He was silent for several beats, but I could tell his eyes were on my profile. My skin tingled under his scrutiny.

“That's brave as hell. You are an adventurer.”

“Well, the jury's still out. Everyone back home thinks I’m going to give up and go back if they bug me long enough.”

“Well, how long has it been?”

I grinned and forced myself to meet his gaze. “A couple of weeks.”

Lex…

I held Abbie tighter as she shivered again.

What the hell was I doing? This was not part of the plan.

And there was something about the way she stiffened whenever anyone touched her. It screamed baggage.

But she was relaxed in my arms now. I should let her go. But I liked her. Really liked her.

All the more reason to let her go, mate.

Because there was something about her that read damaged. Like me. Broken, like a bird.

I didn’t do damaged. Sure, you don’t. I was damaged enough for the two of us. I didn’t need to take on anyone else’s baggage.

At the same time, there was something so exposed and open about her. Something vulnerable but strong, unlike the girls I usually met. The over-processed, coy, game-playing girls who pretended they had no idea who I was or what I was about. But Abbie didn’t seem to know. She seemed real.

I wanted a slice of that reality. Wanted to touch it, if only for a minute. Hell, I was at my birthday party, and only a handful of those people would I call my friends. I would have preferred to be home with a pile of movies.

I smiled at her. “So, after a couple of weeks, what do you think of our little island?”

“Besides having fallen completely, unashamedly in love with the history, and the energy, and the diversity, and the atmosphere?” She shrugged, feigning indifference. “It’s okay. If you like that kind of thing. And school has been awesome so far.”

“School?” The hairs on my neck stood at attention. Relax. There are a hundred schools in London. She could be studying at any one of them.

What’s the best one for photography?

No. No way. This didn’t mean she was Xander’s student. I could have asked, but I didn’t want to get into it. Because what if the answer was yes? I wasn’t accustomed to the flare of jealousy when it came to my big brother, but I understood the pull he had on women.

Would she be as susceptible as every other woman in London?

“Yeah. I ran away from home to do a Master of the Arts in Fine Art Photography. My parents are beside themselves. It's like I said, ‘Hey, Mom and Dad, I want to go be a drug dealer in London.’”