Flirting With Fate (14 page)

The night had ended with a red-faced Collin
handing her a bag from a sex toy shop. The vibrator inside was small and
purple. Tara hadn’t been able to resist asking, “Aren’t you going to show me
how to use it?”

So, here they were: two beautiful men, a newly
deflowered woman, and a purple vibrator.

Tara sighed and rested her chin on her hand.
Considering the scenario’s potential, the reality was a disappointment.

“We need you to get the journal,” Collin said,
studying her.

Tara swallowed. She loved when she had Collin’s
attention. Usually he looked at her like she was still fourteen, but
sometimes—and more since she’d slipped into his bed as her big sister—he looked
at her like he saw the woman she’d become. Those were the moments she lived
for.

Unfortunately, this was not one of those moments.

“It’s not a problem,” she said. “Darian likes me.
I’ll distract him, ask him some favor, and snatch the journal while he’s not
looking.”

Collin groaned and Rider shook his head.

Tara frowned. “You don’t mean...” She had a
feeling she was really going to regret telling Collin about her new power.
“What if he tries...something?”

“It’s not like they have sex all the time,” Rider
said.

Tara huffed. “You have no idea. They are both very
committed to...being their best for work,” she said, referring to the excuse
her sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law so often whispered to each other
before running off to be alone. Again.

Collin winced and Tara’s nails dug into her palms.
“Would you get over her already?”

Rider said, “Tara,” warning in his voice.

“No, she’s right.” Collin forced a smile. “But
that doesn’t change the fact that Darian won’t let you put your hands on that
journal if you go in there as yourself.”

“Fine. But if he kisses me, I take no
responsibility for puking in his mouth.”

“Good work, son,” Lieutenant Armstrong said,
patting Tanner on the back and taking the memory stick.

Pride surged through Tanner. He supposed that was
the natural result of being denied fatherly approval as a child. “The files are
password protected,” he said, “but I don’t trust Martin.” He shook his head.
When he’d returned to Josie’s apartment last night and seen someone was there,
he’d cloaked himself with invisibility before going in. The man had seemed
perfectly kind, genial, even sympathetic to Josie’s loss. Yet something about
him had gotten Tanner’s hackles up.

“These are the files from the clinic?” the
Lieutenant asked.

“Yes, all of the files from the lab.”

“And where’s Miss Bovard?”

Tanner set his jaw. He was still a little pissed
about how she’d turned on him after they’d had sex last night. “Apparently, she
took a few days off work and left town.” She hadn’t told anyone but her
assistant, Aaron, where she was going, but a little prodding from Chrissie and
Aaron had confessed Josie flew to Eden.

The Lieutenant sighed. “I think it would be best
if you retrieved her.” He rubbed the back of his neck, as if all his stress
rested there. “It’s better to keep her close for now.”

Tanner nodded. “I can leave first thing in the
morning.”

Lieutenant Armstrong gave him another firm pat on
the back. “Good man.”

Tanner cleared his throat. “Sir, the idea that her
DNA might be a catalyst of an Ascendant plot—have you ever heard of such a
thing?”

“Isn’t it always about blood with them?” He
chuckled then shook his head. “To answer your question, I’ve never heard of
such a thing, but that doesn’t mean I’d put it past the Ascendants. We’ll stop
them—one way or another.”

Tanner lifted his chin. This man’s approval meant
the world to him, but Tanner had something even more valuable to protect now.
“I don’t want Josie going through the DNA conversion.”

Armstrong frowned and shook his head. “I promise
you, I won’t let that happen.”

After a two-hour session of Bikram yoga hadn’t
soothed her, Josie had opted for a run on Eden’s picturesque beach, but no
matter how hard she pumped her legs, she couldn’t escape the vision she’d seen
after sleeping with Tanner.

 
“I love you, Josie. Don’t leave me,” Tanner
begged, but the blond woman in his arms was already dead.

“Tanner, you have to let her go.” Paige’s voice.
“She’s gone, Tanner.”

The vision had come in a flash, searing itself on
her brain at the same moment as she’d been ready to turn into Tanner and start
up a second round of—whatever they’d done. It’d been more than sex. The
connection between them was too strong and too intense to call what they’d done
sex
. But she wasn’t naïve enough to think it’d been lovemaking either.

The sun beat down on Josie and sweat rolled down
her neck and soaked her tank. The sand worked with and against her
stride—resisting and giving, resisting and giving—and the salty ocean breeze
whipped through hair that had escaped her ponytail. A patch of seagulls
scattered as she neared them, flying in every direction away from her as if she
were a pebble thrown into a silent pond.

Eden.

She wiped at her face with the back of her hand,
smoothing away sweat and tears. Damn it.

She pushed harder, ran faster until her lungs
burned, but the vision played on repeat in her head. How foolish were the
people who wished to know their futures? They had no idea how painful it could
be.

She’d been waiting six months for her visions of
her future with Tanner to change, and they hadn’t budged...until she’d indulged
in him and let everything she’d been seeing about their future come to pass.
Now she was seeing something entirely different.

When she’d turned into him, wallowing in
afterglow, she’d been slammed with two visions. The first was familiar, all
heat and passion—mouths opening over slick skin, hands desperately fisted in
hair. It was a vision she’d had since she’d first met him. The vision that
flashed through her mind every time they touched—his face hovering over hers in
a mask of painful pleasure, or his head tucked into her neck, his labored
breath in her ear as she arched under him.

She hadn’t been disappointed. He’d been a
fantastic lover, and now the memory of his taste was so imprinted on her brain,
she craved it.

But everything had changed in that moment, because
along with the familiar vision came another—completely new, completely
different, replacing the taste of hot male flesh with the bitter bile of her
own mortality.

Josie circled back, hopping over loose rocks that
littered the far end of the beach.

Now she couldn’t be with Tanner. She knew better
than anyone that her visions were not destiny. They were simply the likely
result of a particular path. Which meant she’d go back to avoiding having a
relationship with him. It was easy enough. She’d simply exercise her free will,
and he wouldn’t be hurt.

“I love you, Josie,” Tanner whispered in her
ear, his hand tracing the edge of her jaw. “Nothing will change that.”

Her heart clenched as she remembered what else
she’d seen: a repeat of the baby vision she’d had in the fertility clinic,
visions of him confessing his love, holding her.

She pushed harder, zigzagging her path into the
surf to avoid a beach volleyball game. She’d been bombarded with these pieces
of her future last night: his love, her growing belly, their passion. Her
death. By the time she’d made excuses to get him out of her house, she’d seen
enough to leave her heart in raw, chewed-up bits in her chest.

You can’t mourn the loss of something you never
had, she reminded herself. But her heart didn’t listen to reason, and more
tears spilled from her eyes.

She slowed to a jog and cut up the beach toward
her room.

Her visit to Eden hadn’t been what she’d intended.
She’d come to distract herself. To get her mind off the week. Instead, she’d
been feeling sorry for herself and avoiding the other Specials.

She jogged up the stairs and let herself into her
oceanview suite, kicking the door closed behind her. She pulled the tie from
her hair and let it tumble around her shoulders before reaching to peel off her
tank.

“You might not want to do that.”

Josie yelped and turned a circle, looking for the
source of the voice.

“Not that I mind.” Tanner Wiley materialized on
her bed.

Josie put her hand to her chest. “You scared the
bejeezus out of me, Wiley.”

Reclined against the headboard, he’d certainly
made himself at home. “I could say the same to you. You didn’t tell me or the
girls where you were going.”

She opened her mouth to defend herself then closed
it. “I don’t remember inviting you in,” she said. Her pulse was already
tripping at the sight of him.

“I think that’s vampires you have to invite in.
Me? I’m just a boring guy who can make himself invisible.”

“Ever hear of a phone?”

He grinned, his green eyes flashing. “I wish I
could say I was sorry for not calling first.” His eyes trailed over her breasts,
bare torso, legs. “But I’d be lying.”

She swallowed and the muscles between her legs
clenched. Something about him sitting on her bed without shoes seemed terribly
intimate. He wore faded jeans and a fitted black T-shirt. His shaggy, sandy
blond hair was tucked behind his ears. If things were different—if she weren’t
cursed with
knowing
—she’d climb on him. She’d straddle his legs, then
lower her mouth to his while his hands slid up her sweat-soaked belly to cup
her breasts.

Her nipples hardened under her sports bra. She
swallowed.

“Oh, yeah,” Tanner said, as if remembering
something, “and I did call. Five times. You have something against answering
your phone?”

She’d turned off her phone after he left her
apartment and hadn’t turned it on since. She’d known he’d call, and she hadn’t
known what to say. “What are you doing here?” Her words were hard, laced with
all the frustration she could never explain to him.

“Careful, Josie. Make me feel too welcome, and I
might not want to leave.”

She cocked a brow. “Darn?”

He frowned. “Did I miss something? Make some
sexual faux pas when we spent the night together? Because you seemed to be
having a damn good time up until you kicked me out.”

She avoided his eyes. “Did I give you the impression
it was going to be more than sex?”

“I’m not exactly asking you to say vows here.”

Guilt washed over Josie. He wouldn’t understand
why she’d changed her attitude toward him. He didn’t know what she’d seen. He
couldn’t know.

“You took me off guard,” she explained, softening
her tone. “But seriously, you could have found me outside or kept yourself
visible—like a normal person.”

“I’m keeping a low profile.” His gaze drifted to
her bare belly again.

“Wiley,” she said, “focus!”

“I want you to leave Eden,” he said, finally
meeting her eyes, “as soon as possible.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“How about because you were attacked in your
apartment earlier this week?” he said softly, but his always-smiling face had
turned serious. “How about because we don’t know anything about the break-in or
whether or not whoever is after you will be back?”

“He won’t be back,” she said. “He got what he
wanted.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I can take care of myself. If you came to babysit
me, you can go now.”

Tanner let out a long breath and pulled a hand
through his hair. “Josie, stop.” He set his jaw and averted his gaze to the
ceiling. “Listen, I can’t handle the cat fights at home, and I think you’re the
only one who can resolve it.”

“Cat fights?”

“Apparently, Chrissie invited Tara to join
Stilettos, Inc. Paige is ten kinds of shitty about it.”

Her mood lightened and she felt herself smile.
“Chrissie’s idea? Really?” Her mind was instantly turning, thinking of ways to
convince Paige. “This will be so good for Tara. She’s lost right now. All she’s
ever known is being sick and then she lost her ability and doesn’t know how to
be a normal girl. I would love to train her to do some basic investigations.”

She didn’t bother containing her squeal of delight
as she fell back on the bed. She studied the ceiling. This was exactly what she
needed. Working with and training Tara would give her somewhere constructive to
focus her energy.

“Josie.” Tanner rolled till he hovered over her.

Josie stiffened.

His skin was golden from the sports he pursued
during his time away from the SIA. His eyes, the blue-green of the Caribbean
waters just beyond her balcony, were piercing as they studied her. She resisted
the instinct to smooth the skin at his cheek—to touch him.

“You’re awfully close for a guy who has no
expectations,” she whispered.

“Have I asked you for anything you haven’t
willingly given? Have I asked you for any promises?”

She released a breath and softened. “No, you
haven’t, but that doesn’t mean—”

He cut her off with his mouth. His lips pressed
against hers, softly at first. It felt so good to have him touch her. When he
ran his tongue along the seam of her lips, she opened under him against her
better judgment.

She let him kiss her, let their tongues brush.

When Tanner slipped his hand to her side and her
first thought was of how she wanted both his hands on her, she pulled away.
Better to stop this while she still had some control.

“See anything good?” Tanner asked, his voice
pulled deeper by arousal.

Josie blushed and looked away. “I don’t have
visions when I’m...” She peeked at him from the corner of his eyes to see if he
was catching her gist.

He nodded, a wicked smile on his face. “So, you
weren’t just kissing me to find out whether or not this was leading down some
forbidden path?”