Reno hurried after Luka. And, as he caught up to him to give him the directions back home, he wondered if what had shifted between them was good or bad.
1 Be quiet.
2 Sorry,
3 It’s okay,
4 Oh my God! It can’t be.
5 Yes, I’m learning.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“On your knees.”
Reno dropped to the ground as soon as Luka closed the flat’s door behind them. Luka looked down at Reno, at the anxious line of his brows, the down curve to his lips, the demure way he looked up through his lashes. The fragility of his posture made Luka stop and crouch down, take Reno’s chin in his hand, and lean forward just enough to brush their lips together.
Reno whimpered, chasing after Luka, but a hand to Reno’s shoulder stilled him.
Luka felt his heart in his throat as he admitted, “I’m terrified.”
A whisper: “Why?”
“I’ve only just started to know how it is to have you, and they’ll try to pull you away from me. Things will change, now.”
Reno shook his head, but Luka could tell it was a hollow denial.
“You are too well-behaved. You won’t risk everything just for a man you’ve known for a few months. You’re smarter than that.”
“No—”
Luka pressed a finger against Reno’s lips. “Hush.” He let his finger slide against Reno’s plush lower lip, and as Reno parted his lips to sigh, Luka scraped a nail delicately inside Reno’s mouth. “Let me enjoy you while I have you.”
Reno’s eyes were so pleading that it almost broke Luka.
He knew Reno believed in the impossible, in the fantasy they were busy building, and parts of Luka believed in it too. He stared down at that future, mapping out its course if he were to stay with Reno in London, and there would always be a breaking point. He didn’t think either of them would give up on this beautiful thing forming and shaping between them, but the world around them would never stop trying to break them apart.
Reno didn’tworrylike he did.
Reno always fell to his knees and agreed to whatever Luka asked, but a hollow part of him knew Reno folded to his bosses, his career, just as easily as he folded for Luka.
“You just want to be good, don’t you?”
Reno’s eyes widened, the pitch black of his iris so stark in his surprise.
“You can answer me.”
“Yes," Reno said, his cheeks turning pink. “I want to be good for you.”
“Not just for me," Luka said. “You like being good for everyone.”
Reno didn’t reply, casting his eyes to the floor instead.
“You’re good for everyone. Your friends, your work, your band. What would happen if you had to choose? No, that’s unfair. I wouldn’t let you think twice about picking me over it all. I’d go.”
Reno made a pained noise, and Luka could see all of his self-control keeping him upright on his knees instead of sinking fully to the floor.
Reno’s voice was desperate when he whispered, “Don’t say that.”
