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Ben kissed me again and rolled me onto my back as his hand caressed my hair. My hips arched automatically, much as they had done the other night.
“You’re… missing your trousers,” Ben murmured.
Shoot, that old chestnut. Although with a gorgeous man on top of me, I couldn’t say I was as annoyed as usual.
“How the hell did you lose them?” he asked.
“Happens every time I transition,” I said.
“Come on.” Ben got to his feet and pulled me up with him. “I can fix that.”
I raised an eyebrow as he turned me around to face away from him. A moment later, his bare chest pressed to my back and his hands snaked around my waist to tie his shirt around my hips.
I leaned into him, tilting my head to one side to allow him to plant a kiss on my neck. Gods, if we didn’t have a dead body to report, I would have taken him right there.
A shout shook me from my reverie. At the end of the beach, flashlights ran up and down the sand and hi-visibility jackets bobbed through the night toward us.
Ben stepped away from me, and we exchanged one last fond look before we walked toward the ensuing police.
“Here they are!” an officer shouted as we neared.
“Ben!” A shrill voice cut through the calls of the officers. A voice that sounded chillingly familiar.
Margaret Everhart pushed between the police officers and power walked toward us, moving her arms back and forth like she was on a treadmill.
I took a step away from Ben as she hurried to her son.
“Oh, by Scorpio’s grace.” Margaret touched a manicured hand to Ben’s chest. “How did this happen? Ben?”
“It’s just a scratch, Mum. It’s nothing,” Ben said.
But he hadn’t even finished his sentence before Margaret grabbed my collar with one hand and pulled it painfully tight.
“Did you do this to my son?” Margaret hissed.
Venom flooded her eyes, and her cloying perfume rolled off her in waves, eliminating the salty air completely.
I grabbed at my collar, but her nails dug into my fingers.
“Mum, stop!” Ben grabbed Margaret’s hands and pried them off me.
I took another step back, rubbing my throat with one hand. That woman had a wicked touch for a small lady.
“It wasn’t her, Mum,” Ben said. “Morty did this.”
“Maeve!” I whipped around at the sound of my dad’s voice.
Not just Dad, but half my family, followed by approximately half of Ben’s family, tore across the beach toward us.
I hadn’t seen this many Arrowoods and Everharts in one place since… ever. Thank the gods the police were here.
The moment he caught up, Dad grabbed my upper arms and pulled me further away from Ben and his mother.
“What happened? Why are you wet? Are you hurt?” Dad asked.
It was like when I fell into the sea when I was six all over again.
“I’m fine,” I said.
