Page 32 of Smoke

“Not half as much as I missed you.”

“We should get out of here. The sooner, the better,” Smoke decided.

“Wait. What?” I was too glad to see them to think about the immediate future, so his sudden announcement came as a surprise. “You plan on going back so soon?”

“Would you rather wait around here for somebody from your clan to discover us?” he countered.

“I was only hoping…” I choked up when everything hit me at once. My head was a mess. “I hoped you two would stay around just a little while longer. You just got here.”

They both blinked and stared at me.

“Hang on. You thought we were going to leave without you? Did you think we spent all day looking for you just to check in and say hi?” Jasmine chuckled and shook her head.

“You… want me to go with you?” I was afraid to believe it. My chin quivered.

“That was the idea.” She stroked my hair and patted my back.

Smoke, meanwhile, was quiet. What was he thinking? Did he want me with them, or was he going along with Jasmine? If he didn’t want me, he wouldn’t stand there and passively accept what she said. That thought sparked a glimmer of hope.

He looked out the window. “The rain’s picking up out there. I don’t love the idea of driving around the mountain in the rain, especially not this late at night.”

Jasmine jumped up. “I’ll go to the office and see if I can get the room next to this one. I could use some sleep before we get back on the road, anyway. Maybe the clerk is finally finished with his break.”

“Yeah. Me, too. I can go with you, if you want.” Why was I so uncomfortable with the idea of being alone with Smoke? He had been the only thing on my mind for days, even before I ran away.

“It’s okay. I’ll manage.” She winked just before closing the door behind her.

Terrific. She thinks something’s going to happen in here. It made me wonder what the two of them talked about while they were looking for me.

I had to say something. The silence would crush me if I didn’t. “Thank you for coming all this way to get me.”

“It wasn’t all that far—more a matter of going from place to place,” he explained. “Your sister was frantic.”

“Wasn’t it dangerous?” I picked at the stitching on the bedspread rather than look at him.

I couldn’t stand the anger coming from him, especially when I didn’t know who he was angry with. Bradley and George, sure. What about me? He’d sounded pretty furious when I admitted George didn’t believe I never found Jasmine.

“It didn’t start raining until just a little while ago. Otherwise, it was an easy drive.”

Was he deliberately avoiding what I was trying to say? “That’s still a lot of driving around, looking. And that’s not what I meant. Isn’t it dangerous for you to leave the caves for so long?”

“I doubt it. Not that it matters, either way.”

My heart swelled, and I warned myself not let my emotions run away with me. “Why doesn’t it matter?” I asked in a choked whisper. I almost didn’t want to hear the answer, in case he wasn’t thinking along the lines I was.

He turned from the window and looked at me, surprise on his face. “You don’t know?”

“I’m… not sure that I do.”

“I’m really no good at this, am I?” He dropped the curtain and came to me, pulling me to my feet.

He reached out, sinking his hands into my hair. I was sure it was a dream. It couldn’t be real. It was all too good, too right, and just what my aching heart needed most.

I could barely catch my breath enough to whisper, and the sound of my racing pulse blocked out almost everything else. “I’m so afraid I’ll wake up and find out this isn’t real.”

“This is real.” He leaned down slowly, closing in inch by inch, until his lips touched mine with almost heartbreaking tenderness.

Fireworks went off in my head at the feather-light pressure and sent tingles down my spine. He caught my bottom lip between his and sucked gently, making my toes curl.

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