I am salivating.

There’s a challenge in her eyes, making her the bravest girl I’ve ever met, because I will bloody well lay her down right here on Blake’s deck and pick up where I left off in that hotel room. I will have that bikini off faster than she can gasp.

I am just about to charge forward when she turns and bends over, slowly picking up her clothes. My body seizes. She saunters away with half her damned arse hanging out of the sides of her swimsuit, teasing me as her hips sway back and forth, back and forth, back and . . . oh, God, this hurts.

I groan in agony, but she takes no pity. Anna is good at not looking back. As she and her edible backside disappear into the bungalow, I cram my fingers into my hair and crouch, feeling as if a horse has kicked me in the middle.

A chuckle comes from the back doors and Blake is standing there, arms crossed over his chest. “That was brutal, brah. You so deserved it.”

With my head hanging, I manage to say, “Stay away or I’ll kill you.”

“You couldn’t pay me to come near you right now.”

I sigh and try to breathe. Blake laughs a bit more at my expense before leaving me alone in my misery.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Learning the Hard Way

“Sometimes I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear

And I, I can’t help but ask myself how much I let the fear take the wheel and steer.”

—“Drive” by Incubus

The problem about being with Anna is she makes me forget everything else. She looks at me like I’m her hero, and I forget who I really am. She smiles at the world around her, and I forget it’s an ugly place. She exudes comfort, and I forget we’re in constant danger. I forget all the reasons I’ve stayed away from her, all the reasons it’s better for her not to care about me.

I’m sprinting up the same stretch of beach Anna and I walked down less than an hour ago. I’m cursing myself, and swearing that if anything’s happened to Anna, I will find those guys from the carnival and take care of them.

I am furious with myself on so many levels. I let it slip during our walk that Anna’s father demanded I stay away from her. I guilted Anna into showing me her gorgeous aura of love, and then freaked out and was an asshole to her all over again. I talked her into going on the Ferris wheel and got so completely carried away trying to kiss her that I never saw the whisperer coming. Then I got us cornered by a fucking gang, where she tried to use her powers of influence and ended up with a gun pointed in her face.

Score two for the angels who saved her arse once again while I stood by helplessly. I grit my teeth as I run.

She’s with Blake now, who showed up at the carnival on his motorcycle to whisk her away. Though I’m certain she’s safe, the band of fear around my torso doesn’t loosen. The gang is long gone, down the strip in the opposite direction, but I don’t stop running. I need to deal with Anna.

I still cannot believe a whisperer caught us nearly kissing. I’m sick to my stomach. I want to hurl onto the beach, but there’s no time for that. I need to remind Anna of all the things she makes me forget, the most important thing being that it’s my job to keep us aware. It’s my responsibility to keep an eye and ear out, since I know she won’t. I failed us today, and she made it even worse by trying to take on those gang members single-handedly.

Why would she think that’s possible? She should have left them to me. Doesn’t she know what it’d do to me to see her killed?

I race up the steps to Blake’s deck, struggling for breath through the fog of overwhelming fear clouding my mind. I go straight to Anna, who looks afraid, and I take her face in my hands. I have to make her understand.

“Don’t ever do that again.”

“I know it was dangerous, but there were five of them—”

“I can bloody well handle myself, Anna!” I let her go, frustrated that she doesn’t get it. Back and forth we go, little Anna thinking she’s a warrior fucking princess or something, and I’m about to lose my mind.

“Give me your knife,” she says.

“What?” What’s she going to do with it?

“Just give it to me,” she demands.

Oh, bloody hell. “No, Anna, I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but this is ridic—”

Anna comes at me, and next thing I know I feel myself going backward and down. I land hard on my back with Anna looking down at me.

“Give me your knife,” she says calmly.

Blake whistles and I stare up into her face of fierce determination, framed in a tumble of blond hair.

“God, that was hot,” I say like an idiot.

She holds out her hand, and now I’m curious enough to dig my knife out and hand it over. She turns her head, throws the damn thing with a strong flick, and it lands in the side of a wooden heron’s head. Holy shit. I can’t believe it. Lust bashes me like a sledgehammer, and I suddenly imagine her naked.

“Dude!” Blake yells, snapping me back to reality.

Anna stares down at me as if she’s conquered me. “You showed your colors!”

“Did not,” I reply quickly. But even as I say it, I think I bleedin’ well might’ve.

“You totally let ’em out, brah!”

“Shut up,” I say to Blake as I push to my feet. I will beat him later.

We’re all standing now, and Anna’s wearing a satisfied look. “I’ve been training. I’m not completely helpless anymore.”

“I can see that,” I say, but as impressive as that was, I still don’t want her trying to take on every bastard she comes across, thinking it will be that simple.

She steps closer to me and looks up. “I get it now, okay? Everything you’ve always tried to warn me about, I get. Today was . . .” Petrifying? Eye-opening? She clears her throat. “I came here and said what I needed to say. Now I have to go. I mean it this time.”

And I can see in her eyes that she does. She’s been sufficiently scared by our encounter with the whisperer and gang. I’m sorry she had to learn the hard way. I’m sorry both of us have to be continuously reminded. It only takes one whisperer to report back to the Dukes. We won’t always be able to weasel our way out of it like Anna did today, telling the spirit we were practicing our “work skills” together.

I listen as Anna changes her ticket to an earlier flight. She gathers her things, and Blake and I walk her to her car. She hugs Blake first. I rest my hands on my hips, resigned to be happy that I got to see her for one day. As horrid as certain events were, and as stupid as we were to tempt fate on that Ferris wheel, a bad day with Anna is better than a good day without her, and I’ve been without her so long. I’m pissed at myself for ruining half the day being an arse.

She scans the skies before approaching me, and I feel a smatter of pride for her awareness. I don’t expect her to touch me again, but when her arms circle my waist and her face presses against my chest, I’m immensely grateful. I scan the skies myself, but they’re clear, so I pull her tighter. I let my chin rest on top of her head for two full seconds, and then she’s pulling away, holding my hands. Her fingers slide slowly away from mine until we’re no longer touching, and her eyes drop.

A cavern of emptying loss opens inside me as I watch her go. I realize I can shield myself against everything else in this life—but I will never manage to keep Anna out. She’s under my skin. She’s in my head and in my heart, stretching out and taking up residence. When she leaves, the imprint of her stays, as always, but it’s not enough.

It’s never enough.