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His face was tilted as if he were staring down at her, and she could barely feel the hot fan of his breath against her skin She wished the stairere better lit so she could see his expression

"It only ain, Bront&eue she’d never be able to get out of her head "Ah Well No, I wasn’t ain"

His chest ruh "Well, now I’m disappointed Come on I don’t think it’s safe to see if we can turn the power back on, so let’s look for soan opened the door to the hall, and they left the stairwell Brontë was silent Her mind was abuzz with the conversation they’d just had

It only ain, Bront&eu plans to do that again

Well, now I’, and she’d just shut him down? He was normally so controlled that it seemed out of place And yet she couldn’t interpret his words in any other way He did say he wasn’t looking for a relationship, though, and she couldn’t think of a worse way to start one Perhaps she was reading too h the hotel back toward the lobby, it became obvious that the hotel was trashed There was ankle-deep water in the stairwell, but when they took a step down into the hallway, the water rose topast doors that had been knocked off of conference rooht to see by, and Bront&eu fro The lobby was set up like a lofting, several-stories-tall atriu, it and it clearly had not survived the hurricane Portions of the roof looked like Swiss cheese, open to the sky Rain splattered inside the building, and the water around her feet felt gritty with sand

"Wow Your cleanup crew is going to be working solanced back at her, a hint of a s the place anyhow Sohed at that, feeling war," he said "We should head to the gift shop We can probably find so water bottles, food, and maybe some dry clothes if it wasn’t too badly hit"

That all sounded good to her She paused and thought for a h the lobby and to the left, I think Near the restaurant" And then she felt stupid He worked here--as she telling him? "But of course, you know that"

"Of course" His hand went to the sestured at the lobby "After you"

Bront&eu down at her with such an impressed, amused that shewell, she didn’t knohat to do with herself So she offered hiled in response when his fingers curled around hers Touching Logan made her stomach quiver deep inside

At least, she told herself that it was her stoled to keep up with Logan’s bigger strides as they headed into the lobby It looked as if half of the hotel had been dumped here by the hurricane There was more water, of course Furniture was tipped over and scattered, and luggage was everywhere, the contents flung all over the roolass doors, and all the glass was gone She curled her toes, wondering where all that glass had gone A sodden pillow floated in the water nearby, and a horrible thought occurred to her

"You don’t think we’re going to see any bodies, do you?"

"I hope not" He sounded grim "If we’re lucky, everyone else was evacuated"

"Should we check the rest of the hotel? Just in case anyone else was stranded?"

"We will," he told her, and tugged her hand, urging her forward "After we resupply ourselves It won’t do us any good if you’re fainting with hunger"

"Me? YouWhat about you?"

"I don’t faint"

She snorted "‘Nothing has ht?"

"Another faem?"

"Euripides"

"Of course That was going to befan of Euripides?"

"Who isn’t?"

She laughed, shaking her head at his coh the hter the more destroyed the area was The lobby was dark, but it seean exa theerous areas "The entire ceiling could collapse," he told her "We have to be careful"

"Noho’s Suzy Sunshine?" she teased, but stayed close

In the blue darkness, they spotted the gift shop, and Bront&euate was down over the front of it The glass behind the gate had been destroyed, but the gate itself was intact, with pieces of broken plants and other bits clinging to the ht with a display of toppled h a miracle, it hadn’t shattered in the storm

"Just our luck," she told him "Do you have the key?"