Текст книги "Oblivion"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 51 страниц)

“Yeah.” I paused, distracted. I watched the girl turn back to the flower bed, where she started digging furiously with a shovel. “Dee has a new friend. She’s human.”

There was a sigh on the other end of the phone. “We’re kind of surrounded by humans, Daemon.”

No shit. “Yeah, but this one moved in next door.”

“What?”

“I have no idea why they allowed it.” I paused as I glanced over at them. My sister handed her some kind of plant that actually looked like a healthy weed. “But Dee’s crawled right up her ass and you know how Dee is. Ever since…Dawson and Bethany, she’s been desperate for…” Desperate for everything Dawson had been and I wasn’t.

That’s the damn truth right there.

“School is one thing,” Matthew said, glossing over what I hadn’t said but definitely hung between us. “But that close—your home and the colony? What in the world was the DOD thinking?”

“I don’t think they were thinking.” But that didn’t seem right. They never did anything without having a reason.

“You need to be careful.”

“I’m always careful.”

“I’m being serious.” Exasperation filled his voice.

“I’ll take care of it,” I promised. “Don’t say anything to the Thompsons yet about her, okay? I don’t need to deal with however they’re going to react on top of all of this.”

Matthew agreed and then ranted on for about thirty minutes, alternating between my new neighbor and the Arum. I was catching bits and pieces of his conversation as I watched the girls from where I stood on the porch. I didn’t need Matthew telling me how serious nearby Arum were and the precautions we needed to take, and I think he knew that, too. But that was Matthew, the prophet of doom.

But with confirmation of the Arum moving in, this crap between Dee and that girl needed to end before something happened and drew one of those bastards right to us, like it had with Dawson.

When I got off the phone, I went inside and grabbed a shirt, and then went back outside despite my empty, grumbling stomach. I was hungry and annoyed. Never a good combination.

Dee rose as I crossed the driveway, brushing the grass off her hands, but the girl stayed on the ground, smacking the soil. I dropped my arm over Dee’s shoulders, holding her still when she tried to squirm free. “Hey, sis.”

She grinned up at me with hope in her gaze. God only knew what she thought about me making an appearance, but I was really going to let her down. “Thanks for moving the bags for us,” she said.

“Wasn’t me.”

Dee rolled her eyes. “Whatever, butthead.”

“That’s not nice.” I tugged her close, smiling down at her when she wrinkled her nose. I felt eyes on us and when I glanced up, I saw that the girl was watching us. The sun had pinked the heights of her cheeks—or something else had. Her hair was pulled up but sweat had dampened the loose tendrils around the nape of her neck. The smile slipped from my face. She was going to be such a problem. “What are you doing?”

“I’m fixing—”

“I wasn’t asking you,” I said, interrupting her as I directed my attention to Dee. “What are you doing?”

The girl shrugged and picked up a potted plant, totally unfazed by me, and my eyes narrowed on her. She acted as if I wasn’t even standing there. Unacceptable.

Dee punched me in the stomach. Knowing she could hit a hell of a lot harder than that, I let her go. “Look at what we’ve done,” she said. “I think I have a hidden talent.”

I looked over at the flower bed. Yeah, they had done some major work on it. Then again, how hard could it really be, pulling up weeds and planting new shit? I arched a brow when the girl looked at me.

“What?” she demanded.

I shrugged and honestly, I couldn’t care less about it. “It’s nice. I guess.”

“Nice?” Dee all but shrieked. “It’s better than nice. We rocked this project. Well, Katy rocked it. I kind of just handed her stuff.”

Ignoring my sister, I turned my full attention on the girl. “Is this what you do with your spare time?”

“What—are you deciding to talk to me now?” She smiled, and my jaw tightened as she grabbed a handful of mulch. “Yeah, it’s kind of a hobby. What’s yours? Kicking puppies?”

At first, I wasn’t sure why she had said that to me, because no one talked back to me. No one was that insane. I tilted my head to the side. “I’m not sure I should say in front of my sister.”

“Ew,” muttered Dee.

The girl’s face flushed even more, and I felt my lips kick up at the corner. What was she thinking? “It’s not nearly as lame as this,” I added, gesturing at the flower bed.

She stilled. Pieces of red cedar drifted to the ground. “Why is this lame?”

I raised both brows.

The girl wisely retreated, but her jaw jutted out as she returned to spreading the mulch, and my eyes narrowed even farther. I could tell she was forcing herself to keep quiet, and that made me feel like a shark that scented blood in the water.

Dee sensed it, because she pushed me. “Don’t be a jerk. Please?”

“I’m not being a jerk.” I stared at the girl.

Her brows flew up, and there it was. The attitude. I didn’t like it…but I did, and realizing that amped me up. “What’s that? You have something to say, Kitten?”

“Other than I’d like for you to never call me Kitten? No.” Running her hands over the mulch calmly, she then stood and grinned at Dee. “I think we did good.”

This girl was legit ignoring me.

“Yes.” Dee pushed me again, but this time in the direction of our house. “We did good, lameness and all. And you know what? I kind of like being lame.”

As I stared at the fresh plants, I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that she was standing there, pretending like I wasn’t even here. This chick was not even one bit intimidated by me. That floored me. I couldn’t be reading her right. Yeah, most human girls didn’t run from me. They wanted to run to me, but one look would send them scurrying away. This girl was basically like, whatever.

“And I think we need to spread our lameness to the flower bed in front of our house,” Dee continued, practically humming with excitement. “We can go to the store, get stuff, and you can—”

“She’s not welcome in our house.” Annoyed, I knew where this was heading. “Seriously.”

Dee’s hands balled into fists. “I was thinking we could work on the flower bed, which is outside—not inside—the last time I checked.”

“I don’t care,” I snapped. “I don’t want her over there.”

“Daemon, don’t do this.” Her voice dropped, and then I saw her eyes turn too bright. “Please. I like her.”

Hating the look in her eyes, I exhaled softly. “Dee…”

“Please?” she asked again.

I cursed under my breath as I folded my arms. I couldn’t give in to this. There was too much at stake, like her life. “Dee, you have friends.”

“It’s not the same, and you know it.” She folded her arms. “It’s different.”

Glancing over at Katy, I smirked. She looked like she wanted to throw something at me. “They’re your friends, Dee. They’re like you. You don’t need to be friends with someone…someone like her.”

“What do you mean, someone like me?” Katy demanded.

“He didn’t mean anything by it,” Dee rushed to add.

“Bullshit,” I said. I’d totally meant it. The girl just didn’t get what it really meant.

Katy looked like she was about to throw down, and if I hadn’t been so damn annoyed, it might’ve been cute. “What the hell is your problem?”

Shock flickered through me as I fully faced her. This girl… Wow. She was kind of prettier than average when her eyes lit with sparks of anger, but I was determined not to care. “You.”

“I’m your problem?” She took a step forward, and oh yeah, she wanted to throw down like a mofo. “I don’t even know you. And you don’t know me.”

“You are all the same.” And damn, that was the truth. “I don’t need to get to know you. Or want to.”

Confusion flickered across her face as she threw up her hands. “That works perfectly for me, buddy, because I don’t want to get to know you, either.”

“Daemon.” Dee grabbed my arm. “Knock it off.”

I didn’t take my eyes off Katy. “I don’t like that you’re friends with my sister.”

“And I don’t give two shits what you like,” she spat back.

Holy shit. I was not one bit mistaken when I realized she wasn’t at all intimidated, and my first, the very immediate response, was that I liked that.

And I could not have that.

I moved, faster than I probably should’ve, but I was there, right in front of her, my gaze locked in on hers.

“How…how did you move…?” She took a step back, her eyes widening as she shuddered.

There it was. Fear. And maybe it made me a complete jackass, but I wanted her afraid, because in my world, fear equaled common sense. “Listen closely,” I said, backing her up until she was against a tree, caging her in. She didn’t look away from me. “I’m only going to tell you this once. If anything happens to my sister, so help me—” My gaze dropped, and I saw her lips part. Damn, I hadn’t noticed how full her lips were until this moment. When I raised my eyes, she had that look again, one that said her mind recognized the danger she was in, but her body was totally not on the same page.

She was attracted to me, even right now, when I’d backed her clear across the yard, and yet she was still attracted to me. And that kicked off something in me that I didn’t want to look too closely at.

My lips curled up and I lowered my voice. “You’re kind of dirty, Kitten.”

She blinked slowly, as if in a daze. “What did you say?”

“Dirty.” I let that word hang between us and then added, “You’re covered in dirt. What did you think I meant?”

“Nothing.” The flush in her cheeks said otherwise. “I’m gardening. You get dirty when you do that.”

I resisted a laugh at her poor attempt to explain herself, but she still wasn’t cowering in fear, and that was really kind of hot. “There are a lot more fun ways to get…dirty.” I caught myself. Where in the hell did that come from? Yeah, I needed to correct that. “Not that I’d ever show you.”

That…interesting flush spread down her throat. “I’d rather roll around in manure than anything you might sleep in.”

So fucking doubtful.

Part of me wanted to call her on that right here. Lower my head to hers and taste that smart little mouth. I was willing to bet an arm she wouldn’t push me away, but the momentary satisfaction wasn’t worth it. With one last look, I pivoted around, and as I passed Dee, I yelled out, “You need to call Matthew. Like, now, and not five minutes from now.”

That was a lie, but like most lies, it would get the job done.

Chapter 4

My house became a war zone over the next couple of days.

Dee and I argued nonstop about the girl next door, and the words were just wasted time on my end, because she ultimately did what she wanted, no matter how brutally honest I got about the kind of risks befriending her posed.

The only reason I didn’t lose my last nerve was the fact that Dee would be leaving Monday, spending a week with the colony, something the damn Elders required at least once a year so that we did not forget what we were or where we came from or some kind of bullshit like that. Maybe the week away would wake her up.

Doubtful.

Then on Friday, some of my favorite damn shirts—one of them a Ghost Investigators—had turned up missing. I had a strong suspicion the pile of ashes in the kitchen sink I’d discovered later that day had been what was left of my shirts.

Damn Dee.

Fed up with the situation, I’d gone over to the Thompsons’, and Ash had been more than willing to help work off some of the frustration. But it hadn’t worked, and when I’d come home in the early hours of Saturday morning, I found myself sitting out on the hood of my SUV, staring at nothing really, with only the stars and the rustling of nearby critters for company.

The idea of even hooking up with Ash had been empty and boring, and nothing happened. Not even a touch. Things like that with Ash had been a take-it-or-leave-it kind of deal for a while, but empty?

Dropping my head, I rubbed at the back of my neck. I could do another patrol, but Matthew was out there and so was Adam. No Arum had been sighted. Yet.

At least my head was quiet at the moment. Except when my head was quiet, I started thinking about what the hell all of us were going to do. When summer ended, we were entering our senior year and all of us—Dee, the Thompsons—would be graduating next spring. What in the hell were we going to do then?

Dee didn’t talk about it a lot, not to me at least, but I had a feeling she wanted to leave. Go to college far away from here, and I could sympathize with that. I wanted to get the hell out of here myself, but unlike the teenagers who shared classes with us, it wasn’t an easy decision. We’d have to get permission from the DOD. They’d have to approve the relocation, and even if they did, we’d need to find someplace safe, near beta quartz, and it wasn’t like there was a wide selection of that available.

And the colony—Ethan—didn’t want us to leave at all. He wasn’t even happy with us living outside the damn place. He’d be a problem. All the Elders were focused on was the younger generation hooking up and producing more Luxen babies, born and raised on Earth, and yeah, that wasn’t in my game plan.

“Hell,” I muttered, dropping my hand and lifting my head.

In the quiet moments, I also thought about Dawson, and those thoughts always cycled back to how he could have felt so strongly for a human, had fallen in love with one, knowing what it risked. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. So many countless, sleepless nights I’d tried to figure it out. In the end, Dawson had given two shits about the danger he posed to his family, but if he truly loved the girl—Bethany—wouldn’t he have stayed away from her? The Luxen Elders or the government did not tolerate mixing of our two kinds, and then there was the Arum aspect.

Had love made him that damn selfish? Didn’t he realize I’d be lost if anything happened to him?

The stars I stared at held no answers, and as I slowly lowered my gaze, I found myself staring at the bedroom window of the house next door, my new problem. There was a part of me that had accepted there was nothing I was going to be able to do to stop Dee and her from getting closer, but I couldn’t just let it go.

I had done exactly that when Dawson had asked me to.

Yeah, these were two different scenarios, but the likelihood of ending the same was high, so I couldn’t just walk away from this. I would be keeping an eye on that girl, a very close one.

Monday morning, I woke up before Dee and made her breakfast of W.E.B.—waffles, eggs, and bacon. Even though she was pissed at me, I didn’t like the idea of her leaving for a week on those kinds of terms.

And no one, not even my sister, could resist my breakfast skills.

It worked.

At first, I think she was suspicious of my intent, eyeing me warily, but when I didn’t mention the girl next door, she was all smiles and hugs from that point on. I followed her outside, carrying her luggage even though she could carry the thing with a pinkie. I popped it in the back of her Volkswagen. The colony could be accessed from the woods, but she would drive the handful of miles and enter through one of the nearly invisible roads leading in. The local humans thought the little village was just full of nature nuts who preferred to live off the grid.

Humans saw what they wanted to see, never what was really right in front of them.

“You sure you don’t want me to come with you?” I asked.

Smiling, she shook her head as she walked around the car. “That’s the fifth time you’ve asked.”

“The third.”

“Whatever.” She laughed. “You know if one of the Elders or Ethan saw you, you won’t be getting out of there in the foreseeable future. I’ll be okay.”

I didn’t like the idea of it, but I nodded. “Text me when you get there.”

“They’d better not try to take my cell phone like they did last time. I’ll cut them.” Dee turned to me and smiled before climbing in behind the wheel. “Can you do me a favor while I’m gone?”

“Hmm?”

Her expression turned serious. “Try to talk to Katy if you see her.”

I arched a brow.

“Actually, how about you make a point to see her, without being a jerk to her so you don’t ruin my chances of having one normal friend who is not obligated to like me because we’re both freaking aliens. I really like her and it would be great if my friend didn’t hate my brother,” she continued, and I wasn’t sure how to feel over the fact that the girl hated me.

Granted, that was the whole point of my being such a dick to her.

“Can you do that for me?” She opened the driver’s door. “Make nice with her. Please?”

Her gaze was so earnest that I found myself nodding.

“Really?” she persisted.

I sighed and looked away as I agreed. “Yeah. Sure.”

A smile broke out across her face, the kind of smile that had every guy at school tripping all over themselves, and here I was, her brother, most likely lying to her.

But lies…they worked.

I watched her leave and then headed in, going upstairs to take a shower. Afterward, I changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt that hadn’t been burned and then puttered around the house, actually picking up after myself. That was a miracle right there.

Make nice with her.

I shook my head as I walked over to my trusty stalker window and pulled back the curtain, wondering if– “What in the hell?”

Squinting, I watched the girl next door jump up and down, trying to reach the roof of her car with a sponge with absolutely no success. A slow smile pulled at my lips.

She looked absolutely ridiculous as the minutes ticked by.

Before I even knew what I was doing, I pivoted around and went out the back door, slipping quietly between the houses. I reached the front of the house just in time to see her bend over to pick up the sponge she’d dropped.

I stopped mid-walk, totally admiring the view offered to me. Alien…human… We’re all universally predictable it seems.

She straightened as I wandered closer. I thought I heard her curse as she plucked at the sponge before tossing it in the bucket.

“You look as if you could use some help,” I said, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans.

Jumping, she whipped around with wide, startled gray eyes. There was no mistaking the look of surprise as she eyed me, and it was clear as we stood there staring at each other, she had no idea why I was out there.

Neither did I.

Make nice with her.

I swallowed a sigh as I gestured at the bucket with a lift of my elbow. “You looked as though you wanted to throw that again. I figured I’d do my good deed for the day and intervene before any innocent sponges lose their lives.”

Lifting her arm, she used it to wipe strands of damp hair out of her face as she watched me. Tension radiated from her. Since she didn’t say anything, I walked over to the bucket and snatched the sponge, squeezing out the water. “You look like you got more of a bath than the car. I never thought washing a car would be so hard, but after watching you for the last fifteen minutes, I’m convinced it should be an Olympic sport.”

“You were watching me?”

Probably shouldn’t have admitted that. Oh well. I shrugged. “You could always take the car to the car wash. It would be a lot easier.”

“Car washes are a waste of money.”

“True.” I walked around the front of her car and knelt, hitting a spot she’d missed. While I was there, I checked out her tires. Jesus. They were in terrible condition. “You need new tires. These are about bald, and winter’s crazy around here.”

Silence greeted me.

I peered up through my lashes as I rose. She was watching me like I was some kind of hallucination, arms loose at her sides, and damn, the entire front of her shirt was soaked, showing off a very interesting outline I shouldn’t even be paying attention to. Turning away, I took care of the roof. When I was done, she was still standing there, absolutely immobile, and that made me grin. “Anyway, I’m glad you were out here.” I grabbed the hose and sprayed down the car. “I think I’m supposed to apologize.”

“You think you’re supposed to?” Ahh, she speaks.

I slowly turned around, almost hitting her with the spray of water as I attacked the other side of the car. The slight narrowing of her eyes brought forth a great wealth of satisfaction. “Yeah, according to Dee, I needed to get my ass over here and make nice. Something about me killing her chances of having a ‘normal’ friend.”

“A normal friend? What kind of friends does she have?”

“Not normal.”

“Well, apologizing and not meaning it kind of defeats the purpose of apologizing.”

I chuckled. “True.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her shift her weight from one foot to the other. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah.” I worked my way around the car, chasing off the suds as a genius idea struck me. There was no getting rid of this girl, and the likelihood of Dee growing bored with her wasn’t going to help. I’d decided Saturday morning I needed to keep a close eye on her and I needed an excuse. There was no way this girl was going to believe I wanted to be around her when I really didn’t want to be, but if Dee was going to be her new BFF, I needed to know everything about her, and not just if she could be trusted if something weird went down. “Actually, I don’t have a choice. I have to make nice.”

She gave a little shake of her head. “You don’t seem like a person who does anything he doesn’t want to do.”

“Normally I’m not.” I hit the back of the car with the water as I picked out the first thing I could come up with. “But my sister took my car keys and until I play nice, I don’t get them back. It’s too damn annoying to get replacements.”

I started to grin, because the whole thing was ridiculous. It wasn’t like I needed keys to get anywhere. Not like this girl knew that. I made a mental note to text Dee as soon as possible.

She laughed. “She took your keys?”

The small grin slipped off my face as I returned to the side she was standing on. “It’s not funny.”

“You’re right.” She laughed again, and it was a nice laugh—throaty. Kind of sexy. “It’s freaking hilarious.”

I scowled at her. Of course, my keys were on the kitchen counter, but still, she could be more sympathetic to my plight.

Her arms folded across her chest. “I’m sorry, though. I’m not accepting your not-so-sincere apology.”

My brows rose. “Not even when I’m cleaning your car?”

“Nope.” Her smile grew, and that plain face suddenly wasn’t really plain. “You may never see those keys again.”

“Well, damn, there went my plan.” A reluctant smile broke free. Her attitude was…interesting. Entertaining. “I figured that if I really don’t feel bad, then at least I could make up for it.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Are you normally this warm and sparkly?”

I walked past her to where the outdoor spigot was. I turned off the water. “Always. Do you usually stare at guys when you stop over, asking for directions?”

“Do you always answer the door half naked?”

“Always. And you didn’t answer my question. Do you always stare?”

She blushed a deep pink. “I was not staring.”

“Really?” I grinned as I turned around. “Anyway, you woke me up. I’m not a morning person.”

“It wasn’t that early.”

“I sleep in. It is summer, you know. Don’t you sleep in?”

A piece of hair had snuck free of her bun again and she pushed it out of her face. “No. I always get up early.”

Go figure. “You sound just like my sister. No wonder she loves you so much already.”

“Dee has taste…unlike some,” she said, and there it was again, the attitude. “And she’s great. I really like her, so if you’re over here to play big, bad brother, just forget it.”

God, she was a little firecracker.

“That’s not why I’m here.” I gathered up the bucket and various sprays and cleaners, and when I glanced over at her, I thought she might be staring at my mouth. Interesting.

“Then why are you here, other than delivering a crappy apology?” she asked.

Placing the supplies on the porch steps, I lifted my arms and stretched as my gaze flickered over to her and stayed. “Maybe I’m just curious why she is so enamored. Dee doesn’t take well to strangers. None of us do.”

“I had a dog once that didn’t take well to strangers,” Katy quipped.

For a moment, I didn’t move, and then I laughed—a real laugh—and it sounded strange to my own ears. Shit. She was quick.

Her gaze dipped, and then she cleared her throat. “Well, thanks for the car thing.”

And she was clearly dismissing me.

I crossed the distance between us—and I hadn’t even moved that fast—but based on her soft inhale, I’d caught her off guard. I was right in front of her, and she smelled like peaches again.

“How do you move so fast?” she asked.

Ignoring that loaded question, I let my gaze roam over her face. What was it about her that had my sister bouncing all over the place? Her tongue was sharp as a knife and she came across as intelligent, but there were literally billions of humans like her. I didn’t get it. “My little sis does seem to like you.”

She opened her mouth and then snapped it shut. A moment passed. “Little? You’re twins.”

“I was born a whole four minutes and thirty seconds before she was.” I lifted my gaze to hers. “Technically she is my little sister.”

“She’s the baby in the family?” Her voice sounded different as she lowered her gaze.

“Yep, therefore I’m the one starved for attention.”

“I guess that explains your poor attitude, then,” she shot back.

“Maybe, but most people find me charming.” Sometimes.

Her gaze flicked to mine and then stayed. Something shifted in those gray depths. “I have…a hard time believing that.”

“You shouldn’t, Katy.” Her name sounded strange on my tongue and in my thoughts. That damn little piece of hair had fallen free again, brushing her cheek. I caught it between my fingers. “What kind of color is this? It’s not brown or blond.”

She tugged her hair free of my grasp. “It’s called light brown.”

“Hmm,” I murmured, lowering my gaze. “You and I have plans to make.”

“What?” She stepped around me, putting some space between us. “We don’t have any plans to make.”

I sat down on the steps, stretched out my legs, and leaned back on my elbows. Plans. Plans. I needed plans. My mouth was moving faster than my brain.

“Comfortable?” she snapped.

“Very.” I squinted up at her. The front of her T-shirt had dried—the greatest idea known to man and Luxen formed in my thoughts. “About these plans…”

She remained standing. “What are you talking about?”

“You remember the whole ‘getting my ass over here and playing nice’ thing, right? That also involves my car keys?” I crossed my ankles as I glanced at the tree line. Man, I was such a liar. “Those plans involve me getting my car keys back.”

“You need to give me a little more of an explanation than that.”

“Of course.” I sighed. “Dee hid my keys. She’s good at hiding stuff, too. I’ve already torn the house apart, and I can’t find them.”

“So, make her tell you where they are.”

“Oh, I would, if she was here. But she’s left town and won’t be back until Sunday.”

“What?” She paused. “I didn’t know that.”

“It was a last-minute thing.” Uncrossing my ankles, I started tapping my foot. “And the only way she’ll tell me where the keys are hidden is by me earning bonus points. See, my sister has this thing about bonus points, ever since elementary school.”

The bonus points thing was true.

“Okay…?”

“I have to earn bonus points to get my keys back. The only way I can earn those points is by doing something nice for you.”

She let out a loud laugh, and I looked at her, my eyes narrowing. “I’m sorry, but this is kind of funny.”

Her lack of sympathy for my nonexistent problem was amusing. “Yeah, it’s real funny.”

Her laughter was slow to fade. “What do you have to do?”

“I’m supposed to take you swimming tomorrow. If I do that, then she’ll tell me where my keys are hidden—and I have to be nice.” Totally sounded like something Dee would say. I was rather proud of myself.

Katy stared at me for a moment, and then her mouth dropped open. “So the only way you get your keys back is by taking me swimming and by being nice to me?”

“Wow. You’re a quick one.”

Her laugh this time was actually quite evil sounding. “Yeah, well, you can kiss your keys good-bye.”

I cranked my head back and waited for her to say she was just kidding. “Why?”

“Because I’m not going anywhere with you.” Smugness rang in her voice.

“We don’t have a choice.”

“No. You don’t have a choice, but I do.” She looked over her shoulder at the front door. “I’m not the one with missing keys.”

Huh. Perhaps I was a bit too much of a dick the first two times I talked to her. Good thing she didn’t know I briefly considered burning her house down. “You don’t want to hang out with me?”

“Uh, no.”

“Why not?”

She rolled her eyes. “For starters, you’re a jerk.”

I nodded. “I can be.” Not going to disagree with that.

“And I’m not spending time with a guy who’s being forced to do it by his sister. I’m not desperate.”

“You’re not?”

Anger flashed across her face, and again, it transformed her features. “Get off my porch.”

Completely committed to my plan, I pretended to consider it. “No.”

“What? What do you mean, no?”

“I’m not leaving until you agree to go swimming with me.”

She was so going to blow a fuse. “Fine. You can sit there, because I’d rather eat glass than spend time with you.”

I was genuinely amused by that statement. “That sounds drastic.”

“Not nearly.” She started up the steps.

I twisted at the waist and caught her ankle. Damn, her skin was incredibly soft. Fragile. I kept my grip loose. Her gaze lowered to mine, and I forced a smile that had gotten me excused from many school assignments. “I’ll sit here all day and night. I’ll camp out on your porch. And I won’t leave. We have all week, Kitten. Either get it over with tomorrow and be done with me, or I’ll be right here until you do agree. You won’t be able to leave the house.”

She gaped. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I am.”

“Just tell her we went and that I had a great time. Lie.”

When she tried to pull her leg free, I held on. “She’ll know if I’m lying. We’re twins. We know these things.” I paused, thoroughly enjoying myself. “Or are you too shy to go swimming with me? Does the idea of getting almost naked around me make you uncomfortable?”

“I’m from Florida, idiot.” Grabbing ahold of the railing, she pulled her leg and got nowhere.  “I’ve spent half my life in a bathing suit.”