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These feelings weren’t new. They were terrifyingly familiar. As inthis is what I felt right before I lost my mind and jumped himfamiliar.
I watched the sea fall against the rocks, trying to keep my mind off those memories. I felt a presence behind me and turned to find Avery standing a healthy distance away. My brows pinched together. Had Lukas gone home?
I got my answer when he returned a few minutes later, carrying a paper bag in one hand. He plopped down in his own chair unceremoniously.
“Where did you get that?” I asked, pointing at the bag.
Lukas focused on unfurling the bag. “A store.”
“You can use full sentences, Luke. It won’t hurt you.”
Lukas looked up at me with a frown on his face. “I’ve had to share you all day.”
I swallowed thickly. “And?”
“I’m channeling the energy I would use to speak into staring at you.”
I laughed to hide the blush flooding my cheeks. “You’re funny.”
Lukas grinned and my stomach dipped. “So I’ve been told.”
“What did you get?”
Lukas raised an eyebrow. Right, he wasn’t speaking. He started pulling things out of the bag, and with each item he placed on the table, my control slipped through my fingers like sand.
My favorite wine.Ourfavorite wine, rather. Three of my favorite cheeses, even though I knew he only really liked one of them. Crackers with rosemary. Dried fruit and nuts. A package of the sliced meat he made me try years ago and that I loved ever since.
He silently got out two cups and poured wine into each, handing the first to me.
He chose this silence. I was silent because I wasn’t sure I could speak.
It was moments like this where I was sure he felt the same I did. But the only thing I’d heard directly from him was that all of this was a consolation prize.
When Lukas lifted his cup to clink mine, I forced the thought away. I could enjoy this, enjoy him.
Lukas held my eyes while he brought the cup to his lips and sipped. I kept the hold even though my mind was painting a very,verydifferent picture.
I tried to reach down and peel open one of the cheeses, but Lukas batted my hand away. “No.”
“I can serve myself, you know,” I protested, even though I secretly liked it.
Lukas wasn’t deterred for a second. “Daph, baby, shut it and look at the sky while it’s still dusk.”
Well, okay. I would be stupid to argue with that. “Whatever you say, Luke.”
Lukas handed me a plate a moment later, setting it in front of me before making his own. I did what he said, I took in the dusk while I still could. Shops and homes around us were turning on lights, compensating where the sun couldn’t anymore.
After about two crackers, I realized I was the only one eating. Lukas was just staring at me. He was being all weird and stare-y today. Not that I was necessarily complaining.
“What?” I asked.
Lukas cocked his head slightly. “Are you happy?”
I choked on a sip of wine, sputtering ungracefully while I tried to think of an answer.Yeswas the simplest answer, but it felt too plain to describe how happy he made me, even if it was laced with pain.
“With giving up the university,” he clarified.
Oh.Thatwas a rather simple answer. “I’m still going to be involved plenty. Sabina and I were talking about continuing my research. I don’t plan on stopping now, not when I’m halfway to categorizing all the finds from the Southern Aegean dig.” I’d crossed specialties while in school. It was only appropriate for an Athena. But my favorite had always been archeology. I’d never planned to give that part of my power up. “I’m still going to events, which I will be dragging you to, by the way. But…yes, I’m happy. I feel like I was meant for the sea.”
