to me??
? she asked.
The tone of her voice was adorable, and he knew if the lights were on he would see her blush.