by Vivian Wood
“Okay, okay,” Aubrey said, holding up a hand to stop her friend mid-sentence. “If I call you in the middle of dinner, though, you have to come pick me up. Promise me.”
“Of course I will. Now can we take these dresses into your room and start accessorizing? I’m dying here,” Val asked.
“Yeah, yeah,” Aubrey said, letting herself be dragged off to play dress-up.
19
Ten
At precisely 6:59, Aubrey stood outside the elevators on the terrace level of the Fairmont Hotel, heart in her throat. She spotted a mirror in the lobby and headed over to check her reflection one last time. She’d chosen the black and bronze dress, the more reserved of the two. With her dark red hair coiled into a loose mass at the nape of her neck, dark winged eyeliner, and ruby-red lipstick, Aubrey was starting to find her own reflection irresistible.
The mirror showed Luke’s tall figure exiting the elevators, and Aubrey whirled to see him. He wore a dark, impeccably tailored suit, a pale blue shirt, and a vest of dark silk. He’d had his hair trimmed on the sides, and he’d pushed back the longer top strands in a way that suited him perfectly.
The best part was the way his eyes lit up when he noticed her approaching. His lips lifted at the corners, a dimple appearing in one cheek, and she noticed his nostrils widening. He was scenting her, even from across the room.
Her flesh prickled with goosebumps, but Aubrey held herself in check. They hadn’t even greeted one another and she was already overstimulated.
“Luke,” she said as she stopped before him, sticking out a hand. He raised a brow, but accepted her hand, squeezing it in his big, warm one. His thumb brushed the pulse point at her wrist, and she had to work to keep from snatching her hand back.
“You look…” He paused for a moment, his eyes traveling her figure head to toe a couple of times. “You look stunning, Aubrey. I was half afraid you wouldn’t show.”
Aubrey smiled and shrugged one shoulder.
“You were very persuasive,” she said, turning toward the entrance to the restaurant. “Should we go in?”
“Sure. I hope you like this place,” Luke said, looking a little uncomfortable. “My mother recommended it.”
“I’ve actually never been here, but I hear it’s cool,” Aubrey said.
Luke reached out and took her elbow, his fingers warm against her bare skin. He guided her through the big, darkly wooded doors. The second they stepped inside, Aubrey couldn’t figure out where to look. The center of the room was actually a pool, though it was empty. Dark wood booths lined the pool, complete with thatched roofs and string lights and torches. At the far end of the dining, a band played lively samba music.
“Wow! Very tiki,” Aubrey said, a smile coming to her lips for the first time since she’d arrived at the Fairmont.
“It’s something,” Luke agreed.
He signaled to the hostess, and soon they were scooting into one of the booths. The waitress came and took their drink orders first. Aubrey ordered a hurricane, but Luke stuck to sparkling water.
“Just water, huh?” she asked, wincing when she realized how judgy she sounded.
“Uh, yeah. I really don’t drink, that hasn’t changed. When you saw me at the mixer, I was just trying to get through the night. It was a mistake.”
“So, your mother recommended this place?” Aubrey asked, veering the conversation away from the topic of the mixer. “Is she from the area?”
“No,” Luke said, shifting in his seat.
Aubrey looked at him and raised a brow. When he didn’t elaborate, she decided to push him a little. It was a date, for chrissake, and they were supposed to be talking. This whole thing was his idea, and she certainly wasn’t going to carry the whole conversation herself.
“Not much of a talker, are you?” she asked.
Luke turned a nice shade of red, and Aubrey almost felt bad for him.
“Tell me how your mother knew about this place,” she prompted.
He cleared his throat, seeming to summon the energy to explain.
“I think she and my father did a lot of traveling when my father was in the Air Force. Once she had her third son, she made my father leave the service and settle down.”
“Wow, three sons!” Aubrey exclaimed. “That’s a lot.”
Luke chuckled and shook his head.
“Six, actually,” he explained.
“Holy shit,” Aubrey said. She blushed, and her hand flew to her mouth. “Sorry. I curse a lot.”
“I remember,” he said, his lips twisting up again at the corners. His look said that he remembered all the other things her mouth could do, too. The heat that rose in his eyes made her cheeks go from pink to flaming red. Luke let her hang for a second longer before continuing.
“Six boys, yeah. Ma says that’s why they picked Montana to settle down in. Lots of room for us to ramble.”
“Montana… Wait, was the Lodge your place?” Aubrey was dumbfounded.
“Yeah, that’s my family home. We’re the Beran clan,” Luke said. His tone held a note of pride, something Aubrey had never felt about her own clan. They were very traditional and not especially feminist-friendly, so Aubrey didn’t waste much time on feeling any particular way about them. Luke, it seemed, had a different kind of bond with his clan.
“The Lodge is beautiful. I think I actually talked to your mother for a while, she was explaining the history of the area,” Aubrey said. She took a sip of her drink and picked up the menu.
“Ma is really interested in history. Native American history, specifically. She thinks it parallels a lot of Berserker history. Being driven away from our lands, being some mythological thing that’s overblown, half of it invented for white men to tell stories…” Luke waved a hand, shaking his head. “I’m not explaining it right. You’ll have to talk to her about it.”
Aubrey raised a brow at the presumption in his words. Luke just gave her that half-smile again, but didn’t walk back his words.
“Maybe,” Aubrey said, shaking her head. She buried her face in the menu, only to feel a soft tug moments later when Luke pulled it from her hands.
“There’s a family-style thing,” he said, spreading her menu wide and turning the page. “It’s got a little of everything. Will you share it with me?”
“Egg rolls, pork ribs, sichuan beans, roasted suckling pig…” Aubrey read aloud. “That’s a lot of food, Luke.”
For a horrifying second, she wondered if Luke thought she required some huge pile of food at each meal.
“You’ve seen me eat before, Aubrey. I run ten miles a day, five or six days a week. Plus I’m a bear. I need a lot of calories just to survive,” he teased.
When Luke gave her a sweet, genuine smile, though, she melted a little. He hadn’t lost an ounce of charm since San Diego, that was certain.
“I don’t seem to remember you getting out of bed to go running,” she said, surprised at her own flirtatious tone.
“I may be crazy, but I’m not dumb enough to leave your bed, Aubrey. Besides, I think we got plenty of exercise together, don’t you?”
Aubrey flushed again, dropping her gaze from his. Still, she couldn’t help but smile. Their two-day-long sex-a-thon really had been impressive.
“So, the family dinner?” Luke prompted.
“Sure,” she said. As she agreed, her stomach rumbled in anticipation, and Aubrey was glad she hadn’t insisted on a salad as she usually did on first dates. Then again, this wasn’t exactly a first date, was it?
“Alright,” Luke said, waving the waitress down and ordering for them both.
“It’ll take about thirty minutes, if that’s alright?” the waitress asked.
“Sure, sure. Can you bring her another one of those drinks?” Luke asked. The waitress nodded and rushed off to put in their order.
They sat in silence for half a minute, Luke looking Aubrey up and down like some kind of prize he desperately wanted to win. And then, in a flash, he changed.
A man
at the table behind them shoved out of his booth with a shout, losing his balance and knocking several glasses off the table. The second the glasses shattered, Luke’s entire body tensed. His expression turned dark and guarded, his mouth forming a cruel line. He shot to his feet and whirled on the drunk man, chest heaving, and nearly upset their own table in the process. If Luke had been in bear form, his teeth would be bared and his fur standing on end. A warning of something dangerous to come.
“Luke!” Aubrey said. When he didn’t respond, she stood and reached out to him, giving his arm the lightest brush with her fingertips. “Hey. Luke, hey. Look at me, okay?”
Luke turned his attention away from the now-trembling drunk man. His gaze came to rest on Aubrey, and she was surprised to see how dark his eyes had grown. She’d seen it before. Many times, actually. Her father was a Vietnam veteran, and he had the same reaction every time a car backfired.
“Hey,” Aubrey said again. “It’s just you and me, okay?”
Luke swallowed hard, letting his shoulders drop a little.
“Okay. Sorry. I, uh…” He sucked in a deep breath and sat down, looking embarrassed.
“No, don’t worry. There’s no need to apologize,” she said, picking up her napkin and sitting down again. Twisting the napkin in her fingers, she tried to think of the right way to ask him about his history.
“So you were in the Army, right?” she said.
“Yeah,” he agreed. The distraction seemed to be working, because he was slowly growing more relaxed, focusing on her words. “Almost a whole decade, you know?”
“I bet you’ve already staked out every door in this room, huh? You have an exit strategy already?” she asked.
Luke’s lips curved up, and he gave her a slow nod.
“Through the back left door. It empties into a hallway that leads out to the Terrace,” he said.
“You checked this place out already?” she asked.
“I got here before you, actually. I used the restroom in that hallway, and then went back down to the first floor in case you were there.”
“Ah! I must have been on the other elevator, coming up to meet you, then. Passing like strangers in the night,” she teased, fluttering her eyelashes and giving him her most charming grin. Aubrey felt pleased that Luke looked more relaxed, seeming more chatty than before.
“How’d you know about the exit strategy thing?” Luke asked, his eyes intent upon hers.
“My father was in the service. Army, like you. He fought in Vietnam.”
“Does he jump at every little noise, too?” Luke asked. Aubrey couldn’t miss the self-scorn in his tone.
“Not at all. My mom says that when Dad got back, it just took him a little while to get comfortable again. There’s only a couple of things that set him off now, and I think that’s mostly habit. He’s a stubborn son of a bitch,” she said.
“The Army seems to turn those out in large numbers,” Luke said. He hesitated for a moment. “I really am sorry about that, a minute ago. I guess I’m trying to get comfortable again, too.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’ve heard it helps if you can identify the sounds and smells that trigger you. Is glass breaking one of them for you?”
Luke dropped his gaze to the table, staring at his folded hands.
“Ahhh… Glass breaking, anything even remotely loud and low, airplanes, helicopters, men shouting. Actually, anybody shouting. Electronic beeps, like pagers. They sound like what you hear a few seconds before an IED goes off.”
He glanced up, sheepish.
“I could go on,” he admitted. “It sounds crazy, I know. It’s already getting better, though. My first week back was a lot worse.”
“How long have you been back?” Aubrey asked, curious.
“Just a month.”
“That’s a long furlough,” she said.
“No, um, actually. I’m retired from service,” Luke said.
“Oh! I had no idea. I mean, how would I have known, I guess.” Aubrey felt flustered all the sudden. “Sorry. I have the weirdest feeling right now, like we know each other, like we’ve known each other for years, but that isn’t really true, is it? We’re kind of… just meeting.”
Luke nodded.
“I know just what you mean. I feel like I know you so well, though. Maybe that’s just because I spent so much time thinking about you when I was doing my tours.”
“About me?” Aubrey asked, surprised.
“Well, yeah. I mean, it’s really lonely over there, so all the guys spend a lot of time thinking about women. But I also wondered about you a lot. Where you were, what you were doing. Why you left without giving me your number. You know, that kind of thing.”
“Ah,” Aubrey said, biting her lip.
“Plus, I needed some good memories. That weekend we spent together… I’ve never had anything else like it.”
“Me either. I wish…” she trailed off.
“You wish what?” Luke asked
“I wish I’d been in a better place when it happened. I was so happy that weekend, and that’s all you got to see. But I wasn’t happy in my life back then. I’d just come out of a bad situation, and I needed to be on my own.”
“So you took off?” Luke challenged her, though he kept his tone soft.
Aubrey shrugged, feeling foolish.
“Yeah. I was freaked out, and hurting, and you… you’re such a keeper. You deserved someone who wasn’t all fucked up, you know?”
Luke reached out and covered her hand with his, his lips pressing into a frown.
“I should have tried harder to find you, Aubrey. I thought about it all the time.”
Surprise fluttered in Aubrey’s chest.
“You did?”
“Yeah, of course. Look at you. You’re fucking incredible. How could I not think about you?”
Before Aubrey could reply, several waiters arrived with steaming platters of food. They heaped the table with sizzling cast iron dishes, leaving an astonishing array of choices before Aubrey’s amazed eyes.
“Man, this looks incredible!” Luke said, his excitement clear. Aubrey almost laughed at his quicksilver change from intense and emotional to hungry and jubilant.
“Alright, let’s dig in then,” she said. Passing him a plate, she did as she commanded.
20
Eleven
Aubrey threw back her head and laughed as Luke spun her on the dance floor. After the Tonga Room, Luke had whisked her a few blocks away to a jazz club. Though she didn’t know much about that kind of dancing, the dark dance floor was packed with swaying couples as lights flashed and music pulsed under her feet. Aubrey wasn’t one to dismiss new opportunities, so she’d let Luke lead her out onto the dance floor.
Luke took the lead from the first step, pulling Aubrey into his arms and right up against his body. Aubrey couldn’t help her reaction; her bear rumbled to life, curious about Luke’s proximity. Her body didn’t miss his closeness, either. She could feel a full-body flush sweep her from head to toe as Luke’s warmth and strength seeped into every inch he touched.
Though he was clearly experienced on the dance floor, he kept things slow and led Aubrey step by step until she started to feel more comfortable. Soon she was letting her feet do all the work, just relaxing and people watching as she enjoyed being in Luke’s arms.
After they’d warmed up a little, Aubrey pulled the pins from her hair and let it tumble free. There was nothing quite like seeing Luke’s gaze heat when he’d caught a lock of her hair, exploring the silky length with his fingertips. He didn’t say anything, but she remembered how much he’d loved her thick, dark hair during their weekend together. The way he kept brushing his fingers over it, leaning close and sucking in lungfuls of her scent, made her certain that he still felt the same.
“Are you having some deep thoughts down there?” Luke teased her. He looked down, giving her that same soft smile, the lift of his lips as his eyes sparkled. It really was killing her slowly, Aubrey decided.
/> “No. Just thinking that this is comfortable,” she said with a shrug. The song ended, sliding into another. Aubrey looked up at Luke as he led her into the next number, thinking how nice it was that she could trust him to take charge. Aubrey was always in charge of everything in her life, and just this once it was nice to be able to step back and let go.
“What’s comfortable?” Luke asked, making easy conversation.
“Just, you know. I thought it might be awkward, since we were both kind of nervous at dinner. And I don’t really know how to dance. But it’s not. We’re kind of…” Aubrey trailed off, trying to think of the right word.
“Good together?”
Aubrey chuckled.
“Maybe. I don’t know if I would go that far. I was thinking earlier that it’s hard for me to find dates sometimes. Not because of my size, I mean—”
Luke’s brows shot up, and he interrupted her thought.
“I should hope to hell not!” he snorted.
Aubrey rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Plenty of guys are interested in bigger girls, although some of them are creeps. Like fetishists and stuff,” she said, pursing her lips.
“I’m so glad you didn’t lack for dates with other men,” Luke said, his tone going dry.
“Listen, I was trying to pay you a compliment before you interrupted me,” Aubrey scolded.
“Oh, by all means, then,” Luke said with a smile.
Aubrey huffed, but Luke’s hand on her waist drew her a hair closer and she couldn’t bring herself to pull away.
“I was trying to say that I have trouble finding dates because I’m the picky one. I only want to date guys who are sort of big and brawny, guys who make me feel dainty,” she admitted, pulling a face at herself.
“First of all, you are perfectly dainty. Second of all, those other guys just aren't Berserker males, so they just pale in comparison.”