But as I watched him weave the flowers into shape, my heart fluttered, knowing he practiced making them just for me, even if he was pouting the whole way through.
And now that I knew he used to make flower crowns every year when he trained under Marshal Webber, my heart ached to see his rough hands deftly thread each delicate bloom into a perfect little circle.
“It’s done. What do you think?”
I fought back the tears stinging my eyes and placed the slightly lopsided crown gently on Lucas’s head and tilted mine with a grin.
He made a face like I’d deeply offended him.
“You didn’t say it was for me.”
His visage as he looked down at the flowers was every inch the stoic knight people knew him as. Or maybe the devoted disciple is still mourning his teacher.
But when he turned to me with a softer face than any of those people would ever have seen on him, I almost melted.
“He he. I just thought it’d suit you. It’s even better than I imagined. You look beautiful, Lukie. Like a flower spirit.” I reached up to adjust the crown and gently tucked his dark hair behind his ear, so his earring showed.
He let me fuss over him without complaint but had the kind of sour face you’d see on a kid being dressed up by his mom.
“That’s not a compliment,” he said.
“Then how about cute?”
“Still not a compliment. Not at all.”
His entire face said, “I hate this,” so I tilted my head again playfully.
“But if I told you that you looked handsome, you wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“Could you please stop putting flower crowns on me?!”
While I’d been trying to confine that exact line of praise to my head, when his ears turned red, my hopelessly smitten heart couldn’t stay quiet anymore.
“Oh, darling… Even with a flower crown, you’re the most handsome man in the world. And there isn’t a more wonderful man in the world than a knight who can make flower crowns.”
I cupped his cheek and beamed at him, pouring all my admiration into those words. As I smiled, I felt the warmth of his skin under my palm, and he gave me a serious look, like he was weighing something in his mind.
“Is this part of your ‘everything’ too, Cece?” He asked it like it was the most vital question in the world. So I gave him the answer he absolutely needed to hear, with everything I had.
“Of course it is.”
“I see. Then I guess there’s no helping it.”
He accepted it. Just as I was busy getting emotional thinking, Wow, my husband is so cute and sincere, he let out an exaggerated sigh, as if resigning himself to some fate.
That gorgeous face of his, dour and defeated under its crown of flowers, was so stunning I couldn’t help but stare, completely captivated.
“You’re really beautiful.”
The moment I whispered that in admiration, his vexed expression became suddenly sultry and dangerous, like someone had flipped a switch, and he leaned in so fast I had to press my hand to his chest to stop him.
He always bounces right back like this!
“Wait, what are you thinking, Lukie?”
“You’ve been admiring me this whole time. It’s not fair. I want my own Cece to admire, too.”
Okay, but why does he have to say it like that in such a sexy tone? I was just looking, and this man doesn’t know how to stop at a kiss!
“You can do that after we get home!”
“I want it now. I’ll be discreet.”
I was sitting in a dress, so it was hard to move. Even though I tried to push him away, his arm slipped around my waist and pulled me in like it was nothing, and then he just plopped a flower crown on my head.
“You really are the most beautiful in the world, my goddess. Please, grant your blessing to a humble man like me.”
He turned my face to the perfect angle for a kiss, all the while staring up at me with sparkling puppy dog eyes, and my arms lost all strength to protest.
“F-fine. But just this once, okay?”
“Yeah, just once.”
See?! This is his evil little tactic! He targets my weak, romantic heart right where it’s most vulnerable! Or maybe my self-control is just too fragile now…
Wait. Don’t tell me the self-control part of me has already quit?! Oh, no! What if she did? What if she actually left?!
I was panicking at the thought when I leaned in toward the hint of a smile on his lips. The second our mouths touched, that soft, warm feeling and the way his arms pulled me in made my heart skip a beat. I lifted myself up a little and pressed in even harder.
“Mm…”
And when I did that… When I kissed him like I was telling him I loved him, Lukie parted his lips just a little, coaxing me silently.
“More, my Cece.” He murmured those words like a spell, and they sank right into my body. I slipped my tongue into his mouth without thinking, and his own thick tongue curled around it, deep and full of heat. I gave in completely to the kiss.
“Mm, haah… Ohh…”
I didn’t know how long we were lost in that kiss, but when a chilly breeze blew past the space between our parted lips, I finally realized what I’d done.
And then the shame hit me like a lightning strike, and I jumped away from him like I’d been burned.
My rational side is gone! She’s gone! There were so many chances to stop, every time our lips broke apart, and I was the one who kept going back!
“Cece.”
I was so embarrassed, and yet it felt so good, and the happiness hurt because it was so overwhelming. If this man kissed me like that all the time, of course, I’d melt.
So I covered my wet lips with my hand and turned my face away from his feverish, golden eyes so he wouldn’t notice.
“Cece.”
“Th-that was, um, a special one-time kiss!”