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"Try sixty" Roland stood up and tossed soht the s in his hands "A starter?"

"Yeah Check the box on the table There should be a wrench in there that ork" Roland dug through another box and came up with a small pouch

"Youthrough the tools until he found what he was looking for

"It’s not broken It just needs a couple of parts" Roland walked out of the building and headed for the boat

"Isn’t that the definition of broken?" Melanie piped in fro on purpose" Roland jumped into the boat and dropped to his knees near the console

Ree looked down at the boat and felt herself frown The leather seats looked much newer than she would have expected, and the console had shiny knobs and dials Her eyes slid over the boat to rest on the covered motor She watched as Paden walked over and unzipped the plastic cover to reveal a large glea motor

"Now, that is a motor" Paden whistled softly

"The best I could find out here" Roland looked at the motor with pride "This boat has been my project for a few years now"

"Nice" Paden folded up the cover and stuck it in a cubbyhole It didn’t take long for theether They were on their way not long after locking up the shed, and it only took a little longer to reach the island than it would have fros

When they neared the island, Ree watched as the shield shi away There were no waiting gods Ree could see, but she felt their presence anyway They were keeping their word and protecting the island, but not offering any other help or interference It was all Ree could hope for

Chapter Twenty-One

Ree trudged into her bedroom and threw her coat onto the chair She sat down on the bed, pulled her boots off, and peeled off her socks It had been a long night and day Standing up, she shed the rest of her clothes on the way to the shower and sighed as soon as she stepped into the warm spray of water The water ran over her head and down her body, relaxing her shoulders and the pressure in her head She kneas a headache froies or rie of the scar on her stomach She hadn’t really looked yet, but knew it had to be bad It was almost three inches wide, a shiny ribbon of scar tissue Reaching around behind her, she felt along her back for the scar she knew had to be there as well When she found it, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath It ider than the one on her stomach, but, thankfully, s the door to her bedroom made her freeze Carefully, she reached out with her power to see who had co, her heart thumped a little harder Paden stopped outside of the bathroom and tapped on the door

"Coht squeak in her voice She kneas unlikely he h, because she could hear hi the door "I’ll be out in aHe just walked in and closed the door behind hirabbed the shampoo and tried to work out the knots in her hair She heard rustling fro through the frosted glass Closing her eyes, she ducked under the showerhead and tried to get all of the sha her hair when she heard the door open

"I thought maybe ould conserve water" Her eyes opened wide and she looked up at Paden’s ae above her head Her heartbeat picked up as she watched him rub the soapy lather over his body

"Hm" Ree reached for the bottle of conditioner and tried to keep fro off the shelf in her nervousness "Well, we ht" Stepping around her, Paden ducked under the water and rinsed the soap from his body She watched as the soapy water ran down his chest He peeked one eye open and chuckled "Ree, you’re pouring conditioner on the floor"

She looked down and realized that she was holding the bottle upside down She snapped herher foot, she pushed the mess toward the drain Paden slid an arainst his chest He pressed his chin to her shoulder and looked down at her sto her storew from her center as she watched his hands trail over her skin

"I’ainst her temple as he leaned back and traced the scar next to her spine "I should have stayed closer to you"

"It wasn’t your fault, Pay I should have been paying better attention" The tips of his fingers felt electric, running over her skin She turned around so that she was facing him and put her hands on his chest The water from the shower trailed down his shoulders, over her hands and cascaded off of her arently, he brushed the wet hair out of her face and tilted her face up so he could see her eyes

"It won’t happen again" Slowly, he brought his lips down to hers in a soft kiss She twined her hands around his neck, ainst his body It turned out to not be such a quick shower, and Ree was sure that they hadn’t conserved much water However, it was the best shower she had ever experienced

Later, they lay on her bed, their towels discarded on the floor Ree propped her chin on his chest and looked up at Paden He twirled so the edges of his content expression She watched hi his face as if she didn’t already know it perfectly The sounds of the others led with the sounds of the wind outside, s see her chin bounce

"What?" Ree wrinkled her nose

"I can’t believe you didn’t kill ently on her hair "I was a little nervous"

"Well, I thought about it" Ree narrowed her eyes at hirew even ured that ere supposed to be saving the planet and all, so you had a good case" Ree smiled

"You know, I don’t think it worked out the way I planned" Paden smirked

"Are you sure about that? Because I’m pretty sure it worked out just the way you planned" Ree looked around at the messy room pointedly She still couldn’t control her pohen she ith Paden

He rolled her over, so he was leaning over her "Well, maybe some of it worked out the way I planned"

"And as that?" Ree stared up at hihtstand played on the planes of his face

"Did you forget already?" Paden nuzzled her neck, trailing kisses along her collar bone

"I ht need a reminder" Ree sucked in a breath as his hands slid over her body

"Well, I ht be able to help with that"

The wave of alar to sit up before someone pounded on her door Paden didn’t ask any questions, just rolled off the bed and pulled his pants on

"Ree!" Juliette’s voice was loud through the door