He smiled as he remembered the first time he'd met Eva Navarro. She'd been with her family as they spent their summer in the south of Spain. At twenty... he was supervising the construction crew working on her family's villa. She'd mesmerized him the first time she spoke. Even after the work was done he'd found reasons to spend time around the eighteen-year-old beauty.Most had thought it was only a summer romance, but Eva's parents knew almost before the young couple did. They'd been able to see. Laughter echoed through the room. It rippled around me. I didn’t care. I let it ripple over me. Lasla stiffened against me. I didn’t say a word at their mockery, but the anger stewed in me. I had to keep my emotions under control.Facing Throwia was far, far more unnerving than this.They looked at me, at my family, like we were prey. They hungered for us. All the nagas’ tongues flicked out, tasting the air. They hungered to see me broken. They lusted to see me bent. I could feel them all growing. I want to meet you and even if you won't admit it, you want to meet me." Look, Emily or whoever, I'm hanging up now." Before you do, just let me tell you this. Empire Motel on Tulane Boulevard, tomorrow at two o'clock. Room seventeen." Good bye," he said, hanging up."Who was that honey?" asked his wife from the next room."Oh just a wrong number," he replied.Emily wasn't surprised and only mildly disappointed when he did not show up at the motel the next afternoon. All she had really expected. He was on time and as she slipped into the passenger seat she allowed him to kiss her cheek, a friend-zone move that she sensed was understood all too well.He offered to drive her to the Library and suggested that they go down to the river afterwards for a walk. Holly agreed, pleased with the plan and the fact that the walk would be out in the open with other walkers, young and old, using the same scenic path. She returned the books and jumped back into the car, still holding her backpack which.