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“See you.”
As they duck back inside, I finally point my feet toward the dorm, my thoughts whirling.
Sylvie is brave. Even though she’s shy, even though people don’t always see past her looks, she loves acting, and so she fights to get onstage.
Meanwhile, I’ve let my stammer hold me back with Kai. Even though I’ve wanted him from the beginning, even though I’ve crushed hard on him for weeks, I’ve held back and hidden, too scared of humiliation.
But maybe I can fight too.
Maybe it’s time.
* * *
It’s a rough night. The radiator is broken in our room, cranking to life at weird hours and spilling molten heat that cooks us in our beds. I toss and turn, kicking the sheets down my body and sweating through my pajamas, while across the room, Lane sleeps through it all, oblivious.
When I do finally fall into a fitful sleep, weird dreams play through my brain like a slideshow: wading into the sea next to campus and getting stuck, my legs trapped in wet cement; pulling out my teeth one by one and slotting them into a piggy bank on my desk; jumping off the tallest branches in the greenhouse and soaring through the canopy with the other birds.
In that last dream, I get tangled in a vine, trussed up and dangling there. I’m trapped, cheeping helplessly, until Kai rescues me, cupping my little bird body between his palms.
Yeesh.
Thanks, brain.
One cold shower, a plate of toast that tastes like cardboard, and approximately three dozen coffees later, I shove through the greenhouse door. Usually, I enjoy the rush of warm air, but today I’m still overheated and cranky, traumatized by my fever-dreams. I smack the dangling plastic strips out of the way, grumbling under my breath. Will I ever cool down?
“Oh ho ho,” Kai calls, jogging down the path to meet me. He doesn’t look like he slept horribly. His skin is tanned and clear, his green eyes are bright, and his chestnut hair has a healthy sheen where it’s tied half back. White teeth flash as the gardener grins. “Morning, sunshine. You look ready to rip some heads off.”
Poking my tongue out, I stomp past him to the lockers.
Kai’s not wrong. But I’d never rip his head off.
Too pretty.
“Bad night?” He trails after me, and if he weren’t talking, I might never know he was there. For a tall, muscled man in dusty hiking boots, Kai Akana is surprisingly light on his feet.
I grunt, shoving my backpack in an empty locker.
Two palms land on my shoulders, and I nearly jump out of my skin. But it’s—this is real. The head gardener is rubbing my shoulders, his strong fingers kneading away the tension in my muscles. He’s comforting me, smoothing away my bad mood just like that… and god, it feels good.
Gusting out a weak sigh, I sag back against his chest. Lips nuzzle my temple, his short beard tickling my skin. Oh, jeez.
“Do you need me to kick someone’s butt? Is it Jeremiah?”
I snort, shaking my head, and my insides explode with light when Kai kisses me properly, planting an undeniable smooch right on my cheekbone.
“I’d do it, you know. I’d do it for you.” His voice is low, raspy, and it sends tingles all the way to the base of my belly. My back rests against his toned chest, and I take all my grumping and grousing back—I love this heat. The warmth of Kai’s body; his breath tickling my ear; the humid greenhouse air. All of it. Cook me alive, damn it.
“Eden.” Kai squeezes my shoulders gently, and I turn to face him. I should step back, should put some distance between us, but I don’t. This close, I can count the faint freckles on the bridge of his nose. “Tell me about it. Go on, I dare you.”
Crap. Well, here goes. I said I’d be brave, didn’t I?
“I d-didn’t s-sleep well.”
Ugh. Why? Why can I speak to literally anyone else on this campus with zero issues? Why does a single glimpse of this man glue my tongue to the roof of my mouth? So humiliating.
But Kai doesn’t act like he’s bored as he waits for me to sound the words out. He’s patient, smiling kindly, still kneading at my shoulders—though now we’re facing each other, it feels even more intimate.
Square on with Kai, I feel like Juliet from last night. Like I want to collapse against his chest, and tear his t-shirt clean in two, and declare to the world that he’s my sun and moon, and if I can’t have him, I’ll burn down Verona.
