Thunder and Lightning

Ironic, really, because in the end, he’d lost touch with himself. Had suffered nearly as much as the girl had.

But Bev was stronger than Amy. He’d sensed her strength and internal power the moment he’d met her.

And damn it, didn’t fire roar through his body at the mere thought of the woman standing just forty feet away from him? Close enough that all he had to do was launch himself from his railing up to hers in one swift, fluid move.

She wouldn’t know what to make of him. But Cane knew exactly what he wanted to do to her…

Another long-suffering groan escaped his parted lips as he turned sharply and stalked back into the house, closing the tall, black-lacquered, double front doors behind him. The seclusion did little to diminish her scent. It was stuck in his nose, taunting him, just as surely as the vision of her in his arms was forever burned on his brain, like an unexpected, unwelcome branding.

He wanted Bev. But to have her would cost him everything he’d worked so hard to recover after Amy. Every ounce of humanity he’d managed to retain even through the change centuries ago. Because he knew his desire for her went far beyond physical need. His passion burned bright, but he also felt innately, wholly connected to the human next door. The sensuous creature who had no idea how much he wanted her. How much he needed her.

His entire being had been infiltrated with lust and longing from the first glimpse he’d stolen of the fiery beauty.

And now there was no escaping what he knew to be a damning truth.

Cane was a doomed soul. Because he’d finally found what he’d been searching for the past two hundred years.

Bevelyn Goitia. A mortal human.

For Cane, she was the one…

Chapter Three

“Bev, you didn’t have to leave in the middle of the fucking night!”

She cringed. “I’m sorry, Cam.” But held her ground. “I needed to make a clean break.”

“I’ve been worried about you all week!”

Contrite, she said, “I meant to call earlier. It’s just been a little…strange…around here.” An understatement considering the six days of overcast skies when the perplexed weathermen still called for sunny days and clear nights. “We both knew this was coming. This wasn’t a surprise to you.”

For the past three months, she’d been telling Camden Shelton she planned to move to Savannah. The only thing holding her back had been sentimentality. She liked Cam. Didn’t love him, but he was a good guy.

“No, of course, I wasn’t surprised,” he said on a heavy breath. “We talked about this. Still.” He paused a moment and she could picture him rubbing the back of his neck, just below his perfectly cropped blonde hair and above the collar of one of his immaculately pressed white dress shirts. “I’d hoped to have more time to talk you into staying in town.”

She smiled despite herself. “That’s very sweet. But when Jenna came back, I knew it was time to move on. You knew it too. And really, Cam, I’m happy for you. She realizes the mistake she made in leaving you and I think, deep down, you’ve always wanted her to come back. She did. That’s a sign you two belong together.”

And a sign that Bev’s decision to move to Savannah was the right one. She’d lived in Albany for nearly ten years. A bit too long for her to stay in one place. Any day now, she’d expected someone to say, “Gee, Bev, you haven’t aged a day since you moved to town.”

Well, duh. Immortal.

She’d known her time in Albany was up and thankfully Jenna Parks had returned. Bev knew Cam had always pined for his high school sweetheart. Jenna was the perfect scapegoat. They could salvage Cam’s ego and sever the ties in one swift, clean drop of the ax.

Except that Bev had slipped out of their lakeside cottage in the middle of the night. Clearly a source of contention.

Wanting to smooth the waters and make sure they were good with each other, she said, “This is all for the best, Cam.”

Because I don’t love you.

And never would.

She’d never love anyone. In fact, just thinking of losing herself to an all-consuming emotion she had no control over made her reach for her glass of Pinot Noir and take a deep sip to calm her instantly riotous nerves.

Love was one indulgence Bev would never allow herself to experience. It was a luxury for humans, not immortals, who would outlive whomever claimed their hearts.

So she kept hers well guarded.

Hence the reason the clouds and the thunder and the now-creeping-toward-her lightning had her in such a state of panic.