Several kisses later, Thad pulled away. “I’ve been waiting for that,” he said, his voice ragged. His finger traced my cheek, my jaw, my collarbone.
“Me too,” I whispered, my skin tingling from his touch. “I got tired of waiting.”
“I’m glad. I like a take-charge kind of girl. Have I mentioned that I like everything about you?”
“You don’t know everything about me,” I teased.
“So tell me,” he said. “Something juicy.” Thad made little circles on my shoulder with his finger, which was turning my mind into mush.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know,” he whispered. “Surprise me.”
I was struggling to think when Thad’s face darkened.
In one fluid motion, Thad whipped me to my feet behind him, pulled out his knife, and faced the trees. One second later the most emaciated squirrel I’d ever seen poked out; its tail looked worse thanCharlie Brown’s Christmas tree. I felt Thad relax as the critter scampered up a tree.
“Nasty buggers, those Nil squirrels,” I said. “Thanks for the protection.”
“Hilarious,” Thad said, then kissed my forehead. “Something dragged off the dead warthog, and it was definitely not a squirrel.”
“Gotcha,” I said. “Lions and tigers and squirrels, oh my.”
“And you’ve left the poor zebra out again,” Thad said. “The thing is, there’re a lot more animals on Nil than people. Bunnies, mice, squirrels, you name it. Lots of little stuff, but it’s the big things that worry me.”
I shivered. “Like the tiger. But no one’s seen him lately, or heard him. Rives thinks he’s gone.”
“He might be,” Thad said. “But if not, the good thing for us is that as long as you stay out of his way, chances are, you’ll be fine.” He smiled. “Seriously. Tigers usually avoid people. They go after wildlife first, and there’s plenty here. It’s just that quakes spook the animals, and spooked animals can be scary.”
Thad obviously got a good look at my face, because he kissed me, hard, then held me tight. “Don’t worry. C’mon, let’s collect dinner and head back.”
Moving with ease, Thad dropped the reed doors, then tossed in a twine net. When he pulled it up, the net seethed with fish, their silver bodies flashing like mirrors in the fading sunlight. Two minutes at the pools, and all three nets were full.
“Wow,” I said, taking in Thad’s catch. “I can’t tell you how many days I sat in the water, trying to catch fish. I never caught one. And believe me, I tried.”
“What were you using for bait?”
“Me. I just tried grabbing one.” I shook my head at the idiocy of it. “I know, it sounds stupid.”
“No, it sounds difficult. The only person I’ve ever seen catch a fish by hand is Talla. She was a competitive swimmer before she landed here. I swear she’s half fish.”
Talla. The girl Thad went to avenge. The girl who worried about Thad being a mess. The girl who Bart insinuated was more than Thad’sfriend. And the girl who bore an eerie similarity to a feisty five-foot-tall cheer captain named Stacia.
Thad held out his free hand, smiling. I hesitated, then took it. But Thad noticed my teeny delay.
“Having second thoughts?” he asked.
“No. I just—” I looked Thad squarely in the eye. “What about Talla?”
“Talla?” Thad looked confused. “What about her?”
“I got the idea from Bart that you and Talla were an item. I just want to know if there’s a history between y’all. I don’t care, but I want to know.”
Thad’s expression darkened. “First of all, don’t listen to Bart. Second, there’s nothing between me and Talla. Never was, never will be.”
I raised both eyebrows, wishing I could only raise one.
Thad made an exasperated sound. “Look, I’m serious. Talla is”—Thad gestured widely—“Talla. A friend, nothing more. She’s not who I dream of. She’s not who I think about twenty-four seven. There’s only one girl I think about, and that’s you.”
