Luka buried his face in his hands.
I lost it. The laugh came out before I could stop it.
“That was bad,” Luka informed me through his fingers.
“It really wasn’t.”
His ears were bright red.
I kissed his shoulder. “You know they’re never going to let me forget this.”
Luka finally lowered his hands and looked at me. He reached for me, his fingers curling around mine. “That was…”
I waited.
“Not insignificant.”
“No.” I brushed my thumb along his jaw. “Pretty sure that qualifies as a big deal.”
“In Velkaran, there would be a more precise way to say it.”
“I believe that,” I murmured. “Because ‘not insignificant’ feels like you’re seriously underselling what just happened.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “It is… an approximation.”
“Yeah.” I leaned in, my forehead resting against his. “Well, for what it’s worth, English doesn’t have the right words either.”
“It was important.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It was.”
Then a frown creased his brow. “But this is not fair. You… you have not?—”
I laid a finger on his lips. “This wasn’t about keeping score.” I brushed my thumb across his cheek. “Hey.” I kept my voice soft. “We’re not done with this. Not even close.”
And when my turn came, I wanted it without fear of Ethan or Noah knocking on my door.
Luka raised his eyes to meet mine. “You mean… again?”
I smiled. “Yeah. Again. As many times as we want. We’re not running out of time—we’re just… pacing it.”
“I do not want to rush,” he said after a moment. “Not… further than this. Not yet.”
I nodded. “Good. Because neither do I.” I cupped his chin. “We’ve got the Team events coming, so we keep this where it is.”
Luka held my gaze. “And after?”
I didn’t look away. “After, we figure out what we want next.”
My hand slipped to the back of his neck again, holding him there.
The Village kept moving outside the room. For once, I didn’t care.
Luka leaned in to give me a gentle kiss, then rested his forehead against mine.
“After.”
“After,” I agreed.
