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His yellow eyes flashed. “That’s good enough for me. What’s up?”

My mouth and throat grew even drier, nerves making me want to squirm. But I forced myself to look him in the eyes, to take in all the details of his handsome face. The delicate spikes framing his hairline, the sharp cheekbones, the firm mouth and flat nose. His yellow eyes were big and piercing, and his feathered ears were twitching gently. I cupped his face, running my thumbs along the pale blue splits across his cheeks, all the way to his earlobes. He shivered with sensitivity, claws biting into my hips.

“I…” Wetting my dry lips, I took a quick breath. “I care about you a lot. And I want… I don’t just want us to be… I want more with you. I want a proper… A real…”

I huffed in irritation at my lack of coherence, roughly rubbing my hot cheek with a wave of self-consciousness. But Nuni gently caught my wrist and lowered my hand, resting it on his chest. I could feel his twin hearts pounding faster than normal beneath my palm.

“I care about you too, Anita,” he said, voice husky. His face spikes twitched, then started flexing back and forth in a lazy wave.

My pulse leapt, warmth blooming in my chest. Clearing my throat, I croaked, “It’s more than just sex for me, Nuni.”

His yellow eyes brightened, before a radiant smile broke on his face. “It is for me too.”

I exhaled in relief, unable to stop myself from grinning back at him. “Okay. Good.”

“Yeah.” He slid his long arms around my waist, tugging me closer to his front. “So… okay then. We’re, like… officially a thing?”

I managed a shaky chuckle, the nerve-fuelled adrenaline morphing into pure exuberance. “Yes. Officially.”

“So maybe when the event’s over, we can actually, like, go out places?” he asked hopefully, making my chest ache.

“We can anyway.” I stroked his cheekbone with my thumb. “We’re not going to hide our relationship, Nuni.”

His brows twitched. “But what about—”

“I’ll tell Corva. I’m not going to hide you away.” I wanted him to know that he was more important.

Nuni hesitated. “I don’t mind, Anita. It’s only a couple more months. We can just wait—”

“No,” I said stubbornly. “It’s the principle. You’re more important. Yeah, I’m a little terrified of what she’ll say, and what she’ll think of me, but… if she fires me, I’ll find another job.” I shrugged, ignoring the stab of anxiety in my gut.

Nuni pursed his lips. “What about if I buy her out?”

I stared at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Why don’t I buy her business? Then I’m her boss.” He grinned at me, like he considered this to be a brilliant idea. “No way she’ll fire my girlfriend for being with the boss. And, I mean, the firm could make use of an event planning department…”

“Nuni.” I laughed incredulously, shaking my head. “Are you seriously offering to do a hostile takeover of my employer so she doesn’t get mad at me for being with you? That’s, like, the worst kind of nepotism.”

“It’s just a savvy business move.”

“It’s nepotism and you know it.”

He huffed, muttering, “It was just an idea, dude.”

I burst out laughing, leaning in to kiss his cheek. “I appreciate the offer, but no. Please don’t do that.”

“I could help you set up your own event planning—”

“No.” I chuckled, cupping his face again. “I don’t want my own business. At least not right now. I’m happy at Corva’s firm, and I’m…” I bobbed my head. “Eighty percent certain she won’t fire me.”

“If she fires you, I’ll pull out of the contract,” he said stubbornly. I raised a brow at him.

“That’ll cost you a lot of money.”

“I don’t care.” He gave me a firm kiss. “I’ll hire you as a contractor to organise the event. Or I’ll just start an event planning department at the firm anyway and hire you to oversee it—”

“We’re back to nepotism, Nuni.”