She gaped. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I am.”

“Just tell her we went and that I had a great time. Lie.”

When she tried to pull her leg free, I held on. “She’ll know if I’m lying. We’re twins. We know these things.” I paused, thoroughly enjoying myself. “Or are you too shy to go swimming with me? Does the idea of getting almost naked around me make you uncomfortable?”

“I’m from Florida, idiot.” Grabbing ahold of the railing, she pulled her leg and got nowhere.  “I’ve spent half my life in a bathing suit.”

“What’s the big deal?” Warmth built under my hand, surrounding her ankle.

“I don’t like you.” She drew in a deep breath, causing her chest to rise. “Let go of my ankle.”

“I’m not leaving, Kitten.” Holding her glare, I lifted my fingers, one by one. Screw the whole keeping an eye on her thing. Now this was pure principal. A challenge. “You’re going to do this.”

Her lips curled back, and I waited, barely able to contain a grin, because I knew she was seconds from laying into me. Maybe even kicking me. But the door opened, stopping her.

I glanced up and saw her mom. There were…bunnies on her pajamas.

“You live next door?” her mom asked.

Seeing my end, I twisted around and smiled broadly. “My name is Daemon Black.”

“Kellie Swartz. Nice to meet you.” She glanced at her daughter. “You two can come inside if you want. You don’t have to sit outside in the heat.”

“That’s really nice of you.” I stood, knocking my elbow into her. “Maybe we should go inside and finish talking about our plans.”

“No,” she replied immediately. “That won’t be necessary.”

“What plans?” her mom asked. “I support plans.”

I liked her mom.

“I’m trying to get your lovely daughter to go swimming with me tomorrow, but I think she’s worried you wouldn’t like the idea.” I gave her a little love tap on the arm, biting down on my lip when she moved half a foot. “And I think she’s shy.”

“What? I have no problem with her going swimming with you. I think it’s a great idea. I’ve been telling her she needs to get out. Hanging out with your sister is great, but—”

“Mom,” Katy gasped. “That’s not really—”

“I was just telling Katy here the same thing.” Unable to stop myself, I draped my arm over her shoulders. She stiffened. “My sister is out of town for the next week, so I thought I’d hang with Katy.”

Ms. Swartz smiled and her eyes got all big. “That is so sweet of you.”

Katy wrapped her arm around my waist and surprise flicked through me. Then I felt it. Her tiny fingers digging into my side. “Yeah, that’s sweet of you, Daemon.”

Her little nails were freaking sharp. “You know what they say about boys next door…”

“Well, I know Katy doesn’t have plans tomorrow,” her mom said. “She’s free to go swimming.”

She dropped her hand and squirmed her way out from under my arm. “Mom…”

“It’s okay, honey.” Her mom turned, winking at me. “It was nice to finally meet you.”

“You, too.” I braced myself.

Her mom closed the door, and in a nanosecond, she whirled around and shoved her hands into my chest. I didn’t budge. “You jerk.”

Knowing when to retreat helped win the war. I backed down the steps. “I’ll see you at noon, Kitten.”

“I hate you,” she spat.

“The feeling’s mutual.” Pausing, I looked over my shoulder. “Twenty bucks says you wear a one-piece swimsuit.”

Katy let out an outraged shriek.

I sort of hoped I would be out twenty bucks tomorrow.

Chapter 5

U want company today?

Glancing down at my cell as I tugged a pair of jeans on over the swim trunks, I was at once grateful that Ash knew better than to just show up at our house announced. If she found me heading off to the lake with Katy, she’d go off like a nuclear rocket.

And it wouldn’t be because Katy was human, but because I’d never taken Ash to the lake when we’d dated. The lake had been a sanctuary for just Dee, Dawson, and me since we moved here. Part of me couldn’t even believe that was the plan I’d come up with to spend the day with Katy. Thinking with the wrong head, most likely.

I reached down, sending a quick text back. Can’t.

Ash’s response was immediate. What are u doing?

Got stuff to do.

Walking over to my closet to grab a shirt, I smiled slightly when I saw her response. So? I’m bored. Entertain me.

Can’t.

I’d made it downstairs before she replied. You suck.

We have that in common then, I replied back.

UR an ass. Whatever. Go do ur STUFF.

Planned on it. Leaving my phone on the counter, I didn’t worry about locking up after I grabbed a towel and then left the house, heading toward…Kat’s.

Huh.

I guess she was no longer “that girl” every time I thought of her. For some reason, I didn’t like the name Katy. It didn’t suit her. Kat did, I decided. So did Kitten. I smirked, recalling how much she hated that nickname.

Last night, I’d texted Dee and let her know what I was doing. Her series of exclamation points and shocked emoticons was a little on the excessive side. She would play along with the whole keys thing, but I wasn’t looking forward to the million questions she was going to have when she got home.

I wasn’t sure how today was going to end, either. The potential outcomes varied. Maybe I would get lucky and discover something about her that would steer Dee away. What, I had no idea, but damn I was hopeful.

Climbing the porch steps, I knew I was early when I banged on the door with a closed fist, but it amused me to keep her on her toes. A handful of moments passed and the door opened.

Kat appeared, her gray eyes wide as they met mine for a fleeting second.

“I’m a little early,” I told her.

“I can see.” She sounded like she was about to leave for a dental appointment. “Change your mind? You could always try lying.”

“I’m not a liar.” I was totally a liar right now.

“Just give me a second to grab my stuff.” Then she slammed the door in my face.

I coughed out a laugh. She really was like a prickly, pissed-off little kitten. A part of me actually wanted to show her I could be a nice guy. I hadn’t been an ass to her because of who she was—well, other than her being human. While she’d given as good as she’d gotten, though, I’d noticed the flickers of hurt in her eyes at being attacked for no reason. The whole situation was messed up. If I wasn’t mean to her, I could be putting us in danger, but being mean to her was upsetting as well. There was no win here for anyone.

She finally reappeared, careful to not brush against me as she stepped outside, closing the door behind her. I wondered what she had on under the shirt and shorts.

“Okay, so where are you taking me?” she asked, not looking at me.

“What fun would it be if you knew? You won’t be surprised then.”

We stepped off the porch and started down the driveway. “I’m new to town, remember? Everywhere is going to be a surprise for me.”

“Then why ask?” I raised a brow.

She bristled as I led her past the cars. “We aren’t driving?”

Picturing us trying to drive around the trees, I laughed. “No. Where we’re going, you can’t drive. It’s not a well-known spot. Most locals don’t even know about it.”

“Oh, I’m special, then.”

I looked over at her, studying her profile as we walked down the driveway, and I found that I had a hard time looking away. She was something all right. “You know what I think, Kat?”

She glanced over, catching me staring at her. The tips of her cheeks flushed. We passed the empty house at the end of the road. “I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know.”