Kit would be charmed--humbled, maybe--to know that's how Vandelin sees him, as a man for whom honesty comes easily and is second nature. In truth he hides in plain sight, and is still hiding; the secret he can't bear to share with Vandelin isn't one he's going to come clean about anytime soon. That secret isn't the only reason that this tender honesty is so hard, so terrifying to commit to, but it's definitely a large part of it.

"I'd have come back anytime, you know." Those words, the soft kiss against the corner of his mouth--Kit closes his eyes and turns his face to return that kiss warmly; already he can feel his body responding to their intimacy, and finds himself unexpectedly self-conscious in the face of it.