by Harlow Layne
Shaking his head, he looked around the restaurant. “Never been here in my life, but I asked around and it’s one of the nicest restaurants in New York. It was never my intention to make you uncomfortable. Like I said before if you want we can leave and eat elsewhere if that would be better.”
“No, I’m sorry. I’m being ungrateful. The prices took me off guard and I thought that if this is the type of place you usually eat at then…” To stop myself from finishing, I pressed my lips together.
“Then what?” Luke questioned, leaning forward in his chair, elbows on the table.
Luckily, I didn’t have to answer. I was saved by a waiter who’d come to take our drink order. I was tempted to only order water, but one look from Luke had me ordering a cocktail. From then on, I decided to not look at the prices and find me something that sounded good and hopefully plentiful.
“What are you thinking about ordering?”
“I’m not sure. When I saw all the food on the tables, I thought I’d have a hard time narrowing it down because everything looked so good, but after looking through the menu there are a lot of things that I don’t eat.”
“Really? You never said you have food allergies.” Luke glanced at the menu, his brows furrowed, as if there would be a clue on it as to what he thought I was allergic to.
“I’m not allergic to any foods that I know of, but I have a thing about not eating any animals that are cute.”
“You don’t eat animals that are cute?” he laughed. “Let me see if I can guess what you won’t eat.” A silly smile tipped his lips as he glanced over the menu again. “You do know that you’re cutting out all the best foods the restaurant has to offer, right?”
“I wouldn’t know because I’ve never tried any of them. I know it sounds crazy, but I hate the idea of eating cute little animals.”
“Are you sure you’re not a vegetarian?”
“Positive. I thought you were going to guess,” I joked.
“Okay, tell me if I get one wrong. Rabbit, lamb, and veal. Did I miss any?”
“Only one that I noticed. The duck. I don’t eat sausage because I don’t like it. Although there are some cute pigs.”
Luke rubbed his eyebrow before tapping the tip of his finger against his lip. “Do you eat regular cows?”
“Do I eat regular cows? I’m not sure what a regular cow is, but I do eat them.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Although I do think they’re cute with those big eyes, but I was already eating them before I had a chance to form an opinion on what I would and wouldn’t eat.”
“So, if you had tried any of the animals that you won’t eat before you, might eat them now?” Luke asked with raised brows.
“Possibly, but we’ll never know. Although now that I think about it, when I was a child I had rabbit and I remember liking it, but I haven’t eaten it since I was a small child.”
“Oh, Alex,” Luke laughed until tears shone in his eyes. “This is why I like you so much. I never know what you’re going to say.”
We ordered, and I tried to ignore that Luke was going to eat lamb in front of me. When our drinks came, we sipped them leisurely until our food came.
“Is it going to bother you that I’m eating lamb?”
“No, I’ve been around others when they’ve had it. I don’t expect others to follow my belief. It’s not really a belief, but it is what it is.”
Luke nodded as he sipped his beer.
Dinner was easy, we ate, drank and talked just as we had done on the phone since we met. What I didn’t do was let on how I pretended that we were on a date and not a friendly dinner for his birthday. Once the weekend was over, I would have to figure out how I was going to stay friends with Luke while I was falling for him.
Luke told me more about his two brothers, Liam and Leo, and his sister, Stella. They were all extremely close, and it was easy to see how much he missed his family, especially on his birthday. His youngest brother, Leo, was still in college and his other brother Liam, was in England filming a TV series. He showed me pictures of the last time they were all together, making me wish I had a family for both me and Mason.
“Is there somewhere I can take you for a piece of birthday cake? Everyone should have cake on their birthday.” It seemed wrong that he was taking me out to an expensive dinner on his birthday. I wanted to try to make his birthday a little special even if it was by a little piece of cake.
“Maybe we’ll find a place for dessert as we walk Times Square. You don’t want to miss it at night.” He answered with warm eyes and a lopsided smile.
We walked down the sidewalk with Luke a few feet behind me. At first, I felt silly walking down the busy sidewalk in a flashy gold mini-dress by myself, but it didn’t take me long to get lost in the lights and atmosphere of New York. It was everything I thought it would be and more. Sharing it with Luke would always make it special even if we had to do it with a few feet between us.
I was sure I looked like an idiot with my mouth parted and my headed slightly tilted back so that I wouldn’t miss anything.
As luck would have it, the heel of my shoe got caught in a crack causing me to almost land on my face. My arms scrambled out to catch me, but instead Luke’s strong arms wrapped around me before setting me back to rights. I was embarrassed for almost falling and the attention we seemed to be drawing. Looking to my right, I saw we were right in front of a little cafe that served coffee and pastries. Without thinking, I dragged Luke inside with me and up to the counter.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he took me in from tip to toe. “I don’t know how you walk in those shoes.”
“Believe me I don’t know either. It must be the magic of New York. The last time I wore heels was almost a year ago, and it was a struggle. Now,” I said moving closer to him so that he could hear me as I whispered. “What would you like for your birthday cake? Do you think they have a candle we could buy?” My hand patted him on his firm chest. “It’s my treat, birthday boy.”
Stepping back, I waited for him to choose. Luke looked like a kid in a candy store as he perused the two display cases in front of us. Everything from the oatmeal raisin cookies to the dark chocolate five-layer cake looked amazing. It might have had something to do with the fact that dinner wasn’t the most filling after not eating for most of the day and I was ready to fill my stomach with flour and sugar.
“Are you going to get something? Maybe we can share because I can’t decide.” Luke eyed the desserts hungrily as if he hadn’t had one in years.
Taking matters into my own hands, I pointed to the five-layer cake, a couple of different types of brownies (my favorite), about five different cookies, and some sort of cherry tart. I’d paid close attention to Luke as his eyes kept going back to some of the desserts more than once.
“Are you ready to head back to the hotel?” he asked as he took the bags of goodies from me, phone in hand.
It was more than obvious that Luke was ready to be back at the hotel and I couldn’t blame him. It had been a long day for the both of us. Still, I was disappointed that my time with Luke would be over once the desserts were consumed.
The bright side to heading back to the hotel was that I’d be able to talk to Luke instead of acting like I had no clue who he was. I’d never realized how lonely the life of a celebrity could be if you wanted your life to be private.
Luke had been stopped twice for a selfie with a couple of women who’d stopped and asked, and I saw quite a few people with their phones out to take his picture as they watched him walk down the busy sidewalk. It was a good thing the windows of the town car were tinted otherwise he probably would have made me take a separate car.
Again, we were quiet as we made our way toward our hotel. I felt like a kid with her face plastered to the window as I took in everything that went by. It was exciting to see the city, but at the same time a little disappointing when I couldn't point and talk to Luke about what I’d seen. I might as well have been by myself at least, then it wouldn't have
been as depressing.
When we stepped into the elevator, Luke hit the button to his floor before wrapping his arm around my shoulders. When I glanced up at him, Luke’s face mirrored what I’d been feeling. His eyes were sad with disappointment shining in them. He’d felt as alone as I had out there on the street.
“I'm sorry. I didn't think this through. What's the point of you being here if I have to act as if I've never seen you before? We'll regroup tomorrow and figure out how to enjoy your time here without the paparazzi intruding. There's so much I want to show you.” He paused, looking down at his shoes. “Did you go through the pamphlets left in your room?”
“Luke,” I said, turning so that we would be face to face. “Take a deep breath and slow down. Don't worry about tonight. Let's enjoy the rest of your birthday with all these yummy desserts.”
The elevator pinged on the thirty-eighth floor. One down from the top. Now that I was so close to being able to take off my shoes, I would admit they were not the shoes to walk any amount of distance in. I had little doubt it wouldn't matter if it was the hundredth or second time I’d worn them. My feet were not made to wear heels unless I could sit there and look pretty.
Luke hung his head as he held the door open and we walked into his room, “I feel like I let you down.”
“You didn't let me down,” I replied from beside the door where I promptly took off the offending heels. “Times Square was a small portion of our night. Yes,” I continued as I started to put all our desserts on the table. I hoped he didn't mind, but I was ready to get as comfortable as I could in this dress. “It would have been nice to talk to you and walk by you, but I do understand.”
Once Luke sat beside me and took a good look at all the sugar that was on the table, he seemed to have forgotten everything, but what was right in front of him. He still couldn't choose.
“Why don't we split everything in two except for the cake and share. Whatever I don't eat you can have.”
His head whipped toward me with a huge, lopsided grin. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. Are you still hungry from dinner? The last time I saw that look on someone's face was on Mason last year on Halloween. We’d gone to every house in our neighborhood before he then went trick-or-treating in his grandparent’s neighborhood. His bag was so heavy he could barely carry it and when all his candy was spread out all over our dining room table, he looked like you right now.”
“I'm that bad?” Luke asked with a laugh and I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw his cheeks pink up before he leaned forward and scooped up the container with the cake in it.
“A little,” I admitted. “I didn't eat lunch and although dinner was the best meal I've ever had, it wasn't enough.”
“I limit my sugar,” he said quickly before placing a giant bite of cake in his mouth and chewing. “I can't gain any weight for my role as Nikolai on Night Shadows. None of us can. It's in our contracts and it can be torture sometimes. I generally eat pretty healthy but abstaining from sugar is almost as bad as not having any sex.”
A piece of cookie flew out of my mouth as I choked and coughed on his answer. I’d not been expecting that.
“Sorry,” Luke said, but it was obvious he didn’t mean it since he was silently shaking with laughter. After giving my back a couple of hard pats, he sat back and started eating his cake again without another word.
“It’s okay. I wasn’t expecting our conversation to go there when we were talking about desserts. I have to say, I wouldn’t really know because I went without sex for over two years and before that…”
“Yeah, you said it wasn’t good. What kind of man doesn’t at least finish off his woman?”
“Ones that are all about themselves. When was the last time you had sex?” I asked as if the answer made no difference to me at all.
“It had been about a month before the last time I saw Sophia, so it’s been almost two years.”
“No, one-night stands or little flings for you since then?” I was shocked because Luke could have any woman he wanted, and if he wanted to get laid there would be women lined up around the block.
He shook his head as he chewed his last bite of cake. Luke’s eyes were already eyeing the rest of the sweet treats lined up in front of us.
“Been there, done that and it’s not worth it. Now that I’m older I want to find a woman to love, who’ll love me for me and not my status, someone to have a family with. I’m not going to find that fucking a different woman every night.”
I wanted to raise my hand in the air and yell, “Me! Pick me! I’ll take the job!” Instead, I continued to eat my half of a salted caramel brownie.
“Do you want to find love again?” Luke asked from his corner of the couch.
“Do I want to? Yes, but I don’t know if it’s in the stars for me.”
“I think it is. You were just looking in all the wrong places.”
Luke leaned into me and gently tucked a few loose strands of hair behind my ear as if he’d been doing it all his life. It was so natural for him to do it.
“What’s with the look?” he asked puzzled once he sat back eying me.
“It’s going to sound stupid and girly,” I responded, heat touched my cheeks and burned the tip of my ears.
“Whatever it is isn’t stupid. You can tell me.”
That was the wonderful thing about Luke, I knew I could tell him what I had been thinking and he wouldn’t ridicule me like Decker always had.
“No one’s ever done that to me before and I swear that in almost every romance book I’ve read the hero in the story tucks the heroine’s hair behind her ear. I always thought it was kind of silly until now.”
“How do you feel now?” he asked softly with an unknown emotion in his voice.
Taking in a deep breath, I slowly let in out while closing my eyes to gather my strength. I could do this. I could tell Luke, who’d become a good friend and who I trusted with what I was feeling and not mess up what we had. Right?
Opening my eyes, I took in the man in, before me. By the look in his eyes I could tell that he genuinely cared what I thought and how I was feeling.
“It felt wonderful. In that small moment, I felt cherished, safe and…”
“What?” Luke voice came out lower than ever with a sexy husky mix.
“Beautiful,” I whispered before looking away. Had I messed up what we had between us? I hadn’t planned on telling Luke my feelings tonight. I wanted to visit my friend for his birthday because he’d become to mean so much to me and I wanted him to have a friend to celebrate with since he was on location and hadn’t formed a tight bond with anyone here. It had nothing to do with a lost bet that he’d rigged to win.
“Alex,” Luke said moving closer to me on the couch until our knees brushed and I felt the heat of his body start to seep into me. “I wish you could see yourself the way I and the rest of the world see you. Your ex-husband really did a number on you, messing with your head.” Cupping my face with his large, warm hand, Luke smiled, and lit up the room with it. Once again, he was giving me something so simple and yet so complex that I’d never had. “You. Are. Beautiful. Don’t ever doubt it again.” He punctuated each word with a sharp head nod.
“I’ll try,” I murmured as his thumb stroked my cheek. “You’re going to have to stop doing that. Stop giving me these firsts.”
“More firsts? I’m honored. What else did I unknowingly do?” I couldn’t deny him, or his voice that made me want to tell him all my secrets, and I’d told him just about everything these past couple months because of that soothing voice with the slight accent and how easy it was to talk to him.
“Cupping my cheek and stroking it.” I would have looked away if he hadn’t been holding me in place. “I’m pathetic.”
“You’re not pathetic. You fell for the wrong guy and he took his unhappiness out on you. I hate what you went through and that he didn’t treat you right, but I’m happy that I can give you these firsts. Now, why do you want me to st
op?” His voice was deeper, more gravelly than ever, burrowing deep inside me as I took him in.
“You’re making me feel things that I shouldn’t feel and I’m afraid that if you keep doing all these things that are so sweet and romantic I’m not going to be able to handle what I’m feeling.”
Luke moved closer until his chest brushed against my shoulder. There wasn’t any place else for him to go on that couch, but in my lap and that would have been awkward. Although I wouldn’t have cared. For only a tiny moment, I thought his eyes dropped down to my mouth as I bit my bottom lip with nervous energy.
“How are you feeling?”
I took the cowardly way out and answered. “I like you.”
“I like you too,” he replied back with a sly smile.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m sorry. Maybe I should go back to my room.”
I tried to get up, but the hand Luke still had against my cheek moved around to the back of my head to cup my neck, keeping me in place.
“Don’t run. Stay and talk to me. Please,” Luke implored, his blue-green eyes holding me hostage.
“I’m scared. I don’t want to ruin what we have. You’ve become important to me and I don’t want to lose you.”
His hand, somehow without me even feeling or knowing it happened, was back to cupping my cheek, his thumb caressed me as he spoke. “You’ll never lose me, and do you want to know how I know this?”
“Yes,” I answered quickly. My head nodded in an almost frantic manner.
“When I met you, I had an immediate pull toward you and I think you felt the same.”
Yes, I did, but I thought it was just me.
“Did you ever wonder why, out of all the people at that table, I sat down by you? As you’ve come to learn, I’m a very private person and I definitely don’t hand out my phone number to just anyone I meet. I wasn’t sure how you’d fit into my life, but I knew that I wanted to get to know you and I’d have time to figure the rest out later. Right here, right now, is later and we’ve gotten to know each other over our emails and phone calls where you probably know me better than almost anyone. I wasn’t sure what would become of us when you said you were going to come visit me, but the instant I saw you, I knew what I wanted.”