(Caius)
She'd set three rules and looked at me like she was daring me to argue with any of them. I hadn't. Not because I couldn't find the words, but because she was right and we both knew it, and arguing with something true wasn't something I did when I could help it. Vorak had gone unusually quiet after the third rule, the kind of quiet that meant he was thinking rather than pushing, which was different enough from his usual behavior that I noticed it immediately. That alone told me more about where we were than anything else had.
I pulled the chair from beside the table and sat down across from her, not crowding her, not retreating either. She'd given me permission to kiss her back if she started it, which meant she'd already decided something that she hadn't put into full words yet.
