His expression grew troubled, and he glanced away from me to stare out the window. We’d both known the inevitable was coming from the beginning, yet neither of us had been able to talk about it then. It looked like we still couldn’t talk about it now. There were a million things we should be discussing, but all we could think about was each other. All we wanted was each other. We’d spent so much of our time with boundaries between us that now that there were none, we just wanted to childishly lose ourselves in our longings and not think about the consequences—even though the consequences would be catching up with us any day now.

“Well,” Seth said finally. “I just hope you stay safe. Are you any closer to finding him?”

I hesitated. Roman had told me not to trust anyone. I was pretty sure that Seth wasn’t going to go run off to any demons in the area and report what I said. I also suspected, however, that Seth wouldn’t be happy to find out Roman was in my life again, no matter how altruistic Roman claimed to be right now. Seth wouldn’t trust him. Hell, I didn’t trust him.

“I’ve got a few promising leads,” I said finally. I thought about Grace. “Some more promising than others . . . I’m just not sure if I can do anything with them.”

“Still traipsing beaches? Do you need me and Kayla again?”

“I thought she had something going on . . .”

The look on his face said he would do anything for me. “Yeah, but if you really needed her, I could try to pull some strings. If you wanted.”

Oh, did I. A pleasant, aching yearning gathered in my chest. There was nothing I’d love more than to spend another afternoon with the two of them, even if it was searching for rocks. It had let me indulge in the illusion of being a family.

“No, I’m fine.” Reluctantly, I let the image go. As much as I wanted to be with them again, Roman was the better partner on my hunts now. I would rather put him at risk than Kayla, and anyway, he was more likely to be able to know what to do if we actually found what we were looking for. I glanced at the clock. “In fact, I need to finish up my work here. My shift’s over soon, and I can’t be late.”

Seth’s face was a mixture of worry and disappointment. “No lunch, huh?”

I couldn’t be certain, but I suspected lunch with him would have involved both food and sex in some surreptitious location. Damn. I wanted both.