Elemental: Earth Read Online Free PDF

melted into the softness of the evening, so did the conversation. Gavin had been eyeing Tessa all night but certainly didn’t want to be rude to the other women. Not to mention the fact that he needed as much information on each of them as possible. Dara and Giles disappeared around the other side of the building, and soon Melissa and Gillian were protesting that they were fine to walk themselves back to the cottage.
    “It’s just a short walk back down the beach. We’ll text your cell, Tessa. We’re beat. And Melissa has a deadline back in the States,” Gillian said pointedly.
    “Alright, if you insist. I’m still wired, though, so I think I’ll hang out until Dara slinks back around, and we’ll catch up with you soon.” Tessa was secretly thanking her friends for insisting they leave while she stay. She’d been dying to get Gavin alone all night. She hoped she hadn’t given away too much of her feelings, but Melissa had known her for so long, she may have picked up on the magnetism. It’s fine if she did, Tessa thought. I know she won’t say anything to those other two, especially Dara. She’s too loyal and trustworthy, and we’ve protected even greater secrets for each other. And so, Tessa found herself alone with this beautiful mountain of a man.
    Lupe’s daughter came tiptoeing out the doorway with a two lanterns already lit and hung one on the shepherd’s hook just inside the tent’s entrance and placed the other one on the picnic table. Gavin whispered something to her that Tessa didn’t catch, but it definitely made the girl blush and giggle. Then she glanced at Tessa and ran off laughing.
    Tessa looked at Gavin with questions in her dark eyes.
    “Nothing,” he answered her unasked question. “She’s like my kid sister. In fact, in many ways she’s. My brother, Reed, actually had to deliver her.”
    “Wow! That’s amazing,” Tessa sighed, leaning in for more details, intrigued.
    “Long story.” Gavin smiled. “Maybe another time.”
    “So, Gavin, Reed, and Giles. Were your parents Irish? Or hippies or something?” Tessa asked, already knowing the answer. She’d studied his file for over a year—closer to two. She knew so much of his history, but there was a period of about ten years where the brothers had gone underground and agents couldn’t find any sign of them. Then, with the majority of efforts concentrated on Osama Bin Laden and later watching the crazy dictators of North Korea and Syria, the task force couldn’t afford the numbers to look for the brothers like they had. But then came a reprieve and it was followed by a mistake. Giles surfaced.
    “He’s the one,” Chief had told the girls. “He’ll be our ticket. He’s too hot-headed. Sooner or later, he’ll slip and Gavin won’t be able to cover for him and he’ll tell on himself.”
    And Chief was exactly right.
    “Yeah, my parents were free spirits,” Gavin answered. “And we have a fourth brother, Dallas.”
    Tessa smiled. “Hey, Melissa’s full name is ‘Melissa Mariposa’.”
    “Butterfly,” Gavin translated and grinned. “Guess her parents were hippie-types, too.”
    Tessa leaned close. “You know, this day and age, and some of the people I’ve met, I think I’m more shocked when I come across a ‘Jane’ or ‘John’ or ‘Susan’.”
    “What once was ‘normal’ becomes the ‘abnormal’?”
    “Exactly.”
    “So, what’s abnormal about you, Miss Farrington?” Gavin’s indigo eyes twinkled in the light of the lantern.
    “Hmmmmm,” she said, stalling. “Where should I start?”
    “Well,” Gavin drawled, shrugging, “it’s a little less than ‘normal’ to vacation here. It’s not the usual destination for a ‘girlfriend getaway’.”
    “Silly tradition.” Tessa began to unfold the story the girls had all worked on together. “Melissa and I started it several years ago. We have a map that gets traded back and forth. . . well, now we rotate it between the four of us. But