Thea’s words hung in her head, the true curse of the siren. No man would ever really be able to love her. Gemma remembered the forceful way Alex had kissed her the other day with the dazed look in his eyes. That wasn’t the Alex she was falling for. That was a boy under the spell of a siren, a boy who was incapable of really loving her.

Gemma continued to wait outside Alex’s house. She’d nearly decided to go home when the door opened.

“Gemma!” Alex sounded both surprised and relieved.

“Shh!” She held her finger up to her mouth, quieting him before Harper or her father heard.

“What are you doing?” Alex asked. “Are you all right? You’re soaking wet.”

Gemma glanced down at her dress. It had started to dry on her walk home, but she’d walked fast, so she hadn’t given it much time.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You look cold. Do you need a coat or something?” Alex started to move back inside the house to get something to warm her, but she grabbed his arm to stop him.

“No, Alex, listen. I just need to ask you something.” Gemma glanced around, as if she expected Harper to be lurking around a corner. “Can we talk for a minute?”

“Yeah, sure, of course.” He stepped closer to her and put his hands on her arms, feeling strong and warm against her bare skin. “What’s going on? You look frantic.”

“I’ve just had the most amazing, terrible night of my life,” Gemma admitted, and she was surprised when she felt tears stinging her eyes.

“Why? What happened?” Alex’s brown eyes filled with concern.

His worried expression made him look older, more like the man he would someday become, and Gemma’s heart ached when she realized that she would probably never see that. Already he was almost painfully handsome, made even more attractive by how oblivious he was to it.

He was much taller than she was, almost towering above her, and his muscled frame only made her feel safer. It was his eyes—a deep mahogany that conveyed so much warmth and kindness—that let her know he’d never do anything to hurt her.

“It doesn’t matter.” She shook her head. “I needed to know … do you like me?”

“Do I like you?” His worry changed to bemused relief, and he smiled crookedly at her. “Come on, Gemma, I think you know the answer to that.”

“No, Alex, I’m serious. I need to know.”

“Yeah.” He brushed back a damp lock from her forehead, and his eyes were solemn. “I like you. A lot, actually.”

“Why?” Her voice cracked when she asked that, and she almost wished she hadn’t said anything.