Page 61 of Rookie Rules

Rowan straightened. "Fourth. It ends with the season."

Luca's face changed less than his stillness did.

"Planning ahead."

"It is practical."

"Your favorite word."

"We need a limit."

"You need a limit."

"Yes."

Honesty did not make the rule kinder.

Outside the kitchen window, the last light caught along the fence. Rowan had spent years making this house a place where the season could not follow him. He had not considered what it would mean to invite someone in only to give him an expiration date.

Luca leaned back on the stool. "Anything else? Approved hours? A maximum number of meaningful looks per practice?"

"Do not make this into a joke."

"You're making it into a contract."

"Because the alternative is allowing it to affect the team."

"Last night affected the team?"

"No."

"Did the kiss?"

Rowan's mouth remembered before he could answer.

Luca saw something. His expression softened, which was worse than mockery.

"No," Rowan said.

"Today at practice?"

"We corrected it."

"After you spent half the session speaking to me through Finn."

Rowan did not ask how Luca knew Finn had noticed. Everyone on the line had noticed.

"That cannot happen again," he said.

Luca gave a short laugh. "Which part?"

The question held three possible answers.

The kiss. The night. The damage caused by refusing both.

Rowan chose the safest. "The timing."

"Right."