Page 208 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

I might have only known him a few months, but it was evident from the start that he was an honorable male.

Our first encounter briefly flashes through my mind and how he’d heroically run toward the site of the bomb, intent on helping anyone he could.

I lean in and press a kiss against his jagged temple.

“Tell me something good. What do you plan to do when the war ends?” I change the subject so he can take his mind off the bloodshed for a moment.

“You mean we,” he corrects.

I roll my eyes, though a pang of sadness reverberates through my chest. I will like not to be here when that happens. But I will not ruin this moment by reminding him of that.

“Fine. We.”

He smiles.

“I’ll take you out on a real date, to the fanciest restaurant, and I’ll feed you delicious cakes.”

My brows go up.

“Delicious cakes, you say?”

“I bet you’ve never had an eclair.”

“I have no idea what that is, but if it’s sweet and delicious, I’m all in.”

He leans back to look at me.

“And I want to take you somewhere.”

“Where?” I frown.

“It’s a place I used to call my own in the past, waiting for time to go by.”

“That doesn’t tell me too much about it,” I add drily.

“It will have to be a surprise then. A little haven for the two of us.”

I bite my lip so hard I draw blood, anything to stop myself from imagining what that haven would look like when I know our future is precarious. We might not even have a future.

Yet is it so bad if I let myself dream about it?

“I can’t wait,” I tell him softly.

I continue to wash his hair, pouring more water over his head to rinse the shampoo out.

Silence descends between us, the only sound that of the water splashing. He doesn’t move, merely letting out small sighs of contentment when I massage his skin.

There’s something oddly satisfying about this and the way he trusts me so implicitly, lowering his guard in my presence.

I’ve been around too many military men to know that this is a rare thing.

“I will need to head out for a debrief with my CO after. It shouldn’t take too long. But after I get back, we can plan how to tackle the greed demon.”

“I…might have done some investigating of my own,” I admit sheepishly.

He sharply turns to me.

He still has shampoo clinging to his hair, and the bubbly foam slowly dripping down his face makes his scowl amusing rather than intimidating.

---