By the end of the pre-mission orientation with Kian, Anandur was all hyped for the upcoming action but bummed about missing his daily walk with Wonder.

As he passed Kri’s empty classroom, he glanced inside hoping to see Wonder training by herself, or maybe with Carol, but the place was vacant, as were all the other classrooms. Apparently, no one was overly upset about the self-defense classes getting canceled or eager to continue training on his or her own.

Talk about disappointment.

With Kian spending half a day at Turner’s office in town, and then the video conference with Onegus and Magnus in the afternoon, Anandur hadn’t seen Wonder all day.

He missed her.

She was so much fun to talk to, finding everything he told her fascinating. After nearly a millennia of eventful life, Anandur had an almost endless supply of stories to share. The problem was that most of his Guardian buddies had either taken part in the action or had already heard all about it. But Wonder hadn’t, and he loved the way she listened intently, with her eyes peeled wide and the occasional uhh and ahh.

The other benefit of the storytelling was to help focus his attention on something other than his desperate need for her.

While his head was in the past, reconstructing this or that event, he wasn’t thinking about how beautiful she was, or how soft her feminine curves were, and how it would feel to touch her all over.

Without making a conscious decision about it, Anandur was living like a monk.

Since the day Wonder had caught him with his pants down in the back alley of her club, Anandur hadn’t gone hunting for sex even once.

He’d lost his appetite for all others, but he couldn’t have the one he craved.

Wanting Wonder and keeping his hands off her was torture.

And the worst part was that he knew she wouldn’t object if he crushed her against him and kissed the living daylights out of her.

Wonder wanted him too.

Except, as the responsible adult in their relationship, it was his moral obligation to make sure that she made the right decisions for the right reasons. He’d promised to protect her, and that included from himself. But he’d also promised to take care of her, and that meant being her friend and spending time with her.

Or at least that was what he told himself every time he came to the café to have lunch with her, or took Wonder to dinner at Callie and Brundar’s, or waited for her outside Kri’s classroom.

And in that spirit, he pulled out his phone and texted her. Are you up for our nightly walk?

Her answer came mere seconds later. Yes.

Anandur smiled. His Wonder wasn’t much of a talker. She used her words frugally. But that was good because he could talk enough for the two of them.

I’m heading in your direction. Can you be ready in ten minutes?

Yes.

When he got to her house, he was half expecting Wonder to wait for him on the porch, but she didn’t, and he had to knock on the door which made him feel awkward. Gertrude and Hildegard could get the wrong idea and then spread the rumor around the entire village.

Anandur had been the source of enough rumors to know how it worked.

Instead of one of the nurses, though, Carol opened the door with a big smirk on her lovely face. “Wonder will be out in a minute. Take a seat.” She pointed to the wooden swing on the porch.

He quirked a brow. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

“No.” She grinned and closed the door in his face.

Anandur shook his head. What was this? Elementary school? But he did as Carol had instructed. Sitting on the swing, he pushed with his legs to start the swaying motion and closed his eyes.

The creaking of the door opening got him to turn his head, and then immediately jump up to his feet.

Wonder had gone through one hell of a transformation.

Instead of looking like a high-school girl, she looked like a freaking supermodel. And not just any supermodel, a Victoria’s Secret supermodel.

For the first time since he’d met her, her long, nearly black hair hung loosely around her shoulders and down her back, the moonlight reflected from the thick and glossy waves framing Wonder’s beautiful face in a halo.

“Wow,” he said, suddenly lost for words.

Smoothing her hand over one long strand, Wonder smiled. “Do you like my new hairstyle?”

“I love it. You always wore it in a braid before.”

“What about these?” She lifted her sandaled foot.

“Are you asking about the sandals or the red nail polish on your toenails?” She had the most beautiful feet, with pretty slim toes and perfectly shaped toenails that the red nail polish accentuated.

In short, everything about the girl was perfect.

“Both.”

“I like both. What’s the occasion?” He put his hand on the small of her back and led her down the steps.

She shrugged. “Amanda and Carol gave me a makeover. Amanda trimmed my hair, and Carol styled it. Amanda also did my makeup and dressed me up, and Carol gave me a manicure and a pedicure.” She chuckled. “I feel so pampered.”

“You look beautiful. Not that you weren’t beautiful before,” he added quickly.

Giving women compliments was tricky, and there were many pitfalls, which Anandur was usually smart enough to steer clear of. But it was hard to think and come up with the right things to say when all he could think was beautiful, gorgeous, alluring, tempting…

It had been much easier to fight temptation when Wonder looked like a schoolgirl. Looking like she did now, elegant and sophisticated, Anandur felt like he was fighting a losing battle.

Tonight, he wasn’t going to even wrap his arm around her shoulders, or encourage closeness of any kind. It was too dangerous.

After several minutes of strained silence, Wonder asked, “How was your day?”

“The usual. Brundar and I followed Kian around to his meetings in the city, and when we returned, we had the video chat with our guys in San Francisco.”

He’d already told her about Grud leading Magnus to the warehouse and what was in it, and he doubted she would be interested in hearing about the mission details. Wonder had made it clear that warfare and combat were not subjects she wanted to learn or talk about. Which was a shame because some of his better stories were from the battles he’d fought.

“What they did to those poor humans is horrible. In my opinion, it’s just as bad as murder because with the damage to their brains these people are no longer who they used to be. It’s like they are dead.” Wonder shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

Without thinking, Anandur wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to him. He intended to provide comfort, but the jolt delivered by the feel of her against his body reminded him why touching her was a bad idea.

Except, he couldn’t undo what he’d done. Wonder sighed, her entire body sinking into him, and put her head on his bicep. “Thank you. I needed that,” she murmured.

Fates. What the hell was he doing?

By denying what was obviously between them, he was torturing not only himself but Wonder too.

The poor girl had thanked him for putting his arm around her.

“Don’t thank me, lass. I don’t deserve it.”