by Beth Abbott
Luke had stayed by her side all night, only letting her go so she could be dragged up to ‘crazy’ dance with the twins.
The only weirdness from anyone was Gary, the stalker bartender.
He’d kept asking her where she was going, making out that he wanted to get to the bottom of her ‘little secret’.
It wasn’t a secret. She didn’t actually know where she was going, as she hadn’t asked Luke where he lived yet.
But even if she’d had the postcode and GPS co-ordinates, no bloody way would she be giving them to that creep!
Ellen shuddered as she remembered how he’d hugged her before Luke had finally dragged her away. It was like being hugged by a snake, only with less warmth.
Uggh! Ellen shuddered again.
“Stop shaking the bed.” A deep voice rumbled from the middle of her shoulder-blades, as an arm wound around her waist.
“Why are you shivering?” Luke asked, lifting his head. “You’re warm as toast!”
He snuggled closer, his impressive erection tucked into the crack of her ass.
“Mmm.” Ellen wriggled closer still.
“I was just thinking about Gary, the barman, and how he hugged me goodbye. Uggh!” She couldn’t help the tremor that ran through her. “He gives me the creeps.”
“Yeah, well he’s history now.” Luke assured her. “You won’t ever have to see his ugly mug again.”
Ellen turned in his arms to face him. “Good. Cos the only ugly mug I want in my future is yours.”
“Yeah?” He grinned at her.
“Damn straight!” She laughed.
“I probably should take offense at that, but I won’t, cos the sentiment makes me so damn happy!” Luke kissed her gently.
“What time do we have to head out?” She asked, nibbling on his lower lips.
“Soon.” Luke said, looking over at the clock. “I arranged to meet Danny at my flat at eleven, so he could return the van to the London office of the hire company, and I could get my car delivered to the flat.”
“Oh, Ok.” Ellen couldn’t help be a little bit disappointed. Waking up to morning sex with Luke had become her new favourite thing.
“And if you’re good…” Luke continued. “We may still have time to fit in a few hours Christmas shopping before the shops close for the holidays.”
“Oh, my God!” Ellen sat up straight, pulling the duvet up to cover her breasts. “I haven’t got you anything! Or your parents!”
She’d left her presents for Suzy, Matt and Charlie before they’d said goodbye on Friday. She had gifts from them for her and Luke in her luggage, ready to open on Christmas day.
Luke smirked.
“So, we need to get going, right?”
“Hell, yeah!” She cried. “Christmas shopping in London. It’s been four years since I did that.”
She hopped out of bed, and ran into the bathroom for the quickest shower she’d had all week.
They were all packed before eight o’clock, and after popping the key to her flat in an envelope with her address on the front, she posted it through the letterbox of the letting agent. They would do the inspection on Monday, but Ellen knew the place was spotless, so getting her Bond back wouldn’t be a problem, even if she wouldn’t get it until after the New Year.
Thankfully, she hadn’t had too much stuff to take with her, so they’d only needed a small van. None of the furniture had been hers, so it was just kitchen, bathroom and bedroom stuff. Her ornaments and plants from the living room had taken a bit of organising in the van, but Luke had been so patient with her. He’d understood that her meagre possessions were important to her, and he’d shown them a lot of care.
He’d been especially careful with her photo albums, packing them in his duffel with his file on Casey’s death.
She’d known the symbolism of putting the two together. They were the most important things in her life and Luke’s life, and he was going to protect them, come what may.
Packed up and on the road, Ellen could feel her excitement rising.
“Tell me about your home. Where do you live?” She asked, finally summoning up some curiosity at where she was going to stay tonight.
“I have a flat near the West Kensington tube station.” He grinned.
Ellen’s eyes widened. “Flashy! And pricey!”
Luke shrugged.
“Our offices are near Earls Court, which is within easy walking distance. It’s a good location. Plus, my mother loves the tennis, so she comes into town and stays with me for a month in the summer, so she can take in as much of the Queen’s Club tournament and Wimbledon as she can get tickets for.” He grinned. “I get her and dad VIP tickets for a few days at each event for her birthday. She loves it!”
Ellen smiled at him. She might not know much about tennis, but she guessed that VIP tickets cost him a pretty penny.
“So, you’re good to your parents. You must be close.” She said quietly.
Luke nodded.
“We were all close.” He confirmed. “I didn’t even have my own place until I left the military three years ago. Up until then, Casey and I shared a flat above the garage that my parents had converted for us. We were hardly ever there at the same time, so it was plenty big enough for us.”
Ellen nodded. “Was that why you moved out? Because of Casey? Because he wasn’t there?”
Luke reached for her hand and squeezed gently.
“No, not the way you’re thinking.” He smiled at her. “Like I said, we were rarely there together, so there weren’t really any ghosts there, driving me away. In fact, we’ll stay there tomorrow night.”
“Yeah?” Ellen grinned.
“Sure.” He laughed. “In fact, I bet my mum has been around there today, making sure we hadn’t left any porn lingering anywhere.”
“Really!” Ellen exclaimed.
Luke laughed louder still.
“God, we were eighteen-year-old horny runts when we moved in there. Hell yeah, there was porn around! Magazines, films… Anything we could get our mucky hands on! You have to remember that teenage girls were a scarce commodity in our village. It was your hand or porn! Or your hand and porn! Either way worked.”
Ellen blushed. She’d never seen a porn film, and she didn’t think she wanted to. She glanced sideways at Luke, wondering if he’d ever compared her to one of the actresses….
“Nuh-uh, woman!” He smirked. “I know exactly where your mind just went, and no, I’ve never seen a porn star who turns me on the way you do. Are we clear?”
Ellen blushed even more. How the hell had he read her mind like that?
He tugged on her hand, insistent on a response.
“Are we clear?” He repeated.
“I guess.” She murmured into her chest.
After a few more seconds of silence, she looked back at him.
“So, is it true?” She paused, waiting to get Luke’s attention. Predictably he looked over at her.
She started again.
“Is it true that the men in porn films are hung like donkeys?” She finished innocently.
His indignant splutter had her in fits of giggles.
“Hung like donkeys?” Luke squeaked out, his voice almost an octave higher. “Really?”
“Hmm-hmm!” Ellen nodded her head, intent on winding him up further. “That’s what I’ve heard.”
“Yeah, well, you can un-hear it.” Luke spluttered. “Don’t think for one minute I’m letting you watch Casey’s porn stash, just so you can see guys hung like donkeys.”
“Now why would I want to do that?” Ellen asked in wide-eyed innocence. “When I’ve got my own horny burrito curled up in bed next to me?”
It took Luke a second to realise that she wasn’t referring to the Mexican food ‘burrito’, but had in fact called him her ‘little donkey’, burro being the Spanish word for donkey.
He wasn’t sure if he should feel insulted or complimented.
“Hmmm!” He grinned. “I’m not sure if I should
spank that smirk off your face or just fuck it off!”
Ellen’s grin told him she wasn’t shocked by his crudeness.
“Well, I’ll leave you to decide that by the time we’ve finished shopping!” She grinned back at him.
Luke decided that he would have to give that conundrum a lot of thought.
Chapter 36 - Ellen
By the time they’d reached Luke’s flat, it was almost eleven, and the traffic had been horrendous. Between shoppers looking for last minute gifts, and office workers trying to get away for the holidays, it had been a bloody nightmare.
Luke had sworn his way through the alphabet, before he finally turned into a small underground car park.
It was a small space, and although there were around eight fairly decent sized parking bays, all of them were full. Ellen couldn’t see the BMW anywhere, so presumably Danny still had it.
Luke double parked the van next to a sleek new Jaguar XF. Now, that’s a freaking car, Ellen thought! Classy!
Then, who was she to judge? She could barely afford bus fare most of the time!
As Luke jumped out and opened the back doors, she heard another man’s voice hail him from the entry ramp.
Danny jogged across to greet them.
“Hey guys.” He smiled at Ellen. “Is this everything?”
“Yep.” Ellen grinned. “This is all of it.”
“Well, Ok!” He grinned at Luke. “Let’s get the lady moved in.”
Ellen was about to protest that she wasn’t really moving in, but then decided that there wasn’t much point. She was moving in, albeit that it was probably only for a few days until they could get her father and relocate somewhere else until the trial.
Luke went to an elevator over in the corner. Instead of pushing a button, he inserted a key, and she watched the elevator doors open. He dropped a few boxes inside and came back for some more.
Afraid that the elevator would disappear with all her worldly goods, she hurried to carry more of her stuff over so she could stop the doors if they started to close.
“It’s Ok, Ellen.” Luke reassured her. “The elevator is on lockdown. It can’t go anywhere without us.”
She wasn’t totally convinced, but hurried back to the van anyway, deciding that the faster they emptied the van, the less chance there was that the elevator would whisk away everything she owned.
When everything was unloaded, Danny closed the van doors and stepped back.
“You need any help upstairs?” He asked Luke.
“Nah, man. Thanks, but we’re good.” Luke slapped Danny on the back.
“Ok, then.” Luke and Danny exchanged keys with a grin. “See you on Monday. Have a good Christmas!”
Danny turned and hugged Ellen, kissing her on the forehead.
“Have a good Christmas, honey.” He murmured into her hair before taking off.
“Shall we?” Luke grinned at her, pointing towards the elevator.
God! She’d forgotten about all her stuff!
Hurrying towards the elevator, she looked back impatiently as Luke took all the time in the world getting there.
Grinning as he pulled the keys out of the control panel, he got inside and reinserted them in another slot.
Ellen looked around for the buttons to push for their floor. There weren’t any.
Luke turned the key in the panel and the doors quietly closed. They moved up quickly, but with no floor indicator, she had no idea which floor they were on.
Within seconds the elevator had stopped, and the doors were opening. Ellen was amazed to find that she was actually looking at the inside of an apartment. A very, very nice apartment.
Luke turned the key again, and started sliding her boxes into the hallway. Once they were all out, he took the key from the inside and again put it in an outside key panel. Turning it to the right, the door slid shut again.
“You have your own elevator!” Ellen breathed.
“Yup!” Luke chuckled. He crossed a hallway, and opened a door.
“You can put your bags with clothes and stuff in my bedroom. There’s plenty of wardrobe and drawer space. Anything you don’t need immediately, we can put in here until you know what you want to do with it.”
Ellen helped him move the boxes into the walk-in closet, and then she picked up one of the clothes bags while Luke picked up three, plus his duffel bag, and she followed him up some stairs and into a bedroom.
Obviously the master bedroom, it was enormous. A massive bed sat against the far side wall, with dark oak bedside tables and drawer sets dotted around. Two doors sat on another wall, both open, one revealing a luxury bathroom, the other another walk-in wardrobe.
Ellen was staggered. She could fit her whole flat into this space.
When she finally turned back to Luke, she could see him staring at her curiously, waiting to see how she would respond.
She could see that he was actually blushing.
Was he embarrassed at the differences in how they’d lived? Her poverty versus his obvious affluence?
“Rent or mortgage?” Please say rent, please say rent, she pleaded in her mind.
“What?” Luke tilted his head before realising what she meant.
“Come here.” Luke took her hand and led her to the bed. She had to hoist herself up onto it, just to sit next to him.
“Well?” She asked, almost whispering.
Luke blew out a breath.
“Casey and I were left a trust fund by our grandparents when they died.” He explained. “A pretty big one, as it happened.”
Ellen looked around the room again.
“We bought this building jointly while we were in the military, as an investment. We renovated it, with the help of some pretty good contractors, and have rented out the lower floors for the last few years. This floor was the last to be done, and was almost complete when Casey was killed. Casey left everything to me, as I would have done with him had the positions been reversed. Rather than rent it out and look for somewhere myself, I decided I’d keep it. It has great views, is perfectly located for work, and has top notch security.”
Ellen nodded.
“Oh, my God!” She screamed in her head. “He’s a freaking gazillionaire!”
She didn’t say anything, just looked around the room again. When she caught sight of the bathroom, she nodded towards it.
“May I?” She asked Luke.
“Sure.” He smiled at her. “Make yourself at home. I’ll just throw the stuff from my duffel into the washer, and we can head out. If we don’t go out soon, we’ll miss all the shops.”
Ellen nodded, and went into the bathroom, softly clicking the door shut behind her.
When she was sure he wasn’t going to follow her in, she slumped to the floor. This was too much!
If she’d ever believed herself to be a match for him, that thought was well and truly gone.
He was a physical God. A hero! And now he was rich as Croesus!
A sob broke free from her before she even realised that there were tears pouring down her face.
Was there a more mis-matched couple on the planet?
Ellen knew now that she wouldn’t be unpacking the rest of her boxes. Whatever happened with her father, there was no way she would ever be living here.
Luke should be dating super-models. Actresses maybe! Women must be throwing themselves at him all the time. In London, he’d have his pick of the best of them.
No way on earth should he be saddled with a mousy little nobody like her. Even with the new clothes that she’d bought to come down to London, she still blended into the wallpaper. She’d gotten so accomplished at being invisible, she might as well be just that.
She didn’t hear the quiet tap on the door, and she was still sobbing quietly into her hands when Luke entered.
“Hey.” He said quietly, seeing her distress.
Luke sat on the floor next to her, gathering her tightly in his arms.
“It’s all going to be Ok.” He soothed her. �
�We’ll find your dad on Monday, and get you both ready for your new lives. Everything will be fine.”
Ellen hiccupped. Her new life… Without Luke!
He wasn’t saying the words, but then he didn’t need to. It was obvious.
Ellen shook herself. It was no good worrying about what would come after Luke. She had two more days to enjoy being with him, so she just had to thank God for every second she’d get to spend with him.
“I know.” She tried to smile. “It all got a bit too much there for a minute. I’m fine now.”
She hugged him back.
“Are you sure?” He looked down into her eyes, worriedly.
“I’m sure.” She kissed his lips softly. “Now if I’m not mistaken, I was promised an afternoon shopping.”
Luke smiled at her. “As my lady wishes!”
Chapter 37 - Luke
Luke awoke on Christmas morning, and for the first time in more years than he could remember, he felt excitement.
He and Ellen had spent hours shopping yesterday, and while they only came back with a handful of bags, she’d seemed really happy to have found gifts for him, his mum and his dad.
She’d bought his father a nice bottle of Port, which Luke had assured her would be well appreciated. For his mother, she’d seen a photo-frame that you could put a memory card in and it would show all the photos on the card on an ever-changing loop.
They’d spent hours last night going through all the photos he’d had on his phone and laptop, picking ones Luke thought she might like.
Some of them were quite old, of Casey and Luke as teenagers on family outings. His dad had taken photos of everything they’d done when they were kids, and Luke had made sure he had copies of his favourites when he’d left home.
Ellen had teased him mercilessly about the snaps of the two boys learning to surf in Cornwall. They’d been about twelve, all long hair, skinny limbs, and the most God-awful lime green Speedo’s.
Absolutely no way was he putting those ones in the loop!
When it came to gifts for each other, they’d headed inside one of the department stores, and split up. Ellen had set a £200 spending limit, and while Luke had no intention of sticking to it, he hadn’t intended to go too over the top, no matter how much he wanted to. Ellen would be upset if he did, and he knew there was no way she’d take any of his money, so he had to respect that she was already spending a lot more than she could really afford on him.