Heat flooded his abdomen. Shade sat back on his heels, putting some distance between them. Her legs were shapely—and so space-pale they practically glowed in the moonlight. If this had been a date, he might have smoothed his hands down her legs to see if they felt as soft as they looked.
“No backing out,” Tess said, popping up and racing for the surf. She stopped just at the water’s edge and then leaped back, shrieking happily when a wave chased her up the sand.
Shade stood and moved closer. He didn’t join her yet. It was too much fun watching her scoot back and forth, laughing and getting out of the way just before the next wave caught her around the ankles and froze her feet.
Something expanded in his chest, pushing out hard. Tess wasn’t afraid to show enjoyment or enthusiasm. To be herself. He couldn’t imagine her ever approaching life timidly, or just moving quietly from one day to the next.
She finally stood still and let a wave rush over her. Water swirled around her ankles and then sucked and bubbled its way back down the slope, pulling sand out from under her feet. She sank a little into the beach, wiggling her toes. The next wave crashed up her shins, and Tess threw back her head and screamed. It was pure joy—discovery, delight. Probably the cold. Shade loved every second of it.
This wasn’t a woman who kept her head down, playing it safe. Tess lifted her face and yelled to the stars. How many people did that these days?
She turned to him, grinning.
Unable to resist, Shade moved toward her, preparing for the inevitable toe freeze. “What do you think?” he asked.
“I love it!” Her eyes were brilliantly bright, even in the near dark.
“What about the cold?” He suppressed a shiver as the soles of his feet touched wet sand. The foam was even worse. The next wave hit, and Shade sputtered a curse.
“You call this cold?” Smiling, Tess kicked some water at him, splashing his lower legs with tiny beads of ice. “Cold is when you get a tear in your spacewalk suit, and you think, Oh fuck, I’m going to die! This…this is wonderful!” She spun around, raising her arms to the sky.
Shade stared at her. How many times had Tess been on dangerous spacewalks? How many times had she thought, Oh fuck, I’m going to die?
“That happen often?” he asked, frowning.
She shrugged and went a little deeper, bouncing up with every wave in a hopeless attempt to keep her pants dry.
“Don’t go much farther,” he warned. “The drop-off is steep and sudden, and I don’t want to have to dive in after you.”
Tess inched back, turning to him with a crease in her brow. “That seems awfully dangerous for a resort beach.”
“It’s better closer to the hotel and casino. Safer for families. This part of the beach is mostly for walking.”
“Did you learn to swim here?” she asked, jumping another wave.
Shade shook his head. “In a pool. A heated pool,” he added.
“A pool,” she said wistfully.
Shade watched her splash back toward shallower water, where she let the waves roll over her feet again.
Was he wrong about Sector 12? Tess had the accent, but nothing else. No pools, no beaches, no brainwashing into a life of boredom. She showed zest for life. She said what she meant. It was unbelievably refreshing. No one had a fucking opinion these days. Or if they did, they didn’t share it.
He’d been like that, too—until his parents had died and he’d lost everything. Then he’d figured he was free to be himself. Why not? He’d had no one left to impress. The problem was, no one else impressed him, either.
Tess glanced at him, her head tilted to one side. “‘The ocean my secrets keep, its waves whispering echoes from the deep.’”
“‘Mysteries abound; mysteries profound,’” Shade continued for her, his heart speeding up.
“‘Until currents carry them to their final sleep, and then the abyss may them reap.’” They finished together, her smiling, and him feeling like he’d been hit by a wrecking ball.
Was he going to have to hand over to the Dark Watch the only person he’d actually liked in a decade?
“You’ve read Tynhill?” Tess asked, beaming.
“Hasn’t everyone?” Shade sounded hoarse.
“No.” She laughed. “And most people can’t recite her poems, either.”
“Yeah, well, those are good ones,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
A small, dark animal waddle-ran across the sand and plunged into the water near Tess’s ankles.