Hidden in a toolbox, in the rafters of his four-car garage, was an envelope full of pictures taken by a private detective...They were pictures of a scrawny, boyish looking nine year old with a wide mouth and a tangle of brown hair...Her eyes were oblong and deep set, their color hidden from the camera by the slant of the sun. The angles and planes of her face were oddly beautiful just then, in that moment, frozen on Kodak paper. A hint of the woman she would someday become.

The dead pull the living down.

We're all hunters in my family, you know. Deer, ducks_damsels.

Another flash of recognition sped through her mind. It__ him, her thoughts whispered through the fog of arousal. And she wanted to know who he was. What else he could do for her. What he__ feel like inside her. What he would unleash within her.

It was her. No one had eyes like that. Eyes as pure as the sky on a fresh, wintery morning. Ones that sucked him in and refused to let go. No one had her touch. Feather light and warm. A touch that sizzled his insides and brought him to his knees.And no one had that pure, simple, cherry-vanilla scent. The sweetness that was only her, like she was a dessert made just for him. To lick, nibble, and enjoy.

A smile curled the corner of Xavier__ mouth. __ou didn__ think I would let her walk out of my arms without knowing I would see her again soon, did you?__ryant shrugged. __ell, no. I guess not. What are you going to do now?__he lid of the case slammed shut, and Xavier jerked his vibrating phone back out of his pocket. __ell, as soon as I get these fires extinguished, I__ going to go start one with her.__ryant laughed. __fter this long, that__l be one hell of a raging inferno.___ hope so.