I felt her soft, warm breath against my neck before she pulled away. “You smell really good, has anyone ever told you that?”
I laughed, “No.” I tried to reconcile this version of Ana with the quiet, shy girl I saw the first day in the lunch room. Both were appealing but it was refreshing to see Ana away from all the realties.
“Well, I’m glad to be your first. The first.” The sound of her laughter filled the car. “I don’t know why I said that. Oh! Music.”
I smiled as she fidgeted with the radio.
“No,” Luke grabbed her hands and that seemed to sober her. “Let’s just see if we can be quiet, ok?” Luke was still holding onto her hands long after she nodded. He suddenly realized it and released them as if he was burned.
Ana looked at me and we shared a secret smile.
“Why hasn’t she passed out by now?” Luke was trying hard to be irritated.
“I’m not sure, we’ll have to get something in her stomach.”
“How far away are we from civilization?” Luke mumbled.
“It’s ok, Luke!” Ana patted Luke’s back and that shut him up real quick. I laughed as I heard Luke stop his breathing and stare straight out the window.
“So you like music?” I asked Ana, wanting to get as much information about her while I could.
“Yes,” she was still trying to keep her eyelids open while twirling a strand of golden hair between her fingers. I was getting a glimpse of ‘Care-free Ana’. Of the Ana she was without all the confusion and aloofness, and I was liking it. I thought of how it would be with just us and our time, not clouded with the supernatural. Something…normal. I really need to get this stupid grin off my face.
“What else do you like?”
“Hmm,” she seemed to ponder this, still touching her hair, tempting me to run my fingers through it to test its softness, “like, my favorite things?”
“Sure.” Yes. Please tell me anything that could help me win you over, I thought eagerly.
“Well, you already know one of my favorite books.”
Did she wink at me? “Yes, I do. And you mine.”
“If I recall it was a very interesting selection.” She chuckled more to herself and I once again wondered what pieces of the puzzle she put together. “I love the feeling of being able to breathe and be weightless underwater, I love my grandma’s red beans and rice, I love the color purple, and I love New Orleans. The people, the culture, everything,” she breathed.
“You like to dive, then?” I already knew this about her. The information Troy had gathered on her revealed from her w-2 that she was employed at the St. Bernard Parish Community Center as a part-time Scuba instructor. She has been PADI certified for three years and, according to her passport, has put it to good use.
“I love it.”
Perfect, I thought. I was confident now that she was going to love where I was taking her.
She continued after a yawn, “My dad is a salvage diver…among other things.” She paused as a laugh escaped her. “I used to travel with him on business…the good ol’ days.”
“But not anymore?”
She shook her head, gently stirring the scent of lavender in her hair. “No, not so much anymore.”
There was a hint of sadness to her tone and I knew there was more to the story. I decided not to ruin her mood by asking about who her father had evacuated with that morning .
Ana looked at me, still with the same dreamy expression.
“Why don’t you lie down?” I suggested guiltily.
“I don’t want to lie down. I’d rather talk to you.”
Who could argue with that?
“Look, we can get some food up here to the left,” Luke interrupted, reminding me that he was there.
I looked to the place he was referring to, “it’s a bar.”
“A bar?” Ana sounded a little too upbeat about it. And that was only part of the problem.
“It has food,” Luke shrugged, “and I really need to get out of this car, Hayden.”
So touchy lately. “She doesn’t even have shoes on…” Ana was still barefoot, having lost her flip flops when I pulled her through the window. And I forgot to pack shoes for her! I could always carry her in…
“In all the time you spent in that shack, you forgot to pack her shoes?” Luke said out loud what I had been thinking. Luke shook his head in both wonder and disappointment. “Look, we’re in the boonies. I am sure shoes are optional, as are a full set of teeth.”
I pulled into the bar and forced the gear harshly into park. “Fine. Let’s just make this quick.”
As it turned out, going into a populated bar was not a good idea, even if Ana wasn’t lucid. She ended up passing out on the table and I had to carry her out.
As Ana turned fitfully in her sleep for the twentieth time, I pulled off in Biloxi. She needed a bed, and a good night’s sleep to help her get through everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. We pulled into a popular resort and I let Luke out to arrange our room. I parked the car in the ramp, and was relieved when I didn’t have to worry about who would see me carrying Ana in because the place was empty.
My phone vibrated in my jeans and I pulled it out to read the room number Luke had texted me. “You have got to be kidding.”
As I went to the top floor of the hotel, I thought about how Luke was always trying to defy me at every turn. He either wasn’t thinking how it would look to rent the penthouse suite, or he just didn’t care. I was betting on the latter.
“What? They are closing the hotel down in the morning because of the Hurricane warning; we are lucky we got a room. Fortunately, I can be very convincing.”
“I’m sure,” I mumbled as the door clicked shut behind me.
I made my way to the bedroom and Luke followed. Holding Ana with one arm, I pulled the covers back on the bed and laid her in it. I re-covered her and fought the instinct to kiss her pink, slightly parted lips.
Pure male satisfaction roared through me at the simple act of taking care of her. I finally was able to pull away from her, meeting Luke’s stormy hazel eyes instead.
His eyes narrowed at me for a while before he asked, “She really is the One?”
“Without a doubt.” And I caught him watching her sleeping form questionably for a while more.
“Now, what?”
I shrugged. “I’m sure you can find something to occupy your time until the morning.”
“Right.” Luke grabbed the remote and hopped in the bed next to Ana’s.
* * *
When the dawn neared, it occurred to me that Ana would have needs she would like attend to before we continued on our journey. I reluctantly left Luke, who was now occupying the couch and went to grab her belongings from the truck.
I returned to find her bed empty but was relieved to hear the water running in the bathroom.
I knocked hesitantly on the door to let her know I’d brought her her things and some new shoes.
She cleared her throat. “Um, thanks. Just leave them by the door.”
I set them down and she opened the door no more than necessary to pull her black duffle bag inside.
I waited in anticipation for her to emerge. What was she doing in there? I knew she couldn’t be attempting escape—I had already made sure that wasn’t possible. The thought bothered me, though, that she would want to leave. I knew I had amends to make, but there was no way I could let her go.
When I was about to check on her again, she came out. The dress I had seen in her closet now hung on her body, looking better than I could have imagined when I packed her clothes. “Wow,” spilled from my lips, sending a delicious flush across Ana’s cheeks.
Luke had turned off the TV now and I tried to ignore his scrutiny.
“About yesterday…” she started, much to her chagrin.
“What about yesterday? Here,” I handed her breakfast that I picked up from the café downstairs on my way back from the car.
“Thanks,” she
said again, clearly not knowing what to do now. At least she didn’t seem angry with me. Yet.
“I suppose you slept well,” my eyes darted to the bed that was a mass of tangled sheets and pillows. Luke, oddly, was lying in the center of it, pretending to ignore us.
“Sorry. I have been having the worst nightmares lately.”
“I know.” When a ghost was haunting someone, they could get into their dreams. Ana’s tossing and turning last night proved just that.
“Hayden, we’d better get going,” Luke stood up now with a renewed sense of urgency.
“Where are we going?” Ana took on Luke’s urgency.
“Evacuating, remember? We’re in Mississippi and the hurricane‘s supposed to hit here tonight. Plus, we have a long drive ahead of us.”
“Are you taking me to my uncle’s in Atlanta?” Her eyes were optimistic and I had wished I would have seen disappointment.
“Sorry, you don’t get off that easy.” I kept my tone light, playful almost, and she made no further protests as we went to the car. A smile curved my lips.
As soon as we exited the parking garage, rain sloshed our windshield. Unfortunately for Luke, he was driving. But that meant I could focus on finding out as much as I could about Ana.
We talked for hours as we passed through two new states finally making it into Florida. Even though we were driving further away from where the Hurricane would hit, the weather was worsening.
“We’re not really brothers you know,” I finally gave up on dodging her questions.
“Oh?” Her eyes beamed with intrigue.
“Let’s just say our families have a long history together.” I laughed to myself before turning serious for Luke’s sake. “After Luke’s parents died, my family adopted him. In every way but blood, we’re brothers.”
Ana turned toward Luke after hearing this new information. Luke clenched the steering wheel, and I had wondered if it was because he was upset with me for revealing such information or uncomfortable with the sympathy Ana was giving him.
Ana turned forward with an unreadable expression.
“What are you thinking?” I asked, trying to see what was in her eyes.
She smiled, “That maybe all the rumors in school about you aren’t true.”
“What have you heard?” I was surprised, intrigued, and a little nervous to hear what people had come up with. It was an odd feeling, never caring for what people thought about me, mortal or not. But now it suddenly seemed important as I wondered how it could affect what Ana thought of me.
“Let’s see…that you’re a model and that your parents are millionaires in real estate, building a hotel in downtown New Orleans.”
Luke laughed along with me. I doubt I would ever hear the end of being mistaken for a model. I figured it was just as a novelty to him to hear what people thought of us.
“So none of it is true?”
“It’s very interesting what people can come up with, don’t you agree? Like the way some people portray you: shy, normal, a know-it-all. In fact you are just the opposite: exceptionally beautiful and unique. But still a know-it-all,” I teased.
She playfully hit my arm.
“You are perfect, Ana.”
“You don’t even know me,” she refused to meet my eyes.
I smirked. “But I do. That’s why I will do whatever it takes to protect you.” If she only knew she was my mate, the other half of my existence, the being I was meant to be with the remainder of my eternity.
Luke grunted a protest and I was glad we both had ignored him. Ana was looking at me now; something in her eyes had changed. It was as if— almost as if she recognized this, too.
“I—”
Ana was interrupted as the truck jerked to a stop. I gave Luke my best “what the hell?” expression when I noticed he had decided now to stop at one of the rest stops. I looked back to Ana, willing her to finish what she was about to say. But she shook her head and blinked, as if whatever thoughts were there were now gone. I kept staring at her, amused that she was squirming under my scrutiny.
She finally chuckled and looked away.
“Well, I guess we’ll just keep going,” Luke prepared to restart the car.
“No!” Ana was quick correct him. “I mean, I do need to use the restroom, if that’s ok.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Luke got out of the car and walked with Ana and I toward the restrooms, even though he was immortal and didn’t have those needs.
Ana didn’t run for cover, she instead let the rain dampen her skin and hair. We were the only car parked in the lot so I didn’t bother hesitating to follow Ana into the restroom. Restrooms were a perfect opportunity for someone to attack.
Ana stopped, “Are you really going to follow me into the bathroom?”
“Luke can, if you’d like.” I stifled a laugh. In reality, there would be no way Luke would be here instead of me.
“No way!” The way she spit out her words was humorous and she quickly went for something more polite. “I mean, no, thank you.”
I waited by the door as Ana went right for the sink, splashing water on her face and regarding her expression in the mirror.
I frowned when I realized she must require privacy. Of course, she did. I had been immortal too long to remember simple modesties. I regretted not being able to wait for her outside. Sansha already confirmed there were others after her and I couldn’t risk someone with friends of the soothsayer sort anticipating our moves. “We’ll be stopping at a motel shortly and you’ll have some privacy then.”
She nodded, then went to leave.
My arm shot out, blocking her exit. She stopped inches from me. “I’m sorry,” my face was titled over hers, and the urge to kiss her was strong, “for anything I have done.” I remembered how it felt when her lips were on my neck yesterday and the will to resist her again was completely gone. I knew if she let me, I would go through with it. “And whatever I am about to do.” Her lips parted in invitation and I crashed my mouth over hers. My hand weaved through her hair, pulling her tighter into our kiss. I fought a groan of leashed passion as I felt her respond in my arms. Her fingers snaked up my chest, curling into my shoulders. I was not prepared for the intensity of our kiss, for how heatedly she would react. I knew I was on the verge of losing control.
I broke our kiss and she swayed, lips red and slightly swollen. I became angry. Angry at myself for what I was and angry that we couldn’t continue this.
“Why did it have to be you?” My mate could have been a witch, a Halfling, anyone who understood our world. How would she react when she found out what I was? Would she even be able to comprehend? Would she still want me?
“What are you talking about?” To my surprise she leaned forward to kiss me again.
It took every ounce of strength I had left not to react. “I’m the worst person in the world for you. I’m your complete opposite.”
Her eyes flew open, suddenly the passion in them was cooled. “Complete opposite? My opposite?” She stepped away like she couldn’t get away from me fast enough. “Why? Because you’re so perfect and good looking that someone like me is your opposite! Nice, Hayden, real nice.”
“That’s not what I meant—“
“Well, then why don’t you tell me what the hell you meant and stop with these secrets!”
How could I tell her yet when I hadn’t even won her over?
She stalked toward me at my non-response. “Let me through!” I dropped my arm and she stormed out.
“Don’t worry, Luke, I am not going to try to escape!” I heard her snap at him and wondered if she would be able to forgive me this time.
Luke was already in the car with her so I retrieved her some packages of food from the machines.
When I returned to the truck, I noticed she was even further away from the passenger seat. Great, she would rather be close to my brother who hates her than to me right now.
“I got you—“
“I don’t want it,”
she cut me off quickly, and my hope of using the food as amends was shot down.
She ignored me for the remainder of the drive that day and I let her. Going over my words, I knew it seemed like to her that she wasn’t adequate enough for me. Ironic, considering I feared I wouldn’t be adequate enough for her.
Luke made the decision to stop for the night. He would have to forgo his luxury suites because the only thing around was a motel. I checked out the room for before instructing Luke and Ana up. Ana went straight for bathroom locking herself in for five minutes.
When she came out, she was as angry as before. I watched with a slightly amused expression as she dug through the suitcases I packed for her. Clearly, she was not thrilled by the choices in clothing.
“Do you mind?” She was looking at both of us and I realized Luke had been watching her, too.
“Not at all." I crossed my arms over my chest but Luke took the hint and went into the bathroom.
“Fine. Suit yourself.” She had her arms criss-crossed, ready to take off her shirt.
I whipped around, having to clear my throat as I uttered an apology.
“Yeah, you apologize a lot. I wouldn’t bother anymore because it means nothing to the person who doesn’t believe it.”
“I didn’t know that it would affect you like this.” I hadn’t realized just how much we might share the same feelings until our kiss. If only she would have been able to finish what she was going to say in the car.
“Just drop it okay? Now I know how you really feel and that I was a fool.”
“You have no idea how I feel…” I heard the rustling of clothes stop and turned around to face her. She couldn’t really believe that I didn’t like her? She was mine and the more time I spent with her the more I knew I was falling in love her. If she only realized I couldn’t put myself out there because I couldn’t risk losing her.
“Listen, it’s been a long day – actually a long week—and ironically, the one thing I was to do is sleep.”
She pulled back the sheets and climbed into bed. She lay on her side, facing away from me. I kept watching her in concern until I heard her breathing even out, indicating she had fallen asleep.
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