When Livia and Corvin showed up to play kickball together that night, Valerius and Camilla gave them confused looks.

“You came together?” Valerius asked.

Camilla joked, “Don’t you have a secret agreement not to talk to each other?”

Corvin and Livia exchanged a look, and she could see he was as undecided as she was about revealing their status.

“Liv needed a ride,” Corvin offered.

Everyone accepted this comment without question. Then proceeded to sort Livia and Corvin onto different teams like it was a personal favor to them. Livia’s shoulders slumped. She never imagined spending the afternoon separated from Corvin. This whole situation was her fault, but she wasn’t sure how to fix it. Livia worried that the TARP team would disbelieve or disapprove if they told them the truth. She didn’t want to make Corvin endure the disapproval of his friends.

He sent her a text. Want to tell them?

She texted back. What do you think?

Corvin: This is your call.

Livia: Let’s not shock them. Let’s show them we’re friends tonight and then tell them next time we’re together. Okay?

Corvin: Agreed.

Alexander had walked over and looked over her shoulder. “Hey, we’re going to play—” he stopped. He lifted his eyes to Corvin. Then back to Livia.

He was discreet for once in his life. He whispered, “Is there a problem with Corvin?”

“No, but we don’t hate each other,” Livia said.

Alexander found this comment way too interesting. “Ah. I can’t pretend I didn’t see….” He gestured to her phone with a jerk of his chin. He gave her a grin. “You have something to tell us?”

Livia smiled, taking a little pleasure in taunting him. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

She shoved her phone into her pocket and clapped her hands together. She shot Alexander a grin. “Let’s play.”

“So, you don’t hate, Corvin.”

“Nope.”

“That’s a new development,” he mused.

Livia frowned. “You all thought I hated him?”

Alexander tilted his head to the side, eyeing her. “Either that or you were in love with him.”

Livia tried not to show an expression, but she swallowed audibly. Alexander studied her, and she could feel the heat rise to her cheeks. A slow grin developed on his face.

“Blushing,” he teased. “Interesting.”

“Oh, shut up!” Livia snapped.

He let out a burst of laughter that had everyone’s eyes on them.

“Stop,” Livia hissed at him. Alexander always excelled in reading people. There were times it made her hate him. Like right now.

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” he said. Then he turned to start the game. “Let’s play, folks!”

Livia was on Alexander’s team, and they were in the field first. He invited her to be a shortstop, which ended up being a bad idea. Livia was pretty decent at catching a ball. She worried she’d hurt someone if she threw the ball back, though, so she’d never figured it out.

She opted to roll the ball back to Alexander, which irritated him the second time she did it.

“Liv, it’s faster to throw. Just throw,” he grumbled.

Thankfully, they got their third out before it became an issue again. Livia passed Corvin on the way in.

“Alexander knows,” she muttered.

Instead of being angry, Corvin laughed. “He would. Doesn’t miss anything.”

“So…” Livia made an uncertain motion with her hands.

“Roll with it,” he said and gave her a friendly rub on the shoulder as he went past. “It’s fine.”

Livia took her place in line and could feel Camilla, who was standing next to her, evaluating her.

“Things changed with Corvin,” she said.

“Yeah,” Livia answered.

“Alright,” she said. “Well, that’s nice. Corvin is a good friend.”

“Yes, he is,” Livia agreed.

“So, how’d it happen?” she asked.

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“Got to know him while we were at school together,” Livia answered.

She smiled. “So, any chance you might become more than friends?”

Livia didn’t know how to answer that without lying. All of Justin’s officers were body language experts, so there was a high chance she’d be called out. “Yes.”

Camilla looked shocked. “What?”

“Yes, I’d be more than friends with him,” Livia said.

Silvanus and Irene stopped their chat and looked at them. “Wait,” Irene hesitated. “Does Corvin know this?”

“Yes,” Livia answered. She stomped her feet and tried to pretend this wasn’t a big deal.

Silvanus laughed. “You’re dating!”

“You probably already knew that,” Livia muttered.

“Last I heard, you two were still friends.”

“We are still friends,” Livia insisted. “We didn’t magically stop being friends.”

“Hold up,” Camilla said. She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled to Corvin way out in the left field. “Are you and Livia dating?”

Corvin cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled back. “Yes.”

Alexander hooted and laughed. “Liv, you can’t keep a secret to save your life!”

“It wasn’t a secret,” she insisted. “We were trying to ease you into the idea so you weren’t all shocked.”

“I’m shocked,” Irene said. “You two are serious? You hated each other—”

“Nah,” Alexander said. “Liv was trying to hide it, and Corvin was being an idiot.”

“Well, she was good at hiding it,” Irene said.

Livia blushed. “You’re the only person that’s said that…except I know how to hide my feelings at work. It’s a life skill.”

“So, you saw them outside of work?” Irene asked Alexander.

“Nah, I worked more with Liv. Learned her tricks for hiding how she feels at work.”

Livia scowled at him. “More like you goaded me into lecturing you about professionalism once a week or so—”

Alexander laughed. “You take life way too seriously—”

“Life is serious,” Livia said furiously.

“Oh no,” Camilla inserted herself between them. “This is not the time for one of your philosophical fights. I am ecstatic. Congratulations, Liv!”

Livia looked at her, surprised. “You’re happy for me?”

“Yeah, I am,” Camilla said after covering her surprise at Livia’s response.

“I am too, kid,” Alexander said. “Congrats! I’m happy for you both.”

Livia tried to hide how much this meant to her. She looked off into the distance. “Thanks…”

“There she goes again. Trying to play it cool, but we’ve warmed her heart,” Alexander drawled.

“Congratulations, Livia,” Silvanus said. “I’m excited! It’s been so long…anyway. I wish you the best.” “Be good to him,” Alexander said. “He acts all serene, like you, but he’s pretty soft-hearted. Needs a little extra TLC when he gets down.”

“Noted,” Livia nodded.

Irene laughed. “She’s got it on her list, Alex. Like she’s taking Justin’s orders. I think…I like this. This could be…amazing.”

“Absolutely,” Silvanus said.

Livia looked at him, amazed. “You’re happy for us?”

He nodded. “Yeah, Liv.”

Livia heaved a sigh of relief. “Everyone…was so angry about Arik and I being together.”

Silvanus rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Caesareans have a hard time minding their own business over stuff like that. But you’ll find it easier this time. You and Corvin make sense in a lot of traditional ways.”

Cam shook her head. “They’ll be some that don’t like it, of course.”

“Yeah, I know,” Livia agreed. “I can’t do anything without someone complaining about it…but…it means a lot you guys approve.”

The team all reassured her that they approved of the match. It shouldn’t matter so much, but it helped Livia feel more at ease about the whole thing. Gaius had made her feel so anxious, but now a huge part of her fear eased.

When it was Livia’s turn to kick the ball, she was surprised at how fast the team got her huge kick in-field. Where she usually would have made a home run, she only got to second base. The thrill of the competition made her heart pound with excitement. It was nice to have a physical challenge. Three turns later, she had scored a goal right as Corvin’s team got their third out.

Alexander insisted Livia be shortstop again. She warned him she was better at catching than throwing. Still, he insisted that was why she needed to be closer in-field. Livia shrugged and accepted his reasoning.

When Livia rolled the ball back to him again, Alexander called a timeout. “Liv, serious, who taught you how to throw a ball?” he demanded.

She glared at him. “No one!” she yelled back. “No one ever taught me how to throw a ball!”

Alexander wasn’t cowed by her anger. “Then I will.”

Alexander showed her how to hold the ball against her chest and launch it outward with a thrust from the elbows. Livia held the ball against her chest. Though Alexander encouraged her, she couldn’t release the ball. She shook her head.

“Come on,” he coaxed. “You can do it.”

Livia took a deep breath and was going to do it even though it felt wrong. Then Corvin called out, “Wait, Livia!”

Livia froze and watched him jog over.

He came up beside her. “My uncle wrote this paper about Taurus, and he has this theory—”

Alexander threw his hands up in the air. “Corvin! It’s not rocket science,” he growled.

Corvin glared at him. “Chill, Alex, unless you want a ball to break your nose?”

Alexander folded his arms across his large chest and leveled a flat look at Corvin, but he muttered, “Continue….”

Corvin looked at Livia. “His theory is that Taurus have an internal gauge for how much damage certain actions can do. Because all the ER visits are from Aquila families…”

Alexander looked insulted. “That’s not true—”

“Unless,” Corvin glared at him. “There’s some kind of cognitive-depressing element involved—alcohol, that sort of thing—”

Corvin hesitated and looked at Alexander, giving him room to object again, but he didn’t. Instead, Alexander turned pensive.

Corvin turned his gaze back to Livia. “Anyway, most of them get strong aversions to doing things that can hurt people. Unless they’ve practiced enough to know how much force to use.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?” Livia asked.

“Well, maybe we need to lower the force behind the ball even more?” Corvin asked. “You can do the same pass with a wrist motion. You can’t put as much force behind the action that way—”

Corvin took the ball. “Alex, get ready!”

Alex unfolded his arms and got ready to catch the ball. Corvin snapped the ball to him with only his wrists. Alex caught it and snapped it back. The two men tossed back and forth a few times until Corvin caught the ball and handed it off to Livia. “Test it, Liv? How does it feel?”

Livia wiggled the ball using the motion of her wrists. To her surprise, her internal resistance eased. She turned to Alexander in surprise. “You ready?”

He took a stance.

Livia tossed the ball to him with a flick of her wrists. He caught it.

“Too hard?” Livia asked.

He shook his head. “Just right.”

“You sure?” she asked.

“It was a great pass, Liv. Let’s do it again,” he said.

They tossed back and forth until Livia’s cautiousness disappeared in a burst of excitement. “It works! I can throw the ball to you!”

Alexander laughed. “You Taurus,” he said with both irritation and affection.

“Great job, Liv!” Corvin said and rubbed her back quickly and then ran back to his place in line.

Livia shot a grateful look at his retreating back. Alexander rested the ball on his hip. “He’s a good dude, Liv.”

“Yeah,” she whispered. “He is.”

Alexander’s lips turned in a slow smile. “You ready to keep playing shortstop?”

“Yeah,” Livia agreed.

They played for another hour until the team started to complain about the cold. They called the game and headed home. Livia had happiness prickling up and down her skin. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so much or played so hard.