Details like how his wet, black hair clung to his brow. Like how his white T-shirt appeared shrink-wrapped to his upper body, showcasing every dip and curve of his muscular form. How he appeared buffer, or maybe she’d just forgotten how male-model perfect he was. She hated perfect!
“Hey.” His one soft word seemed to float through the air as he inched closer. His nearness made her skin feel extra sensitive. Maybe she didn’t hate perfect so much. Had he always had this effect on her, or was this just post-bonding crap?
She growled, annoyed at her own weakness. But for the life of her, she couldn’t seem to move back. Look but don’t touch, she gave herself one rule.
He grinned as if he could read her mind.
She growled louder.
“You are a sight for sore eyes.” He reached out as if to pull her against him. She found the strength and lurched back, leaving skid marks in the wet grass.
The look-but-don’t-touch rule would stand firm.
He stepped toward her. His scent, part musk, part mint, invaded her air. He lifted his hand.
She sucked cold oxygen between her teeth before speaking. “Your eyes aren’t the only thing that’s going to be sore if you touch me!”
He held up both of his hands, a sign of submissiveness, but his sexy smile signaled trouble. She would not, could not, give in to these crazy feelings. How could she when part of her heart belonged to someone else?
“Fine, I’ll keep my hands to myself.” He looked over her shoulder at the falls and then back at her. “But can’t you see it’s fate?”
A spray of sun shot through the trees and cast swirly shadows over his face. That’s when she noticed the purple bruise under his eye. Considering vampires didn’t bruise easily, that had to have been a hell of a lick.
“What’s fate?” she asked, trying not to care that he’d been hit. Hurt. That he could have been killed.
Bonded.
“This,” he said, moving his hands between them.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“Us.”
“Us what?”
“Us. Here.”
She glared at him. “Did you forget how to use complete sentences?” she smarted off.
He half chuckled. “Come on. Doesn’t it seem strange that we were both lured here?” He shifted slightly and the precious gold light touched his face. His hair, wet from his trip through the falls, appeared almost black, and his eyes, a light golden green, almost glowed with the sun on them. But noting the bruise again, she felt a sympathy pain under her left eye.
She had to remember not to let herself get lost in those eyes—in emotions she couldn’t explain.
“I wasn’t lured.” Her heart danced around the mistruth as the sound of the cascading water hummed in the background. “I came here for a reason.” That much was true. She stiffened her shoulders.
“What reason?” he asked.
“To find answers. Answers that you aren’t giving me.” Accusation rang in her tone. She pressed both her hands on her h*ps and stared up at him. Oddly, she’d forgotten how tall he was. He towered above her. She wasn’t accustomed to feeling small or feminine, but his presence did that.
He tucked his hands in his jean pockets and tipped back on his heels. “What answers?”
She raised her chin and studied him, trying not to note the bruise or worry what he’d done to get it. “Who sent you to check on me and Chan?”
For a flicker of a second, he hesitated, then spoke, “I did answer that. The Vampire Council.” But the sneaky vamp looked away as soon as the words left his mouth. And she knew he always did that when he lied.
“That’s bullshit,” she said. “You’re still keeping something from me.”
He glanced back at her. “It’s not a lie. I got my orders from the council.”