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hand out for me to shake. I didn’t shake hands. Ever. It left me open to pain, even with my barricades. After what had happened on the beach, I wouldn’t be touching him anytime soon. I nodded in his direction and ignored his outstretched hand.
    He smirked as if he’d won this battle.
    As I returned to watching the couple, I caught him studying me from the corner of my eye. The deep curiosity I sensed beneath the scrutiny unsettled me. He wasn’t like me—able to heal. He was something else that used energy like I could. My guard stayed up as I pretended to ignore him.
    “And you are?” Watching the smokers take furtive puffs, he made polite conversation without looking at me.
    “Remy O’Malley.” My voice sounded huskier than usual.
    That caught his attention, and he turned those amazing eyes to mine with rapt attention. Trapped, I couldn’t have glanced away even if I wanted to. And I didn’t want to.
    One dark brow rose again. “Lucy’s sister?”
    I shifted in my seat, uneasy answering questions about myself. “We have the same father, so I suppose she is.”
    He mistook my discomfort for another emotion. “You don’t like her?”
    “Sure, I like her. What I know about her.”
    He waited for me to continue, leaning forward as if to pull the words out of me. When my silence continued, he snapped his fingers. “That’s right. You’re new to the Falls. You’re the other daughter.”
    The other daughter. Great. I’d been labeled. I shrugged and the noncommittal gesture seemed to irritate him as much as his shrug at the beach had me.
    “Do the marks on your neck have anything to do with your move?”
    The blood drained from my face. His angry tone had been too low for others to overhear, but I checked to see if the couple had heard him anyway. The girl tossed a curious glance our way, but her boyfriend paid us no attention.
    I looked at Asher, trying to understand his motive for asking the question. His enigmatic face remained composed, and I wondered if he’d ask louder if I didn’t respond. What answer would satisfy him? The truth wasn’t an option. I should have stuck with my decision to ignore him.
    “Do you always ask so many questions?”
    Asher’s eyebrow rose again, and I returned the look with one of my own. Mind your own damn business. He grinned and I scowled, turning back to the couple to end the conversation. Asher didn’t seem disturbed as he sat beside me in the dark. I felt his gaze land on me a couple of times, and I resisted the urge to stare back.
    The music started inside with Brandon’s distinctive guitar riff, and I hesitated, giving Asher a chance to leave first to avoid any accidental touches. The smokers stamped out their cigarette butts and hurried inside, letting the door slam shut behind them. I watched Asher’s shoes, noticing the expensive leather boots, and waited for them to shift as he got to his feet. Except they didn’t. The charged, heated air swirled between us as neither of us moved.
    It was another challenge, I realized. My breath hissed out in frustration as I stood to leave. He rose at the same time, crowding me between the two tables and knocking me off balance. I stepped back to avoid his touch and tripped over the table leg. My mental wall dropped. Strong hands grasped my waist to pull me upright, hitching my blouse up at the ribs a little as he caught me, and his hand slipped to skim bare skin.
    The sparks of heat kindled where his fingers touched my waist and spread in little licks of green fire. Without my shield, the hot wave of energy crashed in on me, his energy flow like a heat-seeking missile.
    The pain of that ambush scorched my skin, beginning where he touched me and radiating over my body like a fiery breeze. Inside, the opposite of fire stripped away my defenses, and I gasped as ice shards rushed straight to my heart, causing it to beat in a sluggish rhythm. A black fog descended when it froze, and my focus narrowed to Asher’s face.
    For