He grabbed my arm to stop me as I turned, uncertainty written on his face. “Elizabeth, wait. There’s something I need to tell you that I should have said a long time ago …”

No.

I put my hands to his lips. I suspected what he wanted to say, and I wasn’t ready to hear it—or respond to it. “Don’t. Not now. I can’t handle any more tonight.”

FROM THE SIDE of the Tau house, I watched her long legs walk across the yard and ease into a cab that had pulled up to the curb. Her shoulders were hunched as if weighted down with burden. Her huddled posture sent alarm bells all through me. Her reaction had been extreme. I got angry at Dax all over again. He was impulsive and rushed headlong into everything without thinking, so it wasn’t a surprise to see him making a pass at a pretty girl, but it was her, and for some reason it bugged me.

Acting on impulse, I jumped in my Jeep and pulled out to follow her home. Some unnamed emotion made me anxious to make sure she got home okay.

It wasn’t like I didn’t know where she lived.

I followed the cab until it reached the apartments, and I pulled in at Minnie’s Diner across the road to let my Jeep idle as I watched her get out, pay the driver, and then make the trek across the carpark. She made a solitary figure as she trudged across the pavement, her white-blond hair blowing in the wind that had kicked up from an incoming storm. One of the streetlights was out, and I noticed she seemed keenly aware of the fact, her pale face peering over her shoulder as she made her way up the stairs. She walked briskly down the hall, the mere swing of her arms telling me she was on alert for anything. She was aware of the dangers of walking alone at night.

Had Dax been the one to cause all that reaction?

I suspected not. She fit the mold for the kind of girls I’d seen in my self-defense classes. Scared. Vulnerable. Hiding behind her pain.

Elizabeth Bennett had been hurt in the past by someone, and whoever he was, I wanted to bury my fist in his face.

She stopped at her door and dropped her keys. I got jacked up at the way she bent over in her dress, her heart-shaped arse straining against the material. My eyes lingered on her shoulders and how they contrasted with the white of her dress. She was hot, and it had been hard as hell to tell her no tonight. She slipped inside the door, giving me a brief glimpse of the soft curve of her face, and I immediately regretted my sexual urges.

Right then all I wanted was to take that bruised look off her face.

She went inside, so I pulled out and parked in our own lot, planning on heading inside myself. There was no need in going back to the party, even though Nadia had insisted we talk tonight. And with thoughts of her, I reminded myself why it was a shitty idea to even be attracted to any girl right now, especially one as gorgeous as Elizabeth.

I got inside just as my phone pinged. Father.

I read his text: Dinner at my house tomorrow. Dax has already confirmed. We need to discuss your after graduation plans and inheritance.

I barked out a laugh and tossed my phone on the couch.

And that proved how well he kept up with me.

He had no idea I’d used my half of Mum’s money I’d got last year to buy a gym.

I needed to punch something. I stripped off my shirt, yanked on some gym shorts, and picked up my gloves. I couldn’t hit the bag without music, so I cranked up Nelly on my speakers and went for it.

A THUNDERSTORM LIT the night sky.

I sat on my bed and watched the lightning, its lines jagged and sharp in the distance. Before long, the wind picked up, the gusts bending over the small trees in the landscaping below my balcony.

I picked at Granny’s quilt on my bed.

I was alone, but like the storm outside, winds of change were blowing in my life. I just didn’t know where they’d take me.

Shelley sent me a text, responding to one I’d sent her earlier to check on her.

Blake got me home. Why did you leave so soon? What happened with you and Whitman University’s Sexiest Man on Campus? Did you guys have monkey sex?

No monkeys. Please! What’s wrong with human sex? And Whitman’s Sexiest Man? Wow. Cheesy, I tapped out.

He’s hot and rich and sexy as hell, she texted. Rumor is he only had eyes for you tonight. According to Blake.

I ignored that and tapped out, Nite. Let’s do lunch soon. I owe you for helping me move today.

I set my phone down and snuggled back down in the bed.

While the storm raged, my neighbor moved around his apartment, making a racket as he cranked up some music, the beat of the bass loud through the thin walls.

Okay, I could handle some late night music next door. Easy. I quickly reminded myself this was the weekend and these were university-owned apartments.

But isn’t he being inconsiderate? Whatever. I flip-flopped over just as a rhythmic thumping sound reached my ears. Thump, thump, whack, whack.

Great. Was he having a freaking party over there?

I groaned and buried my head under my pillow. That didn’t help. I tossed in my bed, antsy. Angry even. I replayed the night, remembering my rejection from Declan. I rose up to beat on my pillow to make it softer.

Bloody Brit. He knew nothing about me.

I’d seen the darkness on the other side that night in the hotel, and I’d faced it down, dealing with it the only way I knew how. I was not fragile.

But you’ve changed, a small voice inside me said. You’re bitter. A shell.

I blew out a puff of air and flipped over on the mattress to find a more comfy spot, but it was pointless. Ugh. After fifteen more minutes of music and thumping noises, I jerked up and slipped a white cotton robe over my nightgown. I burrowed through a pile of shoes still in a box in my closet, bumping my head in the process, which only made me more pissed. Finally I found my pink rain boots and shoved my feet in.

I was putting my foot down with my new neighbor. If I didn’t, then he’d likely party every single night, and I couldn’t have that. I stepped outside my door, and since there was no overhang along the doorway, I got drenched in about five seconds. Cursing, I ran the short distance to my neighbor’s apartment and banged on the door with a heavy fist.

The thumping stopped, then the music.

I put my hands on my hips and schooled my features into an irritated glare. Kinda hard to look tough when you’re being pelted with rain, but I did my best.

The door opened wide and I squinted at the brightness.

“Excuse me, but your music is way too loud and you seem to be knocking out the walls—” I came to an abrupt stop. Blinked, resisting the urge to rub my eyes. “Declan?”

Dressed in black gym shorts and nothing else, he leaned against the doorjamb, his body glittering from the sweat that dripped down his well-muscled chest and straight down to the V of his hips. Oh. My. I inhaled.

He should come with a freaking warning label.

Just perfect. I must look like a drowned rat.

He pulled me inside the door and slammed it shut after a bolt of lightning lit up the sky. “What the bloody hell are you doing out in this?” His molten eyes swept over me, and I swallowed at the lump that formed in my throat.

Once again I felt a tug between us, that mysterious carnal push that had me imagining us in an erotic kiss while he pressed me against the wall and pounded …