Free Darkest Love by Melody Tweedy

companion’s—
    with a wink.
    Being the faculty rake had its pluses. Rain didn’t mind the bartenders at all, but the helicopter fellow had definitely unsettled him. In the three months since Annie Childs had disappeared from New York—only sending him a quick email saying she had mystery field work to do—her colleagues at Columbia had been giving him distinctly cold shoulders. It wasn’t just down to Annie’s loss at the awards, Rain was sure of that.
    Could Annie be talking to people? To her colleagues? To the HELICOPTER PILOT? Rain was getting extremely paranoid. It wasn’t easy being gossiped about constantly.
    Well, one thing’s for sure; she would not have told anyone about her choking adventures . Rain grinned cynically as he swept into the arrivals shed. That would protect him. Not a single woman he had ever gotten kinky with had spilled the details. And he was willing to bet no one ever would. That was a career killer for her—not for him.
    There was a lot Rain didn’t like about modern society, but he had learned to navigate it nonetheless. He knew what he could and couldn’t get away with.
    â€œBack for three weeks, Nelson. Is Annie Childs here yet?” The guy at the arrivals desk nodded. Rain smiled tightly and swept out, bags in hand. What had that mystery field trip of Annie’s been all about?
    She’s gone to New Caledonia, I bet, Rain thought. Annie loved to examine the foliage, to compare it to Sivu’s and to watch those amazing birds that could sharpen tools with their beaks. Smart creatures. The people in that area were intriguing, too. Sivu and New Caledonia presented an amazing comparative opportunity–Annie had probably been docked up in NC in recent months, or perhaps in Vanuatu, gathering data and looking for any similarities between those Melanesian peoples and the Kaamo. She would probably get a great paper out of it: South Pacific Iconography Before and After White Settlement, or something along those lines .
    He huffed and puffed in the humid Sivu air, which was heavy as a blanket. Hot and heavy. He would see Annie Childs soon enough, and ask her personally. Maybe she would share her notes about any tidbits she had uncovered.
    * * * *
    â€œI’ve been here the whole time,” Annie said, unscrewing her gin top with a shrk shrk shrk and taking a gulp. Rain couldn’t believe his ears.
    â€œIn Sivu?”
    She nodded. “I had to get away from New York. There were…a few things bothering me.”
    Rain nodded. He had thought about that on the flight, between the pilot’s questions about flings and faculty hotties. I’m sorry Annie.
    He kept his mouth shut , afraid that the words wouldn’t come out right. Annie had an antenna for his coldness. And he had to admit, she was right; he was cold in some ways. Between her sensitivity and his icy personality there was not much room for a win. Not for the two of them as a couple.
    She always said it; he was cold. There was something missing behind his eyes and in his touch. You’re like a machine, she’d say, sobbing . You’re mechanical.
    â€œMaybe I’m just a man,” he’d said once. He stood by that. What did she want, really? Rain watched Annie unscrew the gin bottle a second time and take another swig.
    â€œI don’t know what to say, Ann. Let’s not start that.” He’d made a few attempts to calm her post–coital crises in the early days of sleeping with her. But he’d quickly given up. If my words aren’t good enough, I’ll just stop offering them, he had thought as she cried, for the dozenth time, saying she was confused about the sex, she wanted it and she agreed that it meant nothing, but she always felt so used afterwards.
    That’s not my fault , Rain had thought–and still thought–defensively, though he kept it to himself.
    We’re a bad match, Rain had decided quickly. After