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Both tile taste had caused instinct to propel Noelle over a ledge she couldn’t see until too late He was a drug to her, able to destroy any barrier, addicting her quickly, heating her inexorably, spinning her closer and closer to the bottom of ould either prove to be a deep, dark cavern of loneliness, or a bright, consu bed of passion

Hell, this time she hadn’t even needed a taste She’d fallen theher spiral to splat Every cell she possessed had yearned to have his hands exploring her, his body pounding into hers

Damn him and his irresistibility Now she wanted iven hio ho

Maybe One-night stands weren’t her thing, and never had been

Maybe he would have wanted h Maybe he would have wanted to stay the night with her, see her again the next day, and the next He craved her, after all

Except he was already distancing hi?

Hello loneliness

With Corban, she’d knohere they were headed before they ever hit the sheets He’d wooed and won her, and then stuck around to polish his prize With Hector, she’d never known, and it had never mattered

With Hector, she still didn’t know, and it still didn’t an She wasn’t a coward She would simply ask hiive this thing, whatever it was, a try, she’d give the relationship everything she had If he said this was the end--rejecting her for the third tiular and hide his corpse

Besides, this was her first ation Concentration was key So after she found out where she stood with Hector, her mind would be clear, and then boom, she could solve the case and save the day Easy as that

"This was a mistake," he said before she could utter another word

Just her luck, they reached their destination a moment later The car parked in front of a line of police tape Hector didn’t push fro for her response

Amistake? Wow, that hurt While she had luxuriated in what they could have done, could still do, he’d obviously been thinking of how to let her doithout bloodshed

Do not react You suspected She would paste a happy smile on her face, as always, and concentrate on the case

The smile was a bitthe eazed outside, and yeah, she was highly aware she was acting like the very coward she’d denied being The olden Other cars littered the area, official red and blue lights flashing A wide, open field stretched in every direction, grass growing in patches, crisp leaves dancing in the gentle breeze

Where was the slain human they were supposed to examine? She increased the periphery of her focus About fifty yards of dirt had been sectioned off by that tape, but the handful of officers ere standing outside were talking rather than working

"Noelle," Hector said "Did you hearright beside you" She added, "I guess I should have told mother dearest yes Her old biddie of a friend thinks I’d be perfect for her son the surgeon"

"No, you wouldn’t," Hector growled, then caught himself "But whatever you want to do is fine"

S Barry all over again," she said before she could stop herself Cas, keep it cas

She didn’t recognize any of the officers, none of thee the facts One look at her and Hector in their upscale attire, and it would be assuet hot and heavy afterward

Had Hector wanted to get hot and heavy with her, she would have s to think you’re a god for possibly nailingme all kinds of easy"

"I’m sorry, it’s just that--Wait What?" He turned in his seat to at last stare over at her Those golden eyes were bright with an emotion she couldn’t name And maybe that was for the best Just then, she could have reh

Why did no one want her for keeps?

"Who’s Barry?" Hector demanded, and this time she could read the ee could be

On her behalf? Sweet of hienerously gave inity to" The rest spilled fro but sharper tonight because of the man beside her "The next day, he told everyone e’d done All the guys slapped hiet into , too, and all the girls but Ava treated ue As if I would steal their boyfriends withways"

"Tell rin kicked at the corners of her ht into his parents’ house" Now that was friendship

A tense pause Then, "I would have killed him for you," Hector said in a low, quiet voice that left no room for doubt "I would have burned him and dumped the ashes in a pile of ani He doesn’t want to continue seeing you, remember?

His nostrils flared as if he could already s flesh "Yeah, really"