The Only Shark In The Sea (The Date Shark Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

enough to respect your limits, and I’ll trust you to be honest with me. That’s the only way this is going to work.”
    What he said made sense, but she knew there was so much more to it than that. Trust was the first step, but it felt like it was miles away from solving the real problem. Vance promised she didn’t have to talk about why people terrified her, but she knew nothing would really change until she did. As she held Vance’s gaze, she understood that he knew it too. He was simply patient enough to take it one step at a time. The way to facing what terrified her most was through him. Natalie knew that with more surety than she could even understand.
    “Okay,” she said quietly.
    Vance smiled. “Okay.”
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
    The Pounding
     
    Saying it had been a long day by the time Natalie made it to her apartment was not even close to being adequate. The moment she had returned from her lunch appointment, her boss, Donald, had knocked on her office door to pull her into a last minute meeting for one of her accounts. Normally she would have just called in to answer questions, but her recommendation against the project in question demanded an in-person meeting. Being forced to sit in a room with three men all hounding her for answers had taken what little strength she’d had remaining after lunch. She nearly fell against her door when she reached it.
    “Natalie, right?” a voice called out, making her spin around and nearly fall into a dead faint.
    She stared at the vaguely familiar face as panic crept up her spine. What did he want? She pressed herself against the door when he dared to take a step closer. Her frenzied movements halted him. Frowning, he stopped trying to get any closer, but he held something out to her. She didn’t take it.
    “You’re Natalie Price, right?”
    Somehow, she convinced herself to nod. In the back of her mind, recollection that this man was her new neighbor gave her the tiniest bit of confidence. His balding head and baggy clothes didn’t seem to fit with the way he carried himself. He seemed confident, if not unsure of why she was acting so bizarrely.
    “The mail carrier, he put some of your mail in my box again,” the man said. “I didn’t realize until I started going through it once I got home, and I just thought I’d give it to you myself when I saw you walk by.”
    Still breathing heavily, Natalie had to focus in order to respond. “Oh. Uh, thank you.” Only after she’d said that did she wonder exactly how he had happened to see her walking by. The peephole in the door didn’t really provide a good view of passersby.
    Unaware of her internal thoughts, he held out the mail again. The normal thing to do would be to take it from him. Natalie wasn’t sure she could. The poor man seemed locked in indecision. Obviously, she didn’t want to approach him, but she didn’t want him approaching her either. They were at a stalemate.
    One, two, three, four, five , Natalie began counting as she pulled in a deep breath. Slowly, she pushed away from the door. Seeming encouraged, the man took a step forward as well. Natalie had to bite back a yelp, but she took another step. When she was close enough to reach him, just barely, she extended her hand for the letters. He met her the rest of the way, stopping when the corner of the envelope reached her fingertips. Natalie snatched them away quickly and stepped back.
    “Sorry again for scaring you like that.”
    “It’s…it’s okay.”
    He looked as though he might say something else, but Natalie spun around before he could and darted into her apartment. She fell against the closed door and locked it without looking. Leaning there, panting, she didn’t think she could stay on her feet much longer, but moving seemed like a monumental task. At least, until panting from another source joined hers.
    Natalie slid down the door and sighed when Gypsy jumped into her lap. Her squat little body