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Luca watched Keller flee until he was out of sight. No other word for it. The poor engineer looked beyond embarrassed, and while Luca could sympathize, he wished Keller wouldn’t. If anything, Keller may have done him a favor last night. Having now experienced kissing a man, it had taken a lot of the stress off Luca’s shoulders. He’d wondered and worried that he wouldn’t be able to enjoy any level of intimacy with a man, but kissing Keller had been fine. Those three seconds had shown Luca he wouldn’t hate it. It also served as a good mental icebreaker. Having already kissed a man once, he felt far more comfortable doing it again. It gave him a sense of relief to know for sure.

It had also reinforced the notion of his plan being viable. Keller was clearly attracted enough to Luca to try for a kiss. Which was flattering, of course, but also a reassurance. Sho had told Luca time and again he was attractive to men, but it hadn’t really sunk in until last night’s kiss.

Honestly, it had all settled a little better into his bones, this possibility. It was why he couldn’t possibly be upset with Keller—it felt like the man had done him a favor.

Somehow, Luca would have to sit the engineer down long enough to talk. Maybe Keller wouldn’t be so awkward with him then. Luca did like the young Scovian, and he respected his know-how—Keller was very competent at what he did—so Luca felt bad about leaving him to stew.

Maybe he could catch him for lunch or something. Wouldn’t hurt to try.

With a shrug, Luca continued through the door and into Sho and Brahms’s office. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to have anyone else in; he wanted a more private word with them.

“O’ Broín, come in,” Sho said with a wave of the hand. “What brings you here?”

“I need a little advice.” Luca took the chair in front of Sho’s desk, getting comfortable and buying time to figure out how to say what he needed. “I, uh, was kissed last night. By a man.”

Even Brahms looked up at that, abruptly stopping his work, pen pressed to paper and creating quite the inkblot. “What?”

Sho’s interest sparked to full life, and he leaned in, absolutely riveted. “Who?”

“Noe Keller. He was a tad drunk last night and, well, it happened?”

For some reason, Sho didn’t look surprised. More like he’d half expected this? Which made Luca wonder what else he knew and wasn’t sharing.

“So, how was your first gay kiss?”

Look at the bastard, sitting there cackling on the inside. He wasn’t even trying to hide his entertainment. For that matter, Brahms seemed intrigued, as he was intently listening.

“You are enjoying this far too much.”

“Best cheap entertainment I’ve ever been offered,” Sho said without apology. “You said he was drunk last night.”

“I did. I ran into him this morning, and he blurted out an apology.”

“Ah-ha. Keller’s the conscientious type, so I’m not surprised he tracked you down.”

“I didn’t get a chance to accept the apology, he lit out of here so fast. I’m not upset with him, though. I think I’ll hunt him down for lunch, if I can, and soothe his fears.”

“Probably for the best.” Sho scooched forward a little more, like a child anticipating a story, and batted his dark lashes. “So? How was it?”

“Not terrible?” Luca pretended to think about it. Look at Sho, already glaring at him. So easy to tease, this one. “In all honesty, the kiss was so short, I didn’t have a chance to really analyze it.”

“Analyze,” Sho said with despair, head rolling dramatically. “Why, why are you and my husband so alike in this?”

“Not everyone feels things as strongly as you.” Sho was very attuned to his intuition and emotions. Luca had never operated like that. He didn’t know how people did it, for that matter. As it was, sometimes Luca’s emotions overwhelmed him.

Brahms gave a sage grunt, like he agreed with Luca.

Sho gave another despairing sigh.

Right. Time to move this conversation along. “ Anyway . I didn’t dislike it at all. Rather felt like kissing a woman? As in I felt no difference. Well, except the stubble.”

“Ah. Fair enough, then. I think it’s a good start.”

“So do I.”

It still left the question of how much, if any part, of sex Luca would be comfortable with. But he also didn’t know how to put that to the test without having sex. He could hardly go up to any of the men he knew now and proposition them, either. Well, he’d likely sort this out with time.

“So? What do you plan to do now?”

“I just told you?”

“No, man, no. I mean about possibly dating Keller. You’ve found a man who’s attracted to you, and I know he hits most of the checkpoints on your list. Would you consider him a viable candidate? Or not?”

Sho asked a very good question, and honestly, until he’d said it, Luca hadn’t considered the possibility. “I…think I need to get back to you. I hadn’t thought of him in those terms. Would he be willing, do you think? To move back to Bhodhsa with me in such a marriage arrangement?”

“I think you’d best ask him, but at least entertain the thought. I know Keller’s a good man and someone you can trust.”

“Well, I knew that much already. All right, I’ll think about it.” Shelving the idea for now, Luca got back to the topic he had truly come here to discuss. “Sho, I’ve come with a concern. We just now finished the fortress’s foundation, but can we do anything else before winter storms start hitting? I remember the weather up here very well, and I know the storms can get bad.”

Sho grimaced in acknowledgment. “For most of my country, the winters are rather mild, but here? With the ocean sweeping storms and strong winds inland? You might not even be remembering how bad it can get.”

“I distinctly recall being worried about my beard freezing to my neck, so yes. Yes, I do remember.”

“The ice storms,” Sho muttered, both vexed and resigned. “The ice storms are the literal worst up here. You’re right. We’re running out of time to do any real construction. Outdoors, at least. We can get some things prepped inside that we can move outside once the weather starts cooperating again, such as making the doors and frames, forging everything we need for the support rafters, wrecking balls, and whatnot.”

“It’ll mean basically putting everyone on half-time for the duration of the winter, but I’m sure these construction people are used to it.”

Sho shrugged in agreement. “Quite likely. Besides, who wants to work in this mess?”

“Not me, that’s for sure. Now, next problem. We’ve got Shiirein New Year coming up very quickly. How big of a celebration is this, usually? I’ve got people trying to request the whole week off.”

“Ah. Right. You wouldn’t know.” Sho sipped his tea before explaining. “What with the state the country was in during the war, any holidays we had were barely acknowledged. You never saw what New Year’s was like, but we do celebrate it the full week.”

“Aye? Seriously, a whole week?”

“It’s the major holiday for the country, bar none. Even the celebrations of the royal family’s birthdays pale in comparison.”

“Huh. So when they ask for the week off, it’s not them being unreasonable.”

“Not at all. It’s tradition for a boss to give as much time off as possible. Obviously, if you’re an essential worker, it’s hard to pull off. But as much time as we can.”

“Okay, but we need to make as much progress as we can before the weather turns really, really bad.”

“Can we augment? Say, pull in some of your people, some of our naval people from Scovia, make up the difference for the week?”

Luca thought about the suggestion and didn’t see a problem. “We’ll ask. I think it’ll be fine, though. But this begs the question, if it’s a week-long celebration, then how big of a party is this?”

“The streets will be filled with vendors offering specialty holiday treats. You literally only get them during that week. The bars are open nonstop. Everyone visits the temple to draw their luck, say prayers for a better year, that kind of thing.”

“Wow. Sounds like quite the event.” It made Luca sad all over again that Shiirei had been beaten down so much in the war they hadn’t been able to celebrate even a small version of the holiday. “I look forward to it. All right, I’ll get back to work and start figuring out staffing schedules.”

“Have fun.”

“I heard ‘better you than me’ for some reason.”

“Your hearing is acute.” Sho grinned as Luca glared at him and took himself out. Even he wasn’t quite sure why there was a bounce in his step as he walked toward his office. Staffing schedules, and the headache they inevitably brought with them, wouldn’t make the workday pleasant. Rather the reverse.

His analytical brain kicked in and informed him it was because of the kiss. That kiss had given him an epiphany—a well-timed one, at that.

All said, though, being around Sho, Brahms, and their daughter gave Luca a better insight into what he himself should be aiming for. Luca’s home life had always been rather…lonely. His parents were an arranged marriage, and frankly, they couldn’t stand each other. They didn’t see eye to eye on basically anything, not even their only child. Luca used them as a bad example for marriages.

He wanted something completely different from his parents and couldn’t stomach marrying some girl they’d picked out for him. He’d seen the result up close and personal, and Luca wanted no part of it.

Rather, he wanted what his friends had. An easy, companionable relationship with trust, and affection, and respect. Simple domestic mornings where they could have breakfast together, and the worst worry of the relationship was a potential incoming prank from the other spouse. It was so simplistic, that domesticity, and yet it made Luca’s heart quaver at just the image.

What would it be like to have a husband and adopted children at his side? Hell, Shiirei had thousands of orphans; maybe he’d adopt a few before leaving for home. That had worked out swimmingly well for Sho and Brahms, after all.

Luca tried to imagine, too, waking up to a man every morning whom he called husband. How that would feel. It tentatively sounded good in his head? Or perhaps they’d have separate bedrooms. His parents did, granted, but they hated each other.

Hm, no, doing anything he’d seen his parents do was definitely a bad idea. Scratch that.

Well, he should work this out with his future spouse, anyway. The point of his mental exercise? To prove it didn’t bother him. Luca might even look forward to it a little.

His first step would be figuring out Keller. Sho was right. The man was pretty much who Luca needed. An intelligent person with good skills, fair judgment—last night notwithstanding—and a solid backbone. It took guts to own up to a mistake and apologize, and Keller had done so promptly, which made Luca respect him all the more. Add in Keller’s obvious attraction, and it seemed a waste to not at least try dating.

Luca’s gut feeling was to try. If Keller was up for it. Last night might have been a true drunken mistake, so Luca should ask first and not assume. For that to happen, he had to track Keller down.

Lunch with him may or may not happen today, but it would soon.