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going to hurt the only family I had left.
    “Eliza!”
    Aunt Vivian called me from where I had left her, but I ignored it. She tried to follow me as I closed in on my target, so I turned to motion her to stop and wait. I sprinted to run around the trunk to the other side.
    There was no one.
    “Are you following me?”
    I jumped when Samuel appeared from behind me and questioned my presence.
    “Don’t be stupid,” I spat, sore from the startle. “Aunt Vivian and I were visiting, and I thought I saw someone watching us.”
    “And you thought you’d take him on all by your big-girl self?”
    My jaw dropped at the insult. How dare he suggest I wasn’t capable of taking care of myself?
    “Yes, as a matter of fact. Despite what they teach you boys in gym class, women don’t require your protection. We can defend ourselves.”
    His lips twitched as he tried to bite back a smile but it broke through anyway. I was proud of myself for being the one to crack the shell.
    “I must’ve been cutting the day they taught that. It doesn’t ring a bell.”
    “Shut up,” I teased. “What were you doing out here, anyway?”
    “We should go. It’s about to rain.”
    I rolled my eyes at the way he was always so vague. Ominous clouds were beginning to build. I brought my attention back to Aunt Vivian, whose fists were planted firmly on her hips in irritation. I decided to leave the pressing alone for now, but I had officially made it my little project to get this man to open up to me.
     

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Tossing and turning in bed that night, I was unable to sleep with everything running through my mind. Was I really going to stay with a woman who admitted to practicing black magic? I was starting to regret having gone through with changing my flight reservations once we got home, but Aunt Vivian insisted I do it immediately. She said she didn’t want me to forget but I think she just didn’t want me to have the opportunity to change my mind.
    I wished with all my heart my mother was here. She always knew what to say to make me feel better about my choices the way all mothers seem to. I wiped a tear that fell down my cheek and tried to think of something else.
    What would she have to say about Samuel? A small, involuntary smile curved from my lips when I thought his name. Surely he couldn’t hear me all the way in here, could he? I don’t know what it was about him, but even in my dreams I couldn’t pretend I didn’t want him. I knew nothing about him, not even his last name, but ever since the first time his face was shown to me in my sleep I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I remembered what Marcus called him earlier: My keeper. What did that mean?
    Deciding I was going to find out, I got out of bed. I walked to the door and caught a glimpse of my reflection in the hanging body-length mirror to my right. Thank God it had caught my eye. I was a mess in my dad’s old Baltimore Ravens T-shirt and my raggedy gym shorts. My hair was a frizzy disaster. There was no way I would be caught dead looking so disheveled.
    I changed into a silk pink camisole that was laced with white around the bust. It purposefully showed of my large breasts and narrowed in the waist, giving the illusion I was a size four instead of a size six—an edge I would need if I was in competition with the slender Miss Camille.
    Chastising myself for the pettiness, I squeezed into a pair of much too tight black jeans that complemented my bottom just perfectly. After putting on a deceptive layer of makeup that looked completely au natural, I pulled my hair into a pretty pony. Admiring myself in the mirror for a minute, I decided I was as good as I was going to get and made my way to the door.
    When I opened it I startled myself as much as Samuel with a shriek at the sight of him. He was seductively leaned up against my door frame facing in, waiting for me. He had on dark blue jeans that faded at the knee, and a white undershirt showed on the inside of