"Yeah, I am," he said. They grew quiet. "I've been practicing what I'm going to say."

She looked at him. "Say to who?"

"The elder I'm hoping to get the meeting with."

She smiled. "That's good."

"I'm going to be accepted. Because if that's what it takes to get you back, then that's what I'm going to do."

She swallowed. "No, you do it because that's your quest."

"That, too," he said. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. "But lately, I think you're my quest."

He moved in and slipped his hands around her waist.

She put her hand on his chest, felt his were heat, felt the thumping of his heart.

He leaned down and kissed her. She knew she shouldn't let it happen, but she wanted it, needed it. His taste and the wet slip of his tongue moving across her lips was heaven, but the kind of heaven one found in life and not in death.

And she wanted to choose life. Hoped it would be so.

She heard the humming coming from him instantly, and it would be so easy to let it lure her in.

He ended the kiss, smiled down at her, and exhaled. "I'd better go before I can't leave."

She watched him go and then looked up at the dark pink sky, and hoped with everything she had that she wasn't taken from this world until she had experienced life. And she truly hoped that Lucas was part of that life.

* * *

That night, after listening to Della and Miranda bicker for the last two hours, Kylie darted out of the bathroom, wearing a towel, and headed to her bedroom. She barely got two steps when Della shot in front of her.

"No. Solve it yourself!" Kylie snapped, certain that was what Della wanted. "I'm tired of being the referee!"

Della paused, smiled in an evil little way, and then said, "Never mind."

Skirting around Della, Kylie shut her bedroom door with just a touch of attitude. She tossed her towel on her dresser and turned to the bed where she'd left her PJs. Only it wasn't just her PJs on the bed anymore.Lucas, eyes wide, sat on the foot of her bed, about four feet from where she stood completely naked.

She squealed.

He laughed.

She dashed for the towel.

Once she had it around her, she glared from a still grinning Lucas to the door. "I'm killing Della!"

He laughed again. "I'm afraid I might have to protect her for this one."

"I tried to tell you," Della called out, laughing, and Miranda laughed with her.

Kylie's fury faded to embarrassment, then when she saw the sexy way Lucas looked at her, her emotions changed into something else.

He stood up and started walking toward her. "You are so damn beautiful."

She tightened her hold on the towel.

He stopped about a foot from her. "I just came to tell you that I got a call from my grandmother. The elder has agreed to meet with me."

Kylie smiled. "That's great."

His gaze traveled up and down her towel-clad body. "I don't suppose I could get another peek of what's under that piece of cotton, could I?"

She cut her eyes at him.

"I don't want to be too presumptuous, but you do know that sooner or later I'm probably going to get to see it all anyway."

"I know," she said, and she was actually looking forward to it. Just not with her two roommates listening in.

His smile widened. "Okay, so just a kiss good-bye."

She nodded. He moved in. In less than two minutes he'd left. The kiss was hot, wet, and toe curling.

He'd run his hand inside her towel and touched her bare back.

Fifteen minutes later, she was still only wearing the towel, staring up at the ceiling in a happy haze, when her phone rang.

She snatched it up, thinking it would be Lucas. "I don't know why you left in such a hurry," she teased.

But she had known, he'd wanted her.

"Uh, I didn't leave. This is Sara?"

"Oh. I thought you were..."

"You thought I was who? Or should I say which one."

Kylie blushed and decided to just come clean. "I thought you were Lucas."

There was silence for a second and then Sara asked, "Can I ask you something?"

What was it with Sara wanting her to lose her virginity? "Sure, ask away." At least this time, Kylie could tell her that it would probably be happening soon.

"Do you consider you and Trey completely done with? Like ... last year's news? Or is there a chance you two might-"

"It's so over." Kylie gripped the phone tighter. "Look, if he's trying to get you to talk to me, it's not going to work."

"No. It's not ... that. It's ... Where do you stand on friends dating another friend's old boyfriend?"

Kylie stared at the ceiling and tried to wrap her head around this. "Wow. Uh. Well, I would tell thisfriend to be careful because Trey has a few flaws."

Sara sighed. "I know, but ... he's sort of been there for me during the whole cancer thing, and you know ... some people deserve a second chance. I got one. Maybe Trey deserves one."

Kylie heard something in Sara's voice she liked. She heard the old Sara. Kylie smiled. "You're right.

Everybody deserves a second chance. And when I think about it, until he got all sex crazed, he was a pretty good guy."

"So you really wouldn't object?" Sara asked, sounding unsure.