Page 81 of The Ruse

But since he’d admitted to thinking about it, I pulled back enough to meet his gaze and whispered, “I thought about it a few times.”

His gaze fell to my lips, and I licked them as anticipation welled inside me. Was he thinking about kissing me again?

Did I want him to kiss me again?

To kiss me for a reason that had nothing to do with the extra rehearsal we were supposed to be having?

His eyes met mine, and he leaned slightly closer, as if gauging whether I was okay with him closing the distance between us or not.

And all I could think of was,please, oh please, oh please just do it.

Don’t ask permission. Just kiss me.

His hand cradled my neck, and we were so close that my eyes fluttered shut.

His lips just barely grazed against mine, and I was in the middle of melting when the smoke detector above our heads started beeping.

We both jumped apart as the smoke detectors spoke in its robotic voice.“Warning. Evacuate. Fire detected. Warning. Evacuate. Fire detected.”

23

ELYSE

“Do you think there’s a fire?”I asked Asher.

Or had the smoke detectors somehow picked up on the fireworks sparking between us?

“I don’t know,” he said, looking at the smoke detector above us. “Last time this happened, it was just Rushil burning stuff in his room.”

“What?”

“Rushil’s room is next to mine, and he thinks it’s cool to burn like five different incense sticks at the same time.” Asher walked over to his closet and pulled out the coat he’d worn at the cabin. “Here, you can wear this.” He handed it to me before turning back to the closet and pulling out another thick jacket. “We better head outside, just in case.”

He grabbed his phone from his bed while I put his coat on, noticing the scent of the cologne I’d smelled on him when we’d kissed at the cabin. I caught a half-smile on his lips—as if he knew I’d just been savoring his intoxicating scent—but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he led me out of his room and down the hall where several other boys and a few girls were leaving the other dorm rooms.

The emergency exit was already propped open at the end of the hall, and Asher took my hand in his as we went down the metal staircase.

The wind whipped at my face as soon as we stepped outside, the cold biting at me and reminding me why I didn’t like to go outside during winter.

“How long do you think we’re going to have to wait outside?” I asked through chattering teeth as our feet clanked down the metal steps.

He glanced at me over his shoulder. “Hopefully, not too long.”

We made it to the cement pad below where a bunch of other students were gathering, their expressions ranging from annoyed to excited to anxious over the fact that we’d had to evacuate the dorms.

Another gust of wind whipped through the air. Asher let go of my hand so he could zip up his jacket.

“Good thinking to grab the coats,” I said, pulling the hood over my head before digging my hands into the deep pockets.

“I learned my lesson last time this happened.” He rubbed his hands over the sleeves of his jacket like it wasn’t quite warm enough for the freezing weather. “It wasn’t quite this cold last time, but we were out here for a really long time.”

“I feel bad that I have your warm coat and you only have your jacket,” I said, watching him as he shivered.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I’m tough.”

“And a gentleman, too,” I said.

He shrugged. “Gotta make up for last week when I didn’t offer to sleep on the floor.”

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