“Maybe not,” Jaya said. “But perhaps if the pendant really does know you’re near like you told me in Aspen, it’ll sense you trying to help.” Seeing his skeptical face, she added, “Maybe it sounds silly, but I don’t know how these things work. What can it hurt to try?”

He considered this. “Okay.”

“Okay.” She smiled, and for the first time, Grey realized just how perfectly bow-shaped her lips were. “I’ll find a good jeweler. And ah… we could go together. If you wanted to, I mean.”

Her expression was tentative, wondering if he’d reject her like he’d rejected her before. “Sure,” Grey found himself saying, which was a surprise even to him. “That wouldn’t be… awful.” He was already kind of looking forward to it, in fact.

Her smile broadened and she moved infinitesimally closer to him on the underwater bench. “Not awful. I’ll take that as a compliment. This is so beautiful,” she added, tipping her head back to look at the stars through the paned glass roof. Her cheeks were stained a dark pink, strands of her hair coiled in wet curls on her neck.

Her hand rested lightly next to his on the bench; he could see it through inches of water. Her pinkie was so close to his, he could just twitch his finger and be touching her. His gaze drifted to her lips. They were close enough to be kissing. Did she want that? Did he? As if she could read his thoughts, Jaya looked over at him, her brown eyes soft and inviting. Grey’s heart beat so loudly it was hard to hear his own thoughts.

What was he doing?

“I should go,” Grey said, beginning to haul himself out of the hot tub.

There was no point. There was no point in getting close to Jaya Rao, in getting close to anyone. He was… different from others. He was tainted. He couldn’t allow himself to feel anything for Jaya Rao, and he couldn’t let her feel things for him. It was as simple as that. So why the hell was he finding it so hard?

Jaya

Jaya watched him as he made a motion to leave, her pulse pounding. Had they almost just… kissed? There had been something in the air. Why were her hands trembling, for God’s sake? She’d found herself wondering what those lips would feel like molded to hers, what that sandpaper stubble might feel like against her cheek.