‘I would have,’ Claire said. She wasn’t very often jealous, but somehow, this little, neat, clean place seemed perfect to her. The only thing that had its own separate walls was the bathroom, tucked into a corner – it held a toilet, sink, counter, tiled floor, and corner shower. She peeked in, feeling like an intruder and, at the same time, a tourist in somebody else’s life. She liked it. Pete looked like an orderly, calm, interesting kind of guy.

‘I’m going to have to give him shit for all this,’ Shane said, as he wandered around. ‘He lives alone and makes his bed? Who does that?’

‘People who like things neat?’

‘It’s not natural.’ Shane turned as she walked toward him. The light from the windows on the sides of the house caught his face, and she winced a little at the sight of the bruises – they were getting spectacular now, but probably didn’t hurt nearly as much as before. He looked a little tired, she thought, and although he was trying not to show it, a little worried, too. He knew how alone they were here, away from home. And how vulnerable. Plus, he’d be missing his weapons, most likely.

‘So,’ he said. ‘Here we are.’

‘Yes. Here we are.’ She didn’t give him anything more than that, and he continued to watch her warily, as if he was no longer sure what she was thinking. She took a step closer, and then another one, until she had to look up into his face. His brown eyes were half closed, and she knew that look … sharp with longing.

‘Claire – we’re both in the same place, but … are we together?’

It was a brave question. A lot of people wouldn’t have asked it, Claire thought; it would have been easier to just assume things, pretend, gloss it over. But that wasn’t Shane. And he didn’t flinch when she said, ‘I want to be. Do you?’

‘I can safely say that there is nothing I want more in my life,’ he said. ‘Problem is, you have to want it too. Both magnets have to attract.’

‘Opposite poles,’ she agreed, and took that last step forward, until she was pressed against him. His arms slowly went around her … not like they had on the street, full of confidence and strength, but testing her. Seeing what she was going to do. ‘We could talk all day about magnetism and poles and the Pauli exclusion principle and spin glass effect, or I could just do something about it.’