C. Hunter - Reborn

“Told you they might have their shirts off,” Miranda whispered, and elbowed Della.

While it was October, fall had fallen behind and summer had snuck back in. At two in the afternoon, the sun beat down on the court. Della’s gaze, of its own accord, shot across the court of guys looking for one chest in particular. The sexy shape-shifter, Steve.

She found him, the same time his light brown eyes found hers. He had his shirt on, but it molded to his damp chest. Sweaty, his brown hair looked darker, and flipped up on the ends. He had the basketball in his hands and he smiled at her. Her heart did a tumble, and she fought to keep from putting off any pheromones.

“Oh, my, Kylie’s right, the panty pervert is cute,” Miranda said. “No wonder he got to you.”

Della panicked and her gaze zipped around until she found Chase. Chase without his shirt. His chest looked wider, and more muscled than it had with the white T-shirt on. She swallowed and remembered Miranda’s remark about eye candy. Escorting that thought from her addled brain, she became determined not to show any appreciation at his … his lack of clothes. Then she realized it was too late. She’d stared a fraction of a second too long and he stood, one arm on his hip, looking right at her, relishing that fraction of a second. He smiled. Crap! Had he heard Miranda, too?

“Well, if it isn’t Smurf girl!” He ran his hand though his dark hair. And no sooner had the words left his lips than the basketball whacked him in the head.

Everyone laughed. Even Della. Especially Della. She cut her gaze back to Steve and sent him an appreciative smile. And that’s when she heard Chase’s growl and saw him swing around toward Steve.

Della’s shoulders came back and she was prepared to get right in the middle of it. But before the guy took even a step, Derek and Kylie’s boyfriend, Lucas, had moved between him and Steve.

“Rule number one, no trouble on the court,” Lucas said. “A fight breaks out here, and we’re all grounded from basketball for a week.”

While Lucas took the more direct route, Derek moved in and placed a hand on Chase’s shoulder. “It was just an accident,” he said.

It wasn’t an accident—Della knew Steve had done it on purpose—but let Chase believe it if he was that gullible.

Chase shook off Derek’s fae touch, which no doubt had been to shed the tension. And while Chase did seem calmer, he still managed to shoot Steve a cold look. Steve didn’t back down for a second, and Della worried the two would go at it. Not that she worried Steve couldn’t hold his own. She’d seen him in action when they were on their mission. But she didn’t want him getting into trouble because of her.

Steve wasn’t the get-into-trouble kind of guy.

“Why don’t we just call it a day,” Lucas said, and Della noted he was looking at Kylie like he was parched and she was a cool drink of sweet tea. The two were so in love that they couldn’t look at each other without getting that silly grin on their faces.

Another reason she was staying the heck away from love. Vampires didn’t do silly grins.

Lucas came walking up, grabbing his shirt from the bench by the court. “Hey,” he said, eyes and pheromones only for Kylie. “You want to go for a walk?”

“Yeah, but first I need to talk to Derek.”

“About what?” Lucas asked, sounding a tad jealous.

“An issue for Della. Can I meet you in front of the office in about five minutes?” Kylie asked.

“Yeah,” he said. He was frowning slightly, but he leaned down to kiss her.

Della looked the other way. Unfortunately, her eyes landed right on Miranda and Perry sucking face.

“We could kiss and show them how it’s done,” a deep Southern voice said at her ear. A voice belonging to a body that she hadn’t heard approaching. What was with her on-and-off hearing?

She turned around and stared at Steve. He stood so close his scent filled the air; his eyes, brown with some gold highlights, filled her vision. Leaning in just a bit, she could feel his warm breath on her lips.

Her first thought was to give in, let him kiss her, let herself kiss him, and show these amateurs how a kiss was supposed to go. Butterflies filled her chest at the thought of how good it would be. They’d kissed the first time when they were on FRU camp business. And against her better judgment, several times since. She blamed the weird electricity that snapped and popped whenever they got close. He studied her expectantly and her instinct said to spout out something off-putting about him expecting a kiss when they weren’t … an item. But she remembered he’d thrown the ball at the panty perv. Steve didn’t deserve any lip. He probably deserved a kiss, but not now. Maybe she’d pay up when they were alone.

She pulled back. “Hey.”

“Hey.” He leaned in. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Did that new guy do something that pissed you off?”

“Yeah … no, I mean, it was nothing.”

Steve’s expression soured. “Why was he mouthing off at you about Smurfs?”

She usually told Steve the truth, but suddenly she didn’t want him to know she wore Smurf pajamas. “I thought he was trespassing and we bumped heads.” She glanced up over Steve’s shoulder and saw the panty perv staring at her and Steve.

“Funny,” Steve said in a nonfunny voice. “The way you were looking at him wasn’t the way you’d look at someone you’d butted heads with.”

Della nipped her lip to keep from smiling. She should be embarrassed at Steve calling her out about appreciating the panty perv’s body. And she was, but her pride took second to the excitement of knowing that Steve cared enough to get his boxer shorts in a bunch.

Leaning back on her heels, she stared up into his eyes. “It sounds like someone’s jealous, but I can’t see why. It’s not like you and I are going out or anything. We’re just friends, so…” Della shrugged, feigning innocence.

Steve quirked his lip in a cocky half smile and took a step closer. The electricity started to crackle. They stood less than an inch apart, but Della, aware only of him and the magic he brought on, refused to step back this time. They’d been playing this game for weeks—flirting and teasing each time they saw each other—and Della could give as well as he could take.

“Yup, we’re just friends, but friends look after each other, and make sure they don’t go goo-goo-eyed at new campers they don’t know anything about.”

Goo-goo-eyed? She bit the inside of her mouth to keep from chuckling. “I have no idea what you are talking about. You must be seeing things. Vampires never go goo-goo-eyed. Maybe a drop of sweat got in your eyes.”

She reached up to and thumbed away a nonexistent drop from the corner of Steve’s brow. She heard his heartbeat surge the second her skin touched his, and willed her own heart rate to stay calm.

He caught her wrist, and drew a tiny little heart on the tender skin above her veins. “You’re looking a little gooey right now, Miss Priss.”

She almost laughed. Almost. Instead she became instantly aware that they weren’t alone, but still in the midst of nosy campers—some of them with super hearing. And this game, the flirting game she and Steve played, she insisted they only play it in private. What the heck had she been thinking. Oh, yeah, she wasn’t thinking!

She took a step back, and when she did she saw Derek walking away. Derek, whom she’d come here to talk to about her missing uncle. “We’ll talk later,” she told Steve. “I need to see Derek about something.”

“About what?” Steve asked as if he had all the right in the world to know.

Derek was almost to the trail. “I … I really gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”