My fingers slipped along the curve of her cheek as my head tilted. I was going to regret this—holy crap was I ever, but I wasn’t stopping. Our lips were only a breath away…

“Hey, guys!” Dee called out.

I jerked back, sliding in one fluid movement and putting distance between us on the swing while Kat turned a fierce shade of red. I’d been so absorbed in her, I hadn’t heard my sister’s car or noticed the storm had passed and the sun was out, shining and all.

Great.

Dee came up the steps, her smile fading as her gaze bounced between us and then narrowed. No doubt she was seeing the faint trace around Kat and wondering how the hell that happened. Then she seemed to focus on what she’d just interrupted.

Her mouth dropped open.

It wasn’t often that I surprised her…like this. I grinned. “Hey, there, sis. What’s up?”

“Nothing,” she said. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” I replied, jumping from the swing. I glanced at a silent, dazed-looking Kat. Her gray eyes were still hazy and wide. Freaking beautiful. Damn, I needed to nip this in the bud right now, before something worse than just a trace happened. I met her gaze. “Just earning bonus points.”

Kat went ramrod straight, her eyes flashing and hands curling in her lap as my words sank in.

Ah, there it was—there was the kitten coming out, claws sharpening. The warm, cuddly creature was gone in an instant. I’d done that. Taken her up and slammed her right back down to earth, to reality. That was all me.

I wasn’t proud, but at least this way she’d live. We’d all live.

I spun toward the steps, leaving her with my sister, who was staring at me in confusion. I felt like the biggest ass on the planet.

Hell, in the universe.

The sun had set when my bedroom door burst open and Dee whirled in like a tornado, dark hair streaming from behind her and eyes gleaming with excitement.

“What in the world did I interrupt?” she demanded.

I closed the lid on my Mac before Dee could see what I was looking at. “You’re back from the colony early.”

She danced over to the bed, rising up on the tips of her toes. “Not like that’s really important, but if you must know, I think Ethan was just getting super annoyed with me and decided to let me leave.” She paused, grinning mischievously. “Plus, they’re having some kind of dinner reception for the females who are getting married Tuesday night and I said I’d come back…with Ash.”

My brows rose. “Uh, does she know that?”

“Yes. And she’s totally ticked off at me, but she can’t say no. But that’s not important!” She clapped her hands as she rocked back and forth. “What were you doing on the porch with Katy?”

I sat the Mac on my nightstand. “I was sitting out there with her.”

Dee’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, duh, but you weren’t just doing that. Don’t play with me.”

Had Kat said more? The urge to ask rushed to the tip of my tongue, but I mentally punched myself in the face. Wasn’t going to go there. “I’m not playing with you, sis.”

“That’s poppycock!”

“Poppycock,” I repeated slowly and then laughed. “Are you high?”

She lifted her hand and flipped me off. “You looked like you were about to kiss her.”

A muscle thrummed along my jaw as I leaned back against the headboard, folding my arms behind my head. “I think you are projecting or something.”

“While I think Katy is hot, I don’t want to make out with her.” She winked.

“Glad to hear that,” I muttered.

“Ugh, why can’t you just admit you were about to do something!” She threw herself onto the bed, shaking the entire frame. Girl looked small but she was like a damn train. “You were going in for the kiss. Your hand was on her chin.”

Closing my eyes, I decided the last thing I needed was a blow-by-blow description of how close I came to complete disaster.

“And then add in the fact you made up some lame excuse about keys and bonus points?”

“The bonus points thing wasn’t a lie. You used to make me do that all the time,” I reminded her.

She punched my leg, causing me to grunt. “Yeah, when I was, like, five years old.”

My lips twitched.

“So why did you make up an excuse to hang out with her?” she persisted.

I sighed. “Like I told you when I texted you, I haven’t been particularly nice to her and I needed an excuse. Otherwise she would’ve said no.” The last part was definitely not a lie. If I hadn’t virtually blackmailed her into going to the lake with me, she would’ve said no. Tonight? I really hadn’t had to say anything. Interesting.

“But why—?”

“Dee,” I growled, opening my eyes to find my sister lying on her stomach with her chin in her hands. She was grinning up at me. “Shouldn’t you be focused on something a little more important.”

She batted her lashes. “I think I am focused on something super important.”

I resisted the urge to knock her off the bed. “You can’t tell me you didn’t notice the trace on her.”

“Oh! Yeah. That.” She tapped pale blue nails against her cheek. “How did that happen?”

For a moment, all I could do was stare at her. Obviously, she wasn’t that concerned, which made me fear for her well-being. “We went on a walk—”

“How romantic,” she cooed.

My lips turned down at the corners. “It wasn’t romantic.”

“I think it is,” she went on happily. “When Adam and I take walks it always ends with us—”

“If you want Adam to stay alive, I suggest you don’t finish that sentence.”

She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, so you went on a totally not romantic walk and…”

I was going to knock her off this bed. “And we happened across a bear. It charged us and I had to do something. I didn’t think you’d be happy with me if I let a bear maul her to death.”

“Gee, you think?”

I mouthed a not very nice four-letter word that included “you” at her.

She giggled. “So how did you explain that one off?”

“Well, the energy kind of knocked her out, and I blamed it on the storm—lightning.” I exhaled loudly. “I was lucky.”

“Katy was lucky.”

My gaze shot to her. “How so?”

Dee moved in one fluid motion, sitting cross-legged in less than a second. “That you were there to save her.”

It seemed too obvious to point out the fact that she wouldn’t have needed me to protect her if I hadn’t dragged her out into the woods in the first place.

“Can I ask you something?” Dee poked my knee with her fingers of death.

I arched a brow. “Do I really have a say in that?”

“No.” She flashed a quick grin. “Do you…do you like Katy?”

Every single part of me locked up. My sister waited while a hundred different responses ran through my head. Did I like her? What in the hell kind of question was that? I lowered my arms and sat up a little, throwing one leg off the bed.

“Daemon?”

I didn’t look at my sister as I stood. “No.”

“What?” she whispered.

“You heard me.” I rubbed my palm over my jaw, sighing as I walked over to the dresser and picked up the remote. “Look, I’m sure she’s a great girl and friend, and if she wasn’t…human, she’d be about three thousand times awesome, but no, I don’t like her.” Dee was quiet as I returned to the bed, and she didn’t look up when I sat back down. Her lips were pursed, and now I felt like shit. “Want to watch a movie?”

“Sure.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes, and I wished I hadn’t even looked at her. “Do you think she’ll be safe at least? With the trace?”

“Yeah. I’ve got this.” The pressure was back on my shoulders, and I flipped on the TV. “As long as she stays put for the next couple of days, she’ll be fine.”

Dee moved until she was sitting against the headboard, shoulder to shoulder with me. After a moment, she pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. I started flipping through On Demand and she sighed morosely.