Page 103 of The Love Interest

I watch her as she walks away in her awkward, lopsided gait. “She sure does.”

“Morning,” calls Trevor. His face is poking out of the tent, and he is smiling a dopey smile. I can see his bare, muscular shoulders. Natalie’s long, thin arm wraps around his neck. She places a soft kiss on his cheek.

He turns and kisses her back, then climbs out of the tent.

“Is Juliet pissing?” he asks as he pushes down his spiky hair. “’Cause I need to go.”

As he says it, Juliet reemerges from the tree line. Trev grins and walks toward her, his massive hands undoing his belt. Natalie moves forward and crouches beside me.

“You know you don’t have to be with Trev anymore,” I say. “If you don’t want to.”

She sits down. “I can’t go through this without him. Once this is all over, we’ll see where things stand, but for now, we need to be together. I can’t do this alone.”

She notices the Bolt Glove and raises an eyebrow. “You’re wearing it already?”

I nod. “I’m trying to get as familiar with it as possible. If Craike or a Stalker or anyone notices it before I take my wool glove off, then they’ll win and I’ll be incinerated. Everything depends on me getting inside wearing the glove without them noticing. I—”

“The sun’s going down,” interrupts Dyl. “And just so you know, that rule was dumb. We don’t actually have to do this right now if you don’t feel up for it, Caden.”

I love the way he says my name. CaYYYden. He says it in a way only he can.

I shake my head and stand. “No, the reason we set it is that we’d always postpone if we could. We’ll never feel one hundred percent ready. So let’s do it. Juliet, are you ready to go?”

She shakes her head. “I need to get changed. And so do you, unless you want to stick it to the man in the shirt you slept in. Everyone, get ready and then we’ll leave in five.”

Dyl and I head toward our tent. It used to be mine, and Dyl spent half a night sleeping outside. Then I caved and let him share, so now it’s ours. We both pause in front of the doorway.

“You first,” he says. “I’ll keep watch.”

“Fine.”

I step inside and reach my pile of clothes. The tent flap rustles.

Dyl is standing there.

I gulp down a breath. “What are you doing?”

He steps forward. “Just this.”

He grabs my wrists and lowers them so they hang beside my hips. Then he steps close, so his chest is almost touching mine, and he turns his head and closes his eyes. His lips press against mine. They linger there for one, two, three seconds. He closes his lips, then he pulls away. I open my eyes.When did I close them?His forehead is pressing against my forehead, and his hands are holding mine.

We stand there for a moment, just breathing.

He pulls back an inch. This close, his eyes truly are spectacular. They’re green, sure, but they’re also speckled with all these different shades: some light, like grass, others almost black.

I bite my lip. “What was that?”

He bends down and picks up a shirt and a jacket. “No incentive,” he says as he shrugs off his old shirt. He pulls the fresh T-shirt over his head. Then he wraps the jacket, a dark one that seems to be made primarily of pockets, around his lithe body. It’s a size too big and hangs off him, yet he somehow makes it look cool. “I had no incentive, Caden. None at all.”

He lifts the flap of the tent and walks outside.

That’swhy I’m doing this. Is it worth it?

Hell yes.

I take off my old shirt, then pull on a clean gray T-shirt and put on my plaid jacket. I’m grinning.He likes me he likes me he likes me.It’s real. I’m not a foolish child chasing something I can never have. What I felt was real.

Now I need to save it. All I have to do is take down a centuries-old organization that’s armed with the most sophisticated killing machines on the planet. I run my fingers through my hair, spiking it up, then step out of the tent.