Lover Beware

again. And Pete, I’m so glad we ran into you. I’m visiting Drew soon. I’ll be able to tell him I saw you. I’ll bet he’ll be happy to hear from you.”
    Pete Granger scuffed the toe of his boot on the sidewalk. “I should go see him. It’s been awhile. I didn’t know what to say.”
    Sarah placed her hand on his shoulder. Damon could see she was worried. “You’ll find the right thing to say to him. That’s what friendship is, Pete, to be there in good and bad times. The good is easy, the bad, well”—she shrugged—“that’s a bit more difficult. But you’ve always been incredibly tough and Drew’s best friend. I know you’ll be there for him.”
    Pete nodded his head. “Tell him I’ll be over this evening.”
    Sarah smiled her approval. “I think that’s a great idea, Pete.” She touched the elder Granger with gentle fingers. “How did your visit to the cardiologist go?”
    “Why, Sarah,” Patsy answered, “Dad doesn’t have a cardiologist. There’s nothing wrong with his heart.”
    “Really? It never hurts to be safe, Mr. Granger. Checkups are always so annoying but ultimately necessary. Patsy, do you remember that cardiologist my mother went to when we were in our first year of college? In San Francisco?”
    Patsy exchanged a long look with her father. “I do remember, Sarah. Maybe we could get him in next month when things settle down at the shop.”
    “These things are always better if you insist on taking care of them immediately,” Sarah prompted. “This is Damon Wilder, a friend of mine. Have you three met yet?”
    Damon was simply astonished. Pete was going to go visit his very ill friend and Mr. Granger was going to see a cardiologist, all at Sarah’s suggestion. He looked closer at the older man. He couldn’t see that Granger looked sick. What had Sarah seen that he hadn’t? There was no doubt in his mind that the cardiologist was going to find something wrong with Mr. Granger’s heart.
    Sarah asked the three of them to keep an eye out for strangers with bruises on their face or jaw and the trio agreed before hurrying away.
    “How do you do that?” Damon asked, intrigued. She was doing something, knew things she shouldn’t know.
    “Do what?” Sarah asked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    Damon studied her face there on the street with the sunlight shining down on them. He couldn’t stop looking at her, couldn’t stop wanting her. Couldn’t believe she was real. “You see something beyond the human eye, Sarah, something science can’t explain. I believe in science, yet I can’t find an explanation for what you do.”
    Damon was looking at her with so much hunger, so much stark desire in his expression, Sarah’s heart melted on the spot and her body went up in flames. “It’s a Drake legacy. A gift.” Wherever she had been going was gone out of her head. She couldn’t think of anything but Damon and the need on his face, the hunger in his eyes. Her fingers tangled in the front of his shirt, right outside the gift shop in plain sight of the interested townspeople.
    “The Drake gate prophecy forgot to mention the intensity of the physical attraction,” she murmured.
    A man could drown in her eyes, be lost forever. His hands tightened possessively, brought her closer to him, right up against his body. Every cell reacted instantly. Whips of lightning danced in his bloodstream while tongues of fire licked his skin, at the simple touch of her fully clothed body. What was going to happen when she was naked, completely bare beneath him? “I might not survive,” he whispered.
    “Would we care?” Sarah asked. She couldn’t look away from him, couldn’t stop staring into his eyes. She wanted him. Ached for him. Wanted to be alone with him. It didn’t matter where, just that they were alone.
    “You can’t look at me like that,” Damon said. “I’m going up in flames and I’m too damned old to be acting like a teenager.”
    “No, you’re not,” Sarah denied. “By all means, I don’t mind at all.” She half-turned toward the street, still in his arms. “I think Inez is falling out of her window. Poor thing, she’s bound to lose her eyesight if she keeps this up. I should have suggested she get a new pair of glasses. I’ll let Abigail suggest it. You have to be careful with Inez because she’s so sensitive.”
    It was the way Sarah said it, so absolutely sincere, that tugged at his heartstrings. “I never could get along