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Ash did his best to get Tory out of hisabout her that beckoned him

He hated that

But not half as much as he hated the way he&039;d bailed on her like a coward the day before He kept telling himself it was for the best and yet he couldn&039;t quite convince hi around her that was coiven her normal hostility toward him made no sense whatsoever

Now he sat up on the roof of the house he was helping to build, trying to clear his head and get back to business

Solanced up to see Karl in front of him Ash pulled one of the earbuds out "Yeah?"

"Visitor"

Assu it was one of his associates in New Orleans, Ash set down his hammer and headed for the ladder It wasn&039;t until he was halfway down that he saw Tory waiting for hitails She wore a long beige skirt and brown blazer

But it was her large brown eyes that seared hi, he ht to the ground where he landed in alump that wasn&039;t helped when the ladder then fell across hi all eyes to his clumsy stupidity Pain hit hiled to find sonity

Given the way he was sprawled, it was actually hopeless Sighing, heover to kneel beside hiht?"

The answer had been yes until she placed her hand on his chest In this position, all he could think of was pulling her across hi lanced around at the other people staring at him in concern His face heated in embarrassment "I&039;m fine, everyone," he said louder "Just a small slip"

They went back to hile he wanted to make himself invisible He never did stuff like this

"You should betone What happened to her concern for hinity "You could have broken your neck or as big as you are landed on someone and killed the here, Tory?" He rolled over and pushed hie to his leg as it throbbed painfully in protest at being used again It was all he could do not to grunt or limp

Her smile dazzled him "I&039;ve come to tempt you"

It was too late, she already had and he knew she didn&039;t mean it the way he did "I can&039;t be tempted"

"Yes, you can All people can be tempted"

But he wasn&039;t a person He picked the ladder up and returned it to its previous position Then he went to pick up the nails that had spilled out of his tool belt When he started back toward the ladder, she planted herself firrowled

"Look, I&039;ll be honest, there has never in the whole history ofborn than me"

"Yes, there has Me"

When he started around her, she ran around hi He should be pissed as hell and yet she was so adorable standing there in her long skirt and flats with one ar over her head that it was all he could do not to smile at her "Fine, you don&039;t have to translate it Just teach me how and I&039;ll leave you alone If it helps, I&039;round his teeth in frustration "I don&039;t like arguing I don&039;t like conflicts I basically like to be left alone to doNow do you mind?"

"Please" her expression was the hottestand raw seduction that he&039;d ever seen "I&039;ll be your baklava slave until I die"

He scowled "My what?"

"Baklava slave I make the best you&039;ve ever tasted and I&039;ll keep you supplied in it until you&039;re fat and old"

"I don&039;t eat baklava"

"That&039;s because you&039;ve never had ic to nuts, you&039;ll love it"

He tried to pry her loose from the ladder, but true to her words, she wouldn&039;t be er snapped How could he be one of the s in the universe and not be able to le frail women out of his way?

She made her eyes look like a sad puppy "Please, Acheron," she said in Greek Then she switched to English "Three days and then you&039;ll never have to see e and I&039;ll do it"

Karl laughed as he overheard them "Why don&039;t you ask her to be your sex slave? For that I&039;d teach her whatever she wants"

Her jaw dropped as if that was the ht she&039;d ever had "Ew!"

That one single sound caught hiuard "Ew?" Ash repeated "You can&039;t be serious?"

"Yeah, ew! I don&039;t even know you really and here the two of you think I&039; to juant ?

She screwed her face up in distaste and left the ladder "Fine, I&039;ll research without you" She shivered "Sleep with hi," she said under her breath as she walked off

Ash hung his ar her head for her car He was completely stunned

She didn&039;t want to sleep with hi

Everybody over puberty wanted in his bed Everybody

Except Tory A burst of hope went through hiht be one of the exceptionally rare people as immune to his Aunt Epithymia&039;s curse Even women who didn&039;t find men attractive looked at hihout history and up until now they&039;d always been men ere immuneor those ere blind

To find a human female who didn&039;t want hiuard down and not have to be worried that she was going to start grabbing at his crotch The novelty of that alonearound her

Before he could stop himself, he went to her car and stopped her "I&039;ll teach you"

She turned angrily and pressed her index finger into his chest "I&039; with you, buddy"

He s you to I swear it I would never ask that of you"

Her jaw fell open before she raked hi with nant? Oh you&039;re such a jerk!"

Ash held his hands up in frustration "Why can&039;t I ever ith you? If I want to sleep with you I&039; and if I don&039;t I&039;m a jerk What do you want from me?"

She stood in the open door of her car and stared up at hiut "I want you to translate the journal and to keep your hands to yourself"

"And yet still be attracted to you?"

She let out an evil laugh "Exactly Now you&039;re getting the hang of it" She clapped hiht at seven"

He couldn&039;t wait, he thought sarcastically Maybe he ought to have Simi come with him Every time he was around Tory, he felt the deep need for protection At the very least he should ht so she couldn&039;t cold-cock hi

What kind ofinvolved o her anything

Yeah, but she held a part of his past and if he didn&039;t get her away froer problems May the primal source take mercy on him if she happened on another of Ryssa&039;s journals He had what he thought were theof them But he didn&039;t knohat else his sister had written about Tory and her obssesive quest had to be dealt with

The last thing he needed was for the Dark-Hunters to find out that his mother was the one who&039;d created the Daiainst and that they were being led by a tsoulos as still selling himself to protect them It would be disastrous for hiet her sidetracked off this quest Maybe he should find soet her on that topic After all, its past had nothing to do with his

You could just kill her

That would be Savitar&039;s answer But Ash couldn&039;t do that either Theo had buriedabout his old friend it was how much Theo loved his family

No, he&039;d have to find another way to move the inert mass that was Tory&039;s obstinacy before it was too late

Scylla and Charybdis Like Odysseus, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place

Tory had everything laid out perfectly Her notebook, the journal and a beer on ice for her prickly tall guest She was on the couch, nibbling on a cheese cube when there was a knock on the door at the precisehow punctual could one person be?

Getting up, she went to the door and opened it to find Mr Goth all decked out in a long pirate-styled leather jacket, black pants and a pair of black boots with neon green skulls painted on them His hair was damp as if he&039;d recently bathed and he slasses

"Co back to let him enter

He bent his head down so as not to bump her doorframe and went to the armchair where he dropped his backpack on the floor and then took his coat off He laid it over the backpack and kept the fingerless black gloves on his hands

She frowned at the tattoo on his muscled biceps that peeked out froht that was on your forearet started?"

Before she could shut the door, his cell phone rang

He let out a tired sigh before he flipped it open "It&039;s Ash Go"

She went to open the beer and handed it to hirateful smile as he took the beer "Uh, no That would be really unwise Trustup and dialed the phone at the saht with you," he told her, then he spoke to someone else on the phone "Hey, Urian, I need you to ride herd on Zoe in Seattle She&039;s one step away fro to behead herNo, I won&039;t be able to get up there for a few days" He took another swig "Thanks" Hanging up, he put the phone in his back pocket

Tory frowned at hiler"

"A wrangler?" she asked, aht of him on horseback with a black cowboy hat decked out with skulls "Like a cowhand?"

He laughed "Yeah, only I wrangle people with nasty attitudes You&039;d like the of the ain Growling, he pulled it out and looked at the number before he opened it "NoYou don&039;t have to ask it, I knohat you want The answer is no Hell, no, since it&039;s co up and then dialed another nu some calls to you for the next hour or so I&039;ht now" He flipped the phone closed again, then dropped it into the pocket of his coat on the floor

Raking one insanely large hand through his black and red hair, he sat down in her armchair and looked up at her "I&039;m ready when you are"

"You sure? You look a little tense and I don&039;t want to make any sudden "

One corner of hishalf smile "I&039;m fine"

Tory went to the coffee table and picked up her journal so that she could hand it to him "What&039;s the best way to do this?"

He took the journal and carefully opened it before he balanced it on his thigh "How much ancient, ancient Greek do you know?"

"Extrenized it as Greek, but had no idea what he was saying It was beautiful gibberish

She frowned "Is that the salish before he switched back to Greek, "Can you understand what I&039; to you now?"

"That Greek I fully coood with the Iron Age language That&039;ll help"