Just like she’d always known, he was a hero. A genius! “You kept your promise and didn’t break any laws.”

“I kept my promise.”

She kissed him again, and it was a slow, excellent, soul-stirring kiss. However, he kept it very . . . controlled.

She pulled back to study him some more. Her jubilation began to melt like spilled ice cream.

Ever since her injury, he’d handled her as if she were a Ming vase. She hadn’t noticed at first, maybe because she’d needed very cautious handling during the early days following the coma. Now the cautious handling was beginning to feel less like a compliment and more like a wall between them.

It was uncharitable of her to find fault with him. His behavior was exemplary. He’d been trustworthy, steadfast, good. He’d just brought the Vance brothers to justice, for goodness’ sake!

It was only that he was so perfect all the time that it was beginning to feel manufactured. She missed the imperfect, unscripted, blunt, sometimes surly version of him that she knew to be the true version.

He’d told her that he was taking the first steps toward regaining his faith and working through trauma. These past days, they’d endured a brutally hard trial together. They’d seen what the other was made of. And they’d gotten each other through.

She loved him. So many things were going well. Was it too much to ask to want to connect with the real him? “You know, right, that I’m regaining my strength? You don’t have to tiptoe around me anymore.”

“I know.”

She gave him time, but he didn’t offer more.

She leaned one shoulder and the side of her head against his chest.

He eased the swing into motion, and a few quiet minutes passed while she soaked in the feel of him and tried not to angst about how terrifying it was to love Luke.

Did he love her back?

He’d always said that he’d leave once the treasure hunt ended. The treasure hunt was now, very officially, at its end.

Would he leave?

She’d have no grounds to make him stay if he was set on going. The larger point was that she didn’t want to make him stay, even if she had that power. She wanted him to want to stay.

Stop borrowing trouble from the future. It was premature to agonize over Luke’s leaving. He was here now, and this line of thought dismayed her.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.