They weren't going to be that friends-with-benefits things.

No.

No more kissing Duncan.

"I'm sorry. I made you uncomfortable," Duncan said and scooted away from her.

When had they gotten that close? Cara realized there was barely a finger's distance between them. At least, there had been until he moved.

"It's okay. I..."

"I should be going," Duncan said. "I really should go meet my date. Maybe she's not interested either, and we can hatch a plan to both bow out gracefully without hurting Christy's feelings." He stood and dusted his pants off.

She stood as well. "I should go back home anyway. It's my turn to do dishes." She faced him, noticing how he stood over a head taller than her, and she didn't move for a second.

Like neither of them knew if they wanted to hug or not.

She made a snap decision. "Hug," she said and held out her arms.

Relief washed over his face. "Yeah." And he stepped toward her.

As they pulled together, Cara looked away, her gaze passing over the cove just below her sitting spot.

The sound of a boat motor jarred her attention. Not a big deal-lots of people on the island had boats and would cruise around the inside of the shield.

Then, as the boat's motor shifted, the whine in the engine pinged recognition in her.

Her stomach dropped.

"Dammit."

"What?" Duncan asked as he pulled away from her. He put his hands on her shoulders. "What is it?"

"It's Luke," she whispered and faced the coming boat.

Sure enough, her ex-boyfriend Luke, along with a gaggle of his friends, rode in the boat that had just come around the bend into the island's cove.

Including his new girlfriend, Izzy.

Cara inhaled a breath and turned away as she saw Luke pull Izzy into his arms. "Of course they come over here. This is my spot. I should have never told him about this little cove."

Luke maneuvered the boat up to the rocky shoreline as close as he could get, and everyone on board proceeded to disembark.

Right below them.

Duncan rubbed her shoulders. "Let's go."

She nodded. "Yeah. They'll see me soon enough-"

The words were barely out of her mouth when Luke looked right at her.

Not just in her general direction, but right at her.

For a second, she considered raising her hand in a friendly wave, a "no hard feelings" gesture before she walked away. Not that she meant it, but it was polite, right?

Luke turned to Izzy, pulled her into an embrace, and kissed her. Hard.

Cara's stomach crawled.

Duncan pulled Cara into his embrace. "Come on, let's go."

It was hard to take her eyes off her ex, who stood there doing a tonsil check on another girl, especially since Cara knew the kiss was more to hurt her than out of any real affection.

"He is an ass," Duncan muttered as he guided Cara off the rocks and back toward the grass, out of sight of Luke and his friends. Cara curled into his arm, not really caring where Duncan took her, just that he got her away.

"He was showing off," she muttered.

"Ergo, an ass," Duncan replied. When they'd walked out of line of sight of the beach, he paused and turned her to look at him.

"You don't need that kind of ego in your life."

She snorted. "I'd rather have an ego than have nothing," she whispered. All the pain she'd been trying to get passed-hell, that she thought she was passed-bubbled to the surface.

Dammit.

She hated being like this. She hated being so wishy-washy and whiny. She wanted to kick her own ass.

"No. No, you're not allowed to think that way." He tipped her chin up, his finger warm against her skin. "You will find that person who's destined to be with you. He's out there. I promise."

"Oh yeah? When? When I'm old and crotchety?" Cara pulled away.

Duncan sighed. "You'll find him when you're supposed to."

"Again-when?" Cara put her hands on her hips. "I swear, every damn person around me is happy and in love and getting married and all that crap. And here I am, stuck. I can't find anyone who wants to be with me, I can't even leave this damn island! I'm stuck here!" She dropped to the ground and started to cry, the emotions such a jumble.

It wasn't even that much over Luke. It was over, well, everything. The tears fell and she didn't bother wiping them away. She fisted the grass and pulled it up by the roots, making a dark patch on the ground.

At least for a few seconds.

Then Avalon's magic started and the grass grew back in just a moment.

If only it was that simple...

"See, everything comes back," Duncan said as he sat next to her.

"I don't know that I want him to come back," Cara muttered, not looking at Duncan. She couldn't help but feel the warmth of his close proximity, and she liked it. Made her feel at least a little bit better.

"He's not," Duncan said.

"And how do you know?"

"He would have come back by now." He leaned into her a little, his shoulder brushing hers.

She snorted. "I appreciate you trying to make me feel better. It's just frustrating. Especially when I thought I was fine, that I'd gotten past this. And now it's just bringing up more and more emotions, more and more reasons to just want to run away and leave the island, but I can't. I'm stuck here. And I know everyone here and I can't leave, so I'll never find anyone to be with. Ever. Because I'm stuck here." She groaned and pounded her fists on the grass again.

"You will too, I promise."

"You sound like my mother. Shut up."

He sighed as he pulled out his wand. "Here." He took her hand.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm reading your palm," he said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Not obvious to her, but anyway...

He tapped the tip of his wand against her palm. Shivers ran through Cara as the green magic glistened on her skin, making her flesh look incredibly white.

"Oh wow, it tickles," Cara said as Duncan put away his wand.

He took her hand in both of his, and Cara marveled for a moment how much larger his were than hers. His thumbs ran over her skin. The delicate caress gave Cara a shiver, and not the tickly kind.

Her cheeks warmed, and while she wanted to look away, she remained mesmerized by his hand stroking hers.

"There, it's coming through now." Duncan's voice was soft. Maybe even a little hoarse.

"What is?" Cara shifted her bottom, hoping to see more of what he looked at. All she saw was the green lights from the fading magic.

"Your life line." He ran his finger over one of the deep lines. "And this one, it's your love line. See, they're touching here." His voice was still deep and gravelly.

Why was he talking so weird? Was he trying to create atmosphere?

Cara shifted again, this time moving to her knees. Their heads were barely a breath apart.

"So, what does that mean?" she asked. It just looked like a road map to her. The intimate shivers running over her as Duncan's fingers grazed her skin, however, were something else...

"That means"-he raised his head and met her gaze-"that you will be with your true love in eight years."

His words hit her like a brick.

"What? Eight years?" Cara said. Gah, what a let-down! She slumped and pulled away from Duncan.

"Yes. A flash in the pan," Duncan replied, snapping his fingers.

"For you, maybe. I'm twenty. That means I won't meet my love until I'm twenty-eight? That's forever from now."

He held up her hand so she could see her palm. "Your palm doesn't lie. In eight years, you'll be with the man you're supposed to be with." His finger ran over the rest of the line.

Cara held another shiver at bay and made herself focus on what Duncan was saying rather than the feel of his hands on hers.

And gah, please may that not be my palm sweating!

"Well, will we get an HEA?" Cara asked, not sure she believed him, but she couldn't help being curious.

He ran his thumb over her palm again. "I can't tell. The lines get muddled. But I just know, in eight years, he'll be with you. It's a really significant moment in your life too."

"How can you tell?"

"Because all the lines come together at this one point." He stroked her hand. "Everything will come together then." He stared at her with that really intense look in his eyes again.

Cara didn't know whether to be happy about this or depressed. "Eight years. That's a long time, Duncan."

He flashed a smile over his face, but she knew him well enough that he had to be trying to make her feel better, because it didn't reach his eyes.

"Maybe you need that long to become who you're supposed to be. Who knows? He could be a fairy that hasn't retired yet, and that's why. Or an unturned vampire. Or a merrow that you haven't met. There are an infinite number of reasons why you don't get together for eight more years."

"You mean I could already know him? Like I went to school with him or something?"

He shrugged. "Sure. He could be that classmate you never talked to, and seven years from now, you all meet at a pub and wind up hitting it off. The possibilities are endless." Duncan let go of her hand.

Cara nodded. "Still not sure I believe you."

"You don't have to," he said as he put his arm around her. "Just live your life. Don't worry about meeting the one. He'll be around soon enough."

As she curled into him, all she could think was how she hoped, whoever he was, he could make her feel as good as Duncan did.

Chapter Four.

Today "You're pulling me off Ava's case for what?" Duncan asked. Or rather shouted, in the way a person would raise their voice without actually shouting.

Vander O'Leary, a thick barrel of a man, and the head of the Fairy In Distress unit, merely raised his eyebrow, and fluttered his wings in that condescending way.

And if someone would have told Duncan that a wing-flutter could be condescending, he would have thought they were crazy.

At least until he'd met O'Leary.

Duncan ground his teeth. "Sorry, sir." This was crap-what he hated about the FID. Reassignments happened so often it made Duncan's head spin. He'd barely get an assignment tied up and he'd be reallocated to another problem. And sometimes, like today, he'd not even have the other job finished before being moved.

"You should be." O'Leary flipped his wrist, and a small necklace appeared in his hand. Its gold medallion glittered in the light and was trimmed in a red woven string. "Here. You'll need this."