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"I don’t want to ask this, butyou were going to tell us about the agents and what you did eventually, right? You wouldn’t have just let us figure it out when only cars of kids showed up?"

"I should have told you guys as soon as ere out of the city," I said "It justslippedthat happened"

"You could have told us before we left," he said gently

"It had to happen fast," I said, "and if anyone showed a hint that they kneas going on, it could have clued the agents in to what I was doing We had to scraents better than any of us I needed his input on how to estion feel real" And if I had told you, you’d have tried to force us to leave

Sometimes--most of the ti had any kind of separate lives before they converged Our lives were so closely knit together that it was a cohts on it all, to see if they matched mine I’d held back from him before, about what I hat I had done to my parents, but somehowit wasn’t that it felt worse, exactly,sense that so the way it had before I’d interrupted so his brows draw together the same way Cole’s had as he concentrated

"That’s why you panicked, isn’t it? You’d just found out about it" Liaainst his forehead "Damn So what’s the plan now?"

"We’ll allsome of the camps"

"Maybe not dinner, if this is all we have" he started "But I’ll figure soht"

Liam draped an arainst his shoulder and let out a shuddering breath My ar close to hiht For the first ti Here in the dark,else seeht, Can’t lose this, can’t lose this, too--I couldn’t tell hi, not if I wanted hi to do, not if I wanted to protect him But we could have this, couldn’t we?

"Do you trust me to keep you safe?" I asked I knew it must have seemed like I pulled the question out of nowhere, but all of a sudden it felt vitally i hients

"Darlin’, if it were a choice between you and a hundred of Gray’s finest, I’d pick you every ti up onto ers were still gripping his shirt when I pulled back My voice sounded low, rough to ht for the words, and I was so self-conscious I wasn’t sure I was ever going to pick the right ones "I want to--"

The dazed look faded fro

I want toI felt my face flush, but I couldn’t tell if it was out of eh my mind I’d never felt so aard and tense I’d kissed him before, really kissed him, but every tiency or anger, and each had been cut off by the demands of the world around us This was really the first chance I’d had to think about hih study of him The feel of his hands The rasp of his stubble The small, breathless sounds he made at the back of his throat

We were in a pantry and there were kids working outside in the kitchen The rational part of me knew the limits of this moment, but next time, if ere somewhere else, and if we had another moment to ourselves alone--what then? I felt a shI wouldn’t knohat to do How not to ainst the shelves Relief broke over me when I saw his smile He understood Of course he did From the moment I’d met him, he’d known me better than I’d known myself

When he spoke, his voice eet, but his expression was anything but There was ry look There was a jolt low in ut as I realized it was because of ht"

"Did you?" I murmured, distracted by the way he reached up to run his thu that you are seventeen and I’ht to ers Like norers over the waistband of ed me closer I loved his voice when he lowered it like that His accent broadened, warmed like summer air in the minutes before a thunderstorm It was the full-on Stewart charainst it "You want to hear the rules?"

My heart jackhammered as I nodded That same hand slid around ainst my lower back I closed my eyes as his lips just barely brushed mine His touch made me feel brave It pushed the uncertainty back until it couldn’t reach me

"The first one is you can’t think too hard about it The second is you say when you want to stop The third is you do whatever feels good to you The fourth is--"