diff --git a/faster_path.gemspec b/faster_path.gemspec
index a66e525..9616f74 100644
--- a/faster_path.gemspec
+++ b/faster_path.gemspec
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
   spec.required_ruby_version = ['>= 2.5', '< 3.0']
 
   spec.add_dependency 'bundler', '>= 1.12'
-  spec.add_dependency 'rake', '~> 12.3'
+  spec.add_dependency 'rake', '>= 12.3'
   spec.add_dependency 'thermite', '0.13.0'
   spec.add_development_dependency 'read_source', '~> 0.2.6'
   spec.add_development_dependency 'minitest', '~> 5.11'
diff --git a/spec/init.rb b/spec/init.rb
index 2c90a17..b5cedfc 100644
--- a/spec/init.rb
+++ b/spec/init.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 ENV['BUNDLE_GEMFILE'] = File.expand_path('../Gemfile', File.dirname(__FILE__))
+# Set up the bundle before loading faster_path, which needs rake (through
+# thermite): otherwise the newest installed rake gets activated and conflicts
+# with the one in Gemfile.lock when mspec is run outside `bundle exec`.
+require 'bundler/setup'
 $LOAD_PATH.unshift File.expand_path('../lib', File.dirname(__FILE__))
 require 'faster_path'
 require 'faster_path/optional/monkeypatches'