Page 6

As soon as he had her steady on her feet, he quickly pulled his hand from hers and ran it through his hair, which settled messily onto his collarbone, the natural highlights catching the rays of the setting sun. She still had to look up to meet his gaze; he was over six feet tall.

“R-really, I wasn’t paying attention. I hope I didn’t spill anything on you.” Blaire pressed her lips together to stop her rambling.

She undid her hair and raked her fingers through the long locks before pulling them into a messy bun on top of her head. It gave her something to do while she waited for his response. She looked up after fixing her hair, only to realize he wasn’t looking at her face anymore. His gaze focused on the side of her fully exposed neck, his eyes narrowing further and taking on a hard edge, making a shiver run down her spine. Did she get something on her at the diner? She rubbed her neck to remove whatever had drawn his attention.

He stared at her with a hint of confusion and raw emotion she couldn’t read. She took a deep breath, trying to regain her senses, finally breaking away from the hypnotic hold of his eyes. She did not behave this way.

His knuckles were white with the strain of his tight grip on the handle of the bag of her food. She bent down and picked up her duffle, hoisting it onto her shoulder, before turning toward the silent young man.

Uncomfortable, and feeling under a microscope, Blaire pointed with her thumb off to the side, forcing an awkward smile. “Um… so I’m just going to go—”

“Lukas!” another guy called out from the crowd nearby, loud enough to get Blaire’s attention.

The guy in front of her shook out of the spell he was under as she turned to look at him again. He moved his intense gaze, which had settled on her neck again, to give her a hard glare, threatening in its intensity as he thrust her takeout bag at her.

Blaire opened her eyes wide, taken aback by the sudden change in his demeanor. She didn’t think she had done anything bad, but he looked at her like he wanted to hurt her.

She took a step back, squeezing the strap of her duffle bag as if she’d somehow find protection there, having the sudden urge to run. The atmosphere between them had shifted dramatically. His stare made her feel like a rabbit staring down a predator, and she didn’t like it one bit. Under the scrutiny of his piercing gaze, she felt exposed, like he could see through her and read her darkest secrets. The fear of being laid bare to this man outweighed the fear of even her death at the hands of Caleb’s grandparents. Something about his eyes reached deep inside her, and the raw feelings that came with that set her off-kilter. When her hands began to shake, she tightened her grip.

He looked down at her tightening hands and then slowly back up to her face before setting the food down at her feet, turning abruptly, and disappearing into the crowd without a word.

She relaxed and released the breath she didn’t even realize she held. What the hell was that about?

Blaire looked in the direction he went as the plaza clock began to chime, signaling it was much later than she realized.

She grabbed her food from her feet and took off into the crowd to get home as fast as possible.

Lukas watched the girl until the crowd swallowed her. He couldn’t believe what had happened.

He hadn’t wanted to come into the valley today. He didn’t expect it to be so bright and sunny with all the rain lately. The brightness made his tired eyes hurt and put him in a foul mood after he’d stayed up the night before finishing an essay for his English course.

He hadn’t been paying attention to where he stepped, but nothing could have prepared him for the way his body responded when her soft body crashed into him, the sensation like touching a live wire.

Already pissed off from his disinterest in shopping, even with his best friend during the sunniest day since winter, he was now faced with interacting with the locals. Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem, but he was running on only a couple of hours of sleep, and the surprise quiz Professor Greene sprang on him had taken all his remaining energy.

When he looked down at her, she took his breath away, and the smell of jasmine lingering in the air where she collided with him sent his heart racing.

Coming to his senses, he asked if she was alright, but she seemed distracted as she rambled apologies.

She finally accepted his hand, and when their skin met, his body lit up. He quickly disengaged from their connection, blaming his lack of sleep for the odd way his body responded. That was until she pulled her blonde, waist-length hair back into a bun on top of her head.

He nearly lost his lunch when his gaze fell on her neck.

A black symbol the size of a child’s palm, the significance instinctively striking him, marked the side of her neck like a tattoo, and then faded away as quickly as it appeared.

He couldn’t believe it.

He couldn’t stop staring at her neck, daring the mark to show itself again. It made no sense for someone like her to have it.

Finally breaking from his focus on her neck, he looked at her face. The girl was a natural beauty. Her beautiful green eyes stood out on a heart-shaped face with a small, rounded nose set low over full, petal pink lips. But very human.

This couldn’t happen.

It couldn’t be real.

Lukas needed to send her away and be done with this, so he glared at her and shoved toward her the bag he’d retrieved from the ground.

When her eyes widened in obvious fear, his chest tightened, and his stomach twisted. He didn’t mean to scare her; he only wanted to put distance between himself and the strangeness happening in that moment. Even when he softened his glare, a variety of emotions flickered over her face, but the fear radiating off her was palpable.