“Counting on it.” His warm smile said that I wasn’t the only one with a craving, and he stroked a broad finger down the side of my face before dropping his hand.

“Let’s go find the others before I’m tempted to do something impulsive.”

“Like this?” He stole my breath with a fast kiss. Sure, we were alone, but this was also a far cry from lost in the basement stacks in the library.

“Exactly like that.” I beamed at him while contemplating the wisdom of yanking him back into a stall for a much more thorough kiss.

Undoubtedly reading my mind, Milo gave an exaggerated regretful sigh. “Better lead me to my kingdom.”

“Dork.” I bumped shoulders with him as we made our way out of the restroom and toward the waiting area where we were meeting everyone else as usual.

“You love it.”

“Yeah.” I did love this light and easy place we’d found ourselves, but the mere mention of the l-word had my muscles tensing. And I didn’t have time to dwell on why that was, not with Kellan already coming over to greet us. He had a new costume, this one an elf druid. While I appreciated the artistry, he looked a bit like a hairy green beetle. I hid a smile by rearranging my bags.

“Hey, my dudes.” Kellan had a big smile and hearty handshake for Milo, who had apparently earned his favor on Saturday night. “Tell me about the hunt.”

“It was a success.” Milo’s unabashed happiness made my shoulders lift even before he added, “Jasper is brilliant.”

“You weren’t so bad yourself.” My tone was way too fond, but I was too happy to keep it cool.

“You guys are ador—”

“Made it.” April came rushing up, and all of a sudden, I cared way more about my tone. April and my mom didn’t need to hear Milo and me being overly friendly or see Kellan teasing us about it.

“Okay, let’s go.” I hurried us along the corridor before any other banter could lead to uncomfortable questions and teasing. As it was, I felt my mom’s eyes on the back of my head. I’d been avoiding her for days because I wasn’t ready for a lecture but also didn’t want to outright lie about how I was spending my time these days. I was an adult and I needed some space to sort out my own thoughts about Milo without her overprotectiveness entering into an already complex equation.

“Hey, Jasper.” Natalie, the attendant, welcomed us to the lounge as we got set up. I carried the deck bag to the back table, not terribly surprised when my mom followed me. I was asking her about her day while unzipping the bag when Milo came over, his mouth a thin white line.

“There’s no Chase.” His whisper was urgent and stricken. “Did he…”