The Missing

about buying one of the condos going up along the beach.

    “—to her first.”

    Kip nudged him in the side, distracting Cullen from his study of the girl’s very nice ass. Scowling, Cullen glanced over at Kip. “What are you talking about?” Kip, with his perfectly cut blond hair, looked like he belonged on the beach. He looked like half of a whole, made to go with any one of the bleach blonde Barbies who strolled around. Cullen wished he’d go find one of the little Barbie dolls and leave him alone, so he could watch the babe in peace and quiet.

    “I was asking you if you thought that I could get her phone number before you do.”

    Cullen laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”

    Kip grinned. “Hell, no. Come on. Who can get her number first? You or me? Loser has to rummage up a six-pack for the bonfire Friday.”

    Shaking his head, Cullen stood up and dusted the sand off the back of his swim trunks. “I don’t bet on girls. My mom would kill me. And I’m not going to try scoring some beer, either. My dad would kill me.”

    Kip’s sneer had Cullen itching to knock it off his tanned, perfect face. “You always worry about what your parents would think?”

    “No more than you always wonder what your friends think,” Cullen replied. He looked down the beach and wondered if he’d look like a loser if he went chasing her down the beach. But before he could make up his mind, he heard a familiar voice calling his name. Glancing back, he saw his dad standing on the boardwalk, tackle box and fishing reels in hand.

    He looked back at the mystery girl, but she was nearly out of sight now. Shit.

    TAIGE Branch could feel the weight of the boy’s eyes drilling into her back. Normally, she paid about as much attention to the tourists as she paid to the sand that got in her shoes. Something that was everywhere, something that was annoying, but nothing she was going to think about beyond that.

    In turn, they could be obnoxious, rude, or friendly as could be. None of those traits appealed to Taige. She didn’t want friends, and she didn’t want some rich frat boy trying to cop a feel. But if she had to take her choice, she’d take the frat boy. Some boy feeling her up was a lot easier to deal with than friendliness. She had very little experience with friends. Wandering eyes and hands, she’d been dealing with those since she was fourteen. She handled it now in the same manner she’d used then, a quick stomp on the foot, a knee to his balls, or a jab in the throat.

    The bleach blond was the typical kind she’d dealt with before, a privileged little brat with loaded parents, the kind of jerk who thought he could have anything he wanted, including some hot and heavy action with a local girl. He’d made a few passes at her since he’d arrived on the beach with his parents two weeks earlier, and she’d done what she always did: ignore him.

    But the guy on the left, the one she had felt staring at her, she hadn’t quite been able to dismiss in the same way. She’d seen him around, out fishing with his dad a few times, in the wildlife refuge a few miles down the road, and in a couple of the oyster houses in town. This was the first time she’d seen him up close, though.

    Taige had passed within a few feet of him, close enough to see the faint tan line on his shoulders and neck where he’d been wearing a tank top like the one he’d worn the other night while he was out fishing with his dad. Close enough to see that his hair wasn’t black like she’d thought but a deep, rich brown. The sun had brought out some gold highlights, and she imagined if he was down here long enough, his hair would lighten even more.

    And she’d been close enough to see his eyes.

    His eyes were the most amazing color, nearly the same shade of turquoise as the Gulf. She loved that color. Taige could spend hours out on the water, staring at the ever-changing waves, and she had the unsettling feeling that she could spend hours staring into his eyes, too.

    Those sorts of mushy feelings were the kind she was unfamiliar with. Warm, soft feelings had little place in Taige’s life since her mom and dad had died, leaving her alone. Her uncle had taken her in, but Taige wished they hadn’t been able to find Leon Carson. She would have ended up in foster care, because they hadn’t been able to find any of her father’s people. But it would have been better than where she had ended up.

    Hell would have been better.

    Hell .