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

jumped and turned, trying to get at her face. She giggled at her efforts as she gently pushed her little friend’s face away from hers. “I’m so glad to see you,” Natalie said as she rubbed her head.
    Gypsy barked twice before leaping off her lap and heading straight for the kitchen. Mostly recovered from the experience in the hallway, Natalie pushed herself back up to her feet. The mundane tasks of preparing Gypsy’s dinner, as well as her own, were soothing. She worked quietly. The only sounds in the apartment were Gypsy’s claws clicking against the tile and the hum of the heater. It was enough to let her know she wasn’t alone, but not so much that she couldn’t hear if someone tried to get in.
    No one had ever tried to break into her apartment in the three years she’d been there. No one even knocked on her door. There wasn’t a single other person in the complex she conversed with on a regular basis. No one was going to ask her to borrow an egg or cup of sugar. Somehow, they all seemed to know she wanted to be left alone.
    That guy in the hall—whoever he was—was the first person in months who had even spoken to her. Natalie wasn’t even sure how he knew her name. He had a familiar face only because she’d seen him moving boxes into his apartment earlier in the week. It was still a mystery how he knew her name. Even her mailbox only had her apartment number on it.
    Unsettled by the thought, Natalie stopped stirring the tomatoes and spinach she was sautéing. She couldn’t explain the man’s familiarity, but she also couldn’t see how it might be a threat. Her name wasn’t a secret. Someone in the complex must have remembered it and mentioned it to him at some point. It was often difficult for Natalie to remember that others lived differently than her. Not everyone ran away when they were accidentally bumped into.
    Natalie put the encounter out of her mind and went back to cooking. Twenty minutes later, she had a bowl of noodles drenched in veggies balanced on her lap as she and Gypsy watched TV. Slowly, the stressful day melted away and her body began to unwind. Natalie was normally a bit of a night owl, but she found herself nodding off hours before she would usually turn in.
    After the third time of being woken back up by a lick from Gypsy, Natalie gave in. She carried her dishes to the sink while calling for her little friend to follow. The pair made their way to the bedroom. Natalie had brushed her own teeth, and was just about to start on Gypsy’s, when banging erupted on her front door.
    The toothbrush dropped from her hands and she crumbled to the floor seconds later. Gypsy’s animated barking only frightened her even more, not because she feared the dog, but because she seemed to sense something wasn’t right. Huddled under the bathroom sink, tears of terror streamed down Natalie’s face as she frantically searched for her phone.
    Adrenaline and panic spiked as the pounding stopped abruptly. Gypsy barked twice more, then quieted and pressed her head into her leg as she whimpered. Natalie couldn’t breathe. Her head was pounding as she strained to hear even the smallest sound. She almost yelped when she finally felt her phone beneath her fingers. Pressing it to her chest, she held her breath.
    The pounding started up again, clanging through the apartment and sending Natalie into a spiral. Somehow she managed to pull up her contacts list and hit her only recent call. Whoever was pounding on the door began screaming obscenities. Gypsy answered with another round of barking while Natalie sobbed in fear.
    “This is Vance.”
    “There’s someone…the door…pounding.” Crying broke up her words. She could barely think enough to form them. She was terrified and had no idea what else to do.
    “Natalie?” Vance asked. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
    “He’s trying…to get…in.” She broke down, the phone slipping from her fingers as she shut everything else