Stealing Phin (23 page)

“How did you find out he was here?”

“Remember that message I got the day you saw me watching you by the pool?”

I nodded.

“It was from a friend of mine I used to work with when I was with the F.B.I. He’s still with the agency, and I asked him to track Douglas’s whereabouts. The message said that Douglas was in Costa Rica. When I broke the contract with him, he’d made a comment about taking matters into his own hands. I suspected he might show up here, and when the message confirmed it, I went looking for him to stop him before he could get to you. I wasn’t sure what he had planned, but I was afraid you could end up hurt if I didn’t do something about it.” His eyes turned down, his expression pained and tortured as he went on. “My only regret was that I didn’t get to you five minutes sooner.”

I put my hand against his cheek. “What matters is that you were there for me in the end.”

He looked into my eyes and pulled me in closer. “You had nothing to worry about. I never took any photos of us…together. After our conversation at the Lava Lounge, you got stuck in my head. You didn’t seem like the girl Douglas had described. I followed you to the pool that night to satisfy my own curiosity. Everything that happened between us afterward stemmed purely from the fact that I was…” His eyes turned downward as his voice trailed off.

“You were what?”

After a beat, he took a deep breath and looked at me. “That I was falling in love with you.”

“Oh Byron.” My voice grew thick with tears. “I should never have doubted you.”

“Of course you should’ve. I gave you every reason to doubt me. Half the time I was doing my job, and the other half of the time I was following my heart. I could see how that’d be confusing for you. I have to admit, I was pretty confused myself.” He put his face near mine. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone, Phin. You have a certain power, you know.”

“Power?”

Byron nodded. “I was supposed to come out here to seduce you, put you under my spell. And instead, I fell under yours.”

And then he kissed me.

When our lips touched, my poor heart, which had been through so much torment, pulled itself together and sang a note so pure and strong, I knew if ever I felt lost in love, I could follow the song in my heart and find my way to love again.

Thank you for reading Stealing Phin, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Find out what happens to Phin and Byron next in Book 2 of the Phinegan Swift Adventures in Life and Love Series, due to be published Winter, 2013.

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Avery Hale lives in Chicago with her dog Duncan. She enjoys traveling, cooking, laughing, and daydreaming.