Page 21

“You two should get back to your hotel,” Dean says, standing up. “Do you want a ride?”

“The walk isn’t terribly far,” Kassian says, helping me up. “I think we’ll be okay.”

“Thank you for dinner, Dean. It was amazing. You can cook for us anyday.”

Dean grins. “I’d like that. It’s been too long since I had people to feed.”

“I wish you could come to the beach with us.”

Dean thinks for a moment. “Maybe we can go this weekend, if you still want to go.”

I brighten at that, turning towards Kassian with a questioning look. He just shrugs and nods his head in agreement. I let out an excited cheer, pumping my fist and accidentally punching Kassian in the side.

“Shit, sorry! Got too excited!”

I swear I hear Dean murmur about the two of us being adorable but it’s so quiet I’m not sure if I hear right. He ushers us out the front door with a tentative promise to speak with us soon.

I carefully put my arm around Kassian’s as we walk, lacing our elbows together. Letting out a happy sigh, I allow myself to marvel at how well that went and how much I’m enjoying getting to know Dean.

“Dean seems nice,” I say to Kassian. “His cooking is really good. I wish we could have home cooked meals all the time.”

“Yeah,” Kassian murmurs, though his voice sounds off. I look over at him, finding his brows wrinkled in worry.

“I wish you’d tell me what’s on your mind. I know you well enough to guess but I’m not a mindreader.”

“Thank the gods for that,” he says with a snort, pushing his elbow into my side.

“You got a crush on him or something?”

Kassian stumbles over nothing and I keep him held up. His face turns bright red and he looks anywhere but back over at me.

Oh.

Oh.

Kassian has a crush on Dean. It all makes sense now! Well, not really. If he was the one crushing why did he try to stage a meet-cute between me and Dean? But at the same time, all the signs are there! Could Dean feel the same way? Is that why he’s being so nice to us and inviting us to his home and letting us borrow his books?

“It’s okay,” I tell him with a smile. “I think that’s kind of cute. As long as he treats you good, that’s all I care about, Kassian.”

Kassian groans, covering his face with his hands. “That’s not… I don’t… Well, I don’t not… Oh my gods, let’s just go back to the hotel,” he finally blurts out after stumbling over his words.

He’s cute when he gets all flustered like this. Would it be so bad for him to date Dean? I picture the two of them hugging or holding hands or kissing. A tiny part of my chest aches because I want Kassian, and maybe even Dean, to do those things with me, but the bigger part just wants to see them happy. If it’s with each other, why would I get in the way?

Against my permission, a new vision unfolds inside my head. The two of them are hugging but instead of watching them, I’m in the middle of them. I have two hands, why can’t I hold them both?

Something unexpected unfurls inside of me. I’m stunned by how much I love this picture, how desperately I want it to be real. Would that be okay? Would they even let something like that happen between the three of us? Would they even be interested in me or are they only interested in each other?

We make our way back to our hotel room, mostly in silence. I’m not sure what’s going on inside Kassian’s mind but mine is racing a mile a minute with new possibilities. When we step up to our door, we both freeze.

There’s a bouquet of flowers sitting at our door.

“What’s this?”

I squat down, pulling off the tag. “It’s addressed to Mars,” I say, looking up at Kassian with a raised brow.

“Does it say who it’s from?”

“Nope,” I say, standing up with the flowers in my arms. “Does Mars have some secret admirer that we don’t know about? What room is he in again?”