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"What aiants, ahty unmentionables," I purred "What does that do for you, sexy?"

Silence

Then Finn cleared his throat "Uh, Gin? Did you dialthese sweet, sweet nothings into Owen’s ear instead of ht voice "I just thought I’d call you and tell you that there’s been a slight change of plans Bria and I aren’t staying at the Blue Sands hotel anymore"

"Why not?" he asked in a sharp voice

It was a just how much suspicion and accusation Finn could put into two siain, he knew me all too well And really, suspicion and accusation were alarranted whenever the Spider was around

"Let’s just say that we had soht - the kind ere intent onsure we didn’t live to see the dawn Of course, that didn’t work out so well for them"

More silence

"What the hell did you do?" he finally asked "And more importantly, is my car still in one piece?"

"Well," I said "I suppose that depends on your definition of in one piece"

Finn just groaned

Chapter 10

I filled Finn in on what had happened He agreed to call Owen so they could get an early start, drive down to Blue Marsh, and meet Bria and me for brunch at the Sea Breeze at ten I also asked Finn to dig up everything that he could on Randall Dekes I wanted to know exactly who with before the vampire sent more men after us - or decided toup with Finn and took a long, hot shoashing away the stench of bleach that clung to ernails When I was done, I changed into a pair of loose cotton pajaone to bed, and I addedin the fireplace I should have crawled into bed and tried to sleep, but instead, I curled up on a couch in front of one of the sliding glass doors that overlooked the endless ocean

Restless, I picked up my cell phone and hit one of the nu

"Hello?" Owen Grayson’s deep voice ruh the receiver

"Hi, it’s Gin," I said, even though he knew my voice as well as I did his

"Hey" Warot done talking to Finn He told me that you and Bria had a run-in with soht say that"

I told Ohat had taken place tonight, starting with Pete and Trent showing up at Callie’s restaurant and threatening her and ending with Bria andthe four men’s bodies into the palm-tree-shaped pool at the Blue Sands hotel

Owen chuckled at that "You know, you’re going to give the pool boy a heart attack in the oes out to clean the filters"

I joined in his laughter "I know"

We fell silent, but it wasn’t an aard, uncos I loved about Owen He didn’t rush to fill in the empty spaces but was content to just let them - and me - be when I needed him to

"So why did you really call?" Owen finally asked in a soft voice "I can tell that there’s so threatened I can hear it in your voice Soether for a few months, but he could read me better than almost anyone else could, even Finn so - except for the fact that I’d also run into Donovan tonight

I was still trying to figure out how I felt about seeing the detective again Oh, I didn’t love hi once upon a time, even if it had been only for a little while It was hard to ignore the echoes of the old feelings and h I knew that what I felt for Oas much, much deeper and that he was far more important to me than Donovan had ever been

"I called because I wanted to hear your voice," Ion vacation isharder than I thought it would be"

"How so?"

I rubbed the spider rune scar on first one pals into words "Because I don’t seeone a day, and it feels like I’ht back where I started Like I never even left Ashland and the bad guys behind I was looking forward to relaxing And I tried today - I really did I let Bria drag me around all afternoon, and I even oohed and aahed over tacky T-shirts and cheap seashell necklaces just like you’re supposed to when you’re on vacation Can you believe that? I don’t think I’ve ever oohed and aahed in ain

"What? It’s not funny," I gruoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>