Page 27 of Delirium

But maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe the city wasn’t just a ghost town. Maybe James had actually found it.

Wouldn’t that be something? I knew our trek up the river was supposed to take us through villages—some still occupied, and some not. But the chance to be one of the first to explore how people lived once upon a time? To be the first to document and study it? That was the chance of a lifetime.

James knew what he was offering me. Dangling it in front of me, like a carrot in front of a horse.

Was I really that transparent?

Maybe I’d just been spending too much time trying to figure out these men, and hadn’t spent enough time keeping my walls safely in place.

Was that really such a bad thing?

The way my body blazed where our skin touched gave me mixed signals. I wanted him. But I didn’t want to. Maybe this was how everyone felt all the time, trying to figure out their place in the world, how to connect with other people. I’d spent so long trying to figure people out, I’d forgotten how to fit in.

I didn’tthinkit was normal to be attracted to three men at the same time, but maybe it was just the close proximity on the boat, and the way the rainforest made me feel like I was floating along in a dream.

But even acknowledging this, I still burned. I burned so hot I was surprised my clothes hadn’t singed to ash.

“Scarlett!” Camp’s deep voice had me spinning around.

I’d been so worked up in my thoughts, I hadn’t even realized where I was going. My original plan was to go back to the wheelhouse with Nash, but now I couldn’t even remember why I’d gone downstairs.

For a snack.I’d gone for a snack. The snacks I’d promptly dropped when James caught me before I fell.

To anyone else, Camp would’ve looked miserable. But I’d spent enough time around him since boarding the boat to notice the small smile that graced his features. I’d begun to pick up on the way his eyes lit up—especially when he was around me.

If James was old money beautiful, and Nash was effortlessly beautiful, then Camp was a soft kind of beauty. His hair fell gently around his face, until he pushed it back. The curve of his lips formed a perfect arc, and his almond-shaped eyes reminded me of being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold day.

He was simply easy to look at. Easy to be around? That was another story. But I was beginning to see how his brain worked.

Camp jogged up beside me. “Nash says we’re going to be anchoring the boat and going ashore tomorrow. There’s some kind of cave he likes to show people. But seeing as I wasn’t expecting to be a part of this trip…”

“You have no gear.” I looked him up and down with a laugh. “I don’t think I’m going to have any clothing your size.”

Camp’s smile spread. “For as shirtless as Nash always seems to be, he apparently has some hiking gear I can use. What he doesn’t have is a spare backpack. My strap snapped when I boarded the boat. But he said you had a few backpacks with books…?”

Camp’s acknowledgement of Nash being shirtless immediately brought forward an image of James, towering over me in the hallway, touching my skin so gently I could’ve been imagining it. I shook my head to rid myself of the thought.

“Yeah, I should have a spare one. Come on—we’ll go take a look.”

With Camp following behind me, I made my way to my cabin, holding the door open for him.

I stuck my head into the small wardrobe, looking for the backpack I knew held books. My skin was still on fire, tiny flames igniting where James’ eyes lingered a second too long. I did my best to silence those thoughts, sealing them carefully away. “Bingo.”

Emptying the bag of books, I spun around only to find myself in his arms.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were right there.” I offered up the backpack weakly, not wanting to point out that his hands were simply reigniting tiny flames left behind by our shipmate. “One backpack.”

Camp looked down at me, holding my forearms like I might sprint away at a moment’s notice. “One backpack.”

He didn’t reach to take the bag, and I didn’t move out of his arms. We stood there, waiting for the other, a decision laid out between us. I rolled my lip between my teeth, and Camp’s gaze darkened.

“I haven’t been able to get your lips out of my head,” he whispered.

His words rocked through me, sending a shockwave of excitement through my veins. A dozen words rushed to my lips, and the only one I could clumsily offer was, “Oh.”

A smirk pulled at the side of his mouth. I found myself wanting to kiss that exact spot. He spun us around, stepping into me, walking me backward.

“Haven’t you thought about it, too?” he asked, trailing his fingers up my arm, skin still raw and exposed. Did he know I was already craving something I couldn’t have?

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