Be Mine

by Cate, Isobelle

  The man took his wife's hand to help her sit. He grimaced in discomfort when he couldn't bend down, but satisfied that his wife was comfortable he slowly straightened up. He turned to face Gracie and Luke, smiling at them, his eyes twinkling across the expanse of the garden between them. He went to one of the rose bushes that dotted the area, the one that still had fuchsia red blooms. Reaching out, he broke a stem, wincing before putting his finger slowly into his mouth. The other stems moved, brushing and scraping against his weathered hand, unwilling to give up one of their sisters. Finally, the rose was free, the bush settling in defeat.

  The man straightened his coat before returning to his wife. She looked at the flower, and then looked up at the man, love clearly shining in her eyes. A love undimmed by age.

  Gracie stifled a gasp with her hand, eyes tearing up when the man slowly bent down, holding on to the seat before kneeling on one knee. Emotion clogged her throat, her heart swelling at the purity of the man's act.

  "Be mine," the man said.

  And when the woman leaned down to kiss him on the mouth, Gracie felt a tear slide down her cheek.

  "Granddad! Grandma!"

  Both Gracie and Luke saw a handsome young man by the garden's entrance walk towards the couple. "We've been looking all over for the both of you."

  "I was proposing to Maddie, here," the man replied, his voice gruff. "She was about to say yes."

  "I already said yes," the woman replied, her voice lilting. "I kissed you. I'm yours."

  The grandson grinned while shaking his head. "C'mon, you two. The Reverend is waiting. Time for you to get married again."

  "We already did."

  "Yes, Granddad, I know," the young man said with affection. "But you don't want the guests waiting or allow them to finish the Guinness, now. Would you?"

  "Maddie, we better go. That’s my Guinness." The man grunted to stand, relieved when his grandson helped him up.

  Luke chuckled beside her. When they were alone, a comfortable silence descended on them.

  "There aren't many marriages like that now," Gracie ventured before drinking more coffee.

  Luke glanced at her, his mouth lifting to one side, his eyes unreadable. "We don't live in that generation."

  "No, we don't," Gracie murmured, both of them lost in their own thoughts until their phones rang.

  "Hello?"

  "Gracie, where are you?" Noreen's voice was shrill over the speakerphone.

  Gracie watched Luke stand, his phone slightly away from his ear at the screech of a woman's voice.

  "I'm at the manor," Gracie replied. "Taking my break."

  "Uh huh. That's fine. But you know...that woman who flung herself at your Mister Handsome?

  "He's not my Mister Handsome!"

  "Yeah, whatever. Well, she's all over the place here, Gracie. She's already cracked a few and broken a couple of the ceramic items we're selling, and I'm close to losing it!"

  Gracie stood up. "I'll be right there." She ended the call and stormed towards Luke. "What the hell is wrong with your girlfriend?"

  "Who's that?" Cilla's asked through Luke's phone. "You're with that bitch!"

  That's it! Gracie fumed, the anger slowly rising from her gut to spill over her chest. Leaving the mug on one of the seats and tossing a pound coin for the mug, she left the garden to make her way out of the Manor, not waiting for Luke and uncaring at seeing his thunderous face. She half walked and partly ran the distance to the fair before stopping abruptly. A loose crowd had gathered around the booth, bits of broken ceramic strewn across the ground. Noreen was behind the table, her body stiff, hands clenched at the sides and waves of fury flowing out of her. Cilla was being held back by two of the grounds' security, being dragged no doubt to the office.

  “Take your bloody hands off me!” she screeched at the security detail that seemed to have lost their hearing.

  Noreen closed her eyes and jerked when Gracie touched her arm. She gave her friend a tight smile.

  "Sorry, Gracie, I didn't mean to snap at you." Her shoulders slumped as the anger rolled off her.

  "No big deal." Gracie paused. "I'm sorry too."

  They surveyed the pottery on the table, the plates scattered about. Several dessert bowls belonging to different sets were either chipped or cracked.

  "We won't be able to sell these now unless we replace the damaged ones. The next fair will be next month." Noreen took one of the chipped bowls to inspect it.

  Gracie started picking up the shards from the ground. She thanked a few of the bystanders who handed her some of the pieces and dumped them into one of the empty crates inside the booth.

  "I'll buy the lot and pay for the damages. Put it on my card." Luke cut through the fairgrounds, handing Noreen his card which he fished out of his wallet. "Would a thousand be enough?"

  Noreen's eyes bulged. "Whoa! Hold on!"

  "You don't have to," Gracie blurted at the same time. "Go tend to your girlfriend, weekender, or whatever the hell you call your flavour of the moment."

  "Noreen...it's Noreen, isn't it?" Luke ignored Gracie's outburst. "I'm sorry this happened, but Cilla isn't my girlfriend. I have told Mrs. Sinclair, but she won't believe me. You do believe me, don't you?"

  "Frankly, mister whoever you are, I don't. The way that woman was all over you, you'd think you were a pole inside a strip club."

  Gracie bit the inside of her mouth at Noreen's sassy reply. Luke raked his hand through his hair, shaking his head, his grin both amused and frustrated. "Just charge a thousand on my card and I'll leave you both alone. I'll be back." He flung his card on the table before talking on his phone. "Slater!" Luke moved away from them, but Gracie could still hear what he was saying. "...I want an injunction against Cilla. I don't want her within a million mile radius. I don't give a fuck if you have to drag the judge's arse out of his bloody house!"

  Noreen gasped, pulling Gracie's coat sleeve to get her attention. "Gracie." She showed Luke's card to her friend. "This card belongs to Luke Bryce." Realization dawned on her. "Holy shit! Now I know why he looked familiar. Your Mister Handsome is Luke Bryce!"

  "Keep at it and it'll sound like a mantra," Gracie grumbled, busying herself fixing the wares that weren't damaged.

  "You're seeing him."

  Gracie scowled. "I'm not seeing him."

  "But he was the one who came to your house last Monday."

  "He's a client, Noreen."

  "Since when do clients follow people working for them home?"

  "Just run his card through, okay?" Gracie sighed as she continued to return the cracked ceramics into the crates.

  Noreen reluctantly did as she was told. "You owe me big time, Gracie. I want every juicy detail."

  "Sorry, nothing happened, so no juicy details."

  "Apart from Mister Bryce, now I don't believe you either."

  "Noreen!"

  "He needs to enter in his pin."

  "Go to him. I'll man the stall."

  "No need," Noreen said, her eyes gleaming with interest. "He's coming back."

  Gracie felt Luke's stare while Noreen asked him to provide his pin. Her heart began to hammer inside her chest.

  "I told you to take a thousand." Luke's voice mirrored his annoyance. "This is just two hundred fifty."

  "That's enough to cover the damage." Noreen shrugged, unfazed by his creased forehead. "I don't feel right getting more."

  Gracie noticed the myriad of emotions that flew through Luke's face. For some reason, her heart went out to him. Had everyone Luke met taken advantage of him? It didn't seem that honesty and sincerity visited him often.

  "Okay," he said, sounding unsure. "If that's enough."

  "It is." Noreen gave him an assessing look. "Thank you, Mr. Bryce."

  "Call me Luke."

  The start of a beautiful smile broke over Noreen's mouth. "Luke." She handed back his card to him.

  And Gracie felt something green claw inside her.

  Crap.

  "Now why is it
so easy for you to say my name? Mrs. Sinclair finds it hard to do so." Luke's blue eyes crinkled in mocking amusement.

  Noreen locked her hip, her hand on her waist, and waved the card terminal from Gracie to Luke. "You two call each other by your surnames?"

  "She does, I don't."

  "But—" Noreen looked confused.

  "Only today, Noreen," Luke interrupted. "I keep telling your friend to call me by my first name."

  Noreen arched her eyebrow at her friend.

  "I call him by his first name," Gracie defended.

  "Yes, you do." Luke's voice was low. "Especially when you're about to—"

  "Okaayyy...Noreen, I think we should continue packing up," Gracie butted in, pulling her friend deeper into the booth.

  "When you're about to what, girlfriend?" Noreen teased in a whisper. "No juicy details, huh."

  "Shush!" Her cheeks were aflame.

  Noreen snorted. "That look on your face tells me all."

  "Can we concentrate on packing?" Gracie flushed more. "I need to get home to Flynn."

  "You can go now if you want. I don't mind fixing up here."

  Gracie looked at her friend askance. "And how do you expect me to get home?"

  Noreen turned to Luke. "You don't mind taking Gracie home, do you?"

  "What are you doing?" Gracie grabbed her friend's arm.

  "I'm asking Luke to take you home," Noreen said before looking around the booth. "There's still a lot that needs doing, and I have to talk with the fair organizer to find out when the next one will be. You won't be able to get home right away."

  "I don't mind taking you home, Mrs. Sinclair," Luke said smoothly. "I'm on my way back to Manchester anyway."

  "There you go," Noreen said, her face brooking no argument. Gracie glared at her. She looked at her with innocence. "Look, honey, Flynn needs you. Go home ahead."

  Gracie worried her lower lip. It was over an hour's drive back to Manchester. She would be with Luke in the car.

  An enclosed space. At close proximity with someone in a vehicle that hummed with power. With the engine purring under her seat thrumming through her body, an extension of him.

  She was so screwed. Then again, maybe it was just her imagination. Yeah right.

  She had no alternative but to go with Luke. She also wanted to be with Flynn. He was so understanding the night before when she said he would have to stay with Nana for the day. He jumped up and down his bed saying he'd have more cookies if he stayed in Nana's house.

  "All right," she finally agreed. "Thank you, Mr. Bryce."

  Luke arched his brow at Noreen. "See."

  Chapter Twelve

  Gracie wasn't wrong. The purring of the powerful machine upped her already heightened libido. Enclosed space? Check. At close proximity with a man she wanted? Absolutely. Heart racing as fast as the Maserati was eating up the miles? Every time she was near Luke.

  She stole a glance at his profile under her lashes. His brown hair was tousled both from the autumn breeze at the fair and by his fingers raking through it. His face, lightly bronzed by the sun, looked sharper, his cheekbones more angular against the autumn light. He wore aviator shades to shield his eyes from the rays that sensually beat against the windshield.

  And he never looked hotter.

  Her gaze went down to his tapered fingers, relaxed against the steering wheel. He held the wheel gently, almost like a lover's caress when he turned it to steer the car. Out of the manor's grounds and on to the main road. Gracie continued down to his body, his flat stomach, his ass and the way he sat comfortably, skimming his powerful thighs that were slightly apart with one foot on the accelerator and the other relaxing on the car's floor. Her eyes zeroing on what was definitely a bulge straining against the zipper of his Levi's.

  "Like what you see?" His voice was deep enough to cause her heart to flutter further and her core to clench involuntarily.

  Gracie blushed, caught in the act of voyeurism. She turned away to look at the passing landscape through the window. God, what was she thinking? She closed her eyes, concentrating on trying to still the excitement coursing through her veins.

  "I like that you look at me that way, Gracie," Luke continued. "Right now, I'm imagining your mouth and tongue against my skin the way you've just visibly done. And as you can see, it's turned me on. And hard."

  Gracie's phone rang, giving her some reprieve.

  "Hello."

  "Gracie, it's Mum." Theresa's voice came loud and clear. Gracie took the phone away from her ear to switch off the speakerphone, but not soon enough for Luke to listen to the rest of the conversation. "I'm keeping Flynn with me. He's having such a wonderful time he'd like to sleep overnight so that he and I can bake more cookies and watch cartoons." The last word became muffled when Gracie was finally able to switch her phone to silent.

  “Okay, Mum. I’ll see you both tomorrow. Have fun!”

  She ended the call, and at Luke’s smirk, she rolled her eyes.

  "So, you don't have to be home immediately after all."

  Oh God, why did his voice have an erotic command over her body? The sex talk inside the car was turning her already into mush and it was still roughly forty-five minutes to the city.

  She gave a non-committal reply.

  "Where do you want to go now?" Luke turned to her.

  "I still want to go home."

  He nodded. "Mind if I make a stop? I forgot a few things at home."

  “Okay.” She nodded with reluctance.

  Curiosity got the better of her. Did he live in the city or commute back and forth from Cheshire?

  Why do you care?

  With her heartbeat running close to a hundred miles a minute, Gracie decided that small talk was a better option at the moment but seeing Luke arch his brow and his smirk into that I'll-make-your-panties-wet smile made her courage flee. Luke veered away from the road, leading to the motorway just like the change of plan. They passed through the village's high street, driving through a long stretch of road before arriving at a gated house set a few metres off from the main road. Gracie marvelled at the house's facade, the driveway and the garage that could house a few cars side to side. Luke parked the car beside the portico entrance. He got out and went around the car to open her door before holding out his hand. Gracie automatically took it, her cold one enveloped in the warmth of his.

  "Shall we?"

  Mutely, she allowed him to pull her inside the house. When they were inside, he flicked on the lights before letting go of her hand. The loss of his warmth felt like a desolation of some kind, which she didn't even want to decipher.

  "Make yourself at home." Luke gave her a short smile before making his way along the hallway to the left. "I'll be right back."

  She was more nervous than making herself comfortable. She huddled deeper into her coat, slinging her purse on her shoulder before putting her hands into her pockets. Her boots tapped softly against the panelled floor in the foyer. In front of her was a lounge similar to the ones she'd see on glossy magazines. She descended the two steps into the living room. A long leather sofa graced the length of the living room, which faced floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the garden. Off to the right was the formal dining area and the huge aluminium and steel kitchen any chef would die for. She turned when she heard Luke returning.

  "You have a beautiful home."

  His mouth lifted to the side. "Thank you. I don't live here all the time, though." He placed his hands on his hips as he looked around. "This is the house I grew up in."

  Gracie let go of the breath she didn't know she was holding. Somehow being in Luke's house that was so much a part of his life was...intimate. Hang on. Luke said that he had to get something. She exhaled again, wisps of her hair flying away at her action. Right. No hidden meaning here. Good. Though she still couldn't help feel a certain kind of warmth at being in his house.

  Cut that out. That's a what if scenario. You so don't want to go there. He came to get something.

&n
bsp; She watched him amble slowly towards her. She stepped back. He moved forward, both of them dancing so far apart, the quiet atmosphere beginning to absorb the sexual tension that kept them near.

  She swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat. "Did you get everything you needed?"

  "It's at the loft...all along."

  Gracie jerked, realising that her back was pressed against the glass, its coolness seeping through her thick clothes. The closer Luke approached, the harder her heart thudded.

  "I don't understand. Why did you bring me here?" Hell, was her what if scenario coming true? Holy shit! That was excitement cussing even as it bounced up and down inside her.

  When he didn't answer, she sidled to the left before slowly walking past him towards the kitchen. She squeaked when Luke's arm suddenly snaked around her waist, turning her towards him. She gasped as Luke pressed her body against his.

  "You know why," he said, his voice like dark chocolate that teased her senses. Her eyelids fluttered against her blushing cheeks. Her mouth parted, her breath heavy but shallow. Luke gently pushed her back against the glass before he bent down. Gracie automatically angled her face up to meet his lips, but he didn't kiss her.

  "Luke." She couldn't think straight, not when her body yearned for him, wanting him to take her back to the place she could happily lose herself. At the same time, her fear of not being good enough grated at the back of her mind. "I can't—"

  "Gracie, we'll take it slow, okay?" Luke cupped her face, rubbing his thumb sensually over her lower lip. His touch made her sigh, bringing her attention back to the demands of her core. "I want you. I've not given you any other reason other than that. I know you want me in the way your body gravitates to me. The way you smell. Shit, Gracie, it drives me insane not to be close to you."

  She gasped when he nudged against her belly.