Sionnach watched Carissa pull up in her faded red Jeep. Although she turned off the engine, she didn’t get out of the vehicle. Before he’d met her, Sionnach had seen her out here with a group of people, drinking and dancing under the full desert moon. He liked the sense of freedom she reveled in that night, but he also appreciated the cautious way she looked around today.

He stayed invisible to her eyes until he reached one of the reasonably intact saloon-style buildings. Then, he turned to face her and became visible so it appeared as if he had just exited the building. He walked over the broken wood of the building’s porch toward the front railing with the sort of grace he knew she admired. An older mortal might find his foxlike agility peculiar, but Carissa didn’t question how or why he could move so quickly.

Carissa hopped out of the vehicle, watching him silently.

He knew better than to relax his rules too much, but he liked the intense way she studied him. He preened a bit under her attention, not quite revealing his Otherness, but not playing mortal as much as he typically would either. He allowed himself to be too sinuous as he leaped over the rail, too fast as he came to stand beside her in a bit of a blur, too different to truly be thought mortal.

She was wide-eyed and enthralled. “How did you—”

“Hello.” He took both of her hands in his, using them to pull her toward him—and away from the metal of the vehicle. Still holding her hands, he tugged her close enough to kiss. Some faeries were addictive to mortals; fox faeries weren’t. The only danger to her from his kisses would be if he were unscrupulous, and although he was far from honest with the mortals he wooed, he didn’t take advantage of them. He didn’t even sanction lying with them; the risk of fathering half-fey children was too great. So, he kissed her until she was breathless, and then he pulled away.

For the rest of the day, they explored the buildings. They picnicked on a brightly colored blanket with bold lines that he kept here for just this reason. His objective was to show Carissa the beauty of the desert, to let her see it as he did. He found a beautiful Mojave rattlesnake, interesting rocks, and Joshua trees. He pointed out the tip of a cougar’s tail on an outcropping, watching it vanish. He knew she would leave in the next few months, and—selfishly perhaps—he wanted her to remember him, to think of the desert as he knew it.