By the time Principal Romero finished suspending me, the school had all but emptied out. I slipped on my backpack, which sagged down to the exposed skin on my lower back. I pushed open one of the front doors and stepped outside. It was like walking into a freezer.

A rich velvet voice caused a second wave of shivers to ripple through my body.

"My, my. Someone's on a downward spiral."

I would have rather ignored the sensation his murmur stirred inside my stomach. I turned my head to the side. Fane leaned against the brick wall, one knee bent and foot planted against the building, smoking a cigarette.

I rolled my eyes. "Who, me?"

"What's the punishment for first-time offenders these days - a slap on the wrist and a warning?"

"Three days suspension."

"Crash and burn, baby." Fane flicked his cigarette to the ground and smashed it into the packed snow with the heel of his boot. "Your yellow school bus is long gone."

"So I'll walk," I said.

Fane looked me up and down. "Wearing that? You'll have hypothermia before you reach home."

"Well, then, the doctors can revive me and bring me back to life. It's amazing what modern medicine is capable of," I said.

Fane chuckled. "Well, aren't you jaded."

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Not me. Come on, I'll give you a ride."

"You know I won't get inside a car with you."

"Is it me or the car?"

"Both."

"What about lover boy? Would you get inside his truck?"

I glared at Fane. "No."

"I didn't think so. Come on."

"I told you..."

"I'll walk you to the bus stop."

"Whatever."

It must have been the sharp contrast between Fane and the freshly fallen snow that made him appear so overtly dark as he moved in sync by my side. He followed me inside the open Plexiglas shelter and stood in silence, as though he were my own personal bodyguard. The agents didn't mention anything about issuing one of those.

"You don't have to wait with me, you know." I fought back the urge to shiver. It would be a bit like crying in front of him.

Nevertheless, he took off his long leather jacket and held it open for me.

"What are you doing?"

"You're cold."

"So?"

"So put on my jacket."

My mind must have gone numb in the cold because I let Fane to slip the jacket on me without further protest. I anticipated Fane's warmth enfolding me, but the coat was as cold as a corpse.

"Brrr!" I snapped. "I might actually feel colder in this jacket."

Fane's ego showed no sign of injury. "You'll warm up. At least you look better."

My ego was another matter. "What do you mean I look better?"

"I mean that slip of a skirt. You look like some prissy airhead. The coat makes you look cool, like Trinity in The Matrix."

My cheeks heated. "You know what? You can have your damn jacket back."

I yanked my arms out of the sleeves and thrust the coat in a wad against Fane's chest.

He didn't say a word as he shook out the jacket and put it back on. While he was doing that, I untied the knot in my blouse and smoothed the top over my exposed midriff, buttoning it at the bottom. I hugged my arms around my chest.

Fane lit a cigarette. The first puff of smoke drifted by like a breath in the cold air. "Why are you so angry?"

I could ignore him or even act the airhead and play dumb, but Fane was the first person to bother asking.

I dropped my arms. "What do you care?"

"I'm curious."

I leaned against the Plexiglas and sighed. "I had my whole life ahead of me. I was going to get out of here and start my own life. I'm only eighteen, and I'll never get to do any of that now."

Fane arched a brow. "You talk as though you were dead."

"I might as well be." My nose started running. I sniffed and rubbed my bridge.

"So what's the hitch? How come your life's come to a sudden and conclusive end?"

I opened and closed my mouth, unsure how to answer. "Medical bills," I blurted. "I can't leave the state to go to college because of all my medical bills."

"A lot of kids don't get a chance to go to college at all."

"You don't get it! All I've ever wanted is to get out of here."

"So go. Take a road trip, pick fruit in Australia, backpack across Europe, volunteer in Africa, join the circus...whatever."

I stomped my foot. "You're not helping!"

Fane grinned. "You see? It's not the end of the world."

I walked out of the enclosure and looked over the schedule posted against the bus sign. "God, transportation sucks in this city. You're lucky if a bus comes along every hour."

"I could take you home right now."

"Thanks, but the bus feels safer."

"Want a smoke?"

I looked at the cigarette in Fane's outstretched hand and laughed. "No! God, what are you? The dark prince of temptation?"

I could feel my heart pitter against my chest when Fane smiled at me next. "I like that. It's clever. You're a very interesting girl."

"Well, it's good to know I'm not a complete airhead."

"I don't think you're an airhead at all. You just look like one."

"Thanks!" I yelled.

I glanced at Fane's lips as he took another drag on his cigarette. I rarely got a chance to look at him up close. From here I could trace the outline of his abs through the opening in his jacket. His eyes were a rich, dreamy brown and fully focused when he looked at me.

Fane lowered the cigarette and pointed it at me. "I do like your legs."

Despite the cold, my cheeks heated and were quite possibly the only warm part on my entire body. The cold had officially gone to my brain.

"These pasty things?"

"Pale. Ivory. Silk." Each word was like a caress. "Your skin is a thing of beauty."

I trembled, and it had nothing to do with the cold.

The tip of Fane's cigarette turned to ash as he held it by his side. Before it broke off, Fane flicked the cigarette into the street without looking. He reached inside his pocket and popped something inside his mouth. I heard him suck and swallow. He repeated the sound.

Fane was not Scott. He'd eat me alive.

A bus appeared in the distance. Maybe it was mine. God, I hoped it was. I'd get on even if it wasn't.

I passed Fane without meeting his eye and pulled my wallet from the front pocket of my backpack. I slung the pack over my shoulder and only looked at him when the bus was coming to a stop.

"Thanks for the company," I said quickly.

I pitched myself inside the bus the moment the doors opened. Heat engulfed me. The abrupt change in temperature caused my skin to itch uncomfortably. I deposited my coins beside the driver and walked down the aisle toward the back of the bus.

I tossed my pack onto a seat in back. I had the last six rows to myself. I smoothed my skirt back as I sat. I should have felt relieved instead of disappointed by his absence.

Relief arrived when Fane boarded the bus. The achiness was another matter.

When he walked toward me, I felt something familiar and terrifying. He took each step slowly as though he had all the time in the world.

The bus lurched forward. It had no effect on Fane's footing.

My breath came out ragged, but I concentrated on steadying it as Fane approached.

He smiled wickedly and took the seat beside me.

I waited impatiently for Fane to explain himself, but he didn't say anything. He just sat there all mysterious and cocksure of himself. I looked sideways at the smooth line of his jaw. His cheeks were slightly sunken in. He had a proud and well-proportioned nose.

Then there were his infamous lips - the upper one slightly smaller than the bottom. The tongue I imagined touching them was now my own.

The bus plowed over a snow berm and jolted me in my seat. I willed Fane to touch me, but he sat facing forward as though he were nothing more than a commuter.

And they said girls were teases. I couldn't take it anymore.

I flipped my leg over his and straddled him in his seat. Before Fane could make some glib comment about how I'd become the ultimate baddie, I kissed his lips into silence. His mouth tasted like menthol.

That broke the spell of passivity. Fane lifted me by the hips and seated me over his groin. My lower legs pressed against the plastic bus seat. Fane pulled my head toward him and drew kisses from me as though he planned to suck every last breath out of my lungs.

The thrill of him was maddening. I tried to widen my mouth, but he closed it with his own lips in a succession of intoxicating kisses that made me lightheaded. Fane kissed like he knew exactly what he was doing. He kissed like he'd kissed a hundred times before. I tried to keep up.

I felt like someone else. Aurora Sky didn't straddle vagrants on public buses and stick her tongue down their throats. Yet here I was grinding against him, relishing every intake of breath.

My skirt was spread wide open. I felt his rough jeans against my panties.

Fane pushed my hair back when it fell into my face. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him harder.

He slid his fingers beneath the pleated fabric and spread his fingertips across my thigh.

"I changed my mind," Fane said between kisses. "I like the skirt."

A chime rang down the hollow of the bus. I pulled my lips off Fane's and looked out the window. We'd already turned the corner on Jewel Lake Road.

My words sounded breathless. "My street's coming up."

I slid back and planted my feet on the ground, pausing when I stood above Fane.

He flashed me the Cheshire grin.

I wrapped my fingers around a pole and steadied myself as I reached for the cord above the windows. I yanked down harder than intended. I grabbed my pack and slung it over my shoulder.

As the bus slowed, Fane locked eyes with me. He held me in a trance.

"This is my stop," I said.

The bus ground to a halt yet I couldn't look away.

Fane crossed one leg over the other and leaned back. He propped an elbow against the window ledge, his arm dangling over my abandoned seat.

"Don't worry, Aurora Sky. You don't have to invite me home." His teeth flashed when he grinned. "Yet."