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Luca rubbed the back of his neck. "Well⁠—"

"I've never seen any artwork,” she said.

"Because he hides it,” Luca admitted.

Her jaw dropped. "Soren hides his drawings?"

Luca sighed dramatically. "I am absolutely getting yelled at later for this."

She couldn't stop smiling. "What does he draw?"

"He used to draw landscapes, but since you got here, he draws you."

Her heart skipped. "Me?"

"I don’t think he realizes that's what he's doing,” Luca said, looking at the fountain. "He'll be reading reports during a meeting. Then suddenly—” He mimed writing. “He starts sketching."

"What does he draw, exactly?” she asked.

"Your smile,” he whispered. “The way you tuck your hair behind your ear."

Lily's mouth slowly fell open. "He—” She couldn't finish the sentence.

"He throws every page away afterward." Something inside her cracked wide open. Soren had asked her not to hide her artwork, all while hiding his own.

Luca’s cell buzzed in his jacket, and he pulled it out to look at it. “Shit, I’ve got to go. Are you good here?” he asked.

She shyly nodded and watched as he walked back into the kitchen. Lily wasn’t sure if she’d be able to process the fact that Soren was thinking about her as much as she thought about him. But sooner or later, she was going to have to admit that she was falling for him, and hopefully, he’d admit to feeling the same way about her.

She spent the next hour unable to focus on anything except Soren. He noticed when she skipped meals and remembered how she took her coffee. He made her tea in the middle of the night. And now, she knew that he secretly sketched her during meetings.

She laughed quietly to herself. "The hypocrite."

"You talking to yourself again?" Maria appeared carrying a basket of freshly cut flowers.

"I'm thinking,” she said.

Maria arranged flowers around the courtyard while watching Lily from the corner of her eye. “Have you figured out that you love him yet?”

Lily's pencil stopped moving. "What?"

Maria didn't look up. "You heard me."

Lily stared at the older woman. "No."

"No, you didn’t hear me, or no, you don’t love him?” Maria asked.

"I—” She looked down at her sketchbook. Every page she'd drawn over the last week seemed to prove Maria right. They were sketches of Soren reading, drinking coffee, standing in the garden, and even smiling—well, almost smiling.

"I don't know,” she admitted.

Maria sat beside her. "You’re overthinking things.”

She swallowed. "I'm terrified, if I’m being honest.”

Maria nodded. "Of him?"

Lily shook her head. "No."