Page 104 of Rookie Rules

"Eli will specify the exact coffee before Mateo arrives."

"Then reject it because the ratio is wrong."

Rowan almost smiled. His phone vibrated. A message from Nolan about Eli's shoulder range.

He read it, answered, and returned the phone facedown.

Luca watched the movement.

"He's okay?"

"Baseline. Owen will recheck tomorrow."

"Good."

Silence resumed.

After dinner, Luca moved behind Rowan at the sink and pressed a brief kiss below his ear.

The contact was light, playful, an offer rather than a demand.

Rowan's body responded before his mind released the game. He turned, caught Luca at the waist, and kissed him once.

Then his phone vibrated again on the counter.

Rowan looked.

Luca stepped back.

"You can check it."

"I don't need to."

"But you will."

The words held no accusation. That made them accurate.

Rowan checked. Vale had sent the penalty-kill clip.

The clip displayed the penalty-kill formation. Rowan marked the failed clear, wrote one note, and moved the cursor back.

From the living room, Luca turned on the television. A comedy played at low volume. Rowan knew Luca had chosen it because no plot required attention and because laughter might create an easier bridge back to them.

Rowan watched the clear a third time.

On screen, Finn reached the wall half a stride late. Rowan's stick angle forced the pass high but not out. The correction was already obvious.

He continued watching because work offered completion. The conversation waiting in the next room did not.

Ten minutes passed before Rowan closed the laptop.

By then the television was off.

Luca returned to the living room while Rowan opened it. The first clear. The failed second. Mateo in the box. Rowan watched the sequence once, then again.

When he looked up, Luca was standing near the door with his jacket on.

"You're leaving."