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His expression softened, incredulity replacing anger. "How could you think I didn't?"

The question sobered me instantly. "I've spent my whole life being told never to sacrifice for a man. My mother watched her potential evaporate when she quit her dreams for my father. She made me promise I'd never do the same." I swallowed hard,meeting his gaze. "When I heard about the Earth position, I thought I was doing the right thing. For both of us."

"I never wanted you to sacrifice anything," Tivek said, taking a step toward me. "I'll give up the promotion instantly if it means you'll have me."

My throat tightened, emotion rising so quickly that all l I could do was nod as my eyes welled with tears.

"When you told me to go," he continued, his voice roughening, "I thought whatever I felt wasn't reciprocated. But the thought of leaving you behind—" He shook his head. "I've never felt so empty and adrift.”

He closed the distance between us, his hands coming up to cup my face. "I love you, Morgan. I think I have since the first moment I saw you. I know I did from the first time we kissed.”

A tear slipped down my cheek. "I couldn't bear the thought of the Academy without you," I confessed. “I was dreading going back without you.”

One of his arms encircled my waist, pulling me against the solid warmth of his chest. When his lips found mine, it was like coming home after being lost for too long. I surrendered to the kiss, my hands sliding up to tangle in his hair as my towel slipped, forgotten, to the floor.

Nothing existed in that moment but the two of us as our kiss deepened and swallowed our eager moans. That is, until a faint sound broke through my daze of desire.

We pulled apart, startled, to find Serge standing in the doorway, his mouth literally hanging open, eyes wide with shock.

"I—I just—" he stammered, his hair entirely pink. "I figured out…Reina’s… but apparently—" His eyes dipped briefly to my now-naked form pressed against Tivek before he slapped a hand over them. "Oh my!"

Reina appeared behind him, grabbing his arm and yanking him back from the doorway. "Sorry for the interruption!" she called cheerfully, giving us a little finger wave. "Tivek, I'm sorry if I might have given you the wrong impression earlier."

Tivek tilted his head at her. "You mean lying to me?"

Reina shrugged, unabashed. "All's fair in love and war, hon."

With that, she pulled Serge away, the door sliding shut behind them.

For a moment, Tivek and I just looked at each other. Then we then burst into laughter.

"I think," I said, making no move to retrieve my towel, "that we've been thoroughly manipulated by a matchmaking Vexling."

“And I think," Tivek said as he walked me backward toward the bed, "that I'm not at all sorry about it.”

His lips found mine again, and this time, there were no interruptions.

Chapter

Sixty

Reina

"Istill can't believe you didn't tell me," Serge said, adjusting the lapels of his chartreuse suit jacket as his tangerine platform boots clacked rapidly on the polished floor. “Not one word about your little matchmaking scheme. Not. One. Word."

I sighed, as we made our way down the bright white corridor toward the hangar bay. "I've apologized seventeen times since yesterday, hon. Would you like me to make it an even eighteen?"

"No need." His spiky hair quivered as he shook his head, though I noticed the pink had finally receded from the roots. "I begrudgingly admit that it turned out perfectly. Perfectly! And now we'll have Morgan and Tivek's wedding to plan." His eyes lit up with the particular gleam that appeared whenever he contemplated brides and grooms.

"They're not getting married anytime soon," I reminded him, walking briskly to keep up even though his legs were half the length of mine. "Morgan's still a cadet, remember? Plus, they might want to have the ceremony at the Academy."

Serge stopped dead in the doorway to the hangar bay, one hand pressed dramatically to his chest. "At the Academy? With all that black stone?” He swooned against the door frame, eyes closed in apparent distress.

I couldn't suppress my smile. "Think of it, though. You've never planned a castle-themed wedding before."

His eyes snapped open, the remaining pink in his hair receding almost instantaneously as excitement took over. "Castle-themed! I hadn’t thought of that. You did say there’s a grand staircase, right? And a bluff overlooking a sea?

I nodded, not clarifying that the sea was usually raging and the bluff was more like a perilous cliff. I followed his rapid footsteps through the doorway and into the cavernous hangar bay, the exposed steel beams crisscrossing overhead and the scent of scorched fuel sharp. I carefully avoided the splotches of slick oil that scattered the floor as we wound around barrels and fighter jets.