Page 72 of Fault Line

It’s a moment I’m committing to memory, filing away in my bank of Kaia.

“You know,” I say, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her against me. “I’ve had a thing for you pretty much since the second I laid eyes on you.”

“Oh, yeah?” She snorts. “You couldn’t have made that any less clear.”

“What do you mean? I was always finding some excuse to talk to you.”

“To poke at me, maybe,” she counters, tensing in my arms. “Or to throw some arrogant commentary my way.”

I let out a soft chuckle. “Like what?”

“Let’s see, do you remember the first thing you ever said to me?”

“Uh ...” I rack my brain, running my hands over her chilled arms. “I asked about you applying to the Biomed program?”

“No, I actually heard thatyouwere applying first. And, um, I thought you were kinda cute. So after class, I came up to you, told you I was gunning for the same thing.”

“The suspense is killing me here, Karras.”

She leans her head back against my chest. “You really don’t know, do you?”

“Nope.”

“You said, ‘Should be pretty easy for you,’” she mocks in a grating voice. “‘You’ve got the wholeWomen in STEMthing going on. They’ll probably accept you into the program no matter the prereqs.’”

“Oh, Jesus,” I groan. “Baby Beck really fucked that one up, didn’t he?”

“You could say that.”

“Honestly, Kaia, I was intimidated to speak to you back then. And, I have to admit, I was jealous of your relationship with Elio, even though I had no reason to be.”

“Jealous? We barely even knew each other.”

“In my dreams, we knew each other quite well.” That earns me a laugh. “I definitely don’t think of you that way, just so you know. Or any woman, for that matter. You were accepted into our major because of your own merit. I mean, God, you’re the hardest worker I know.”

She nudges me with her elbow. “Yeah, and how’d you get in, then?”

“Well, some of us don’t have to try to be the best. We just are.”

“See, there’s that telltale arrogance of yours.”

“I never denied I had an ego. But I will say, I think you took this confirmation bias a little too seriously,” I say, laughing.

“What do you mean?”

“Seeking out information to match what you already thought about me, like a dogpile. Every little thing I said or did just gave you more ammunition.”

“Yeah, in a way, I guess.” She lets out a soft breath. “But you also did it on purpose. At least, some of the time, right?”

“Yeah, Karras, teasing you has always been my favorite hobby.”

I slowly thread my fingers through hers, running my thumb along her lifeline, and it feels more intimate than anything we’ve done before. Despite our history, I’m so fucking thankful that she’s given us a real chance.

I press a kiss to her crown, hold her against me, and make a silent promise here and now: I’ll do everything in my power not to screw this up.

25

KAIA

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