He snatched it from my hand with surprising delicacy, then immediately whipped his enormous head sideways and slapped Declan in the thigh with it.
Declan looked down at him. “That was unnecessary.”
Tiny pranced into the living room, duck squeaking with every step.
I shut the door behind me, and the sound of the lock turning hit differently this time.
Less like a panic alarm.
More like permission.
Declan noticed anyway. Of course he did. “Color?”
“Green.”
“Truthfully.”
I dropped my bag by the entry table. “Green with a yellow border.”
His mouth moved, not quite a smile. “Specific.”
“I’m evolving under pressure.”
“That Roman’s phrase?”
“Unfortunately.”
Declan came closer and took my chin between his thumb and forefinger, not hard, not soft. Enough that my body gotthe message before my head could make a spreadsheet of consequences.
“You ate today?”
“Define ate.”
“Jace.”
“Yes. Protein shake, bagel, half of Milo’s fries because he forgot they were his while holding them.”
“That counts badly, but it counts.”
He kissed me once. Brief. Warm. Like he was allowed to do it in this house. Like I was allowed to receive it.
I stood there after he pulled back, annoyed by how much one simple kiss could reorganize me.
He brushed his thumb along my jaw. “Come cook with me.”
“I should warn you I can follow a hockey system at full speed while getting cross-checked, but recipes are where ambition goes to die.”
“I’m aware.”
“Mean.”
“Accurate.”
His kitchen looked different now that I wasn’t trying not to fall apart. Lived in, but orderly. A cast iron pan sat on the stove. Chopped vegetables waited in bowls because Declan was apparently the type of person who prepped ingredients before turning on heat instead of discovering the onion still had skin while smoke filled the room.
There were parts of him everywhere once I let myself look.
A chipped mug beside the coffee maker with a faded team logo from his playing days. A stack of coaching notebooks on the far end of the counter. Tiny’s leash hanging from a hook near the back door. A photo on the fridge of Declan and two guys who had to be his brothers, one of them grinning with an arm locked around Declan’s neck while Declan looked irritated and secretly pleased.
