“Look at me.” Cupping my chin, he forces my eyes to his. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Ellie, I promise.” His hand glides along my jaw, nestling next to my ear, making my neck ache in a good way. “We’re going to do this. Together. Breathe with me.”

We sit, focused on each other, the only sound the mingling of our breath. To my surprise, I do trust he’ll protect me, and as my defenses relax, I get lost in him. Heat reverberates between us.

“Do you feel it, too?” he whispers, searching my face.

“Feel what?”

“This.” He gestures between his head and mine. “It’s like we’re tied together. Linked in some cosmic way.”

I can’t deny the tugging in my center, that some invisible force is at work, an energy storm crackling to life, and I nod. “I don’t like it.”

A slow smile plays across his face. “Me neither.”

It’s like a tornado whips through the room, thrusting us together, pinning us in the eye. Before I can respond or think, he tilts my face up, and his full lips meet mine. Color explodes in my brain, my synapses firing electricity, raising goose bumps on my arms. He coaxes my mouth open, his tongue pressing inside, and I want to inhale him. My frenzied fingers wind into his hair, craving the pressure of his body, unable to pull him close enough. His energy fills me, and I’m caught in the vortex where he’s all I know—all that matters. Wound together in a dizzy swirl, we’re bound by gravity, by a force so heavy we could sink through the floor without noticing.

His lips become gentle, slowly caressing mine, and the realization seeps in that time matters, too.

I break the kiss, resting my forehead against his, getting my bearings.

He blinks, seeming as dazed as I feel.

Glancing down at the ring, I recover. “Hot pink? Nice work.”

Back to his nonchalant self, he smirks. “I think hot pink feels pretty good.”

I narrow my eyes. “Listen. We don’t have time to get into it right now, and I don’t know what that was, but as far as I’m concerned, it never happened. And it will never happen again. Agreed?”

“No problem.” He shrugs. “Now let’s get this box open. Look at me.”

“Uh-uh. No way.” I raise the ring on my left middle finger. “Hot pink.”

He laughs. “Fine. Don’t look at me. Do you have a happy place? Maybe try to go there?”

It’s not a bad idea. Closing my eyes, I imagine getting lost in the Vault. My heart rate slows.

“Green. It’s working,” Garrett says. “Where are you? What makes you happy?”

“The Vault. I’m in the Vault.”

“That’s funny. That’s where I’d go, too.”