Page 73

“Why else do you think he moved here, of all the lovely towns on the West Coast? You’re the ER doc. What’s haunting this area?”

“Wild animals and poorly maintained hiking trails.” Fucking hell. Who would choose Lost Beach, knowing death came too often and too violently around here? Aside from her, but she had a date with destiny.

She almost laughed. And she had called Vann a fatalist?

Outside, Vann eased up from his chair and clicked off the fire, while Quinn opened the slider and took in their empty glasses. Without conferring with each other, something already decided, Vann passed through the living area and cast a look toward his bedroom. “Eryn? I’m going to hit the rack early, if you… want to, um… I mean, between my team, and Lexi, all the other bedrooms are going to be occupied…”

Eryn looked at his guests, and they seemed complicit in whatever he was scheming. If she didn’t believe the man incapable of such a bold display, she would swear he was blushing. “Sounds good.” She took her plate as she stood.

“I got it. Sounds like you both could use some downtime,” Ryan said, and waved them off.

No more gaping echoes in the house; Eryn couldn’t hear Vann walking down the hall behind her, but felt his heat radiating behind her.

The bedroom was unchanged. Vann had focused on his team’s comfort.

The door clicked shut behind her.

Confident in all things, graceful and passionate, Vann closed the short distance between them, and sank into a thick, dreamy kiss.

Hands cradling her jaw, thumbs caressing her cheeks, he held her delicately. Less delicately and a lot richer, deeper, he filled her mouth and invited her fully into him.

On fire in an instant, floored by him, Eryn wrapped around him.

With less need for air than a human, she could keep this up for hours.

As a human, he’d probably need to breathe at some point. Airway, breathing, circulation, and she was savoring all of his.

Breathless all the same, she drew back enough to meet his look.

Chocolaty brown melted as he searched her look back.

“Too late for what? Explain what?” She repeated his words from earlier. “Look, Vann, I—”

“Tonight… can we just have tonight? Tomorrow, when you get home from work, either I explain everything I know and hope you explain everything you know, or… or if I have to, if my leaving will fix this… I’ll leave.” He dropped his hands and stalked backward toward the bed. “My team will stay until we know you’re safe.”

Infuriating man. It was way, way past time he agreed to be the one to leave. With him gone, she didn’t have to worry about keeping him safe, or that he would try to follow her and endanger them both. “Ryan said you moved here because it was dangerous.”

He tilted a look. Half smile and half frustration.

He tugged his shirt over his head.

“Leave in the morning.” Heat and blurry saltiness threatened behind her eyes.

“I’ve got something to take care of, first. Your security system should arrive tomorrow.”

“So you’re setting up my security alarm tomorrow?”

She needed to end this now. Before Tisiphone went on any more murder sprees. Before she became a full monster, and made everything worse.

Eryn stripped off her sweatshirt as she stopped in front of him. “I’ll call you when it’s safe to come back.”

He laughed under his breath and fell into a rare smile in the midst of a weird evening.

While Eryn reached back to unsnap her bra, Vann’s smile turned wicked, twitching into a rich laugh. He reached across and pulled her closer. Unfastened the button of her jeans, and lowered the zipper.

Vann stilled as he lowered her jeans, mouth tipping open wide, and he huffed a low growl of a breath.

Cheeks flushing, she unhooked his jeans.