The Fate of the Muse - By Derrolyn Anderson Page 0,77

to sit next to him.

“Tell me what happened in Paris,” he said solemnly, “Please.”

I bit my lip and looked into his earnest eyes. My first impulse was to keep it all to myself, and I very nearly did. After all, there was no point in upsetting him when there was nothing he could do about it. Then he kissed me, slowly and tenderly, like he really meant it.

His voice was husky, and he spoke with an imploring tone that was irresistible, “Tell me.”

I started out haltingly, telling him about the woman who came to summon us at Shayla’s show, explaining how I could tell she was a hybrid from across the room. Then I told him about the actual meeting, describing the various women in the room along with their questions and my answers. He listened to me intently, and surprisingly, the more I talked the better I felt.

“When you called me from Hawaii, you said something bad happened. Why did you need to leave Paris?”

I met his eyes again, wringing my hands as I told him about Marissa, repeating the warning she gave me.

“Did you tell Evie?” he asked in alarm.

I shook my head no, “Olivia is her good friend… it turns out she’s been advising Evie about me all along.”

“That’s not good,” he said, pulling me a little closer.

“She called me yesterday… and Olivia was right there with her. She told Evie she was sorry she didn’t get a chance to get to know me better… and she’s coming to stay with her in San Francisco,” there was a little hitch in my voice, “And she wants to meet Cruz.” I was scared for them, and I looked at him with worried eyes.

“What are we gonna do about it?” he asked.

I smiled wryly, “We?”

“Yeah, we,” he said, just before he leaned in for another kiss.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

SEDUCTION

Long arrived at the back of the stand, nodding to Ethan, but seemingly unable to peel his gaze from me, “Break time,” he announced, his eyes following me as I closed my book and slipped on my sandals.

“Hi Long,” I said lightly, ignoring his rude stare.

Ethan slipped his arm around me as we walked away.

“Now what’s up with Long?” I asked.

“Everyone’s talking about you surfing Jaws with Kimo and Matt,” said Ethan sourly as we sat down at the break table behind the stands.

All the surfers in town had taken particular note of the tabloid coverage of our mishap in Hawaii, and whenever I ran across them on the beach or in town the all of the whispering started up anew. The only one I really knew was Mike, and I suspected he had already told them tales about the time we surfed with Kimo at the point. Shayla would have been highly amused at how many of the guys were claiming to have dated her.

More pictures from that fateful day had eventually surfaced. It turned out that there were paparazzi following Matt twenty-four seven. There were shots of Kimo towing me and Matt out behind his jet ski, and images of Gabe and Shayla hauling Matt up onto the beach, with me in the background, turning to dive back into the sea for Kimo. Ethan had already heard the truth from Shayla, but he got more and more irritated every time his buddies brought it up.

“I still can’t believe he took you surfing out there, he could have gotten you seriously hurt,” Ethan grumbled, angry all over again at the thought.

“It’s not his fault. I wanted to,” I protested, popping a strawberry in his mouth to shut him up. To be honest, it was entirely my fault, but Ethan would never see it that way.

It didn’t stop his complaining for long, “That place is way too dangerous… I mean, look what could have happened if those mermaids didn’t show up,” he frowned.

“It was scary… but the waves were amazing. Besides, I do have a lot of experience being towed,” I mused.

He shook his head with a defeated gesture, “I wish you’d be more careful. What would I do without you to worry about?” He reached out to pull me closer, kissing my ear. His warm breath tickled, and I giggled, turning my face to look into his saltwater blue eyes.

“You’re driving me crazy,” he said, just before he kissed me.

He didn’t realize it, but I was beginning to believe that I was. He was pushing himself harder than I ever thought possible, working almost every waking hour, and if he wasn’t at