The light I’d noticed before came from the kitchen. Expecting to see Luke, I sidled into the room. It was empty though. I checked the living room as well. No Luke.
“Luke?” I called.
When there was no answer, I set about exploring the house. On the bottom floor were two bathrooms and a gym. The other end of the hallway, past Luke’s room, held the staircase. I walked halfway up it and called his name again.
Still no answer.
Eager to get to the bottom of his disappearance, I headed back for the living room and peeked through the curtains at the front yard. The SUV was gone.
“Hm,” I said to myself.
If I weren’t actually in the house of the man I’d just had sex with, I would have thought I’d just been the victim of a bang and run.
Thinking maybe he’d texted me an explanation, I took a step to look for my purse — and then remembered I’d left it in the SUV.
At a loss of what to do next, I stood there with my hands on my hips. All I could do was wait.
It was extremely odd being in Luke’s house all alone. It also felt kind of good because if he’d been willing to leave me there alone, it probably meant he trusted me.
I began moving slowly around the house, turning on a couple lights here and there as I went. Because the place was so empty, there wasn’t much of interest, so I found myself going through the kitchen and into the backyard.
The pool sparkled under the rising moon, its waters lapping softly against the edges. The temperature had fallen some with the sunset, but the air still felt thick and sticky, and the water looked cold and delicious. Slowly, I sat down and dipped my bare feet in. The water caressed my skin like cool silk. I took a deep breath and leaned back.
After a couple of seconds of relaxing, my mind began racing. So much had happened that day it hardly seemed possible that so much excitement could be packed into ten or twelve hours. First the whole thing with Mr. Cooper… and then Luke.
My chest filled with warmth at the thought of Luke. To say the man had rocked my world would be an understatement. He’d done so much more than that. Not only was I feeling things about him that I’d never felt about another man before, I was also feeling things about myself that were entirely new. Luke made me feel like there was a better me hidden somewhere deep down inside — a person I’d never known or considered.
I kicked my heels against the pool’s wall. I was far off from being that person.
If Luke didn’t know the same, then he at least suspected it. What was the last thing he’d said to me before taking me to his bedroom? That I was dangerous?
Perhaps I was.
I gulped nervously. Perhaps he already regretted what happened between the two of us. Maybe he had left the house because he simply couldn’t stand to be around me. Maybe he was driving aimlessly around Crystal Brook, working up the courage to come back and kick me out of his house.
Maybe I deserved as much.
“Enjoying yourself?”
I jumped at Luke’s voice, then turned to see him walking through the sliding doors I’d forgotten to close.
“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s all right.”
I started to stand up, but before I could, he came and settled down next to me, his legs drawn up and his hands on his knees.
The reflection of the water danced across his face. I took a second to study the curves and lines of it, amazed at Luke’s ability to somehow be more attractive each time I laid my eyes on him.
“I went to get your bike,” he explained.
“Oh.” I paused, then outright laughed.
He smiled. “What is it?”
I bit my lip so hard it hurt. “Um, nothing… I just… I forgot all about my bike.”
“Mm.” He reached up and slipped his palm behind my ear, his fingers threading through my hair. I closed my eyes and sighed, relieved beyond belief. He didn’t seem angry or frustrated with me.
His other hand rested on my thigh, rubbing up and down and causing little goosebumps to pop up.
“Your aunt called your cell phone.”
My eyes flew open. “Oh no! I forgot all about her. She’s probably worried. I need to go call her back.”
“I already talked to her.”
“You did?”
I studied his face, watching as it flushed slightly.
Was Luke embarrassed?
“Yeah, your purse was in the car. Sorry. I didn’t notice it till I’d left. When she called, I answered because I thought she might be worried.”
“Why are you blushing?” I asked, laughing.
He threw his head back and laughed too. “Because… because I thought maybe you thought I’d told her what you were up to.”
I stared at him. “Did you?”
“I told her you were at my house helping me out after what happened with Mr. Cooper. That’s all.”
I laughed, slightly embarrassed myself. “Oh. Right. Of course.”
“Did you want me to tell her what you’ve been up to?” he teased.
“Stop,” I chastised him, not able to stop smiling.
The grin on his cheeks slowly lessened, his face taking on a more serious expression. My stomach lurched.
Oh God. It was just as I feared. Now came the moment when he was going to let me down. “Thanks, it was fun, but like I said, you’re trouble” or something to that effect. Any second those words were going to come out of his mouth…
“I’m falling for you,” Luke whispered.
I audibly gasped, a sharp inhalation of air that immediately stuck in my throat.
Luke shook his head slightly and ran his hand through his tousled hair… hair that not too long ago I’d had my own fingers threaded in… hair that I ached to grab hold of once more.
“I didn’t expect to,” he throatily said. “And yet I don’t know how I couldn’t.”
I looked down at the water. Join the club.
A gentle touch brushed against the top of my hand. I looked back up and into his eyes.
“Grace,” he murmured.
I blinked rapidly and tried to keep my cool. “Yes?”
“I…” He opened his mouth, then just closed it before letting out what sounded like a nervous laugh. “I don’t know.”
A feeling so intense it nearly hurt swelled in my heart. It was a culmination of the wanting and the needing, the pain of knowing I should have been better with him but not quite getting how to. It all mixed together and swirled up in my chest, making me feel like I was going to explode.
“You don’t have to say anything,” I answered, my voice breathless before I moved closer to him and took his lips with mine, kissing him like nothing else mattered.
After what might have been the longest kiss in the history of humanity, he pulled away. “How about some dinner?”
“I’m starving.”
“Mm. You worked up quite an appetite today, I suppose.”
I bit my lip, sore from his kisses. “Maybe we could do it again after dinner. I do like midnight snacks.”
“Come on,” he grinned, taking my hand and pulling me to standing. “Let’s walk downtown.”
The evening air danced around us as we walked hand in hand down the sidewalk. I pressed my shoulder against Luke’s arm, trying to not be too proud about having him next to me — but also not being able to help it. Every woman that walked by us downtown did a double take of him, and a lot of the male gazes lingered on him for an extra second as well.
We strolled around the shops dotting the courtyard perimeter, taking our time picking a restaurant. Luke already had all of their menus memorized, so gave me the breakdown, letting me know which place had the best salad and which place the fastest service.
“You pick,” he kept saying.
In the end, I decided on a little Italian restaurant called Anna Sophia’s. The place had only a few tables full, and we snuggled into a booth near the front window. After ordering a pizza to share �
� which was definitely on top of my ‘Do Not Eat’ list, but which I decided I’d go for since it was a special day — Luke penetrated my eyes with his gaze.
“So,” he began but didn’t say anything else.
I could feel myself blush. Despite the fact that the man sitting across from me had literally been inside of me just a few hours before, the present situation felt very much like a first date.
Which I suppose it was.
“So,” I said, picking up the stranded sentence. “This was quite the day.”
Luke laughed. “I know! And its only dinnertime.”
“Right? God, anything could happen between now and midnight.”
“We could drive to the beach if we wanted. And back.”
“We could… go on a hot air balloon ride.”
“At night?”
I laughed. “Okay, maybe we couldn’t do that.”
“We could rob a bank.”
“Hey now.” I slapped his hand. “Since when are we turning into Bonnie and Clyde?”
Luke chuckled, and we stopped talking for a moment while the waitress set glasses of water in front of us.
“Thank you,” Luke told her.
He turned his eyes back to me. “I want to hear about your parents.”
“You do?”
“Yes,” he said, and I could tell he was serious. “You’ve already mentioned your father.”
“Right.” The joy sank out of me. “He’s in New York.”
“But what about your mother?”
“She died when I was a baby.”
The smile fell off Luke’s face. “Oh. Grace, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I told him, meaning it. “I don’t even remember her so it’s not exactly a source of pain.”
That part was a lie. At least part of it. No, I didn’t remember my mom. But had her absence left me with an always persistent fear that things could be taken away at any moment?
Yes. Yes, indeed it had.
“Does your dad ever talk about her?” Luke asked.
I looked at him with interest. The question seemed like an odd one. Usually, when people found out my mother had passed, they asked how she died. Or they wanted to know if it had messed with me psychologically. It was the gruesome details they were curious about.
“Not much,” I answered. “But I don’t really ask.”
“Did he ever get remarried?”
“No.” I thought about that for a second. “He had a couple of girlfriends, but he was always married to work, I guess. Or at least that’s what our housekeeper LuLu said.”
Luke smirked.
“What about your parents?” I asked.
He pushed his eyebrows together. “My parents are extremely boring and normal, so far as I can tell. That is, of course, if you don’t count the fortune my father made in banking.” He ran a hand across his jaw, taking a second to rub the stubble there.
“You know what,” he said. “I take that back. My parents spoiled my brothers and me.”
I shrugged. “I think a lot of parents do that to their kids.”
“I got my own vacation home for my eighteenth birthday.”
“Oh. Wow.”
“Yeah. It was in Hawaii.”
I chortled. “All right then. And here I thought Rainy’s dad showered her with presents.”
Luke smiled and leaned on his arms. “Rainy is…”
“The best friend.”
“Ah. Right.”
“Um, ex-best friend.” I sighed. The day had been so jam packed I’d barely had time to think about her.
“Why don’t you call her?” Luke asked.
“No!” The word came out sharper than I’d intended.
“Grace,” he said gently, his face growing soft, his eyes warm. “Why not?”
I sniffed. “Because she’s a bitch.”
I must have said it a little too loudly because the lady sitting behind Luke glanced over her shoulder at our table.
“Everyone makes mistakes,” Luke said, his thumb tracing over my hand.
I shook my head. “This wasn’t a mistake. This was very intentional, trust me.”
Luke played with the napkin in front of him. “And what about this guy?”
“That’s over,” I quickly answered. “Even before I found out about him and Rainy.”
He peeked up at me. A tuft of hair stuck up from the back of his head and I wondered if it was from our earlier romp in the sheets.
“I was already moving on,” I further explained.
“All right.” I could tell he wanted to say more, but didn’t.
“You don’t have to be jealous.”
He smiled and reached under the table to grab my knee. “It’s cute that you think I’m jealous.”
“You’re not?”
“I’m extremely jealous, actually,” he answered, his voice becoming serious. “In fact, it’s a fault of mine. Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” I pushed my legs together, trapping his hand in between them. “It’s kind of hot.”
His eyed twinkled devilishly at me as his hand traveled just a little farther up my leg…
Desire flared up inside of me. Right before he got to the spot between my hips, he pulled back and straightened up, clearing his throat.
He was definitely at least as turned on as me.
“Something wrong?” I coyly asked him. “Do you need a drink of water?”
“Yes, I, uh, think so.” He reached for his glass and took a huge gulp. I giggled, absolutely loving the effect I had on him.
“That’s better,” Luke said, putting the glass down. “Back to Rainy.”
“I just told you nothing’s happening between Eli and me. That’s done.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about, Grace. I was just going to offer some advice. If you want it.”
“Okay,” I said, eyeing him. “I’m listening.”
“I’m not suggesting you be friends with her again. After all, it’s hard for people to change. Once a scorpion stings they usually keep doing it.”
His words hung in the air. I didn’t so much as breathe. Was there a part of Luke still left thinking that I was a scorpion?
“But at least release your anger,” he said. “If you hold onto the mad, it will only hurt you.”
I thought about that. “All right,” I finally said, more in an effort to change the conversation than anything else.
The waitress came over then, a tray with our pizza balanced in her hands. I leaned back and watched as she set it on the table. After she left, Luke leaned across the steaming pie and looked at me.
“Hey,” he whispered. “Maybe after I have a slice of this I can touch your knee some more.”
I winked. “This feels an awful lot like a date in eighth grade.”
He cocked his head. “Oh really? Because what I had hoped to do next is very adult like. You know, if you don’t mind…”
“Hm,” I mused. “We’ll just have to see what happens.”
But I couldn’t help smiling.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Grace
“Good boy, Mr. Jingles,” I told the little white snowball of a dog. “Good boy!”
In all my twenty-two years, I’d never talked to an animal in such a way. But in all my twenty-two years, I’d never had a night quite like the one before.
After Luke and I finished dinner, we stayed at the Italian restaurant until the place closed, sharing stories about growing up on opposite coasts. I’d only, very reluctantly, gone home so that my aunt and uncle wouldn’t worry. Telling them that I was spending the night out seemed almost cringe worthy. I was a little too old for sleepovers with friends, so I’m not coming home tonight could only mean one thing.
Yeah. Ew. I did not need my aunt and uncle even knowing my sex life existed.
The morning at Community First had been one of the best of my life. Waking up knowing I was going to see Luke took all the pain out of rolling out of bed. Even though I took as much time
on my hair and makeup as I usually did, I dressed casual, just as a little nod to Luke’s slight influence on me. Which meant the yellow Converses were most definitely on my feet.
All morning, while I helped sort and distribute, I’d been painfully aware of his presence, whether he was in the room or not. Out front with Brie, I strained to hear the sounds of Luke and Ricardo talking and laughing in the back. When Luke came in to give us a box or get some paperwork, his eyes always lingered on me for a second longer, making a sweet chill rush over me.
After his second appearance, Brie asked me if I was flirting with him.
“No,” I honestly responded. “I’m not doing anything.”
Other than having sex with him of course.
We had plans that night to go to a small concert in Raleigh, and I practically skipped down the sidewalk just thinking about it.
“You’re a good boy, Mr. Jingles,” I told the pup one more time, just because it felt good to. He wagged his tail and turned to look at me while he trotted on.
In my back pocket, my phone buzzed. Eager, I pulled it out, hoping it was Luke. Maybe he had more details for our date that night, or maybe it was even a dirty text. He’d sent me a message while we were at Community First saying he’d like me to come back to the storage room so he could bend me over and have his way with me. It had been a joke, of course. Ricardo had still been there — unfortunately. The text served to get me all worked up though, and I’d spent the whole bike ride home trying not to get distracted by fantasies involving all the sex positions Luke and I had yet to explore together.
Instead of the text being from Luke, it was from Rainy.
My hands tightened around the phone case. Rainy and I hadn’t spoken since the phone call that left such a sour taste in my mouth. At first, I’d been close to devastated over what she’d done. Yesterday, though, I’d barely even thought about it. There was already so much more going on in my life. Rainy could have Eli. I had Luke Anderson. And as far as friends, Aunt Ginger was right. I could make new ones.
My optimistic attitude was pretty amazing, actually, when you considered just how quick it had turned from dour to cheery.
I couldn’t take credit for the change, though. It was all due to Luke’s magic touch and presence.
Wrecked (Crystal Book Billionaires) Page 16