Page 36 of Rookie Rules

Luca rolled onto his back. "Didn't say you didn't."

There was no clean answer to that.

Rowan closed the tablet.

Darkness returned except for the thermostat display and city light leaking around the curtains. The heat wrap clicked as its cycle ended.

Luca's voice came quieter. "Is it bad?"

The question held no pity. That made it harder.

"It is managed."

"That's captain for yes."

Irritation arrived because relief had reached him first.

"You've known me four days," Rowan said. "Do not decide you understand things you haven't earned."

Luca went still.

Rowan heard the line after it left him. Not cruel. Accurate enough to defend. Sharper than necessary.

The word left a bruise in the dark.

Rowan had wanted distance, and Luca had given it immediately. No challenge to push against. No arrogance Rowan could use to justify the correction. Only the removal of attention that had felt dangerous until it disappeared.

An apology would have required admitting the question itself had not been the offense. The offense was relief: Luca had seen the heat wrap and had not turned Rowan into a problem to solve or a veteran to pity.

Rowan was not prepared to thank him for that.

He was even less prepared to lose it.

"Okay," Luca said.

No swagger this time.

Rowan turned toward the shape of him on the other bed.

Luca pulled the duvet higher. "For the record, I wasn't trying to earn your medical history."

Rowan removed the heat wrap and placed it on the desk.

"What were you trying to earn?"

The question escaped before he could classify it.

Luca turned his head on the pillow.

In the faint light, his expression was unreadable.

"Five consecutive minutes where you don't act like I'm a fire you're assigned to contain."

Rowan had no response ready.

Luca settled his gaze on the ceiling. "Go to bed, Hale. Your terrible secrets are safe. You use heat and have bad taste in chairs."

The humor returned, but gently enough to leave the truth uncovered.