“It really is quite pretty,” she said. “Though it’s not as big as I expected, from the movies.”
Beside her, Finn let out a short rasp of laughter. “You would like to see a bigger shark?”
“That wasn’t a very subtle hint, was it?” Martha admitted. She met Finn’s eyes, lifting her chin in challenge. “Well? You going to show me one?”
He surprised her with a brief, fierce kiss, his jagged teeth hard and hungry against her lips. Then, without a further word, he dove into the sea.
One of the guests shrieked, her hands flying to her mouth. “He fell in! He’ll be eaten alive!”
“He’ll be just fine, ma’am,” Tex drawled. “He’s—whoa!”
They all grabbed for the rail as the boat bucked like an ornery bull. Travis cursed, fighting the tiller against the sudden surge of the ocean. Martha’s stomach flipped over as the boat bobbed and spun.
The waves settled down again, and so did the boat. Martha prised her fingers off the rail, breathing hard. Several of the guests had been flung clear out of their seats, although thankfully no one had fallen overboard.
“What was that?” Breck gasped, helping Magnolia back to her bench.
“I think that,” Tex said, staring down into the ocean, “was that.”
Martha looked over the side, and the breath froze in her throat.
Great White? she’d asked him once, and No, he’d replied.
The Great White shark sported around his vast form like a Chihuahua begging a Great Dane to play. The other sharks joined it, circling around the huge, rising shape in silent worship. That enormous maw could have snapped any of them up in a single mouthful, yet none of them showed any fear.
Why would they? Martha thought, dumbstruck with awe. He’s their Master.
“Now that has to be a whale,” one of the other guests commented, raising a camera.
“I’m…pretty sure it isn’t.” Travis’s knuckles were white on the tiller. “Please don’t take any pictures. They’d make headlines worldwide if they leaked out, and I doubt he’d appreciate being front-page news.”
“Travis?” Even Magnolia had gone pale under her tan. “Exactly what kind of shark is that?”
“One that’s been extinct for about five million years.” He swallowed hard. “That’s a megalodon. Biggest predator that’s ever existed, land or sea.”
The boat rocked again as that vast shape swept underneath them. He was eighty feet long if he was an inch, iron-gray from nose to tail. And oh, he was beautiful.
She’d thought him overwhelming enough on land, but it was as nothing compared to the sight of him in his natural domain. He moved as fluidly as water, like the soul of the sea made flesh.
Several of the other guests screamed as his back broke the surface alongside the boat. They clutched each other in fear, staring up at the enormous fin rising higher than a yacht’s sail.
“It’s all right! It’s all right!” Travis yelled, trying to calm the panic. “He’s a guest. He won’t hurt anyone.”
Martha reached out, stretching to her limit. Her hands hungered to touch that powerful gray form, just as he’d buried his own hands in her fur.
“Uh, ma’am?” Travis cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, but could you please not do that? If he gets any closer, he’s going to swamp the boat.”
Finn must have heard him, because his huge bulk backed off a little. He rolled in the water, looking up at her through the waves. His deep black eye looked tiny in comparison to his enormous bulk, but it was still bigger than her entire head.
“I see you,” she said softly, just for him. “I still see you.”
That vast jaw worked. She was certain he was smiling.
Then he dove back into the depths, and was gone.
He came back out of the sea at dusk, emerging from the waves like some ocean god. Martha was waiting for him on the beach, her legs comfortably propped up on a deckchair, a margarita in her hand.
“Hello, you,” she said, smiling. “Have a good swim?”