Flirting With Fate

by Lexi Ryan

  Unfortunately, this was not one of those moments.

  “It’s not a problem,” she said. “Darian likes me. I’ll distract him, ask him some favor, and snatch the journal while he’s not looking.”

  Collin groaned and Rider shook his head.

  Tara frowned. “You don’t mean...” She had a feeling she was really going to regret telling Collin about her new power. “What if he tries...something?”

  “It’s not like they have sex all the time,” Rider said.

  Tara huffed. “You have no idea. They are both very committed to...being their best for work,” she said, referring to the excuse her sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law so often whispered to each other before running off to be alone. Again.

  Collin winced and Tara’s nails dug into her palms. “Would you get over her already?”

  Rider said, “Tara,” warning in his voice.

  “No, she’s right.” Collin forced a smile. “But that doesn’t change the fact that Darian won’t let you put your hands on that journal if you go in there as yourself.”

  “Fine. But if he kisses me, I take no responsibility for puking in his mouth.”

  Chapter Ten

  “Good work, son,” Lieutenant Armstrong said, patting Tanner on the back and taking the memory stick.

  Pride surged through Tanner. He supposed that was the natural result of being denied fatherly approval as a child. “The files are password protected,” he said, “but I don’t trust Martin.” He shook his head. When he’d returned to Josie’s apartment last night and seen someone was there, he’d cloaked himself with invisibility before going in. The man had seemed perfectly kind, genial, even sympathetic to Josie’s loss. Yet something about him had gotten Tanner’s hackles up.

  “These are the files from the clinic?” the Lieutenant asked.

  “Yes, all of the files from the lab.”

  “And where’s Miss Bovard?”

  Tanner set his jaw. He was still a little pissed about how she’d turned on him after they’d had sex last night. “Apparently, she took a few days off work and left town.” She hadn’t told anyone but her assistant, Aaron, where she was going, but a little prodding from Chrissie and Aaron had confessed Josie flew to Eden.

  The Lieutenant sighed. “I think it would be best if you retrieved her.” He rubbed the back of his neck, as if all his stress rested there. “It’s better to keep her close for now.”

  Tanner nodded. “I can leave first thing in the morning.”

  Lieutenant Armstrong gave him another firm pat on the back. “Good man.”

  Tanner cleared his throat. “Sir, the idea that her DNA might be a catalyst of an Ascendant plot—have you ever heard of such a thing?”

  “Isn’t it always about blood with them?” He chuckled then shook his head. “To answer your question, I’ve never heard of such a thing, but that doesn’t mean I’d put it past the Ascendants. We’ll stop them—one way or another.”

  Tanner lifted his chin. This man’s approval meant the world to him, but Tanner had something even more valuable to protect now. “I don’t want Josie going through the DNA conversion.”

  Armstrong frowned and shook his head. “I promise you, I won’t let that happen.”

  ***

  After a two-hour session of Bikram yoga hadn’t soothed her, Josie had opted for a run on Eden’s picturesque beach, but no matter how hard she pumped her legs, she couldn’t escape the vision she’d seen after sleeping with Tanner.

  “I love you, Josie. Don’t leave me,” Tanner begged, but the blond woman in his arms was already dead.

  “Tanner, you have to let her go.” Paige’s voice. “She’s gone, Tanner.”

  The vision had come in a flash, searing itself on her brain at the same moment as she’d been ready to turn into Tanner and start up a second round of—whatever they’d done. It’d been more than sex. The connection between them was too strong and too intense to call what they’d done sex. But she wasn’t naïve enough to think it’d been lovemaking either.

  The sun beat down on Josie and sweat rolled down her neck and soaked her tank. The sand worked with and against her stride—resisting and giving, resisting and giving—and the salty ocean breeze whipped through hair that had escaped her ponytail. A patch of seagulls scattered as she neared them, flying in every direction away from her as if she were a pebble thrown into a silent pond.

  Eden.

  She wiped at her face with the back of her hand, smoothing away sweat and tears. Damn it.

  She pushed harder, ran faster until her lungs burned, but the vision played on repeat in her head. How foolish were the people who wished to know their futures? They had no idea how painful it could be.

  She’d been waiting six months for her visions of her future with Tanner to change, and they hadn’t budged...until she’d indulged in him and let everything she’d been seeing about their future come to pass. Now she was seeing something entirely different.

  When she’d turned into him, wallowing in afterglow, she’d been slammed with two visions. The first was familiar, all heat and passion—mouths opening over slick skin, hands desperately fisted in hair. It was a vision she’d had since she’d first met him. The vision that flashed through her mind every time they touched—his face hovering over hers in a mask of painful pleasure, or his head tucked into her neck, his labored breath in her ear as she arched under him.

  She hadn’t been disappointed. He’d been a fantastic lover, and now the memory of his taste was so imprinted on her brain, she craved it.

  But everything had changed in that moment, because along with the familiar vision came another—completely new, completely different, replacing the taste of hot male flesh with the bitter bile of her own mortality.

  Josie circled back, hopping over loose rocks that littered the far end of the beach.

  Now she couldn’t be with Tanner. She knew better than anyone that her visions were not destiny. They were simply the likely result of a particular path. Which meant she’d go back to avoiding having a relationship with him. It was easy enough. She’d simply exercise her free will, and he wouldn’t be hurt.

  “I love you, Josie,” Tanner whispered in her ear, his hand tracing the edge of her jaw. “Nothing will change that.”

  Her heart clenched as she remembered what else she’d seen: a repeat of the baby vision she’d had in the fertility clinic, visions of him confessing his love, holding her.

  She pushed harder, zigzagging her path into the surf to avoid a beach volleyball game. She’d been bombarded with these pieces of her future last night: his love, her growing belly, their passion. Her death. By the time she’d made excuses to get him out of her house, she’d seen enough to leave her heart in raw, chewed-up bits in her chest.

  You can’t mourn the loss of something you never had, she reminded herself. But her heart didn’t listen to reason, and more tears spilled from her eyes.

  She slowed to a jog and cut up the beach toward her room.

  Her visit to Eden hadn’t been what she’d intended. She’d come to distract herself. To get her mind off the week. Instead, she’d been feeling sorry for herself and avoiding the other Specials.

  She jogged up the stairs and let herself into her oceanview suite, kicking the door closed behind her. She pulled the tie from her hair and let it tumble around her shoulders before reaching to peel off her tank.

  “You might not want to do that.”

  Josie yelped and turned a circle, looking for the source of the voice.

  “Not that I mind.” Tanner Wiley materialized on her bed.

  Josie put her hand to her chest. “You scared the bejeezus out of me, Wiley.”

  Reclined against the headboard, he’d certainly made himself at home. “I could say the same to you. You didn’t tell me or the girls where you were going.”

  She opened her mouth to defend herself then closed it. “I don’t remember inviting you in,” she said. Her pulse was already tripping at the sight of him. />
  “I think that’s vampires you have to invite in. Me? I’m just a boring guy who can make himself invisible.”

  “Ever hear of a phone?”

  He grinned, his green eyes flashing. “I wish I could say I was sorry for not calling first.” His eyes trailed over her breasts, bare torso, legs. “But I’d be lying.”

  She swallowed and the muscles between her legs clenched. Something about him sitting on her bed without shoes seemed terribly intimate. He wore faded jeans and a fitted black T-shirt. His shaggy, sandy blond hair was tucked behind his ears. If things were different—if she weren’t cursed with knowing—she’d climb on him. She’d straddle his legs, then lower her mouth to his while his hands slid up her sweat-soaked belly to cup her breasts.

  Her nipples hardened under her sports bra. She swallowed.

  “Oh, yeah,” Tanner said, as if remembering something, “and I did call. Five times. You have something against answering your phone?”

  She’d turned off her phone after he left her apartment and hadn’t turned it on since. She’d known he’d call, and she hadn’t known what to say. “What are you doing here?” Her words were hard, laced with all the frustration she could never explain to him.

  “Careful, Josie. Make me feel too welcome, and I might not want to leave.”

  She cocked a brow. “Darn?”

  He frowned. “Did I miss something? Make some sexual faux pas when we spent the night together? Because you seemed to be having a damn good time up until you kicked me out.”

  She avoided his eyes. “Did I give you the impression it was going to be more than sex?”

  “I’m not exactly asking you to say vows here.”

  Guilt washed over Josie. He wouldn’t understand why she’d changed her attitude toward him. He didn’t know what she’d seen. He couldn’t know.

  “You took me off guard,” she explained, softening her tone. “But seriously, you could have found me outside or kept yourself visible—like a normal person.”

  “I’m keeping a low profile.” His gaze drifted to her bare belly again.

  “Wiley,” she said, “focus!”

  “I want you to leave Eden,” he said, finally meeting her eyes, “as soon as possible.”

  She frowned. “Why?”

  “How about because you were attacked in your apartment earlier this week?” he said softly, but his always-smiling face had turned serious. “How about because we don’t know anything about the break-in or whether or not whoever is after you will be back?”

  “He won’t be back,” she said. “He got what he wanted.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I can take care of myself. If you came to babysit me, you can go now.”

  Tanner let out a long breath and pulled a hand through his hair. “Josie, stop.” He set his jaw and averted his gaze to the ceiling. “Listen, I can’t handle the cat fights at home, and I think you’re the only one who can resolve it.”

  “Cat fights?”

  “Apparently, Chrissie invited Tara to join Stilettos, Inc. Paige is ten kinds of shitty about it.”

  Her mood lightened and she felt herself smile. “Chrissie’s idea? Really?” Her mind was instantly turning, thinking of ways to convince Paige. “This will be so good for Tara. She’s lost right now. All she’s ever known is being sick and then she lost her ability and doesn’t know how to be a normal girl. I would love to train her to do some basic investigations.”

  She didn’t bother containing her squeal of delight as she fell back on the bed. She studied the ceiling. This was exactly what she needed. Working with and training Tara would give her somewhere constructive to focus her energy.

  “Josie.” Tanner rolled till he hovered over her.

  Josie stiffened.

  His skin was golden from the sports he pursued during his time away from the SIA. His eyes, the blue-green of the Caribbean waters just beyond her balcony, were piercing as they studied her. She resisted the instinct to smooth the skin at his cheek—to touch him.

  “You’re awfully close for a guy who has no expectations,” she whispered.

  “Have I asked you for anything you haven’t willingly given? Have I asked you for any promises?”

  She released a breath and softened. “No, you haven’t, but that doesn’t mean—”

  He cut her off with his mouth. His lips pressed against hers, softly at first. It felt so good to have him touch her. When he ran his tongue along the seam of her lips, she opened under him against her better judgment.

  She let him kiss her, let their tongues brush.

  When Tanner slipped his hand to her side and her first thought was of how she wanted both his hands on her, she pulled away. Better to stop this while she still had some control.

  “See anything good?” Tanner asked, his voice pulled deeper by arousal.

  Josie blushed and looked away. “I don’t have visions when I’m...” She peeked at him from the corner of his eyes to see if he was catching her gist.

  He nodded, a wicked smile on his face. “So, you weren’t just kissing me to find out whether or not this was leading down some forbidden path?”

  She gaped. “You kissed me.”

  Tanner chuckled. “Whatever you need to tell yourself.”

  Exhaling heavily, she stood to put some distance between them. Hadn’t she just resolved to not start anything with him? Yet minutes later she was sticking her tongue down his throat.

  Way to go, Josie!

  But he was right. He hadn’t asked anything of her. And he was a guy. Weren’t guys better than anyone at keeping their emotions out of purely physical relationships?

  She let her eyes drift to his body again and bit back a groan.

  Hella tempting.

  “I’m going to the beach,” she said without transition. She’d come here to rejuvenate and catch some rays and hell if she was going to leave without doing it.

  She snatched her two-piece out of her suitcase and took it to the bathroom to change. She jumped in the shower to rinse the evidence of her run off her skin, slapped on some sun block, and slid into the skimpy number that called itself a swimsuit.

  In the States, Josie would never wear something so revealing to the beach. This particular set featured a red string thong bottom and a top nearly as revealing. However, Eden wasn’t like the States. On the beaches of Eden, wearing even the skimpiest bikini was abnormal. More commonly, women went topless or even sunbathed completely nude.

  She reached for the bathroom door and hesitated. She looked down at herself and stuck her lip out as she threw on her wrap. She looked hot in this suit. What a waste.

  He was still lounging on her bed when she emerged from the bathroom.

  “You’re not gone yet?”

  “I know. You’re a badass who can take care of herself. But I’m not leaving here without you.”

  She rolled her eyes and grabbed her towel and a book. Sliding on her sunglasses, she warned, “I’m not leaving until I’ve soaked in so much sun and beach, I’m damn near orgasmic with it.”

  ***

  Josie lingered in that delicious zone between consciousness and sleep when she felt someone brush her hair from her face.

  A soft moan escaped her lips, but she didn’t open her eyes. She felt too perfect to move. The sun beat down on her warm, sweat-slicked skin, and the waves crashed against the sand just yards from her feet.

  She shifted slightly in her Adirondack chair and the hands slipped from her hair to her neck, massaging it lightly.

  “Tanner?” she whispered, more reluctant to open her eyes now that these hands were working such delicious magic on the tension in her neck.

  A soft shh in her ear was the only reply. But she knew these hands, knew this touch.

  Maybe it was because she was nearly asleep and so relaxed her muscles had turned to goo. Maybe it was because she’d resisted him for six months and had used up all her willpower. Or maybe it was because tasting her own mortality had left her wi
th a deep, unsettling loneliness.

  For whatever reason, she didn’t stop his hands.

  They slipped into her hair and worked out the tension at the base of her scalp, then kneaded their way down to her shoulders. When his hands slid over her arms, she realized they were oiled.

  The feel of his hot, slick skin sliding against hers brought every vision and sensation from their night together back to her mind. Her heart beat a little faster, and his hands slipped over her collarbone and down the front of her. When his big hands cupped her breasts and his thumbs teased her nipples through the thin fabric of the bikini top, she opened her eyes—to stop him? To encourage him? She wasn’t sure.

  She couldn’t see him.

  But she could feel him—God, could she feel him—putting gentle pressure against her breasts, abrading her nipples with his thumbs. But he wasn’t visible.

  “Tanner?”

  “Shh.” His mouth was against her ear. He flicked his tongue over her lobe, then his mouth traveled down the length of her neck.

  The pleasure of his invisible tongue sent sparks of power through her.

  She reached behind her chair, wanting to slide her hand into his hair or touch his face. He pressed her hand back to her side. His message was clear: if she wanted to play, it would be his way, with his rules.

  She leaned back and his hands circled each of her wrists, holding them at her sides while he returned to his sweet torture of her neck.

  Then, for a moment, he was gone. Her wrists were free and his mouth was gone.

  She let her eyes flutter shut—wet and needy for him but thinking it was better to end this now. Really, how far could he take that on this busy beach?

  When she felt his invisible leg nudge hers apart, she knew she had underestimated him. She slid lower in the chair, spreading her legs for him. He tugged at her hips, pulling her further down, forcing her legs further apart.

  His hot breath hit her breasts, the damp heat breaking through the thin cotton of her T-shirt and teasing her erect nipples. A whimper slipped from her lips.