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job, a better life”—his voice gets softer—“doesn’t mean I’m going to turn against people I care about.”
    “You care about Drake?”
    “I care about you .”
    For a moment, I’m weightless. “You do?”
    “How could you even ask that?” His expression softensand, looking into his penetrating blue eyes, a feeling washes through me that’s so foreign I can’t name it. Everything around me is softer; hard edges dissolve and the air wraps me like a blanket.
    Then I recognize the feeling. It’s safety.
    Cal cares about me. He cares about my brother because I do. He wants to protect us.
    I’m wrong to be skeptical. Tension melts inside me and I almost lose my balance, but Cal slides his hand around me, pulling me close. His heart’s beating strong and slow like a large drum, and my hands press into his back. I crush against his hard chest, and still I want to pull closer, to meld my body to his so I’ll never be alone again, so I’ll forget reality, so I can believe I’ve got the carefree life of a Normal.
    His heat blurs the boundaries between us and my emotions build. But so far my eyes feel fine, helping me pretend that I don’t have a curse, that there’s no chance I’ll hurt him, that we’re officially dating, that he’s someone I can trust. Warmth fills my chest, my belly, my heart. I haven’t felt this safe for more than three years. Not since I had parents.
    For a few glorious moments, I look directly into his bright blue eyes, and the way he looks at me tugs my insides. He presses his lips to the top of my head and I close my eyes, then his breath warms my neck. I tip my head farther to the side, inviting his lips to bridge the small distance that parts their heat from my throat.
    Holding me close, his hands trace over my back, igniting fires I don’t quite understand but don’t want to put out.His breaths grow heavier, faster, and his body tenses against mine. Then he pulls his head away and pushes me back.
    I swallow the instinct to cry out.
    He bends over, placing his hands on his knees, panting.
    Terror threatens to take hold and stepping forward, I rub my ring. “Cal?” I was so careless, so selfish, so thoughtless. Wrapped up in my fantasy, I let my guard down. Emotions triggered my curse and I hurt him with these brand-new and very strong emotions.
    He straightens and I step back, but he grabs my hand and holds it. His cheeks are flushed and two beads of sweat race down his forehead.
    “I hurt you.” My words float out on a breath, faint and steamy, before I realize I’m coming dangerously close to confessing my worst secret.
    “Why would you think that?” he asks.
    “You pulled away. You groaned. You seemed hurt.”
    A grin spreads on his face, then his eyes soften and he presses his palm against my cheek. “Glory, that’s not why I pulled away.” His thumb traces my cheekbone.
    “Then why?” Fears spark and kick. Cal knows I’m a Deviant. He knows Drake is, too. He told me his secret to gain my trust and make me lower my guard. He’s gathering evidence to turn me in.
    I don’t want to believe these horrors but for the moment, I do.
    His tongue runs over his lower lip. “You really don’t know what you do to me, how you affect me, do you?” His voice is gravelly, dark.
    I step back, pull my hand from his grip, and stare at the cracked asphalt. If I run now, can Drake and I escape capture?
    “One more second holding you and—” He blows out a breath on a low whistle. “We’d have been arrested for public indecency.” He shakes his head. “We don’t even have a dating license.”
    My gaze snaps up to his. Heat flashes onto my face, my chest, and I raise my hand to my lips. Embarrassed, I glance to the side as my cheeks rage with fire.
    But pushing it all away, I straighten my shoulders. I feel so naïve, like a little girl shocked by her first Relationships & Procreation session in GT. Cal’s only two years older than me, but right now the span seems