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"Gee What a concept," he said, his tone grating She looked at his face If his features becaht crack and then shatter, like glass

He stopped dead They were alone; the street was deserted

He spun around to stare at her, not touching her, his hands at his sides and far too knotted to do so "What the hell were you doing?" he demanded "That was the o the quiet way," he rass, and sillyback at hiht words, she felt ridiculously like crying herself

It was really so hard So hard to find someone in life who could make her feel the way that David made her feel She’d spent so little tis hadn’t been happening, he hadn’t been just sensually and sexually a, he’d been so, boats, the water, island life…

She lifted her hands It hadn’t gone that far, and by the look of hiht now before she was in deep, before it all hurt more than it already did

"Look, I don’t knohat to tell you I felt that I needed to be out I’d intended to stay on Duval with a zillion other people Then I idiotically cut off and-this should please you- happened Nothing happened at all I heard a leaf rustle, and in ht and noise as quickly as I could How the hell did I know you were going to be there? Okay, sorry, I did know you were going to the strip club, but I didn’t know that you’d be out on the patio I mean, they strip inside Except at Fantasy Fest, and that’s not really stripping, that’s just folks who like to show off their body paint"

He just stared at her incredulously Then he shook his head

"Why are you lying?"

"I’er She realized that she had caught her breath

"Please, I’m sorry, and yet I’m not I live here, this is my life," she told hie the island and I-I can’t let it change h of iht I’ht anyway Let’s get you ho to walk off, just leave her in the street

They started walking, alrew loud

They turned off and came to her house She opened the door, and looked at him

"Am I invited in?" he asked flatly

"Yes, of course To stay," she added softly

They walked in

And there was truth to tension, passion and e wild and turbulent In the hallway, they were in one another’s ar one another’s clothing and their own

In her rooht or even the bedspread

They just crashed down, naked and hot, seeking one another’s lips and flesh, andlove as if they had known one another forever…

And as if there would never be another to, asking hilary-other than the pickpocket the night before Stella Martin had been found Liaht and the next day and told hi?"

"I talked to Stella’s friend Morgana"

"So did I," Liaentleee, shucks Glad to hear it," Lia about I’ht-the guy who filed a pickpocket report-is the guy who Stella worked over Maybe those college guys involved in the fight are the guys Morgana is talking about"

"Morgana said she thought that Stellais, I don’t think she was killed by a college student Not that a psycho can’t be that age-just that I doubt one of the kids down for the weekend would have the what-have-you to get into thatbehind a fingerprint, hair or single skin cell"

"Do you know that there was no physical evidence?" David asked

"If there is, the cri around to see if I can find out ith Stella," David said

"I’ll give you a list of where I, or other officers, have already been," Liam told him

"Thanks," David said