___________________

And that was the bitch of it all, because even if Duke wanted to pretend he didn’t want the pretty blonde psychic with the sad, purple eyes and hesitant smile, his body said otherwise.  Above the other scents in the room, the scents of life, coffee, food, the lotions a lot of the women loved to rub into their skin, he could smell her.  Smell Ana.

He could smell himself, smell the need on him.  Knowing how fucking bad he wanted her didn’t make it any easier to look at her, though.  He looked at her and saw how fucking foolish he’d been, how damn gullible.  How pathetic.

Not again.  He could want her until hell froze over, but that didn’t mean he’d give in.

Across the pool table, he met Dominic’s level stare.  Then, without saying anything, he hurled his cue stick down and stalked out of the room.

*

She felt his passing like a hot, angry wind, blasting against her shields, snaking through the minute cracks and scalding her.

People were watching her—she felt it as she left the library.  She didn’t want to, but she couldn’t just stay in the library forever either, which meant she had to go back the way she’d come.

Should have just dealt with the rain and gone to the main library.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

___________________

Just a quick reminder on the contest:

• Runs through 12/1.
• Read the complete rules here.
• Comment @ my blog (Not via facebook, amazon, myspace, etc) to enter. Each comment gets you one entry. You can enter via blog comments once each day.
• If you post a link to the contest and then email me @ contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional ten entries. Put link in the subject line.
• If you preorder and forward the receipt to contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional twenty entries. Put receipt in subject line. Please remove all sensitive personal data.
• You can enter each way-if you post a link, comment and preorder, that is 30 entries, as well as one entry for each day you visit the blog to comment. You could get up to fifty entries for the grand prize.
• Names will not be shared/sold/traded/spraypainted on a billboard.
• Please note, to enter for the small daily giveaways done during the week, you must comment @ my blog.
• Daily giveaways will be Monday-Friday. Winners will either be posted here or notified via email so please make sure you check back often.
• Please do not cheat-trying to comment more than once a day, using different names/emails, is cheating and you’ll likely end up disqualified and barred from entering future contests.
• Do not post to sweepstakes sites. These contests are for current and potential readers and I do not want to them to be posted at sweepstakes sites. Should this contest end up at sweepstakes sites, I reserve the right to end the contest without warning and without giving away the rest of the prizes in the contest.
• Each (daily) contest thread will be closed within a day or two of its original posting.  So enter while it’s open!