I didn’t need that kind of trouble, either. J Town had a strict no-arrest policy. Not that any of this was my fault, but there would be an incident report.
I quickly pulled the shirt on and grabbed my bag. When I turned, Ian was swaying. “Are you all right?”
He nodded and knuckled blood away from his eyes. “Yeah. Just adrenaline high fading. Is your place close?”
“My place?”
“I don’t think you want to take three busses to mine, love.”
“I have a name.”
“Yeah, I know. Zoe.” He shrugged, his eyes never leaving mine.
I frowned. How did he know my name?
“Your camera. Handy little sticker at the bottom gave me a hint.” He stumbled to the left on his worn-to-nothing shoe.
Seemed a little stalker-ish, but I’d put the tags on my cameras for a reason. I rushed forward and tucked myself under his arm. His skin was hot and slick—pink even. The boy was going to glow like a lightning bug. “Ever heard of sunblock?”
He shrugged. “Didn’t think of it. Your sun is a bit more intense here.”
“We’re not from different planets.”
“Tell that to my eyeballs and my skin.” He squinted down at me. “How can you stand it?”
“Used to caves?”
“Funny. You’re a funny one.”
“Not particularly.”
“Well, not-so-funny girl, do you have a spare pair of shades in that big bag of yours?”
“None that you would wear.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
I stuffed my hand into my bag and dug around between the spray cans and my probably very ruined coverup until I found the sunglasses I used on the beach. They were cheap ones from one of the various boardwalk spinners. I was forever breaking them or losing them. They were gold aviators with pink ombre lenses with enough bling on them to get a glare from across a crowded street.
He didn’t even blink, just plunked them on his face with a sigh. “So much better. Now let’s get a move on, yeah?”
I nodded. Such a peculiar man. And dammit, he looked good in them. It so didn’t make sense. “I’m just a few blocks over. Can you make it? I don’t think there’s a bus that actually goes to J Town.”
“What’s J Town?” He peered down at me. “I’m new to this country.” His eyebrow arched with mirth. “Literally.”
I resisted the urge to drop him where he stood. Five minutes ago, he’d beaten two much larger men bloody and now he was cracking jokes? But if he hadn’t…
I couldn’t think about that. Right now, I had to get us both back to the safety of J Town.
“Not going to answer me?” He rubbed his bleeding nose again. “Fucker had a fist like a block.”
“Fucker” sounded more like “fooker” out of his mouth. I’d been nearly this close to him the night before at the show, but now he was practically on me and all I could smell was sun and…smoke? That couldn’t be right. Not cigarettes—I certainly knew that scent.
Living in an artists’ colony gave me a first-hand taste of that for sure.
No, he smelled like home. Like burning leaves in a barrel. Like fall. Not like California at all. And smelling that off this man, who I simply couldn’t categorize, ferreted out a little homesickness I didn’t know I had growing inside of me.
“We need to head down the block that way.”