He looks away, scanning the crowd to the left and right. Then the pier. When he’s satisfied, he drags his eyes back to me. “Where’s your boyfriend?”

I’m speechless.

“That guy you were with the other night?” he adds. “All curled up on his lap like a pet.”

“I think you have me mixed up with someone else.”

“Oh,” he says, nodding his head and looking straight ahead. “OK. Well, then would you like to go for a walk? See the sunset somewhere else?”

I consider my options. Obviously he’s not interested in the sunset. So I guess I can assume this is an invitation to fool around. And last week I’d have said no thank you automatically. But this week… I realize now why girls chase boys.

And vice versa.

“Where’d you have in mind?” I ask, forcing myself to stare him in the face.

He gives me a crooked grin that is actually quite inviting, and then reaches for my knee and squeezes. “Girl’s choice.”

“I live down the street.”

He stands and extends his hand to me. “Let’s go, babe.”

He holds my hand as we cross Pier Plaza, chatting at me like we’ve been friends forever. “My bro Danny…”

I could give a shit about his bro Danny and how he cracked his skull doing some skater trick that sounds too ridiculous to be true, but what do I know about skater tricks?

I only feel his hand in mine. Just like James. Is this all they have to do? The beautiful ones? All they have to do is hold your hand to turn you stupid with lust? I’m certainly well on my way to idiocy, that’s for sure. I can only imagine how I’ll melt into a puddle of goo when I get what I came for.

And after that… I have no idea.

When I turn up Fifth Street, there’s flashing lights at the police station, so I turn left on Walnut and take the back way through the alley. I stop us outside the back gate, suddenly nervous about going inside.

“This you?” he says, nodding his head to my building. He pushes me against the garage and then his hands are on my hips, dipping behind me to caress my ass. His lips are descending on mine before I can even answer.

And then…

He’s ripped away and flung to the ground, his head bouncing off the concrete. James is staring down at him, clenching his fists, looking like he’s in professional mode.

“Stop!” I say, standing between the new guy and the assassin. “You have no right.”

James looks at me and narrows his eyes. My insides drop, like I just jumped off a cliff, that’s how terrifying he looks. He points to my new friend. “Really? This ass**le? He picks up a different girl every night. And if you were f**king paying any attention at all, you’d have seen that!”

Skater dude is back on his feet, picking up his board, and already walking away. “I’m outta here.” He turns, walking backwards for a few paces. “And for the record, ass**le, I asked her if she was yours. She said no. So you got some work to do.”

And then he drops the board, hops on, and a few seconds later he’s turned the corner, out of sight.

James turns back to me, grinding his teeth, clenching the muscles in his jaw. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

I raise my chin in defiance. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”

He grabs my shoulders and pushes me back against the garage. “You wanted to f**k him?” His eyes are darting back and forth, searching me, waiting on the answer.

“Maybe.”

His hand comes up and palms my throat, his thumb making little circles under my chin. “I give you a taste, then back off to give you room, and you take home the first ass**le who asks for your name?” His erection presses against my belly and he dips his forehead until it rests against mine.

My heart is racing, but for once in my life, it’s for all the right reasons. I reach for his face, threading my fingers through his dark hair.

“You’re mine,” he growls. “I told you to come find me when you were ready.”

“I looked, but no luck. So I played the only card I had. And look at that.” I smile with satisfaction. “Here you are.” I tilt my head up and meet his gaze. The sun is gone now, only the light of the stars illuminates him. And still, I see everything so clearly. “I didn’t have to find you, James. All I had to do was make sure you found me.”

Chapter Twelve

HARPER

He turns away, but not before I catch the grin. His back expands as he takes a breath. Probably to tuck down his amusement so he can keep playing the pissed-off ass**le routine.

All my life people have assumed I’m stupid because I’m quiet, I never interrupt, and I follow directions. But I’m quiet because saying less is always more.

I never interrupt because you always miss the parts better left unsaid when you don’t let people finish.

And I follow directions because it keeps things on an even keel, sailing pun intended.

I haven’t always felt this way about things. But back when we were little I once asked my brother why he was always so accommodating with the demands of the Admiral. We were about eight and I was spending my days that summer learning how to sail the ship to windward, while he was working in the galley, learning how to cook potatoes or something. But his answer that day has always stuck with me. ‘Pick and choose your battles, Harp.’

I thought about that piece of advice endlessly since that day. Pick and choose your battles. Accept that you cannot win every time, until you’ve got a sure thing. Battles are always a win and lose. Give and take. And ever since then I’ve been saving up my losses for the only battle that counts. The one that wins the war. So when the strong wind comes and wants to take me off course, I lower my sails and go with the current. I save that loss up for another day. But all these things are conscious decisions. I am attentive, but silent. I have come to terms with my life, but—hopefully—only for the moment.