My eyes travelled the length of her magnificent body. She wore cropped yoga pants that hugged powerful yet slender legs, and she had an ass that made my hands fist. She held her hips, and her shapely, muscled arms, tinted pink from the sun, stood out against her flowy tank top. She had to be an athlete. What a beauty.
I licked my lips and, with my gaze still laser-beam focused on my newly acquired target, tapped Niko on the shoulder. “Gimme a minute.”
He stepped alongside me. “Seriously, E? You can’t wait till we go out tonight?”
“And pass up an opportunity like that? Are you kidding?”
“She looks like she wants to be alone.”
I tore my eyes away from her killer curves and considered Niko. He watched the woman, his head tilted and mouth shaped into a frown.
I followed his gaze, trying to see what had him making that face, but my eyes landed on her ass in those yoga pants, and desire replaced any ability for rational thought.
“Maybe,” I admitted. “But not for long.”
I toweled off, ran a hand through my hair to tame its post-swim disarray, and strode over to my target. My power surfaced as I closed in, my instincts urging me to entice her with my voice.
“Hi.” I wove my siren’s call into that single syllable.
She blinked her eyes open and turned to face me, full lips parted in surprise. Or was that irritation? It didn’t matter.
“Hello.” Her voice was quiet, but rich and husky. She scanned my face for the briefest moment, then fixed her eyes back on the water.
What the hell?
“I’m Elias Georgiou.” I introduced myself slowly, drawing out the words and threading them with invitation. “I don’t recognize you. Are you here for the tournament?”
“No.”
Her eyes never left the horizon. Why wasn’t she batting her lashes? Reaching out to touch my arm? Where was her smile? Her attention?
Determined, I thickened the power in my voice. “Just visiting then?”
She faced me with narrowed eyes as if studying an unwelcome blemish. “You seem determined to have a conversation. All right. Here it is.” She folded her Linda-Hamilton-in-Terminator-Two arms across her chest and held me in place with an equally fierce stare. “My grandma—my only family—passed away last week, and I’m here to deal with her estate. I just came from her—now my—empty house after a real upbeat phone call about finalizing my divorce. So, yeah, not really in the mood for small talk.”
Her harsh tone lashed me like a whip, and I winced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. You were alone, and I thought you might enjoy some company.”
She glared at the water, nostrils flaring with quickened breath, and tapped an impatient finger on her arm.
She wanted me gone, but an unrelenting force pushed me to try again. Maybe it was my siren’s compulsion. Or maybe it was the challenge of her indifference. Or maybe it was her lower lip sticking out in a sexy pout begging to be kissed…
I blinked hard to clear my head of that mental image. Whatever the case, I craved her attention.
“Look.” I opened my arms in an inviting gesture. “If you want to take your mind off things for a while, there’s an open mic tonight at Shelter Cove. Sometimes the best medicine is a change of scenery.” I flung a thumb over my shoulder. “Niko and I will be there.” I shrugged, trying to affect casual indifference even though my stomach roiled at the possibility of rejection. “Might help to relax with some drinks and music.”
“Thanks. I’ll think about it.” She unfolded her arms and showed me her back.
A quick breath escaped me, her perfunctory words a verbal elbow to my gut. I hesitated, dumbfounded by her lack of interest and nauseated from her denial. But…
She hadn’t said no. And I’d only used my speaking voice. A full-on rejection of my song would have left me in far worse condition. For all the strength and satisfaction I gained from my siren’s compulsion, the flip side of the deal was not great. I had to take her open-ended rebuff as a win. “Hope to see you there.”
The generic words died on the wind, and stunned by her blatant disinterest, I walked away.
I ignored the smug expression on Niko’s face, grabbed my towel, and started hightailing it back to our beach house. He fell in step beside me, shaking his head in a way that let me know he thought I was an idiot.
“You’re so single-minded. You didn’t even bother to read her, did you?”
My head snapped up in confusion, and Niko’s smug expression transformed into a judgmental frown. “You’re unbelievable. You didn’t feel that? How much pain she was in? I felt it, and I wasn’t even talking to her!”
